Somebody to Love: Sigh With Contentment, Scream With Frustration. At Time You Will Weep.

by Sheryl Browne

  ‘He-llooo!’ she sing-songed cheerily, hoping to distract him from the double yellow lines someone had thoughtlessly parked under her car.

  The officer looked at her bemused, as if no one in the world ever said hello to a policeman. Well, they probably didn’t quite so effusively. Nice eyes. China blue and sort of… twinkly. Donna tried to dismiss a disconcerting little flip in the base of her tummy and come up with a halfway intelligent statement that might keep him distracted.

  ‘Have you got the time?’ she asked, earth-shatteringly.

  ‘If you’ve got the place,’ he answered as quick as a flash, which left Donna distracted, not least because the smile that accompanied his quip was so sexually charged he could have any flesh-and-blood female panting without even removing his cap. He could certainly have her. Donna was tempted to tell the alluring officer she had got the place — a spacious double bed that hadn’t seen much action, apart from snoring with her dog, and drag him off by his tie.

  Mathew though, who, at the grand old age of just seventeen, fancied himself as man of the house, might not be impressed if he emerged from his bedroom to find a semi-naked policeman on the landing.

  As if. She’d need implants first, boobs plus self-esteem, which her tumultuous marriage had left sloshing about in her shoes. Donna knew the hurtful comments Jeremy had made re her performance in bed — or lack of — were manufactured to excuse his own adulterous behaviour, but from seeds of doubt…

  Thus her visit to the library for an instruction manual.

  Her shoulders slumped as the police officer squinted interestedly past her to her illegally parked car. That was it. The game was up. Short of draping herself over the bonnet or fainting, there was nothing else she could do to distract him. She might as well go quietly.

  ‘I, um…’ She searched for a lie that wouldn’t sound contrived, and came up with nothing.

  The officer squinted some more, then cocked his head to one side.

  ‘Unbelievable,’ he said, pushing his cap back. ‘Your dog only has three legs.’

  ‘What?’ Donna blinked, surprised, then quickly rearranged her face lest he think she hadn’t noticed her dog’s leg-less predicament. ‘I know.’ She smiled fondly as Sadie hopped from one seat to another, her tail swishing manically. ‘Gorgeous, isn’t she?’

  ‘Amazing,’ he said, walking around to the driver’s side to get a better look. ‘She was sitting up so straight, I didn’t notice at first.’

  ‘She’s very proud.’ Donna joined him, peering through the window next to him. Head level with him. Very close to him. Mmm. What was that aftershave? Scrummy. Donna’s nose twitched. Oops, she was in terrible peril of having a closer sniff of him.

  ‘Labrador, isn’t she?’

  ‘Labrador/Old English Mastiff cross,’ Donna confirmed, preferring her tri-legged non-pedigree to the Twiglet’s Pekinese any day. ‘That’s why she looks so proud. She has a big, um, chest, you know.’ Actually, that wasn’t the whole reason why. Sadie had a strong disposition and a huge personality, which was why she’d been sitting so tall. Despite her missing front leg, Sadie didn’t give in easily, which was why Donna loved her, unequivocally.

  ‘Road accident?’ he asked, his brow furrowed in concern as he continued to look Sadie over.

  ‘Cancer. She’s fine now. Loving life. But they had to remove the leg to save her. I wasn’t sure I’d done the right thing at first. You know, I got her home from the op and I thought Oh, my God, what have I done? She looked so frail. But the next day, she was up and hopping, and she’s never looked back.’

  He gave a low whistle. ‘Lucky dog,’ he said, ‘to have an owner with such a big heart.’

  ‘Yes,’ Donna agreed, a bit giddily as he turned his face towards her, a warm smile now dancing in his pretty blue eyes. Good Lord, he was growing tastier by the minute. If he came any closer, she’d be tempted to have a little bite of him. Donna’s heart expanded to fit his description of it, pitter-pattering against her ribcage.

  ‘I’d better get off.’ She dragged in a breath and straightened up before she drooled on his shoes. ‘I’m just on my way back from the vet’s and I don’t want to leave her in the car too long. I just had to run into the library and renew my book.’ She waved her free hand at the car door.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ he said, stepping back.

  She made a grab for the handle, hoping to make a quick getaway, and that’s when it happened. At the exact same time, he reached for the handle, too, and sparks literally flew.

  He snatched his hand back. Donna almost jumped out of her skin. The book slipped from under her arm. He bent to retrieve it and — poof went any hopes of Donna doing demure.

  Horrified, Donna clamped her hand over her mouth as he glanced curiously at the book, then back to her. Sex and the Single Girl stared up at them from the pavement.

  ‘PC Mark Evans,’ he said, standing up.

  Donna froze. Oh, God, he was going to charge her, here in the street. Totally humiliate her, in front of everyone.

  He offered her the book — back cover discreetly upward, his smile now rather elusive. ‘I’m just going off duty. Don’t suppose you fancy a quick coffee, do you?’

  Chapter Two

  In deference to Sadie, they plumped for a table outside the Café Vienna, where Donna assured him she would never, ever park illegally again.

  ‘Good,’ Mark said. ‘I’d hate to have to drag you off in handcuffs.’

  ‘Me too,’ Donna said airily, then choked inelegantly on her mocha.

  Her coughing fit over, assisted by an able policeman patting her on the back, they continued to chat, swapping small-talk and smiles. Finally, they swapped coffees. And a man that would part with the flake on top of his vanilla Frappuccino and give his biscuit to her dog scored high, as far as Donna was concerned.

  The cream-coated flake tantalised every taste bud. Mark’s thumb trailing over her lips tantalised more. ‘You missed some,’ he said. Such a cliché, but with his twinkly eyes fixed firmly on hers — not tired. Not tired at all.

  Smiling again, uncertainly this time, he glanced down and then back up. ‘I, er, don’t suppose you’d like to go out properly sometime, would you?’ he asked, now looking very uncertain, making Donna’s heart pitter-patter all over again. ‘Dinner, maybe?’

  Donna blinked, astonished. By God, he was a fast mover. He was asking her out out? To dinner, when she looked like the dog’s dinner? Dressed in her moth-eaten leggings, now sporting more hair than her dog, and a top under her parka that was mislabelled size fourteen instead of age fourteen, she doubted she’d be anyone’s fantasy come true. Less so, if she took her unflattering ensemble off, but oh, my God — he was. And he was looking so delectably self-conscious, she might just be forced to eat him wholesale and done with.

  Loosening his collar, and looking as though he’d quite like something to swallow him up, Mark glanced away again. ‘Sorry. I, er… Bit presumptuous.’ He reached for his coffee cup and swirled the contents around. ‘You’re probably with someone. I just thought I’d…’

  ‘Actually,’ Donna cut him short, her confidence suddenly bolstered so high, it had grown wings, ‘I quite like you,’ she said quickly, feeling her own face flush right down to her freckly décolleté.

  ‘Oh.’ Mark stared at her, his coffee cup halfway to his mouth.

  Great! Now he’d probably got her down as a desperate tart who didn’t do sex very well. Donna dropped her gaze, wondering how she could make a discreet exit with her three-legged dog, now she’d made a complete idiot of herself.

  ‘Right,’ Mark said, lowering his mug and planting it on the table. ‘Likewise.’

  Donna’s head snapped back up. ‘Sorry?’

  ‘I’m not. I’m flattered.’ Mark’s mouth curved into its bone-melting smile. ‘The feeling’s mutual, but then, you probably gathered that.’

  Was he having a laugh? Donna scanned his face, looking for a hint of mockery in his pretty blue eyes. ‘No. No, I didn’t,’ s
he said, noting nothing but sincerity there. ‘I mean, I do now that you’ve, um, you know, but I… Ahem.’ She stopped, before she started babbling and beamed a smile at him, then tried to tone it down, lest he think her a complete imbecile.

  He laughed not unkindly, reached for his mug again, and did his swirly contemplative thing with the contents. ‘So,’ he asked, locking eyes with hers, ‘are you married?’

  ‘No.’ Donna squinted at him, wondering at the question. Was he in the habit of asking women out before he’d checked out their availability? She hastily dropped her gaze to his ring finger, squinting harder as she searched for the tell-tale white band. Upon which, he reached quickly into his inside breast pocket, fumbling ever-so-conveniently for something therein. ‘Sorry, mobile,’ he offered by way of explanation.

  Oh, hell. Donna closed her eyes. He was. She sighed heavily inside. Unhappily married, no doubt. Wife’s a horrible cow who doesn’t understand him and who he’s never had sex with, ever — except to produce two-point-four children, who are doing their exams right now as he sits here and lies, and so he can’t possibly leave her, not now. Not ever.

  Whatever. Donna tugged in a breath and steeled herself. She wasn’t going there, not now. Not ever. ‘I was married,’ she said quickly, averting her gaze, because she really was beginning to feel naïve now and extremely idiotic. ‘I have a son,’ she went on, opening the door quite wide enough for him to introduce any wives or children of his own he might be neglecting to mention.

  ‘I know.’ He gave her another one of his elusive smiles. ‘I’ve seen you around.’

  Neat move, thought Donna. ‘You have?’ Where? She didn’t get around that much, apart from the supermarket. Was he a supermarket cruiser?

  ‘Once or twice,’ he expounded, looking serious. ‘The last time driving the wrong way down a one-way street.’

  ‘Ahh…’ Donna nodded, and swallowed.

  Mark smiled. ‘I’ve never seen a sixteen point turn before, I have to admit. It was different.’

  ‘Sat nav,’ Donna offered by way of weak explanation.

  ‘Of course. I have the same trouble all the time,’ Mark assured her — the soul of understanding.

  Donna smiled back, despite herself. She liked him, she really did, and she couldn’t help it. So what on earth did she do now? Ask him. Suspicion gave her a quick shove in the right direction. There was nothing else to do. ‘What about you?’ She braced herself and took the bull by the horns. ‘Is there a Mrs PC Mark Evans?’

  Mark hesitated, dropping his gaze to his coffee cup — and Donna’s heart plummeted.

  She waited.

  Studying him hard.

  Mark shifted uncomfortably, tugged in a breath, and debated. He should tell her now, up front. He knew he should. He ran his thumb pensively over the rim of his mug and debated some more. And then what? And then, he’d see her eyes cloud over with uncertainty, as he’d seen happen so many times before. She might go out with him. Chances were, though, she’d consider the wisdom of getting involved with a man there could be no future with and say, thanks, but no thanks.

  ‘No,’ he said, finally. Over dinner, he decided, that’s when he’d tell her, if she would go out with him. Maybe then, if she knew him a little better, liked him enough, she’d want to take things further. Yes, right. He sighed inwardly. Not likely though, was it? ‘I, er…’ he started again, knowing there really was no way forward if he wasn’t honest at outset, then paused.

  ‘What?’ Donna’s urgent tone snatched his attention back to her face.

  ‘Nothing,’ he said quickly, bottling out — and feeling like a complete coward, but was it really that wrong to want to delay the inevitable? To want to spend some time in a woman’s company where his complications weren’t the topic of conversation? There was Michelle, of course, who didn’t mind spending time in his company — when her schedule at the hospital allowed it — but they rarely had much time for verbal intercourse, both always on the clock, snatching time to meet up when they could. The sex was… well, good… but Michelle had made it clear that, as a young junior doctor chasing promotion to clinical lead, she had no time or inclination for anything more, i.e. his life and all the baggage that went with it. Mark couldn’t blame her. He’d been almost relieved when she’d come right out and said so. The thing was that he did want more. He’d even considered taking up smoking on the basis that the odd post-coital conversation might be nice.

  ‘I was married once,’ he continued, choosing his words carefully and hoping that this time things might be different. That Donna might possibly be interested in a relationship that was more a relationship. ‘But it didn’t work out.’

  ‘Oh?’ Donna nodded. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  ‘Not much to tell, really.’ Mark ran a hand over his neck. ‘We, er, grew apart, you know? I’ll bore you with the details some other time.’

  She stared at him, a puzzled look on her face. A very cute face. Mark smiled quietly, noting the smattering of freckles over her nose, her pretty green eyes. Her lips, which curved easily into a smile. He liked her. He really did want to see her again, and he would tell her. He promised himself that. Next time.

  ‘So what do you do?’ he asked, changing the subject, not too obviously, he hoped. ‘For a living, I mean?’

  ‘Single parent and office worker at a care centre at the moment,’ she smiled apologetically. ‘Nothing special, but I’m looking at training.’

  ‘Don’t underrate yourself,’ Mark replied, curiously searching her eyes. She didn’t exactly exude confidence. No surprise there. Mark knew a little of her history. Should he tell her he did? No. He supposed it was fair to assume that if he didn’t care to share his private life in public outside a coffee shop, she wouldn’t thank him for sharing hers. ‘What kind of training?’

  ‘Childcare,’ she said, with a self-effacing shrug. ‘Not rocket science, I know, but the centre caters to children with learning difficulties and I think it’s something I could be good at, you know? Assuming I can get my bitchy manageress to OK my application, that is.’ She rolled her eyes despairingly.

  Mark smiled. Knowing the special qualities needed for that particular line of work, he didn’t doubt it might be something she would be good at. ‘Would you like me to drop by and harass her?’ he asked, with a mock scowl.

  Donna laughed. ‘I can fight my own battles thank you, but I’ll call if I need you.’

  ‘I’ll make sure to give you my number,’ Mark said, serious now. He scanned her eyes — kind eyes, vulnerable, yet determined — and found himself not wanting to look away.

  She held his gaze for a second, and then glanced down.

  Damn. Too pushy. ‘So, do you have any interests?’ he asked, steering the subject back to safer ground.

  ‘Apart from picking up policemen, you mean?’ Donna’s eyes flickered bashfully back to his. ‘No, except…’ she hesitated ‘… self-interest, maybe.’

  Mark finished his coffee, and wondered whether he should offer to get another. ‘How so?’

  Donna took a breath. ‘I, um, don’t want to rush into anything.’ She glanced uncertainly at him. ‘I mean, I’d quite like to go out with someone. With you, if you’d like, assuming you are, um, currently unencumbered,’ she hurried on, ‘but I don’t want… complications, I suppose.’

  Mark nodded, careful to keep his expression neutral. ‘So, you’d like to take things slowly, then?’

  ‘Yes.’ Donna furrowed her brow. ‘I think so.’

  Mark nodded again, thoughtfully. ‘No problem. I understand,’ he said, wondering whether he should do the cutting and running, now, before he made her life as complicated as hell.

  He checked his watch. Force of habit, juggling home and work as he always seemed to be. Karl was due at the respite centre. He could get back comfortably enough to relieve the child-minder. But Jody would only wonder why, he supposed. And Karl really wouldn’t notice one way or the other.

  Dammit, he owed himself a litt
le off-duty time, didn’t he? And if he was reading the signs right, Donna was hinting she wanted more than dinner. ‘I’d better make a move,’ he said, trying to work out — assuming she did — how to pin her down to a time and a place.

  ‘Oh.’ Donna’s eyes shot wide… with alarm? Mark smiled and took that as a positive sign. ‘Right. Yes, me too,’ she said, glancing away. ‘Things to do, dog’s to, um, hop. Come on, Sade.’ She visibly hoisted her shoulders up and attempted to scrape her chair back, the leg of which, unfortunately, seemed to be wedged between paving stones.

  Mark’s smile widened. ‘Doesn’t do for policemen to be seen hanging around coffee bars in uniform for too long,’ he said, standing to walk around the table to assist her. ‘Would you allow me the honour of escorting you to your car? And the further honour…’ he said, his mouth close to her ear ‘… of seeing you again, after whatever amount of time you deem appropriate, of course?’

  ‘Pardon?’ She blinked up at him.

  ‘As long as it’s not too long.’ He offered a hand and helped her to her feet. ‘Don’t want you picking up any more policemen in my absence, do we?’

  ‘No,’ Donna said, her eyes on his, her lips slightly parted, far too close to his. ‘I’ve got the place,’ she blurted, just as Mark was wondering what she might taste like.

  Mark twanged his attention away from her mouth. She’d got the… ‘What?’ He shook his head, confused.

  ‘The place,’ Donna repeated, with a determined nod, ‘if you’ve got the time.’

  ‘Right,’ Mark nodded, now feeling totally confused. ‘Donna, I’m not sure I’m getting the drift.’

  ‘Coffee,’ she said, two little bright spots appearing on her cheeks. ‘Would you like one? Another one, I mean. Or tea? I might have some juice. Or wine, if you’d like. Only white, though, I’m afraid. And it’s only the boxed stuff but…’ Donna stopped as Mark continued to study her, confounded. Was she inviting him back to…? Christ, so what did he do now?

  Donna dropped her gaze. ‘I was just wondering if… but, if you’re busy…’ She stopped, chewing worriedly on her bottom lip, whilst distractedly stroking her beloved dog’s head. The dog panted, glared at Mark — he would swear — then gazed lovingly up at Donna