Dreaming in Dairyland

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Cissie readily agreed. "We should probably see if we can borrow Trey's truck. Trey too for that matter."

  "You don't think he'll mind?"

  "As long as we don't let Lachele drive it, he won't care at all." She grinned at him.

  "Did you know Lachele was a bad driver when you got in a car with her behind the wheel on Friday night?" He'd truly never seen anyone swerve like Lachele had without at least a six pack of beer in their system.

  Cissie nodded. "Oh yeah. The stories her husband tells would turn your hair gray. And she backed into a dock with me in the boat when she interviewed me—repeatedly."

  Bob blinked a few times, trying to understand her reasoning. "So why did you get in a car with her?"

  Cissie shrugged. "I guess I didn't think she'd be that bad on the road. I was wrong. And no one else wanted to drive. Lachele wanted to."

  "Please promise me you won't ever do anything that crazy again. I thought she was driving drunk when I saw the vehicle swerving in and out."

  "I promise, all any of us drank all night was pop." She understood where he was coming from, and she knew they'd all shown poor judgment getting into the car with her.

  "That doesn't make me feel any better." He rubbed his hands through his hair. "Do you have any idea how many people I've pulled out of wrecked cars? How many families I've had to visit to explain that their loved one was never coming home? I can't lose you, Cissie." His voice was desperate, and he didn't care. He wouldn't lose another person he loved.

  Cissie walked to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I won't ride with her again. I promise." She rested her head against his chest, surprised at how upset he was, but happy to agree if it made him happy. "Who have you lost?"

  Bob closed his eyes. "My parents were hit by a drunk driver when I was in college. They both lived, but Mom was in a wheelchair for a while. That's why they didn't come to the wedding. It's hard for her to ride in a car now. She's afraid to be in a car at all." He'd changed his major to criminal justice just a few weeks later.

  She was certain his parents wreck hadn't been the panic she heard in his voice. "But who did you lose?"

  He sighed heavily. "My partner. She did something foolhardy, and I watched her die." I let her die.

  "Will you tell me about it?" It was obviously something that had made a big difference in his life, and she wanted to hear about it. She wanted to know everything about him.

  Bob was tempted to talk about Chaynade to her, but he just couldn't. He didn't want her to realize it was his fault his partner had died. It was enough that he blamed himself. "Someday." He hadn't talked about it since he'd had to spend hours with the department shrink.

  Cissie sighed, wishing he'd talk about what happened. How could she be a loving, supportive wife if he wouldn't tell her anything? "I'll be ready to listen."

  Bob smiled at her words. "Thanks. Do you have Trey's number?" He had to change the subject before he broke down and told her everything. It was too soon for her to know. The contract she'd signed was only in effect for a year. After that, she was able to leave.

  She shook her head. "No, but I have Cindy's. Want me to text her?"

  "That'd be great." He had Trey's number, but he didn't want to give that fact away. He couldn't help but wonder how his sweet wife would respond if she knew how their wedding had really come to be.

  She grabbed her phone and typed a quick text. "Made it through the wedding night. Awesome. Can we borrow Trey's truck?" It was cryptic, but Cindy would understand. She and Cindy had been sharing a brain for twenty years.

  Looking up at Bob, she said, "I texted her. It might take a minute for her to respond, because she's busy in the mornings."

  By noon, they not only had Trey's truck, they had Cindy and Trey helping them. Trey and Bob were riding together, and Cissie and Cindy were following in Bob's Equinox.

  "So? What do you think of your Bob?" Cindy asked as they drove toward Cissie's parents' house.

  "Bob is special. I like him a lot, and he seems to almost worship me, which I like because he does it in a totally non-creepy way. He's hiding something, though. Maybe more than one something." She shook her head. She believed in full truth at all times. In fact, she often shared a great deal more truth than people wanted to know.

  "How do you know?"

  "Well, he said something about a former partner who died in front of him, and he was obviously sad about it. I asked him to tell me about her, but he wouldn't. He said he would someday." Cissie made a face. She hated waiting for someday.

  "Oh, he doesn't realize that you hate secrets, does he? It's like Trey with my coffee mug when we first married. I thought I was going to have to hit him over the head with a baseball bat."

  Cissie laughed. "He doesn't know much about me at all yet. We haven't been married for twenty-four hours yet."

  "Sex was good?"Cindy asked.

  Cissie rolled her eyes. "Sex was amazing. Do you really think I'd tolerate anything less?" Cindy had known her too long not to know she'd make sure it was good, no matter what it took.

  Cindy chuckled. "I can just see you getting sex books from the library and showing him exactly how to do it right."

  "If I needed to, I certainly would! Sex is too much a part of married life for me to put up with it being sub-par. So far so good, though. I like him."

  "He seems very likable," Cindy responded.

  "We've both taken the week off work, but we're not really going anywhere for a honeymoon. We need to get to know each other better, though."

  "I wish Trey and I could have done that. I just couldn't see closing the B&B in the middle of summer, though. It's our busy season." Cindy shrugged. "We made it work."

  "You did, and you had a psycho sister-in-law flying at you!"

  "Penny was a real piece of work," Cindy said, shaking her head. "She's doing well in counseling according to Trey's dad."

  "Have you met his parents yet?"

  "No. They're supposed to fly up for Christmas, though. I hope I can handle them."

  Cissie understood immediately what Cindy meant. Her mother-in-law had defended Penny to no end, and there was bound to be some friction there. "Let me know if you have problems. I'll borrow Bob's night stick and take them out!"

  Cindy laughed. "I can just picture you going after my in-laws with a night stick. Sometimes you're scary, Cissie. I'm glad you're always on my side."

  "The best part of that is you know I always will be." Cissie laughed at a memory. "Do you remember when we were seven, and we wanted to become blood sisters like some of the boys at school were doing, but we were afraid to cut ourselves?"

  Cindy nodded. "So you came up with the idea of spitting on dirt and shaking hands that way. And you decided that blood sisters was boring. Instead we'd be dirt sisters."

  "Yes! And we will always be dirt sisters, Cindy. No matter what!" They pulled up in front of the house and went inside to get what Cissie needed. "I've already got most of it packed up and ready to go." She led the way up to her bedroom and pointed out the boxes she needed moved first.

  Trey picked up the first box. "What have you got in here? Rocks?"

  Cissie shook her head. "Books! I mostly read on my Kindle, but those are books that I've had autographed by favorite authors."

  Trey looked at the five boxes of books. "You've had that many books autographed? How did you meet that many authors?"

  "Online! Cindy and I are both part of some Facebook groups with some authors. We help them, and they send us books. Everyone's happy!"

  Trey looked at Cindy. "Why didn't I know this?"

  Cindy shrugged. "You know I read a lot."

  The men carried out the boxes while Cissie and Cindy carried the hanging clothes. Trey grumbled about the books every time they passed him, but Bob just took it in stride.

  Cissie overheard Bob say to Trey, "If these boxes are giving you trouble, maybe you should start working out."

  She hurried past too quickly to hear Trey's response, but she
couldn't let her friend's husband hear her laugh, and she was about to explode. She was leaned into the back of the Equinox laughing when Cindy came up behind her. "What's so funny?"

  Cissie explained what she'd heard and Cindy covered her mouth to stifle her own giggle. "Trey's not a gym rat like Bob, but he's strong."

  "I know. I just thought it was hilarious." Cissie watched their husbands walking toward them. Bob was wearing shorts and a tight fitting tee-shirt. "I do like the way my new husband fills out his clothes."

  Cindy nodded, watching them. "Maybe we should suggest they take off their shirts because it's so hot."

  "It's fifty-five degrees out. Neither of them would believe that was why. If we were moving in summer, maybe. Besides, you don't need to be ogling Bob. You love Trey!"

  "I do. But Bob is serious eye candy."

  Both women were laughing as they walked past the men to go back into the house.

  Chapter Five

  Their first week of marriage went by much too quickly for Cissie's tastes. She loved getting to know Bob, and she loved every minute they spent together. Sunday afternoon he was watching the Bears play the Packers and rooting for the wrong team entirely, while Cissie sat beside him on the couch, her Kindle resting on his broad shoulder.

  They had agreed to not watch the game together, not wanting to cause friction in their marriage. Cissie read one of her favorite author's newest books, wincing every time Bob cheered. She'd check out the score of the game later, like she always did, but she didn't have a need to watch the actual game itself.

  They talked during commercials. "What time do you go into work?" she asked.

  "Nine most days. What about you?" He knew their schedules wouldn't mesh well, but he planned to do whatever was necessary to see her as much as he could.

  "I go in at noon and work 'til close every night but Wednesday. I participate in the karaoke on Wednesdays so I'm technically off at five thirty, but everyone still comes to me with questions. I guess I could leave, but I'm not supposed to." Would they ever even see each other? Other than the weekends?

  "What time is close?"

  "Ten. Eleven on Fridays." She knew the hours were long, but she was needed so she worked them.

  Bob frowned, looking over at her. "We're never going to see each other, except weekends and Wednesday nights. When you get home, I'll be sleeping." He quickly started thinking about how he could change his schedule to match hers. It shouldn't be hard, because the guys on nights all wanted to be on days.

  Cissie didn't like the sound of that at all. "We don't open 'til noon most days, so I can't really change my hours. I have a weekend manager, but he's got a 'real job' during the week."

  "I can talk to the sheriff, see if he'll put me on nights." He hated the idea of working nights, but he'd do it so their schedules could match, and they could spend more time together. He'd spent too many years working nights in Chicago to want to do them again, but he'd do anything for her.

  Cissie kissed his shoulder. "I'd like that, but I don't want to upset your schedule. What would your hours be then?" She wanted to spend time with him but didn't want to mess with his world. How could she do both?

  "Night shift is three to midnight, with an hour for lunch."

  She bit her lip. "Would it bother you to work the night shift? Obviously it's not your preference or you'd already be doing it." She didn't want him to have to change for her, but she knew it would be impossible for her to change for him. The bowling alley hours needed to remain as they were.

  "It won't bother me. I'm a night owl. I'll talk to the sheriff to have it done permanently, but there are always night shift guys who want to trade shifts." He would do anything to make her happy, and changing shifts was little enough. Of course, it would mean more time on traffic duty, but he could handle that. He would hate missing karaoke though. "It's probably too late to change shifts for this week, but starting next Monday, we can do that."

  "If you really don't mind, that would be awesome. And this week, you can come hang out with me for karaoke, if you don't mind. Some of our local singers will make your ears bleed!" She could think of one woman in particular who sang every week and was just terrible.

  Bob laughed. "I know. Some of them are god-awful!"

  Cissie looked at him for a moment. "Have you been to karaoke at the Blevins Bowl?" She'd thought he looked too familiar for it to be just pulling Lachele over the night before the wedding. Could he have been someone she had seen on karaoke night?

  He nodded, suddenly nervous. Was she going to be upset with him? "Yeah. I've been going since late July." Hopefully she wouldn't ask anything else. He wouldn't lie to her, but neither would he volunteer information on how he'd gotten hooked up with Lachele.

  "So you knew who I was when we met? You already knew my name?" No one could be a regular for karaoke and not know her, because she was always introduced as the manager, and she sang the first song every single week. He wouldn't have hidden the fact that he knew who she was from her, would he? There was no logical reason for him to have done so. Unless there was something else he wasn't telling her.

  He took a deep breath and nodded, reaching out to stroke her cheek. "I wanted to approach you, but every time I tried my tongue felt thick and my heart raced. Then I started blushing. I asked Trey about you the first night I saw you." He watched her face carefully, hoping with everything inside him that she wouldn't get angry with him.

  Cissie pulled back from him, looking at him as if she'd never seen him before. "You mean, you know Trey?" He'd acted like he was seeing Trey for the first time when she'd introduced them the week before. Why would he do that? What would he possibly stand to gain by pretending not to know Trey?

  He scrubbed his hands over his face, knowing it was time to come clean and tell her everything. "Just hear me out, Cissie, and I'll tell you how this happened." He didn't want the anger he knew would come from his deception, but if he waited longer, it would surely get worse. Better to get it over with.

  Cissie kept her face impassive instead of throwing something at him as she wanted to. What the heck? Had he known he was marrying her while she was left in the dark? How fair was that? "Go on." She knew her anger was leaking into her voice just a bit, but she couldn't hide it any longer.

  He looked down at his hands, his voice low. He was afraid to look at her as he explained exactly what he'd done. "I talked to Trey that first night, and asked for your phone number. If I'd had the guts to approach you that night, I think I would have been all right, but I was on a blind date, and I didn't think I should ask you out while I was there with another woman." He paused, sneaking a look at her. She looked angry. There was no way he was going to be able to explain this to her satisfaction. "When I came back the next week, I flagged Trey down again, and we sat and talked for a few minutes. He told me about Lachele and gave me her phone number." He tried to make it clear that Trey wasn't at fault for what had happened, but he knew she'd blame the other man. He didn't want there to be friction between her and her best friend because of him.

  Cissie felt hurt deep in her gut. "So Trey, Cindy, and Lachele were all part of this?" Trey and Lachele were one thing, but Cindy? If Cindy had been involved with deceiving her, she was certain her heart would break. It would truly be beyond her comprehension.

  Bob shook his head emphatically. "Not Cindy. At least, I don't think she had any idea." He didn't know for certain whether Trey had told his wife anything, but his gut said he hadn't. Cindy hadn't given him knowing looks at the wedding or when they'd seen her the next day. Surely she was innocent of all involvement.

  "I'll find out for myself if Cindy knew anything. Go on." Cissie didn't want to hear any more, but she knew she needed to. She had to know who all was involved so she could deal with it.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Bob saw the Bears make a touchdown, and he shut off the TV with the remote he still held. "So I called Lachele, and she told me she didn't set people up the way I was asking for. You see, I was wi
lling to go through Matchrimony with no problem, but only if she'd interview me with you in mind. I didn't want anyone else." He didn't add that he would have flat refused to be matched with anyone but Cissie, but he was certain his unspoken words were understood.

  Cissie took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. Was she married to some creepy stalker type? And what had Lachele been smoking to agree to this nonsense? "So we're not really a match?" That was almost the hardest thing for her to deal with about it all. She'd thought the man in front of her was her soul mate, the man who was meant for her. To find out he wasn't after they'd had the most wonderful week of marriage she could imagine, was heart wrenching.

  Bob moved closer to her on the couch, trying to put an arm around her, but she shrugged him off. "That's the deal, Cissie! We are a match. I had to go through sixteen hours of interview and tests, when most people only do twelve. I had to take all these different tests to make sure I wasn't some kind of freak. She even made me sign something so she could talk to my doctors and the department shrink in Chicago. Everything was fine. She told me if she had one tiny little worry that we wouldn't be right together, she would nix the whole thing. But she didn't." More than anything, he needed her to understand that they really were meant for each other. They belonged together, and Dr. Lachele had come to that conclusion herself.

  Cissie looked at him then, fire in her eyes. "So while I was sitting there, following every single rule Matchrimony has, you knew who you were marrying, what I looked like, and could investigate on your own. My dad was freaked out about this, and you got to know all the time? Where is the fairness in that, Deputy Bob?" She spit the name out, so annoyed with him she almost couldn't see straight.

  Bob sighed. "Lachele told me you'd react this way when you found out." He wished he could have held out just a little longer, to give her time to fall in love with him. Now, it would never happen. He wished he knew of a magical band-aid he could put on their relationship. He wouldn't change what he'd done, but maybe if he could change the way she'd found out.