The Hooker, the Handyman and What the Parrot Saw

by Patricia Harman

  “No,” she sobbed. “No. Not that. The train. It was coming for you. It always comes for me, but it was headed right for you,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

  “What?” Jake asked, confused. He sat her up and pulled her close. “There’s no train. No train,” he said rattled by her terror.

  He held her for a long time while she shook and whispered about trains in her nightmares and how she had no idea where they came from or why they terrified her. When he could no longer feel her heart pounding against his chest as he held her, he laid her down and stroked her hair until she fell back to sleep, but there would be no more sleep for Jake that night. His reaction to her nightmare terrified him beyond comprehension. He felt it was an omen of things to come. Bad things, and Jake Adams knew a thing or two about bad things.

  In the morning he suggested they spend the weekend together. Jake worried about his SUV being parked in front her apartment complex all weekend and wanted her to come to his hotel but she argued that was just as obvious and that maybe leaving Landon all together would be a better idea. They finally decided that he would go to his hotel and pack for the weekend, then come back for her and they would head for the beach. Charlie took a quick shower and jumped at the opportunity to grab her laptop and catch up with AJ. She wasn’t looking forward to telling him that she had fallen in love, but she had to tell him. They were friends. They were close. So close that she suspected that he probably already knew.

  VABlueAngel: AJ?

  She waited for his response, but there was none. It wasn’t their usual time. She usually chatted with him at night. Maybe he wasn’t as tuned in to her as she had fantasized that he was? she thought, already trying to minimize the significance he played in her life.

  VABlueAngel: AJ?

  AJ101-789: I’m here.

  Oh yea, he knew.

  VABlueAngel: You’re upset with me. I’m so sorry AJ. You have been there for me for over a year and now I’ve disappeared on you. I’m so sorry. So much has happened.

  AJ101-789: Are you in love with him Angel?

  Damn it. He knew. She knew he would know.

  VABlueAngel: Yes.

  AJ101-789: You are loved back?

  VABlueAngel: Yes.

  AJ101-789: I knew it. He’s not good enough for you Angel.

  His words stung, and anger flashed in her eyes as she typed.

  VABlueAngel: What a thing to say AJ! How could you possibly know that?

  AJ101-789: Because he’s a cop. Because no one is good enough for you. Because you told me yourself you know almost nothing about him. Shall I go on?

  VABlueAngel: No. I understand that you are worried about me but please don’t be AJ. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. I know that I don’t know much about him but I know how I feel. It’s been such a long time since I have let myself trust someone with my heart and only you truly know how lonely my life has been. You’re my friend, please be happy for me.

  AJ101-789: Has he told you that he loves you Angel?

  Her blood pressure started to rise again. Why was AJ being so awful? But she knew why.

  VABlueAngel: No. I just feel it.

  AJ101-789: I want you happy Angel—you know I do. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Tell me what’s going on with the homicides. Are you off the case?

  VABlueAngel: No, but like I said it’s not my case. It’s never been my case. It’s just my shop. I did however get into a foot pursuit yesterday. It was awesome! I didn’t catch him but I chased the shit out of him! LOL

  AJ101-789: Another scumbag off the street. Good work Angel. 

  VABlueAngel: How do you know we got him off the street? I said I didn’t catch him.

  AJ101-789: Which implies someone else did right? Damn girl, our mojo is off. See what happens when we don’t talk every day?

  VABlueAngel: Oh. Yes. Well, not exactly. The perp was unconscious by the time I caught up to him. We think he ran into a tree or a low branch or something. He was out cold as a mackerel.

  AJ101-789: LOL are you sure he wasn’t playing possum? If you were chasing me, I’d find a way to get caught. Was he with you?

  VABlueAngel: Clint was with me.

  AJ101-789: Ahhhh. And yet another admirer. You are surrounded Angel. I don’t blame them. If I were there, I’d never leave your side.

  VABlueAngel: Clint’s not an admirer. He’s a subordinate. Enough about me. How are you doing over there?

  AJ101-789: It’s been interesting. A roller coaster.

  Charlie could relate.

  VABlueAngel: Just tell me you’re safe.

  AJ101-789: For the moment. Yes. I miss you, Charlie.

  VABlueAngel: I miss you, too, AJ. I’ll try to do better about checking in okay?

  AJ101-789: No Angel. We knew this relationship had a shelf life. It was just a matter of time before someone would steal your heart. I just didn’t think it would be the Fed.

  VABlueAngel: Neither did I AJ. I never saw it coming.

  AJ101-789: I know. Time for me to crash.

  Charlie was unsettled by her discussion with AJ. Did he just break off their friendship? She was glad he finally knew what was happening with her but sad that she had hurt him. Maybe he was right. Maybe their friendship did have a shelf life. For the last year or so, AJ had been more of a surrogate boyfriend than just an internet buddy, but she had never really admitted that to herself until now. She often fantasized about him showing up at her office, carrying a bouquet of flowers, and wearing a military dress uniform and a big smile. He would be tall and handsome and perfect. “Hello Angel,” he would say to her and she would know instantly that it was him and run to his arms.

  It was a fantasy that sustained her through many lonely nights but the truth was she no longer needed a fantasy life. She had Jake now. She wasn’t alone anymore.

  “Has he told you he loves you?”

  AJ’s question was like a cold splash of water in her face. She pushed it from her head and started to pack. Jake would be back soon to pick her up and she still wasn’t packed. She started going through her closet unsure how they would be spending their two days together. She hoped it would be two days of who-the-hell-needs-clothes but on second thought, they might have to eat at some point. Only a few of the hotels on the strip had room service and she had only stayed in one once on her honeymoon. She smiled at the thought of her ex. She was still mad at him, but she cherished many of the memories they had made together, especially at the beach. He had once written her a love note in the sand and then took her to the balcony in their room to read it. It was a happy time. Even if she had to give him up she did not want to give up the memories of the good times, of which there were many.

  Sweatshirts. She would need sweatshirts, it was still pretty chilly, especially at night, even more so at the beach. She packed a bathing suit but decided that was stupid in the middle of March so she took it out. She dug to the bottom of her lingerie drawer for her sexiest nightgowns, her Redskins shirt notwithstanding, but her heart fell as she looked at the skimpy night gowns in the bottom of her drawer and realized that the last time she had tried on or purchased lingerie was twenty pounds ago.

  “Fucking Gay Dolphin,” she muttered.

  She did however find some sexy underwear and a camisole. That would have to do. She put on her holey jeans, a red sweater, and white tennis shoes. She always liked the color red on her and was hoping Jake would too. Then she straightened her shiny brown hair with a flat iron. She rarely wore it straightened because it took too much time, but this weekend was special. Charlie hoped it would be very special. She also packed a few oversized t-shirts to lounge in and made a mental note that it was time to hit Victoria’s Secret immediately following this trip. She looked at Gus and considered him for a moment, replaying last night’s wrestling match in her head, but de
cided he would stay.

  “Sorry buddy,” she said, shaking her head and putting Gus back in her nightstand drawer. “Not this trip.” She imagined him in the dark drawer with a boo-boo lip jutting out in disappointment.

  Jake arrived looking very relaxed in tan khakis and off-white linen shirt with a London Fog windbreaker and deck shoes. “Wow, Charlie,” he said, startled when she opened the door. “You look amazing.”

  “Really?” she squeaked. He reached out and touched her straightened hair, stroking it gently.

  “I like your hair like this, Baby,” he growled, and his eyes got that look. Charlie was anxious to get to the beach but she was frozen in place. When that look came over him, she was powerless to move, to object or to suggest. She was lost in his penetrating gaze.

  “I-I guess we should go. I-did you get a reservation? Because even this time of year Saturdays can be . . .” He ran a thumb across her lips and she stopped midsentence and closed her eyes.

  “Let’s go,” he said quietly. “Now Charlie,” he said louder, snapping her out of her trance.

  They drove in relative silence the thirty minutes to the strip on the beach. There was an undercurrent of electricity charging the Fed Mobile and she began to fantasize about Jake finally making love to her. For real this time. He seemed lost in his thoughts as well. Was he nervous? She certainly was. She couldn’t believe how nervous she was, but him? Calm cool Mr. Fed? Mr. Alpha Male? Her thoughts were broken as Jake pulled into the Ocean Club Beach Resort. She looked at him and then looked up at the seventeen-story hotel-da-shit.

  “Jake?” she asked, but he ignored her as he handed his keys to the valet.

  By noon they were checked into their suite. The Ocean Beach Club was the most exclusive hotel on the strip. Even though Charlie had been in Landon for over a decade she never expected she would ever spend a night in a room in this hotel, not on a cop’s salary, let alone a suite. The sitting room was magnificent, expansive, and exquisitely decorated in light turquoise and beach gold with a 60-inch flat screen TV. In the bedroom was a California king bed with a velvet chaise lounge and another giant flat screen. Charlie almost gasped when she saw the size of the Jacuzzi platform tub in the bathroom.

  “Now this is a bathtub,” Jake said in a low voice behind her, massaging the back of her neck as she stared at the tub. Charlie tried not to appear overly excited about the suite, worried that she would seem unsophisticated, but she was blown away and Jake was grinning at the look on her face.

  “Jake, this is the most amazing room I’ve ever seen,” she said, with wonder, “but I don’t need this. Really. There are much more affordable hotels on the strip. Did Captain Kerns get you a discount or something?”

  “No discount,” Jake said flatly, sounding a little offended. “Don’t you know I want to take care of you?”

  Charlie was unable to process the weight of what he had just said. Her heart desperately wanted to believe, but her mind put up a fight. “Why isn’t it on the top floor?” she questioned. “I thought suites and penthouses were on the top floor?” She realized she had just let the cat out of the bag. Oh well, she was unsophisticated! Jake would have to be okay with that.

  “Because the best views are not always from the top floor, Angel.” She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. That was twice now he had called her Angel.

  “What?” he asked perplexed.

  “Nothing,” she lied.

  “Come on,” he said as he guided her to the balcony with his hand on the small of her back. He opened the door and the roar of the ocean, the ocean breeze, and the smell of salt water assaulted her senses. The view was magnificent and it took her breath away. God, she loved the ocean and she said a quiet thank you to God for being lucky enough to be born close to one. She closed her eyes and breathed it in. When she opened her eyes, she saw him doing the same thing and she covered his giant hand with her tiny fingers and squeezed. He led her back inside and into the bedroom, where her pulse started to quicken as he kissed her, slowly . . . seducing her mouth with his, but her anticipation was short lived.

  “Boardwalk! Come on, let’s go!” he chirped, in a higher than usual voice, sounding like a little boy and melting her heart. She grabbed her sunglasses and her Dive Bahamas baseball hat and raced him to the door.

  They lunched at the Beachside Diner and she ordered a mimosa, but Jake passed.

  “You don’t drink?”

  “Very rarely,” he said, offering no further explanation. She stared at him demanding an answer. “I like to be in control.”

  She felt her face flush and her pulse quicken.

  “I’ve noticed,” she said avoiding his stare. “Maybe, we could try it together. I don’t drink very often myself but after the week we’ve had, maybe a little buzz before we take a swim in that tub would be . . . I don’t know . . . fun.” She grinned, hoping he would let his guard down enough to fully take her.

  “We’ll see,” his eyes twinkled, knowing full well what she was up to.

  They walked along the boardwalk for hours, talking about the case, about Landon PD and about Thompson. AJ was right—she knew very little about Jake Adams and two hours of walking hadn’t gotten her any closer. Whenever she would ask him a question to learn more about him, he would pretend to answer by starting to talk about himself but then he turned it into a question for her to answer and the ensuing hours were spent talking about her instead of him.

  “Why don’t you talk about yourself?”

  “I do. Tell me about the hat. You a scuba diver, or you just liked the hat?”

  “I’m a diver,” she said, proudly. “Ten years now.” He had done it again.

  “For fun or are you a police diver?”

  She looked sheepishly at him. “I was going to be a police diver. But, I didn’t make the team. There was an . . . incident. An accident.” He motioned the gimme more sign with his hand. Charlie sighed. Oh well, if he hung around Landon PD long enough, he was bound to hear the story. He might as well hear it from her.

  “I learned to dive in my early twenties in the Keys—you know, warm water, pretty fish, no wetsuit needed yada yada.”

  “Mhmm.”

  “Well, a few years ago I thought I might try out for the SWAT Team but my ex freaked out,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  Even the mention of another man invoked a reaction in him that he had difficulty hiding. A man who had been with her. A man who had hurt her and left her, but mostly a man who had been with her. Jake was no longer able to hear what she was saying so he took a deep breath and tried to focus.

  “So I said ‘that’s ridiculous, just because you didn’t make the team doesn’t mean I won’t.’ I was in a little better shape back then,” she qualified, looking down at herself briefly.

  “Your shape is perfect,” he said placing his hand on her ass in full view of the boardwalk foot traffic, and she grinned at him and at her butterflies.

  “So anyway, when he dumped me, I put my letter in for the Dive Team because that was the opening that came available first. It didn’t go so well. I kind of drowned during the testing.”

  “What?” Jake said, stopping on the boardwalk and facing her.

  “Well, I mean, I didn’t, obviously, but technically I did. It turned out okay but I was kind of unconscious at the bottom of Lake Ewing and they had to pull me out, resuscitate me and stuff.” She delivered the information like it was no big deal. Jake pulled her into a tight hug as if it had just happened and she could feel his body trembling.

  “It was just one of those freak things.” She couldn’t help loving him for his reaction. “Come on,” she said, and started walking again but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the rail.

  “You drained your tank?” Jake asked.

  “You dive, Adams?” she asked surprised.

  “I do,” he said, and she grinned in spite of telling
the story she hated to relive.

  “Cool,” she said. “Where have you been diving? How many hours have you logged?”

  He glared impatiently at her and she shifted uncomfortably.

  “Tell me the rest,” he instructed. She glanced up at him, his eyes were dark. “Tell me.”

  Charlie took a deep breath. “Jake. I don’t see the point . . .”

  “Tell me,” he ordered.

  “I . . . well I spent the first thirty seconds convincing myself it was psychological and the second thirty seconds trying to get the emergency floats to activate,” she looked up tentatively and his eyes were transfixed on her. “By the time I knew I was in real trouble, it was too late. I was in full panic mode. I was trying to drop my weight belt but I couldn’t get my glove under the release latch. Finally, I just ripped off the mask and started clawing at the water . . . I was . . .”

  “Stop. Okay. Stop,” he said grabbing her hand, pulling her to him and hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe.

  “It’s okay, Jake. It wasn’t that big a deal.” But even as she said it her eyes started to fill. There was no one there to have this reaction when the diving accident happened. She went home to an empty apartment. Nothing about it felt right. Someone should have been with her. That was a really close call, she thought as she sat alone on her couch. . . . and there is no one here. The person who promised to protect her and be there for her was gone and she was alone. The feeling of loneliness that enveloped her that day, while her husband was off making a new life, was one of the worst feelings she had ever known, and there were a shitload of those feelings to pick from.

  “It was kind of funny actually. The guys put an empty fish tank on my desk with a Barbie doll at the bottom . . .” He interrupted her. “It’s not okay, Charlie.” She struggled to keep from losing it.

  How did this man always find a way to reach parts of her she had purposely rendered un-reachable? They leaned against the rail embracing each other for what felt like hours. Not talking, just hugging. Jake finally spoke first. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her sad eyes, his face serious and dark.