NY State Trooper- The Complete Box Set

by Jen Talty

  “Johnny was with my first wife. He died when he was six months old.”

  A long silence filled the warming air. Reese didn’t know what to say, or if he should say anything at all, so he stood there with his hands in pockets and waited while Jared knelt and ran his fingers across the letters that spelled out his son’s name.

  “I got married because Lisa was pregnant. It was an awful marriage, and Johnny wasn’t enough for us to even come close to making it work. She skipped out on us before Johnny died.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Reese said, humbled by the tremor in Jared’s voice.

  “I don’t know what is really going on with you right now, and I’m not going to ask you to tell me unless you want to. But I do know”—Jared rose and pointed to his son’s grave—“that whatever it was, it’s as devastating to you as it was for me to lose my son.”

  “I don’t think my situation is—”

  “My son’s death ruled my life for years. It prevented me from seeing what had always been right in front of me. It almost stopped me from allowing myself to fall in love with Ryan, and more importantly, to let her in and accept her love back.”

  “I appreciate all you’re doing, but—”

  Jared cut him off. “Whatever haunts you, deal with it and let it go, or you have no chance with Patty or your child. The baby needs to matter more. Lisa could never give that to Johnny.”

  Reese stared long and hard at the tombstone. His heart torn for the life lost and for the life he was about to bring into this world. His stomach knotted once again. He cared for Patty. But before he could really move forward with any kind of relationship with her, whatever that may be, he needed to deal with Jessica. With his past. Once and for all.

  He understood that whatever came of him and Patty, he was going to be a father.

  A real one. He was going to do whatever it took to be a good father, and hopefully win over the heart of the mother of his child.

  They belonged together. Every fiber of his being believed that, but it would be hard to prove it to Patty.

  Actions spoke louder than words.

  They walked in silence back to the parking lot. The sun beat down on his face as the spring air rolled across the mountains like a kite took to the wind. The moment his mother had told him Allen wasn’t his father, that he was in prison, and she wasn’t going to tell him who his real father had been, a part of him had disappeared. His real father, whoever he was, hadn’t been given the choice to decide for himself if he wanted a relationship.

  The rest of him died when Jessica aborted their baby.

  At least Patty was giving him the choice.

  And the chance.

  Driving back up Route 9, Reese noticed, behind a melting pile of snow, that the Heritage Inn was for sale. He remembered staying there and the old man that ran the place. It was quaint. Needed some work. But a nice family place.

  Maybe a nice place to start. Maybe he should buy it.

  He laughed at himself, but he realized he was dead serious. He’d worked as a bellhop for three summers in high school. Owning a hotel would be very different, but doable, and with a child on the way, and considering the most recent events with Patty, maybe being a cop and in the line of fire wasn’t such a good career choice for a father.

  Reese checked the time as he did a quick U-turn toward the store.

  Might as well start over right now.

  Patty was in her kitchen making some tea when she saw Reese’s truck pull in. She wasn’t expecting him, but she had wanted to talk to him all day, but figured they both needed a little time to process everything, and anyway, he would be working. He often took weekend shifts and extra shifts so family men could be home with their wives and children.

  Reese was a good man. No denying that.

  She had deep feelings for him. No denying that, either.

  But Reese held back. Even Frank, who was probably Reese’s closest friend in Lake George, said he held back from the whole male bonding thing.

  That spoke volumes on all things regarding human relationships.

  Did Reese really want a child, and would he be able to bond with it? She might not know the answers to those questions until after the baby was born.

  That was a long time to be uncertain about anything, especially something as important as this, but she had to give him the opportunity without trapping him. That, she felt, was the key to her future, and to her child’s happiness.

  Her doorbell rang, pulling her from her deep thoughts.

  “Sorry to stop by unannounced,” Reese said. “I saw your car and I wanted to stop by and give you this.” He held up a colorful bag with tissues coming out of the top, obviously a gift. “May I come in?”

  “Sure.” She took the gift, noticing her hand shook a little. She told herself she was still dealing with the trauma of the shooting, which was true, but the current tremor was all about the man who had just brought her a present and was now making himself comfortable on her sofa. “Drink?”

  “I’ll take a beer if you have one.”

  “I have some from the last....” She blushed, remembering one particular evening, one that most likely resulted in the conception of their child. She placed the beer on a coaster, next to the gift. “What’s that for?”

  “For you,” he said. “Well, not really for you, it’s for… Just open it.”

  She sat on the other side of the sofa, as far away from Reese as possible. She pulled out the tissue paper, then a couple of different generic baby outfits, bibs, pacifiers, and a Winnie the Pooh baby book.

  Reese took the book in his hands, shifting closer to her. “This was my all-time favorite book.”

  “Thank you,” she said, folding up the tiny clothes, a mix of excitement and trepidation tingled through her fingers as she felt the cotton. The clothes were so tiny and a surge of love hit her so hard she could barely breathe. “I’m really having a baby.”

  “You sound as shocked as I feel.”

  “I kind of am,” she admitted. “I took the pregnancy test five times before I believed it, and even then, I went to the doctor and asked for a blood test.” She scooted to the back of the couch, stuffing a pillow behind her back then sitting cross-legged, facing Reese and the lake. “You have to believe I didn’t plan this.”

  Reese nodded. “I redacted my transfer.”

  “I don’t want you to do that just because of the baby.” Or me, she thought, though she knew he’d never stick around just for her.

  “I am doing it because of the baby,” he said, “and there is nothing wrong with that. But I also think we need to start over. With us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dating,” he said, his face serious, but his eyes gave away his playfulness. Was that attraction and desire in his eyes, or was it…? She had no idea, but no matter what, she couldn’t allow herself to go in too deep with him. Not now. And maybe never.

  “We’ve done that,” she said.

  “Not really. I mean we start over. Do it right.”

  “There is a right way to date?” She stifled her laugh. Dating wasn’t the answer. Being together wasn’t the answer.

  “I’m serious. I think it’s best for the baby if his or her parents at least give it a go.”

  Patty shook her head. “I don’t want to get into a fight, and that is where this conversation is going. You know how I feel about my childhood. I don’t want that for my child.”

  Reese closed the gap between them, placing his hands on her knees. She wanted to tear her gaze from him, but she couldn’t. As he positioned himself to move in for a kiss, her lips parted, and he took that as invitation. He brushed his full luscious lips gently against hers. They were soft and tender and filled with the promise of what could be. Of what she wanted it to be. Of what she knew it couldn’t be. She grabbed a wad of his shirt, then pushed him away.

  “You like me,” he said, smiling at her. A twinkle in his eyes that she’d never seen before. It was playful an
d sweet. Kind and caring and at the same time pure raw passion.

  All aimed at her.

  “Never said I didn’t, but liking each other and being a couple with a baby does not make a relationship.” God, she sounded so cold.

  “We’ve got to start somewhere.” He leaned in. His breathe hot on her flesh. “I want to kiss you again, but only if you want me to.”

  For the life of her, she couldn’t push him away. She found herself wrapping her arms around his neck, easing his body closer as he lowered himself onto her, pressing her back against the couch. And then he stopped abruptly, helping her to a sitting position again. “Wow,” he managed. “We take this slowly. We date. That’s all for now.”

  “You’re the one who started that,” she said, blushing with the knowledge that she would have jumped right in the sack with him.

  “I just needed to know.”

  “Know what?”

  “That you at least feel something for me. That we feel something for each other.”

  “Sexual attraction does not make a relationship.”

  “Please stop doing that,” he said. “Your mouth is telling me to go away, but every other part of you says you want to give this a go as much as I do.”

  “I’m so confused by everything,” she said. “We’re giving each other mixed signals. You want to spend time with me. I like that. I want to spend time with, but then you kiss me and we go right back to what got us into this situation in the first place. But your past. All this talk of living together and the baby, it makes me pull back.”

  “We take things slow,” he said, “for now.” His tone gave away his hurt feelings. She didn’t blame him for that. She felt it too. So much of their relationship had been about not being in a relationship that now that they wanted to give it a go, it was awkward.

  “I’ve got dinner plans with some friends,” she said, “so, if you will excuse me...”

  “Sure.” He took her hand, and kissed it. “I’ll see myself out.”

  She didn’t get off the couch, nor did she let her breath out until after he closed the door.

  This was not what she had expected from Reese. Not at all. And it was messing with her well-laid-out-plan for raising this baby alone. She had never handled things well when her plans were interrupted or altered.

  While the baby and Reese were not an interruption, they were certainly causing a conflict that sent her senses in a tailspin.

  3

  Reese sat at his designated desk in the middle of the big room in the Trooper station, waiting for his new partner while searching the Internet for his current wife. Why had he left without a getting a divorce? It seemed stupid now, but at the time, he couldn’t stand to look at Jessica, much less talk to her, so he’d disappeared back into the ranks of the Marines and she never tried to contact him once.

  Now that he had a baby on the way, and things were looking up with Patty, it was time to bite the bullet and face the soon-to-be-ex-wife firing squad.

  The station house wasn’t very big, a satellite office for Troop G of the New York State Police. The big room contained six desks, crammed in the middle. Large florescent lights glared from the ceiling, bouncing off the scuffed, dull white floor. There was a small lobby with one metal desk. Off to the lobby’s left stood one tiny office for Jared’s secretary. Jared’s office was in the back.

  The office consisted of two support staff and eight to twelve troopers depending on the time of year, with more during the summer to manage activity on the lake. Jared had been the headman in this office nearly eight years now. Frank, Reese, Stacey, and five other troopers were assigned full-time duty to the area.

  “I heard you had quite the time of it two nights ago,” Stacey said as she tossed her oversized parka on the coat rack by the front door. It was approaching forty-five degrees outside. Not parka weather by any means.

  “That coat isn’t standard issue.”

  “I’m in uniform.” She smiled at him. “And I do have the proper coat, but that sucker doesn’t really keep one warm, now does it?”

  “It’s nearly shorts weather.”

  She ignored the jab. She was the youngest trooper in the office, and when he first met her, he’d wondered if she was even legal to drink. He soon found out not only was she of age, she’d graduated with a degree in Criminal Psychology, and then graduated top of her class at the Academy. She had blond hair, tucked up in a bun at the nap of her neck, and soft brown eyes with an edge to them that said she was one tough nut.

  “So, want to talk about it?” Stacey asked.

  “Nothing to talk about.”

  “Not what my dad and his partner says.”

  Reese motioned to the desk across from his. “Do I want to know what they say?”

  She put her Stetson on the desk, then took a seat. She sat up tall, folded her hands on the desk, and continued to stare at Reese with unnerving concentration. “A drunk cop who decided to take on my dad in a game of pool and lost his shirt.”

  “Wonderful.”

  “My father wanted to take you home. So did Doug. They do shit like that kind of often.”

  “Who is Doug?” He opted not to comment on what they might do often.

  “His partner.”

  “Your dad’s gay?” Normally, Reese wouldn’t mess around like this with someone he didn’t know well, but in the last two weeks, he found Stacey had almost no filter and a better sense of humor than anyone in this office, even if she was a bit on the young side. Besides, it was a legit question when you referred to two men as partners without any qualifiers.

  She rolled her eyes. “Business partner,” she said. “They were going to bring you home, but Mary, Doug’s wife, had a fit. They’re staying at my dad’s place for a few days while my dad and Doug put in her new cabinets.”

  “And why weren’t you out and about the other night?” Reese asked. “Oh wait, you’re not old enough to drink yet.”

  Her brow tightened. “I’ll be twenty-two next month, thank you very much.”

  Considering everything he knew about her, she could have gone on to a top level government job at the CIA, FBI, or any other Alphabet agency, and made a shitload of money. And it would probably be a bit more exciting.

  “Besides,” she continued, the words coming as fast as the credits at the end of a movie, “I can’t stand Doug’s wife, and the feeling is mutual, and Doug and my dad don’t like my boyfriend, and he’s here visiting, and we wanted some time alone, so there is that.”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you offer too much information?”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you don’t offer enough?”

  “Point taken,” he said. “Why be a Trooper? You could have done anything with your degree.”

  “Because I like it here.”

  “You might not be stationed here forever, you know.”

  “I am for now.”

  “Where is your boyfriend? You mentioned he was visiting.”

  Jared stepped out of his office. “Stacey Sutten, you file those reports.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Stacey,” Jared said. “Stop with the ‘sir’ crap. I’ve known you since you were in diapers.”

  “I just won twenty bucks,” Stacey said, pumping the air with her fist. Her smile was wider than the one on a kid in a candy shop.

  “No, you didn’t,” Jared said. “Your dad said that bet was if I said I changed your diaper, and that, my dear child, I will never cop to.”

  “But you did change my diapers.”

  Jared just shook his head and went back into his office.

  “Do you have any idea how weird that conversation was?” Reese asked.

  “That’s normal for us.” Stacey leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She was an attractive young woman, but she put out a ”keep away from me because I bite” vibe. Her dry sense of humor seemed to be a personality trait, but Reese recognized it was also a defense mechanism.

  “Got to be weird, being a trooper in
the town you grew up in.”

  “Haven’t been a trooper that long, so I don’t know. But it will be fun to pull over some of the assholes I had to deal with in high school.”

  “Yeah, I could see how that would be fun,” he said. “How does your dad feel about you being a cop?”

  “He hates it, but I wasn’t about to become a partner in the Sutten & Tanner Construction Company—not because I’m not qualified, but because my dad doesn’t think it’s ladylike.”

  “And being a cop is?”

  She tilted her head and gave a ladylike smile. “My father once told me I couldn’t handle construction, after he told me it was man’s work. He’s so old-fashioned it’s insane, and it’s not like he’s that old. He let me work with him and Doug for a summer. He told me I needed to go out in the world and carve my own way before he’d consider hiring me. I went off to college, studied criminal law, and decided to be a cop. My dad nearly passed out when I told him, and offered me a job.”

  Three times, Reese tried to interject to tell her to slow down or take a breath, or just shut up, but he didn’t see the point. It was fun to listen to her ramble anyway.

  “I think I’ve met your dad’s partner over at Harmon Hill,” Reese said. “Oh, and I met the Nesbitch, too. At least that’s what Frank called her.”

  Stacey roared laughing. “No one likes Doug’s wife. Not sure how much Doug likes her. They got married because she was pregnant, but then lost the baby. Doug really wants kids, and she says she does, but she’s too busy with her career. I give them six more months, tops.”

  His heart skipped a beat as he visualized Patty being held at gunpoint. When it had happened, he had no idea she carried his baby. The idea something could have happened to Patty, or his baby, made his stomach churn. “You really need to learn to filter what you say.” She had no way of knowing his personal situation with Patty or his hopefully soon-to-be-ex-wife, but still, Stacey was going to need to mature and learn sometimes less was more.

  She rolled her eyes again. “I’m not saying anything that isn’t out there in the universe for all to know, or something I wouldn’t say to their faces.”