“Hello, Lacey,” he said.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than slip in here to see what I’m up to, Richard?” I asked, and he smiled back at me, making himself comfortable in the chair in front of my desk and staring back at me while I continued to work.
“You’ve been here late every night, Lacey. You know, some of us get all our work done and still manage to have a social life. You’re a catch, and it doesn’t make sense that you’re not out there dating right now,” he teased.
“You and I both know that I’m already romantically involved with my job, and with all the time I spend backlogging cases, I really don’t have time to be dating anyone. Or would you rather I let my performance at work suffer for someone to take me out to dinner?” I asked, glaring at him.
“Now, I don’t think that it has to be one or the other. You are perfectly capable of handling them both, and I know it’s been a while since you’ve been out on a date, but you need it. Trust me, I see how frustrated you are every day, how exhausted you are when you return to the office the next morning after a long night, and you need a break.”
“I don’t have time for a break, Richard,” I replied, running my fingers through a few folders in the filing cabinet near my desk.
“Think about it, Lacey. What’s the point of doing all this great work if you don’t have someone to share your successes with? You’re a great prosecutor, and you deserve to have a little fun too is all. I want to set you up with someone I think you might like, and it may help take some of the edge off around here.” I knew he meant well, but a blind date really wasn’t on the cards for me with all the work I still had to get done.
“I don’t think so. Not something I’m interested in, Richard, but I genuinely appreciate the effort.” I sipped my coffee and picked up my pen, as if to make my point.
“Suit yourself, Lacey, but the offer stands,” he replied, getting up to leave my office.
I knew quite well that he wasn’t going to stop teasing me until I put myself out there again, but it was something I was willing to deal with because my heart was in my work.
I couldn’t see myself coming home to someone, telling them about how work was, not being able to divulge any of the real details, only to pretend that this job was not absolutely exhausting. I love what I do, but I wasn’t ready to share that part of me with anyone, and frankly, I didn’t think that love would ever be something I would indulge in. I just didn’t have the time for it.
I sighed and sipped my coffee while I continued going through cases. I thought a lot about what Richard said, but I didn’t have it in me to go out with this friend of his, especially because Richard knew absolutely nothing about what kind of men I was interested in.
I decided it would be best to call up someone who genuinely understood me and get everything off my chest. I called my best friend, Mona, hoping that she would be able to side with me on this one, because anyone that Richard would’ve picked for me to go on a date with would probably be just as self-obsessed as he was.
“Hey, Lacey! You’re still at the office, what could you possibly be calling me about?” she asked, pretending not to know that this was a regular thing we liked to do.
“It’s okay, there’s no one around. Richard is trying to set me up with someone, telling me that I needed to take a break every once in a while and put myself back out on the market. Is he crazy? There’s no way any work would get done if I spent all my time running after men who had no idea what they wanted and would end up disappointing me anyway,” I said, rambling over the phone while she listened attentively before chiming in.
“Richard is right, Lacey. You really are married to your job. It wouldn’t hurt to let yourself go every once in a while, and you might even find that you feel a bit more refreshed when you return to work, instead of being so uptight all the time,” she said.
“Ouch,” I said jokingly.
“I tell you these things because I love you, and I don’t want to see you crash and burn,” she replied.
“I feel like I’m crashing and burning all the time, Mona. You know that this job is hard, I’m constantly working the cases, and let’s not forget that I originally wanted to be a defense attorney, but instead I ended up working for the government,” I said, wallowing in my sorrow while she continued to try lifting me up.
“I know, Lacey. You have to remember that you’re incredible at your job, and I don’t think there’s anyone that can do what you can. That fire you have inside of you isn’t going anywhere, even if you took a break every once in a while.” For the first time I started to warm to the idea.
“I’ll think about it,” I replied, realizing that she might have a point. “I’ll speak to you later. Gotta go, work to do.”
Is there really room for balance in a life like this, or am I just kidding myself?
Three
Moves
I wasn’t about to have a guy ride on the back of my bike, so I took my truck to pick up Chalupa. I parked a few blocks away from the station because the last thing I needed was to have it impounded while I was in there. The minute I approached the LPPD building, there was a familiar sense of tension in the air, one I knew all too well. It was like they could all sense me coming from a mile away, either that or they took one look at my appearance and decided I had to be trouble. I popped the collar on my leather jacket and removed my sunglasses before I approached the desk. I could see the woman sitting behind it clutching her fake pearl necklace, staring at the tattoos on my neck.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a voice that was less than friendly.
“I’m here to post bail for a friend of mine,” I said, smiling at her kindly, but I could tell that she was rather afraid of me, even while sitting in the middle of the police department.
“Of course,” she said, getting ready to help me process everything.
I needed to get Chalupa out of the cell he’d probably spent the entire night in, replaying the moment he got caught over in his head, trying to figure out how he managed to slip up. We’ve been running together long enough for him to know the rules, and I had to make sure that this went down without a hitch, so that I wouldn’t have to show my face in the police department again for a long time. They’d all had their suspicions about me and other members of the Outlaw Souls, but I was just afraid they actually had damning evidence this time that could undo everything we’d built together.I’ll discuss it with Chalupa once we’re safely out of here,I thought, trying to ignore the fact that every single pair of eyes were glued to me, staring like they’d just witnessed a murder.If I stick around too long they’re probably gonna try to charge me with something.
I was led to the back area to wait for Chalupa. I could hear his voice down the hallway as he grabbed the few belongings he had on him at the time. I knew this was just the beginning of the road for us when it came to whatever he got pulled in for, but I was determined to make sure that he got out of this unscathed.
