Well, she had plenty of other things to worry about. She’d finish her degree, buy this place, and then get serious about finding a man.
CHAPTER THREE
Jake plopped down in a seat at the long table that spanned the squad room. Since troopers mostly worked out of their cars and only came to the office to do reports and print things, they all just shared one big room at headquarters. His buddy Spence had followed him in and sat next to him, leaving a seat in between so they could spread out.
“Ben coming in soon?” asked Spence, getting out his laptop.
“I think so. He just cleared a two-car, and there’s nothing pending, so I assume he’s headed this way.”
“After he gets here, you wanna go on break? I’m starving.”
“Yeah, me too. I want to go to Grinder’s if that’s cool with you,” said Jake.
“Oh, really! What a surprise. And why Grinder’s?” Spence said, smiling. He knew damn good and well why Grinder’s.
Jake shot him a look, and Spence laughed.
Jake, Spence, and Ben had graduated from the state patrol academy together. They’d been assigned to the same detachment as rookies and had worked together ever since. Over the years, they’d come to know damn near everything about each other.
They were roughly the same age, but at very different stages in life. Spence had a wife and two kids. Ben had been married for about a year and was expecting his first child in a few months. The two of them constantly razzed Jake about settling down and, more recently, about Hannah, and how she’d been the one person who hadn’t fallen for his bullshit moves. And the one person he still had a crush on.
“I haven’t seen her in like three months,” said Jake. “I’m due for a visit, that’s all.”
“You couldn’t stop by on your time off?” Spence raised his eyebrows dubiously.
“I was staying out at the farm. A twenty-minute drive just to come to town and get coffee? That would have seemed way too deliberate.”
“Oh, and you wouldn’t want her to think you would actually go out of your way to see her. The games of singledom. Gotta say, I don’t miss that shit.”
“It’s not like I’m in love with her or anything. We’re friends, and I just like seeing her once in a while.”
“Playing it cool. Got it.” Spence gave a curt nod. “Did you get any studying done over the weekend?”
“I studied a lot when I was on leave.”
“Uh-huh. I’ll take that as a no. The test is coming up fast, dude,” said Spence. “You better stop dicking around and get serious about it.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll do better,” said Jake. Spence flipped him off.
Jake was studying to take the next sergeant’s exam, which was actually a series of tests and interviews. Troopers were graded and judged on each portion and then a list was put out to determine eligibility to promote to sergeant. Spence was right, though. He did need to get his ass in gear.
Kris, another trooper from their detachment, walked in and zeroed in on Jake.
“Hey, Casanova. Heard about your last arrest on Friday. Ripped her top right off, huh? That’s bold, even for you.” She laughed.
“Hey! I didn’t hear about that. Sometimes I hate getting off early on Fridays. What’d I miss?” asked Spence, looking between the two of them, waiting for an explanation.
“Nothing,” said Jake, just as Kris began the story. Jake shook his head.
“County rolled up on Jake wrestling a topless woman in the grass on the side of one-six-nine,” Kris said with a wicked smile.
“Hold on. That’s not exactly how it went,” Jake said. “She tripped, and when I tried to catch her, she shimmied out of the shirt and left me standing there with a fistful of silk. Then I sort of fell on her when I was trying to grab her. Of course, that’s right when Doug showed up.”
Kris was trying to contain her laughter. “Wait, that’s not even the best part.”
“Here we go,” Jake muttered, thumping his head on the table, knowing what was coming next.
“Turns out she was one of his bar bunnies. He’d slept with her and didn’t even remember her!”
