To Protect and Serve (25 page)

             
Kate hoped that her mom was so preoccupied that she hadn’t noticed her buying the saddlebags and arranging for their delivery.  Somehow, someway, Kate vowed to get her mom and Doug back together again.  She hadn’t ever seen her mom as happy as when she and Doug had been together.

CHAPTER 24

              The next few days dragged past in exquisite torture.  Nancy just couldn’t stop thinking about Doug and wishing that he’d change his mind and call her.

             
She tried to make sense of what was happening.  Several times she was sure that when the phone rang, it was Doug calling to apologize to her, but it was just one of her girls’ friends.  Nancy tried to imagine the amount of pressure and stress that Doug was under.  Going through the trial must be horrendous.  However, trying to empathize did nothing for her heart.

             
She still held out hope that he would call.  In her more sane moments, she was certain that what they had between them was more than just a fling.  She could almost feel him thinking about her.

             
In her less sane moments, her imagination came up with every awful thought that it could.  Nancy was certain that Doug hadn’t really cared for her at all.  She’d even convinced herself that the bouquet had been a ‘good-bye, thanks for the good time” gift.

             
Thanksgiving Day was the worst!

She’d wanted to invite Doug over for Thanksgiving dinner.  Her kids had started nagging her about calling Doug.  But she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

             
Nancy really didn’t want to look like a pest, or worse, desperate.  When she still hadn’t heard from Doug by the Monday before Thanksgiving, she called her folks and asked if she could bring the girls and all the food up to their house and fix Thanksgiving meal for everyone.

             
Her family was more than happy to have Nancy and the girls.  So, they packed everything into the car late Wednesday night and drove to Redlands.  Her girls tried once again to get her to call Doug, but she refused.

             
Nancy thought she’d done a pretty good job of looking cheerful for Thanksgiving.  If any of Nancy’s family thought she looked sad, they didn’t say anything.  Kate and Christy had filled everyone in on Nancy’s situation, so the topic of Doug had not been brought up at all.

             
It didn’t make the day move by any faster, but at least Nancy was kept busy in the kitchen.  When it came time for the family prayer circle, it took everything Nancy had to not start crying -- again.  During the prayer, she made a point to mentally sing something so that she wouldn’t hear the word “thankful” and start crying.  However, when the mental song turned into a slow love ballad by
Alabama
, Nancy felt her eyes fill.  Thank goodness the prayer was over and she could run to the bathroom before serving the dinner.  Sometimes the excuse of “hot flash” was useful.

             
Nancy didn’t see her family exchange looks with each other at the table.  And after dinner when her mom and dad had a talk with her girls, she missed that one too.

             
Everyone left the house with foil packages and bags of food.  Invariably, there was always too much food left over.  Usually Nancy and the girls would take the food down to the San Bernardino courthouse area where the homeless seemed to congregate, and they’d distribute the food packages.

             
However, this year, Nancy just didn’t have it in her.  Instead she pleaded a headache and went to bed early.  Usually she felt comfortable at her folks’ house and slept soundly.  However, this time she tossed and

turned until the clock said 3:30 am, at which time she gave up and padded out to the darkened living room and quietly put on a movie to watch.

              Unfortunately, her choice was “An Affair to Remember” with Cary Grant and Debra Kerr.  Oh well.  At least she had a reasonable excuse for tears if someone happened to stumble upon her.

             
The next day, she and girls drove with her mom and dad up to Oak Glen and enjoyed the local petting zoo and once again stuffed themselves with even more pie than the evening before.  One cannot go to Oak Glen without having apple pie.

             
That evening they enjoyed a family game of Scrabble until once again Nancy begged off and went to bed early.  She didn’t think her family knew she saw the looks they gave her when she supposedly wasn’t watching.

             
Luckily, they knew her well enough to not be sympathetic.  That would have been her complete undoing, and she really needed to pull it together.

             
On Sunday, she and the girls drove home.  She knew it would have been too good to be true if there was a note or something left at her house.  Maybe a black and white unit?

             
But, there wasn’t anything.

             
Luckily there was a ton of laundry to do before school started again the next day, and Nancy also decided to clean out the pantry area – again.

             
Kate left the house after getting a phone call and Jackson had shown up and taken Christy to the movies.

             
Nancy had the house to herself.  The quiet, dead house.

             
To quote one of her new students “life sucks.”

CHAPT
ER 25

             
Andy’s case went to trial.  With Attorney Harris’ expertise and Andy’s show of changed behavior, Andy was sentenced to the time he’d already spent in jail, and was told he had a rather hefty fine and had been assigned several hours of community service working at the homeless shelter for the two weeks prior to Christmas and Christmas Day itself.

             
Doug volunteered to work a double shift on Thanksgiving Day.  He hoped that he would be too busy to think about Nancy.  Wishful thinking.  It seemed like she was ALL he thought about. 

             
Bill had told him he was being a horse’s ass, and that he should go see Nancy.  Doug had tried to explain why he couldn’t, but Bill and Patty weren’t buying any of it.  Doug couldn’t even truly explain it to himself. 

             
However, he knew that if Nancy was really interested in him, she would have called.

             
Bill and Patty all but disowned him, which made it even harder.

             
Thanksgiving afternoon was busy.  Mostly with older people who had no one to celebrate the holiday with.  Around 5:00 pm there was a lull.   Doug spent the down time working up the courage to stop by Nancy’s and apologize.  He drove past her street several times.  Finally he turned onto the street and drove slowly towards her house.

             
Reluctantly, he pulled the black and white unit into her driveway and took a deep breath while he turned off the engine.

             
Doug got out of the car and walked towards the door rehearsing what he was going to say.

             
He knocked.

             
And waited.

             
No answer.

             
He knocked again.

             
And waited.

             
He stepped into the bushes at the front of the house and was looking into the kitchen window, when the neighbor lady called out.

             
“They’re not home.  They took off last night.”

             
“Did they say where they were going?”  Doug tried not to look embarrassed while he stepped out of the bushes and onto the walkway.

             
The neighbor was dressed in brown polyester slacks, an orange blouse and an apron which said “Turkey Day!” emblazoned with a small cartoon of a turkey running from a man with a hatchet.

             
“Nope.  But I think I heard one of the girls say something about being away for a few days.”

             
Doug’s spirits dropped even lower than before.

             
“Thank you for your help.  Have a nice Thanksgiving, Ma’am.”  Doug walked back to his unit and slid in behind the wheel.  He sat there looking at Nancy’s house until he realized that the neighbor lady with the awful apron was still watching him. 

             
He started the engine, put the car into reverse and touched the brim of his cap at the lady as he drove past her down the street.

             
Doug wished he’d called Nancy.  He wished it wasn’t Thanksgiving and he wished the day would move faster.

             
Where’d they go?

             
Maybe she went to her parents?

             
Was it just her kids and her?

             
The day dragged on.

             
As did the next few days.  For some reason Doug just couldn’t bring himself to get up the courage again to call Nancy or stop by.

             
Coward!  He chastised himself.  What would it take to get him to call?  Hell, he was a cop.  He was supposed to be brave and courageous.  Yeah.  Right now he’d rather face a 6’4” 275 pound guy on crack than look into Nancy’s eyes and see absolutely nothing.

             
He wasn’t even looking forward to dinner at Bill and Patty’s house that evening.  He knew they would put him through the ringer six ways to Sunday.  Hell, maybe he deserved it.  Call it penance.

             
When he arrived at their front door at five minutes to 8:00 that evening, Doug made sure he had gifts in hand; flowers for Patty and a bottle of Rancho Mirage Aged Port for Bill. 

             
“Oh, Doug!  They’re beautiful!”  Patty gave him a hug and then took the flowers into the kitchen, looking for a vase.

             
Doug held out the bottle of port to Bill.  Bill just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

             
“Ah.  Common, Bill.  It’s a gift.  Accept it graciously.”  Doug was trying to sound lighthearted, but his comment came out more like a dig.

             
“Have you come to your senses yet?”  Bill leaned forward slightly and pinned Doug with his stare.

             
Doug felt as though he was standing in front of the sergeant and being dressed down for some infraction.  He didn’t like it one bit.

             
“Come on, Bill.  Cut me some slack.”

              “What sort of friend would I be if I did that?  Doug, you know that I rarely step in and tell you what to do.”

             
At Doug’s raised eyebrow, Bill shifted slightly and changed his tactics.

             
“Doug, you know that Patty and I love you like family, right?”

             
Doug nodded in affirmation and tried to curb his exasperation.

             
“Patty and I just think that if you let this woman go, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.  I don’t want to see that happen.”

             
“I know, Bill.   I know.”

             
Doug looked so forlorn, that Bill took pity on him, and taking the bottle of wine, led Doug into the family room for dinner.  There they joined Patty and their kids, twin sixteen year old boys Eric and Kenny.  Eric was quarterback of Orange High’s winning football team.  His brother Kenny was the editor of the high school newspaper,
The Panther.
  Both boys were above-average students, as well as being two of the most popular men on campus.  Thank goodness they were also ethical.  They’d inherited their dads’ moral compass and their mom’s compassion.

             
Now Doug found himself under the scrutiny of this family, which had no desire to mind its own business.

             
When the conversation finally lulled at one point, Doug was surprised to hear Kenny say, “Uncle Doug.  I don’t understand what’s stopping you from calling Nancy.  If she’s as wonderful as it sounds like she is, and you feel as strongly as you seem to, you need to go for it.  The worst that will happen is that she’ll turn you down.”

             
Doug was hard pressed to even explain it to himself, much less to these people who cared so much about him.