“I called him twice, and he gave me some crap about being out of service and then responding to a prowler report by a pedestrian he drove by.”
I hummed, thinking that I would have to address Hudson’s lack of enthusiasm as some point with our Captain.
“Well, I’m glad I had you on the other end of the radio. Thanks.”
She bumped my shoulder with hers in a cute move. “Just doing my job, Sergeant Rumson.”
“Speaking of which, I know a lot of folks from here hit up the Cask and Barrel, but I’d like to take you out to dinner and not the Gemini diner because we’re bound to see everyone we know.” Or, at least, Hernandez because I knew his girl Tempest worked there between her Broadway dancing gigs.
“Hmm…” She tapped her chin. “Sounds like something else.” She looked at me over the rim of her coffee cup, her eyes a touch lighter than her drink.
“A date,” I suggested, finishing mine and tossing the cup into the trash can in a single swoosh of the paper meeting plastic. Had it bounced off, I would have been embarrassed, but swooshing coffee cups had been something I’d practiced for years on the job.
“You sure you want to mix work and something else?” Her eyes danced and considering I said screw the paperwork earlier, yeah, I unquestionably wanted something else.
“I’d definitely like something else, but if all I’m going to get is a date, then sure.” Teasing Colbie was easy.
“All right. Looks like our schedule matches up for the next two week rotation so you tell me when.” Her easy demeanor suggested I put it all out there, so I did, except I could have kicked myself because what came out was less let’s-go-have-sex, and more like let’s-take-it-slow.
“How about we chat during that time, get to know each other, and then our first date can be something other than awkward conversation that I’m no good at anyway.”
“Really? You not good at conversation?” Her eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lighting.
This woman. She gutted me.
“Eh, I’ve been out of the dating pool for a while so maybe you’ll cut me some slack.” I winked and she laughed.
“I like that, besides, it’ll give you time to decide if you can handle a cat lady.”
I was only interested in one kitty cat here and yes, I was being crude. Mentally, I braced myself, “Full
disclosure?”
“Please.” She encouraged.
“I had a dog not that long ago, but my soon to be ex-wife took her.” Anya, nicknamed for Lasagna because she liked to share it with me sometimes, was a chocolate Labrador I’d found at the pound when we first dated. She’d taken to following me everywhere, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t mourn the loss of her more than my ex-wife. Maybe it was weird, but her soulful eyes reminded me of Colbie and her quiet, steadfast demeanor. I wasn’t comparing the girl I was interested in to my dog, but she gave me an unconditional comfort Anya did, and I missed that part of companionship. I wasn’t built for serial dating no matter how hard I had tried in my youth.
“Ouch. That doesn’t sound like you’re ready to date, and I don’t want to be that girl in between.” Colbie grabbed a cookie and bit into it, making me feel like the discussion was over before it began.
Shit.
I hadn’t thought of how I would explain my apartment having the few bits of Rita’s belongings I couldn’t seem to get her to pick up. After all, she’s the one who filed and served and and as far as I was concerned, we were done. Colbie was not a rebound girl, and I wanted to make that clear.
But still, I panicked. “Let me explain.” I thought about blocking her exit but figured that would make me look desperate and crazy.
“Colbie! Break’s over.” Lieutenant Dickwad stuck his head inside, interrupting our moment. He grimaced seeing me here with her, and I imagined him writing some memo next about a non-fraternization policy that didn’t exist. I know, I checked. The only bonus was that he also blocked Colbie’s escape from my lame explanation, so there was that.
She finished her cookie and leaned in, scrunching her nose as if caught in thought and adorably whispered, “I guess you can explain over the next two weeks and then ask me out again.” She patted my chest and left me hanging inside the break room speechless.
A clicking pen brought me back to reality.
“Rumson, do I need to explain protocol to you on domestic calls?”
I groaned remembering my move that was suited to a rookie fresh out of the academy, not even Hernandez would make that mistake.
“No, sir.”
“Well then don’t you have a DV report to finish?”