Once again thanks to Vickie for her help
Kate sometimes wondered how her life would have turned out if she had never married. She had a promising career as a New York City Police officer before her disastrous marriage had forced her to abandon life in the big city. Few people realize how rural most of New York State is. Reach into its northern mountains and lakes and you find wilderness, poverty, and a highly unsophisticated way of life. Gone is the cosmopolitan to be replaced by an insular hostility to strangers and racial prejudice.
Life as a single mother was difficult in a city if you had resources, but impossible without them. She did not regret her marriage or her choices because they provided the one gift that made life worthy while, Tommy. To Kate, her son was the reason she got out of bed each day. He was why she smiled through each adversity.
All she needed to make her life complete was that rarest of all things, a truly good man. She longed to be a mother again, to come home to a happy family. To have a father for her son and an unspecified number of siblings to keep him company. The most annoying thing in her life at the moment was the fact that every time her fantasy turned to the perfect man she thought of Dennis Morgan.
She spent Sunday night with her silver vibrating friend. She was a believer in building your pelvic muscles with kegel exercises. It was a wonderful excuse for pleasuring yourself and exercising at the same time. She could pull the vibrator into herself without the use of her hands. She spent an hour pulling the vibrator in and pushing it out.
Using her fingers on her clit while moving the vibrator in and out with her pelvic muscles she drove herself to six orgasms. Afterward, she felt ashamed not because she pleasured herself, but because Dennis had invaded her thoughts. He was an intruder she could not keep out. She remembered how it felt to be helpless in his arms in the pool, the warm passion of his lips in his good night kiss, and his sensuous dark almost black eyes. He was a powerful, seductive presence, but one she must resist.
Summers, Tommy spends his days at the Y's day camp. Kate would drop him off before her shift began at eight and try to pick him up as soon after four as she could. When she worked nights, she had to arrange for a sitter. Tommy was good about her night work. Ann Driscola, the elderly widow who lived up the road with her sister, needed to supplement her social security checks. Minding Tommy was a lot better than working at McDonald's as far as Ann was concerned. However, Ann didn't like working overnights. Seventeen- year-old Sophie was a good backup for Ann, but unavailable to sleep over alone.
Kate would swap out her graveyard shifts, midnight to eight a.m. for the four to midnights that were the least desirable. Ann knew that the second shift would most often result in overtime for Kate and a resulting late night for Ann or Sophie. It was a situation that worked well for all of them.
Normally Tommy was ready and waiting when Kate appeared at the Y's entrance, but not today. The girl at the desk informed her he was still in the pool, and so he was. He and Dennis Morgan were in the water together at the far end of the pool. There were half a dozen other young swimmers all getting instruction from Morgan.
"Mom! Mom! Come see what I can do," Tommy called.
Kate came to the pool edge as Tommy took off racing down the pool. Some of the other swimmers took off in pursuit. There was no doubt her son's swimming was improving. Reaching her, Tommy pulled himself expertly from the water.
"Did you see?" He said.
"Yes, you have gotten very good. I doubt I could catch you."
"Denny's been teaching us. Did you know he was a champion swimmer?"
"Yes, I did know that. He almost went to the Olympics I heard. Now it's time to go."
She sent Tommy off to the locker room as Denny came up.
"So now you're a swim instructor," she said.
"They needed someone to fill in between the basic and the advanced class," he said.
"Let me guess, they figured this out when you volunteered today," she said.
"Something like that," he said.
"Well thank you. Tommy can use the instruction. He likes to swim as you apparently noticed, but his mother isn't much in the water," she said.
"Doing anything for dinner tonight? I was going to grab a pizza," he said.
"Sorry, you have most of the town believing that we are a couple. I would prefer not to add to the rumor."
Denny laughed, "Ok, Kate, deny it all you want, but when I want something I don't stop until the buzzer sounds," he said.
Tommy was not as accepting of her refusal.
"Why can't we go for pizza with Denny?" Tommy demanded.
"Because we don't need to see Mr. Morgan every day."
"We don't, we didn't see him yesterday."
"It was Sunday, but we saw him both Friday night and all day Saturday."
"It's not fair, he's my friend and you don't like him."
There is no reasoning with an eight-year-old. Dennis Morgan sure knew her Achilles heel, but she was determined that Morgan would not use her son against her. Though as the saying goes, the best-laid plans of mice and road patrol sergeants....
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"Sorry Kate," Jack Ferguson said.
"Look, please, can't you pick someone else?" Kate said.
"It's not till August. That gives you two weeks to find a sitter. We need a senior officer to be watch supervisor. With all the vacations in August, we are short. But be happy the Sheriff himself suggested you. He's got great confidence in you, and frankly so have I since you put all that Denny Morgan nonsense behind you."
There was no use arguing with Jack either about the assignment or about Morgan's guilt. But what was she to do about Tommy? Ann didn't like sleeping over and Kate was none too sure the older woman could handle the job. Sophie was too young to cover late nights like that. She was pondering her predicament as she reached her desk.
"Congratulations, lieutenant," Jim Lefave said.
"What?" she said.
"Acting third watch commander, Next step is Lieutenant. It will make you the first female in that job. Bet you get the bars by year end," Jim said.
"Slow down partner and remember I'm an outsider and a single parent with a young child. Got any idea who I can get to provide overnight care?"
