Gail has admitted to being attracted to Sarah but thought it just a passing fancy. When she is shot in the line of duty and Sarah is one of the first officers to reach her the attraction merely deepens. At the hospital they exchange numbers and shortly after that Gail invites her around for dinner while she is recuperating from her gunshot wound.
*
As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Cassie is the reader of the family and in that respect she's very much a chip off the old block. She'll read anything, even my police manual when I brought it home, and she reads the Police Association magazine every month. I have few restrictions these days about what she can and can't read and in that way I'm the exact opposite of her father. Cassie will curl up with a good book when she's not out riding and even when she's riding she takes a book with her to read when she gets to her destination.
Nevertheless, my completely empty love life has brought me full circle back to books again and that day I read about twelve chapters of the book Cassie had picked out for me. It was a bit unrealistic in parts, girl breaks up with boy and falls for her gay flatmate. Hey it happens but the book could have used a little more realism, but it did keep me going if just to see if these two women could drive off into the sunset without doing a Thelma and Louise.
Long came around after school and after checking her 'second mum' was okay, she and Cassie went into the bedroom to watch telly, leaving me with the book, my phone and Rastus. Eventually even he went into Cassie's bedroom while I cooked dinner for all of us. The general rule is that if Long comes around before dinner she's staying for dinner and if Cassie goes to her joint the same rule applies, she's developed quite a passion for Asian food.
Sarah knocked on the door just after seven and she was dressed in something a little more dressy, a light blue tee shirt and denim mini skirt. She held up a six pack of Carlton Light.
"You're not planning on drinking all those tonight, are you?" I stepped back to let her in.
"Perish the thought, I brought them for you but I will have one," she looked down at Rastus. He usually barks like crazy whenever we have new visitors but with Sarah he was sniffing her boots and jeans.
"He smells my dog on me," she smiled, "I've got a shepherd named Max."
"Well he certainly likes you," I led her into the living room, "he usually barks like crazy whenever a stranger comes near the front door."
"Well that's gotta be a good thing," her eyes fell on the book, "a bit of light reading?"
"Oh," I stared at it, "um, yeah. I just thought I'd read something different."
Cassie and Long came through at that moment and after introducing Sarah to Long, Cassie picked up the beers.
"Do you want me to put those in the fridge?"
"Thanks," she pulled a stubby out of the shrink wrap and glanced at me, "you want to wet your whistle?"
"Thank you very much," I took one and handed the rest over to Cassie.
"I'm not much of a reader myself, the cover looks impressive though," Sarah sat down on the couch and opened the bottle.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Cassie warned her.
"She's right and Cassie would know, she reads everything in sight."
"Including this?" Sarah picked the book up to read the back cover.
"Yeah, why not? We don't ban books in this house."
"Unlike dad's joint," Cassie tossed the remark over her shoulder as she stepped into the kitchen.
"David is married to a very respectable bible bashing, homophobe," I sank into the couch.
"So who left who? Or is that a loaded question?"
"Oh that's a long story without an interesting ending. David is one of those peace at any price guys and he didn't like the fact that his wife was putting her life on the line. It took us five years to drift apart, I used the excuse of his affair but truth be told I wasn't much of a wife for him. He wanted the nice wife with the nice job and he married a copper who carries a gun."
We had dinner after that and it was an entertaining dinner. Long was truly fascinated by Sarah's job description and some of her stories. I've heard similar stories in the past but Sarah has a way of telling them that bring a smile to your face. She's got a real dry sense of humour and sometimes you have to think twice to work out if she's joking or being serious. Cassie looked thoughtful when Sarah told her war stories, like she was processing something but she can be an enigma, she hides a lot behind those eyes. After dinner, Long's mother dropped in to see me for a few minutes and to pick up her daughter and then it was just Sarah, Cassie and I in the living room.
There was a moment of hesitation and then she curled up on the sofa with one of the books I'd bought her, the grieving one. Sarah had briefly picked it up to read the blurb at the back and at first she thought it was one of my books.
"A bit of light reading," Sarah commented.
"Yeah," she looked up, "mum bought it for me."
"She picked it out," I shot back with a smile, "Cassie is the brainiac of the family."
Sarah wanted to know more. What kinds of books did she read and I saw something I'd never seen before. Cassie actually put the book down and started talking and when she starts talking it's hard to shut her up, which is why I love hearing her voice. That conversation went from books and films to history, one of her favourite subjects although she thinks her history teacher is boring, diverted to current events and ended up with her opinion on Australia's holding centres. Her best friend's mum was once a child refugee and it was obvious she was probing Sarah, I noticed that she didn't talk down to Cassie. She was even interested in reading some of her short stories.
"I'll print them out for you," Cassie promised as she reached for her book, "well, I'm gonna have a shower and go to bed."
She got out of her chair and kissed me goodnight and nodded at Sarah.
"Night, night."
"Sleep tight," Sarah returned the smile.
And then we were alone on the couch. If Sarah had been a guy it would have been a signal to get closer but I stayed in my position and contemplated a half empty cup of coffee Cassie had made me half an hour ago. Now that she was out of the room I felt I was able to talk about the shooting and Sarah seemed to sense it because she shifted position slightly so that there was more space between us. It came out slowly and almost casually at first. I'd downplayed the incident in front of Cassie but always at the back of my mind was the realisation that if something did happen to me then it would be catastrophic for Cassie.
"I mean, my sister and mum would take care of her, but my ex is a lawyer. He wouldn't miss a trick to get her back again."
"Have you ever considered getting another job?"
"More times than I care to remember, I've been a cop for eighteen years, since before I was married. I could practically walk into a security job, I've got a near spotless record but you know how it is, there's a real satisfaction despite all negative factors. To make it worse, Cassie is actually proud that her mum is a cop, it's one of those things that tears me up. Her best friend's father is a fitter and turner out in Bayswater, her mother is a schoolteacher and when they go to work Long can rest easy knowing that no one is ready to shoot either one of her parents just for turning up for work. This job comes with the ultimate termination clause, someone could just ambush me or it could be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Tell me about it," Sarah managed a crooked smile, "it's why my relationships are short and not so sweet, they all love the uniform and it's a great ego trip but like you say, people see a uniform as a target," she smoothed out her jeans.
"Tell me something, after eighteen years, you're still a senior constable. You never thought of going for sergeant?"
"Ah now there's a case of knowing your limits," I rubbed my sore arm.
"The truth is, I have been asked more than once. My previous sergeant even tried to push me into it but that means extra work and I've got two jobs. I wear a uniform for one job, and my other job is looking after Cassie, it was my original plan to go further but then my marriage broke down and I decided the hell with men. I was going to raise my daughter first and think about a partner once she was old enough to make her own decisions."
"So why not go for something else, like a detective or prosecutor? You've been around long enough to know your way around. I do what I do because I enjoy it but I know it's got a time limit. I have to keep very fit but eventually the body wears down and you have to step aside and let younger people take over. If I haven't moved further up the ranks I'd definitely go for detective," she leaned over to look at her phone as a message came through.
"End of the day, it's all about moving forward. If you like where you are then fine, but if you don't then you have to work out how to change things. Your situation can change if you make the changes but it's your call."
"It's like that book," she pointed to it, "you had to make the decision to fork out the money for the book and then start reading it."
"I'm up to chapter twelve, it's actually quite good. A little unrealistic but it's fiction."
"So, have they done it yet?"
"They got on together but didn't go all the way in chapter ten, but in chapter twelve they've gone to a cabin for the weekend," I managed a smile. "The sex scenes were quite graphic though."
"So your daughter won't be reading it," she slapped my leg playfully.
"Au contraire," I protested, "I'm a progressive mum, she can read it if she wants but I reserve the right to talk to her about it."
"God, I'd love to have had a mum like you. My mother just didn't want to talk about it. When I was accepted at the Academy her immortal words were, 'you'll never find a decent man now, no man wants a woman who can beat him in a fight.' Thankfully for her, my two sisters have given her a couple of grandkids each."
We talked some more but there was nothing physical between us that night, which did impress me because I wouldn't have resisted. As a matter of fact I even said she could use the couch if she felt like staying but she was determined to wake up in her own bed.
"I'm going to head up to Maroondah dam tomorrow to do some hiking."
"I haven't been up there for years," I dug my hands into my pockets.
"Fancy hitching a ride?" Sarah turned towards me.
"Maybe, I'll check with Cassie and see what she's wanting to do."
