All I Want
*Author's Note: No one has ever asked me to write a story about a Roman Catholic or the Amish or any other religion, but I've had a surprising number of readers ask me to write more stories about Mormons. As I've previously said, my best friend in high school was a Mormon. I've also shared that my first-time experience was with a married Mormon woman, a story I called Bagging Lauren, a title I now regret as she was an amazing woman, and that made it sound like some kind of conquest which it was not.
I have no animosity against the religion or anyone in it. I'm not a theist, one who believes in a god that gets involved with human affairs. I am, perhaps, a Deist, as I see the handiwork of design all over life on earth. Things either were designed, or as Richard Dawkins says, "Biological things give the impression of having been designed," (but aren't.) As a Libertarian, I don't try and tell anyone what to believe or how to live and expect the same.
As I've also said, the only reason I write is for my own enjoyment, and for some reason, I find the Mormon angle to be of interest. This story just hit me out of the blue, so for you who've been asking for more, this one's for you.
Lastly, for new readers, if you feel the need to point out something in a story I write, please read another story I called Literotica, after the site. That will save us both some time.
For them and everyone else, I hope you enjoy it.
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Provo, Utah. Population: 115,000. December 21, 2023
"Hey! There he is! How you doin'...Sarge?" a uniformed officer announced.
The dozen of so people in the Provo, Utah, precinct stood up and clapped.
"Come on, stop it!" the newly-promoted sergeant said.
Ross Cash had been with the department for 14 years. He went through the academy when he was 26 after a four-year tour in the US Marine Corps which came after a two-year mission for the Mormon Church.
He'd loved being a plain old patrolman. A beat cop. He'd never had any interest in being anything more, mostly because it seemed like sergeants and lieutenants did nothing but push papers all day, and he hated doing that. But he'd recently decided it was time to finally think about settling down, and while he'd put a fair amount aside, he wanted to have a nest egg for whenever he met that special someone.
He'd come close about six years before making sergeant, but the woman he loved decided she loved...other men. And as he later learned she'd loved a lot of them while claiming to love only him. Since then, he turned his full attention to becoming the best man he could by taking care of himself mentally, physically, and emotionally. The promotion, along with the attendant paperwork, was the latest step in his life's new direction.
When he got ready to sit down at his new desk for the first time he noticed that everyone was still watching. Knowing how cops, like Marines, were pranksters, he checked the seat cushion first which drew a laugh. But the moment he sat down he knew.
"In event of paper cut, break glass."
It was a little doodad someone had made to warn him of the greatest danger he now faced.
"Ha-ha," he said as everyone had one more laugh at his expense.
He couldn't blame them, though. He'd have done the same thing or worse, and on numerous occasions, he had. He set the little homemade knickknack on his bookshelf for all to see then said, "What are you staring at? Get back to work!"
"Yes, sergeant!" another former Marine called out as he rendered a snappy salute.
"Knock that off. I'm no officer. I work for a living," Sgt Cash said.
"Not anymore!" the former Marine quipped under his breath but loudly enough to be heard getting a third and even louder laugh.
With the obligatory promotion 'hazing' out of the way, Ross shook his head then sat there and stared at the stack of paperwork in front of him and groaned.
"I think I may have seriously screwed the pooch," he said to himself as someone dropped two more files in his inbox.
"Sergeant Cash!" Ross heard causing him to look up immediately.
Everyone knew the voice of the precinct's lieutenant, but Officer Cash had rarely ever reacted to it. Now that he was Sergeant Cash, he was working directly for him and was required to.
He got up, walked to the lieutenant's office, and waited for instructions.
"First off, congratulations again on the stripes," the lieutenant told him. "Second. Get ready for your first 'I want a supervisor call'."
Ross knew this was coming. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry wanted to see a supervisor these days. He thought back to his early years on the force when no one would even ask for a supervisor let alone expect one. Now, it was becoming the norm, and the department's policy was to accommodate the request as often as possible. Since the new sergeant was available he was up.
"Oh, goody," Ross said.
"Get used to it," the lieutenant said with a chuckle. "Heck, with any luck, I'll get called out to another traffic stop while you're handling this one."
"Yeah, maybe we can get the captain out there, too. Or the friggin' mayor."
His boss laughed then wished him luck. He offered no guidance or advice as Cash had been doing this a very long time. The lieutenant knew he'd back his officers except in the most bizarre cases, and those were extremely few and far between.
"Officer Kendall," Ross said as he left his boss's office.
The 30-year old police officer laughed as she said, "Let me guess. Someone is demanding a supervisor."
"Yeah, yeah. Just go fire up the squad," he told her as he grabbed his heavy coat. It was around 38 degrees outside, but for now, the roads were clear. It was dark, but there wasn't any ice and there was no snow in the forecast.
Ross knew that Katie Kendall had a thing for him. She'd all but said so a week ago when she joined him in the gym. He was doing a serious workout when she asked if she could tag along with him.
His first thought was, "You couldn't do 10% of what I'm doing," but that was now borderline harassment, and he was just days away from making sergeant, so he told her 'sure'.
He'd thought she might have her eye on him for a couple of months, and he'd even heard a rumor that she did, but it wasn't until the workout was over that she casually mentioned it.
She'd been unable to do almost everything, yet she did her best, and he admired that. He told her that when he was through, and that's when she said, "Thanks, Ross," before hesitating and then asking if she could tell him something.
"Sure. What's up?" he asked as he stopped outside of the men's locker room.
"I was wondering if you might want to, you know, maybe do something...together. Sometime."
He didn't let his surprise show as he asked her if she meant 'on a date'.
"Well, yeah," she told him, a hopeful smile on her face.
Katie wasn't unattractive, and she had a decent body. She just wasn't the kind of woman he was interested in dating, and after a short period of mindless hookups after his one true love bailed on him, he wouldn't date anyone he wouldn't marry.
He was 40 years old and really getting tired of being alone. He'd dated a handful of women here and there, but he'd found some kind of fatal flaw in all of them. He knew he was...picky...a word he hated but which accurately described him where women were concerned and had no interest in compromising or settling.
A good friend had recently told him that no woman would ever be good enough to satisfy him, and while the criticism had stung, Ross knew it might well be true. It made such an impression on him that he made a checklist which he'd revised numerous times as he wrestled with a few things that he thought were deal-breakers but turned out not to be. They were important to him, but none of them, in and of themselves, would be sufficiently important to rule out someone.
At one point he'd gotten frustrated with it and added, "Eats crackers in bed," to the list.
Just over the last few days he felt good about what he'd come up with, consisting of his 'must haves' along with 'nice to haves' and ending with 'not important'. He'd juggled a few things between categories, but after spending time thinking about each one, he now had a very good idea what he was looking for. Unfortunately, Officer Kendall didn't have any of his 'must have' qualities.
Like so many others in Provo, Katie Kendall was a Mormon. Ross was, too, but only in the most technical sense. He'd long ago stopped believing in the teachings of 'the Church', as Mormons called it, but he'd never asked to have his name removed from the Church's roles. He just didn't think it mattered, and that was that.
As she drove them to the location of the traffic stop, Katie gingerly asked him if he'd given any more thought to her offer.
