Thanks for the great re-editing by Jedi_Khan. This one should be a little better.
Don't worry, the build-up is almost over…
*
Well, that was a spectacular waste of time,
Jack thought as he closed his apartment door behind the retreating backs of the two uniformed police officers. Disappointed, he turned and headed for the kitchen. He was drained and hungry, having not eaten yet today.
Over the last forty-five minutes, he had tried unsuccessfully to explain to the apathetic officers his suspicions. But even though they had dutifully taken notes on everything he said, it was painfully obvious that they didn't believe him. By the end, Jack's story was even beginning to sound thin to his own ears.
Not that Jack could really blame them. In a town this size the police would be used to having their hands full with murderers, armed robberies, rapists and a host of other
real
problems. A simple break-in, where nothing significant had been damaged or stolen, didn't exactly rate high on their radar. Never mind his feelings.
Right after he had started talking to them, Jennifer McCoy had materialized from out of her apartment. Standing with her arms crossed over her chest, she had made no move to either interrupt or join in the conversation. Instead, she just stood there, listening as he went over his story.
Jack had been a little annoyed at the fact that she had joined the audience. He knew he would have to talk to her eventually, but it was awkward to explain everything to the police with her standing right there.
Surprisingly, the police were completely unfazed by her presence. Usually, they would at least try to make spectators move on. But both of the officers had barely given her a glance and then totally ignored her.
Oh well,
he thought,
at least I didn't have to repeat myself.
She had obviously gotten over their last meeting, at least. Instead of glaring at him like he was something she had just scraped off of her shoe, she had simply watched him with a thoughtful expression as he told his story. In fact, the only time her expression had changed was when Jack had talked about the package. He had explained how he had received it and how he had tried to return it earlier, but forgot.
When the police asked her about what had been in the package, she had frowned and mumbled something about "Nothing important..."
The interview hadn't gone much better after that. The officers had come into his apartment to take a cursory, half-hearted glance around. He gave them the tattered remains of the package and they made their way out. Leaving him with a warning to get his locks changed by the apartment, they said they would get back to him and walked away.
Jack had hoped that he would have a chance to talk to Jennifer, maybe even clear up a few things with her. But she had disappeared back into her apartment by the time the police were leaving, and he wasn't really in the mood at that point to chase her down.
Maybe he had been wrong about the whole thing. The feeling, that something had been terribly wrong, that had come over him before was gone now. He couldn't help but begin to doubt his own memory. Someone had been in his apartment, but as for the rest…well, maybe he really was starting to loose it.
Sighing heavily, Jack opened up the cabinet. There wasn't much. When he had moved, he had thrown a few cans of soup and some of the boxed, instant meals in with the rest of his stuff, but had pretty much demolished everything in the last few days, planning to go shopping as soon as he could.
Well,
he figured,
no time like the present.
Collecting his keys and cell-phone off of the counter where he had left them earlier, Jack headed back out the front door. After making double sure he had set the dead-bolt, he turned and went down the stairs and around the back of the apartment to where his car sat waiting. It wasn't much to look at, just an old Pontiac, but it was paid off. While the friends he had in the military had always had to have the newest and the best, Jack had been more worried about putting money away for the proverbial rainy day. The day Kelly had left, it had started pouring.
Getting into his car and turning the key in the ignition, Jack felt a brief flash of satisfaction as the engine turned over on the first try. Old or not, he had kept the car in good condition and in return it had always taken care of him.
Jack backed out of the driveway and drove around the outside of the apartment buildings to the small lot attached to the office building. Before he headed out for groceries, he decided he should go ahead and talk to Mrs. Munion. He was tired of not being sure where exactly he stood when it came to his future here. It had been odd to him that during the whole episode with the police, Jennifer had not once mentioned anything about his fight with her boyfriend or their confrontation on the island.
Besides, he thought as he made the short drive, he was definitely going to take the officer's advice about changing the locks. Nothing on the doors had shown any sign of a break-in. And a quick check of the windows and the balcony had showed him that they were still locked as well. How someone could have made it up to the third floor without being able to fly, though, was beyond him. So, the guy had obviously had a key.
Jack pulled up into the parking lot and shut off his engine. He really wasn't looking forward to this. Not only was Mrs. Munion the last person that he needed to deal with right now, he still wasn't sure what, if anything, Jennifer had told her about the other day. If things went the way he feared, he wouldn't worry about his trip to the grocery store.
Resigned, Jack got out of his car and went inside. As he closed the door behind him he was surprised to receive a warm greeting from a girl he hadn't seen the last time he had come. Jack smiled. Though she wasn't nearly as beautiful as Jennifer, the girl behind the desk did have a certain appeal. Dressed sharply in a nice, form fitting business blouse, she presented a perfectly professional appearance. But, something in the way her deep, sea green eyes sparkled when she looked at him told him she knew how to let go when it was time.
"Oh, hi there," she greeted him, her eyes flashing startled recognition.
"Hey," he said, "Is Mrs. Munion around?"
Glancing back at the closed office door as if she thought her boss was going to spontaneously appear from within, the girl turned back to him and apologetically said, "No, sorry. She had to step out and deal with a minor crisis."
"Oh," Jack looked at her sheepishly, "I hope I wasn't the cause of that"
Something in the brief change of expression that quickly ran across her face let Jack know that he had hit the nail on the head with that one.
Damn,
he thought.
But instead her smile returned and she said, "No, no, nothing like that. Just some minor apartment business, nothing to worry about."
She paused, as if she were deciding something, and then continued. "You're Mr. Gardener, our new resident, right?"
"Jack, please, I'm really trying to get away from the whole last name thing." In the army, no one used first names, ever. So he had always been Gardener, or Sergeant Gardener; never Jack.
From the look on her face she didn't understand, but she let it slide. "Okay, Jack. I'm Ashley." She reached across the table and shook his offered hand. It might have been his imagination, but Jack thought she held it for just a little longer than was really necessary. Her soft, warm hands felt good against his and he felt her fingertips glide briefly along his palm as she pulled back.
"Where're you coming from?" she asked as she leaned forward onto the desk, eyes gazing up at him with an almost too intense curiosity. "If you don't mind me asking."
Jack found it impossible not to notice, with her leaning forward like that, the way the buttons on her blouse strained to hold back the treasures inside. She had left the top two undone and he let his eyes follow along the smooth lines of her neck up from her collar bone to her full red lips. She smiled as she caught him looking.
"Oh, yeah. I'm from all over," he said, feeling a little embarrassed. "Originally from out west though."
"California boy then, huh?"
"Colorado, actually." He grinned at her. Jack had always found it a little funny how the people who lived on either of the coasts always unconsciously forgot that there was more to the country than just the states that touched water.
"Ooo, nice." she said, not fazed in the least. "I just asked cause you don't..." she paused, glancing at the door. "You're just not the type we usually get around here."
Huh?
She was the third person he had met here that said something similar. Suddenly he found himself wondering what she had been going to say, before she changed her mind.
There was something he couldn't quite pin down about the people he had met here so far. Even the people he had only seen in passing this morning on his walk. They all seemed to have something in common. Jack couldn't figure it out. They just all seemed to fit, somehow.
Well, except for Britt,
he thought, smiling. She seemed different in a whole other way. He definitely couldn't help but feel a little out of place.
"Yeah, I seem to get that a lot lately," he said.
She blushed, the warm rosy glow spreading up her neck and over her pale, lightly freckled skin, all the way to the her shockingly red hair. Jack found himself suddenly imagining how far down that blush really went. He was definitely curious now. And he found that he was really enjoying talking to Ashley. He had confined himself to such a solitary life lately that even this light back and forth seemed to be feeding his long starved need for companionship.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'll bet. I didn't mean to pry. I was just..." she trailed off, not quite knowing what to say.
Curious?
Jack finished in his head for her as he met her eyes.
Why not?
"It's no problem," he said to her. "Maybe sometime you and I could grab some dinner and I'll tell you anything you want to know." He winced to himself. As far as pick-up lines went, it wasn't exactly gold metal material.
He watched her eyes sparkle with interest for a moment and a small grin come to her lips as she looked him over. But then she glanced almost fearfully back at Mrs. Munion's office door and said, "Sorry, I don't think I-- I'm not supposed to date the residents."
She gave him an apologetic smile. Jack hadn't missed the brief pause when she had answered. There probably wasn't any such rule, but he appreciated the effort anyway.
