Letters of Love (Green Division Series Book #3) (2 page)

*****

“Hi honey,” Charles “Kip” McAfee joked as Ben walked through the door.
“When are you and Hanna going to make up?”  Ben dropped his duty bag beside the doorway.  “You’re not the face I want to see when I get home from work, honey.”
“When she decides to forgive me.”
“So that means never.”  Ben unbuttoned his uniform as he walked down the hallway.  “What the hell are you doing up anyway?  You boys in green don’t keep these hours.”
“Got called out, can’t get back to sleep,” Kip yelled down the hallway.  Kip was a Maine Game Warden, still the rookie of his unit in all ways.  At twenty three, he had a lot of room to grow as both a warden and a man.  Ben was nice enough to give him a room when his girlfriend kicked him out for his slightly unfaithful ways.  The two had grown to be friends through the business and Ben took him under his wing.
“Turn the TV down, I’m going to sleep.”
“Night sweetie.”
“Uh huh, sugar.”  

Ben turned his cell on vibrate and sat on his bed.  Sleep.  That was on the agenda for the next day.  He was burned out.  A twenty eight year old shouldn’t feel the way he did.  His back ached from the damn duty belt that weighed down on his hips.  His wrist hurt from the tussle that ensued with the teenager who tried to jump off a bridge.  And his eyelids had invisible weights attached to him.  He’d been on the force for six years and though he was still gung ho most days, this day just didn’t happen to be one of those days.
“Ben!”  Kip yelled out.
“Hhhhhm,” Ben groaned.
“Running to the gas station.  We’re outta toilet paper. And tissues.  And paper towels.  You need anything?”
“Stop talking to me.”
“Cranky.”  
The front door shut and with it Ben passed out.
 

CHAPTER TWO
 

“Hello.”
 Aubrey held the phone to her head.  It was 9am.  She’d had six hours of sleep the prior night, more than she was used to.
“I woke you up!  I’m so sorry!  I thought you had today off,” Aubrey’s friend Jill sounded deeply regretful.
“No, no, I need to get up for work anyway.  What’s up?”
“Me and Taylor were thinking we should do that new country bar in Killington next Friday and wanted to make sure it’s your weekend off.”
“I have it off, but I really need to work on the bakery if I want to open it up during my lifetime.”
“You work all the time, Aubrey,” Jill tried to convince her.  “And we haven’t had a girls’ night in forever.  You have to come.  Not negotiable. You are coming.”
“Why don’t you guys come help me at the bakery and we’ll party by painting.”
“That’s not the party we have in mind girl.  You need to get out.  And we need to find you a man.”
Aubrey laughed.
“Thanks for starting out my day by depressing me.”
“Then come with us.  We’ll have a few drinks, have a good time.  Maybe even find you a hot cowboy.”
“We live in Maine, there aren’t any cowboys.  If I’m lucky, I’ll find a one toothed redneck.”
“You’re single because you’re too picky.  The perfect man you’re searching for doesn’t exist.”
“Says the woman who has a perfect man.”
“So are you in, or what?”
“I’ll try.”  Aubrey yawned.
“I’ll take that as a yes.  Have fun at work.”
“I’ll try.  Bye Jill.”
“Bye love.”
Another day.
 Aubrey got up and ready for the day.  Twelve hours at the hospital.  Three hour round trip commute.  Four hours at the bakery. And repeat.  It made her tire thinking about it.
 

*****

“How does one man make as much noise as you?  You sound like a fucking rhino. I don’t blame Hanna.”  Ben took a pillow and fired it at Kip.
“Hey man, don’t hit below the belt.”
“Let me sleep then.”
“I’m gone for the day.  Get your rest sleeping beauty.”
Kip left for work with his gear in hand.  Ben dropped onto the couch and buried his head in a pillow.  He couldn’t wait until Kip got his own place.  It was like living with a frat kid.
 

CHAPTER THREE
 

“Are you alright?”
Nancy, a middle aged portly nurse asked.
“I ah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I love our patients, but I’m not strong enough to do this job.  I can’t keep watching these kids...”  Aubrey trailed off.
“You’re stronger than you know.”  Nancy walked over and hugged her.  “Go home, enjoy your weekend off.  You deserve a little down time.  And don’t go working on that bakery of yours.”
“I’ll try.”  Aubrey zipped up her leather boots and stuffed her scrubs into her backpack.  “I’ll see you next week.”  
She waved to Nancy and walked back to her new GMC pickup.  Her baby.
Aubrey had another one of “those” days.  A day where she hated her job and couldn’t wait to hang up her scrubs permanently.  Another few months of putting the final touches on the bakery and it would be ready to open.  She relished the thought.  No more long commutes, no more nights spent crying over the events of the day.  Losing young patients was hard, something she couldn’t adjust to, no matter how many times she’d witnessed it.  On this day it was a twelve year old boy, Kel, a cancer patient.

His passing had been unexpected.  He’d succumbed after complications with his treatment and Aubrey had spent all afternoon with his family.  Her co-workers told her she needed to separate her emotion and put distance between herself and her work, but she couldn’t do it.  She couldn’t dehumanize her emotions.  As she thought about the day and Kel, she began to do what she did so many drives home.
And then she saw a familiar sight.  One she was not excited to see.  Flashing blue lights.
“You have to be kidding me,” she said in disbelief.  No such luck.  The blue lights caught up to her and she obediently pulled to the side of the road, sliding the car into park.  She hoped it wasn’t Trooper Asshole.  It couldn’t be, her luck wouldn’t be that bad.  She wiped her eyes and tried to hide any proof that she’d been crying.
A flashlight shone in her face, again.
“License, registration, proof of insurance.”
“Oh shit,” Aubrey said immediately when she recognized the voice.  Trooper Asshole.
“
Oh shit
is right.”  
She passed the information to him.  After the last disaster, she’d put her registration, insurance, and license together in her purse.
“You had it ready this time.  No digging.  Is getting pulled over a constant occurrence for you?”
“No, sir.”  Aubrey remembered his words of advice.  She wasn’t going to push it.  The $500 worth of tickets sitting on her counter were a reminder of what Asshole was capable of when pissed off.  And he seemed pissed off without her provocation.
“The thing is Miss Devlin, you haven’t learned your lesson.   You were going nearly thirty over the last time I caught you less than two weeks ago.  Tonight I catch speeding yet again.  What are you in such a hurry to get to at two in the morning?”
“Home.”  If she kept her answers short and sweet she wouldn’t get in trouble.  And he wouldn’t be able to hear the emotion in her voice if she didn’t talk.
“Is home not going to be in the same place if you go the speed limit?”
“Yes sir, it would be.”  
Don’t yell...don’t yell at him...keep calm.
“So, you just don’t care what the speed limit is?  Is that the problem we have here?”
Aubrey took a deep breath and shielded her eyes from the flashlight.  She wasn’t going to engage in the argument he tried to incite.
“Do you know how fast you were going tonight?”
Aubrey wasn’t in the mood for this.
“No, I honestly don’t.”  She put her hand down and looked at him.  He lowered the light so she could see.
“Sixty eight in a fifty.  Slower than our last meeting, but you still need improvement.”
I’m screwed.  
She wiped her eyes again.  
“Have you had anything to drink tonight Miss Devlin?”
“What?” she said shocked.  “No, I haven’t had anything to drink.”
Trooper Asshole stared at her bloodshot eyes and leaned closer to her truck.  She wouldn’t admit she’d been crying, nor why.  She didn’t need to explain herself to him.
“Can you step out of the vehicle please?”
“I haven’t had anything to drink, I just got out of work.”  Aubrey was truly blown away at his accusation.
“If you’ve had nothing to drink, you have nothing to worry about.  Step out of the vehicle please, I’m going to ask you to perform a series of field sobriety tests.”
“You can’t be serious?  This isn’t happening.” She put her hand on her forehead.  Another stellar night.  “I haven’t had anything to drink and I don’t need to prove that to you.”  

And the defiant, argumentative Aubrey was back.
“Listen, Miss Devin,” Asshole’s voice grew testy. “You have two options at this point.  You can step out of your vehicle and perform the sobriety tests as I’ve instructed you and if you’ve had nothing to drink, you continue on your merry way.  Or you can refuse.  If you choose to refuse you will be arrested.  No passing GO, no collecting two hundred dollars, you go straight to jail.  Those are your options.  What will it be?”
Aubrey stared at him coldly then opened her door and stepped into the cool air.  This time Asshole didn’t have his hat on.  As she stood beside him she fully gauged his height.  He was about an inch taller than her, 5’8” and definitely didn’t weigh much more than her.  She was a built 160.  He was a builtish 165 soaking wet. He had short blond hair and a visible scar between his nose and upper lip.   Yup, she could definitely take the little man.
“Go to the front of my car.”  Asshole motioned for her to walk in front of him.  She obeyed. She followed his instructions to a tee with no difficulty passing all of the tests.  
“You may go back and sit in your car,” he said when she’d completed the last test.  “I’ll be right with you.”
Aubrey walked back to her car.
I HATE HIM.
She leaned her head over the steering wheel and held back the emotion bubbling under the surface.
Don’t cry...don’t cry...don’t let him see you cry. 
The tears wouldn’t be shed on Asshole’s accord, but Kel’s.
“You know the drill here.”  Asshole passed her the clipboard.  Aubrey didn’t question what would happen if she didn’t sign the ticket this go around.
“Yes, sir.”  Aubrey signed the ticket and passed it to him.
“I cut you a break.  I wrote you a ticket for nine miles an hour over.”
Does he expect me to thank him?
“I expect this to be the last time I see you. Another encounter and you’ll likely lose your license due to the amount of points you’ll have on it.”
“I hope it’s the last time too.”  Aubrey looked up at him void of emotion.
“We’re in agreement Miss Devlin.  Have a good night.”  Asshole walked away.
Aubrey looked skyward.  “I hate you.  I fucking hate you!  You are such a cruel God.  Why?  Why would you—”
“Miss Devlin, do you have something you’d like to add to our conversation?”  Asshole’s hands were on his hips, his body language conveyed his displeasure.  
Aubrey dropped her head onto the steering wheel.  She had been cursing God.  The Almighty.  Not Asshole.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Is there someone else here that I do not see? Do you see anyone else?”  Asshole’s voice was angry.
“I wasn’t talking to you, honestly.”  She picked her head up.  “I just want to go home.”
Asshole didn’t move.
“Then I suggest you stop mouthing off and go home before this escalates to a point you don’t want it to go.”
“Is that a threat?”  Aubrey said upset.  
“It’s a promise.  Go.”  Asshole walked away again.  Aubrey rolled up her window and headed onto the road.  What a night.

*****

The next time I pull Toad over, her ass is going to jail.  
“604, Green, I’m 10-8.”
“10-4, 604.”
Her truck and license plate were seared into his memory.  He wouldn’t be able to forget them if he tried.  Black GMC truck, license plate GNNY, most unpleasant woman on Route 121.  With the speeding tickets he’d given her, she was on a fast track to lose her license.  Ben would be more than happy to help her succeed in that feat.
His shift was over.  Time to go home.
“Green, 604.”
“Son of a—”  Ben stewed and then picked up the mic on his radio.  “604, go ahead.”
“Domestic situation, husband and wife, verbal only at this time, but escalating.  No weapons. 236 Deer Run Lane, Big Moose Lake Township.”
“10-4.  I’ll be enroute from Greenville.”
Big Moose Lake happened to be one town north of where Aubrey lived.  Ben turned his vehicle around, switched on the blues, and headed toward Big Moose Lake.  Moments later he came upon Aubrey’s vehicle.  He knew she would be shitting bricks at the sight of his blue lights, again.  The thought made him smile.

*****

“What the hell?”
 Aubrey said in utter disbelief of the blue lights.  “I know I haven’t done anything this time.”
And then the lights continued by her.  She looked in front of her, then back, then in front again.  The blue lights weren’t for her.  That was a first.  She pulled back onto the road and continued.  
The single story bakery was nearly done.  She’d bought it at a steal, in need of renovations in every possible way, and worked for the past year doing just that.  The theme was 1960’s soda shop, vintage with all of her decorations from that timeframe.  She had to refinish the trim and paint the walls and it would look like a real business.  
Aubrey unlocked the front door and walked to the corner table.  It was covered in paint cans. She would paint one wall that night and return the following day to work on another.  A little bit at a time she told herself.  The air was bitter cold and she didn’t want to turn the oil heat on for all of an hour or two, so she turned on the space heater to warm the space where she painted.  It kept her hands warm enough to function.
She worked on the wall for an hour and was too exhausted to continue.  Slumping into one of the finished booths, she laid her head on the table and nearly passed out.  It was bedtime.