Judging Joey (2 page)

Chapter 2

Joey stared in disbelief as his partner and good friend of the past couple of years paraded away and left him flat. Alex was always there for him, as he was for her, even in their personal lives. With the possible exception of now, he thought. He gritted his teeth together, the sweetness from the cream pies lingering and leaving a bad taste.

She’d just gone through a terrible breakup and he had held her hand, hadn’t he? Well, maybe not literally, but hadn’t he listened to all her troubles with that loser, George? He guessed he couldn’t blame Alex for not wanting to deal with Tina, Julie, and Amber. After all, she’d tried to warn him about them, and they were his problems.

He turned his attention to the beautiful redhead who kept studying him. His police training told him she had something brewing in her brain. He winced as he heard Amber shout out, “Hi, Joey, had a great time in Vermont. Why haven’t you called?”

Truth was, Amber was sweet and all, but he couldn’t carry on a conversation with her. And she had exaggerated when she said she could ski. Although, it appeared she had a good arm and could hit her target he discovered, wanting to rub his chin, but he didn’t want to look like a wimp.

He blew out a breath. Why did he always seem to attract trouble? He searched the crowd. Then he flashed a smile to the gorgeous redhead standing next to him. He didn’t want everyone who was watching to think him a jerk. Now
she
looked like someone he could have an intelligent conversation with. He grimaced when a pie hit his chin, catching him off guard.

Amber jumped and shouted, “Whoo-hoo!”

Why wasn’t his turn in this chair over yet?
It had to be over by now.
And where in the hell was the person who was supposed to relieve him?

The tall, beautiful redhead standing nearby to assist him said, “Your sister asked me to stay a bit longer to help because the PTA ladies had extended your time in this seat. Your
friends
must have seen the school’s announcement in the newspaper or on the flyers around town. Funny, they don’t strike me as the reading type.”

Maybe it was the whipped cream clogging his ears, but he could have sworn he detected sarcasm in her tone. She pressed something against his hand.

“Here, a woman named Tina asked me to slip you this note.”

“What’s it say? I can’t exactly read it right now.”

“I think it’s personal. Her lipstick print is on it like a seal,” she sniped at him. “You can inspect it yourself. It’s the principal’s turn in the chair now anyhow.”

True to her word, Miss White stopped the next person in line from throwing a pie so that Joey could exchange the seat with the principal of the elementary school. Someone shouted, “Hey, I bought a pie to hit Officer O’Neill!” A few more groans came from the crowd, then after a moment they quieted down.

The principal, Roger Denby, a pocket-sized man with wire-rimmed glasses, shook his sticky hand. “Thanks for doing this, Joey. The PTA really relies on this fundraiser for our students.”

Taking off his protective cape, Joey smiled. “Glad to do it, Roger. Anything for the kids.”

The principal’s eyes brightened. “Does that mean we can count on you to do it again next year?”

Joey shrugged his question off with a laugh. “Don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow, let alone next year. We’ll see. Maybe I can do something else, like make balloon animals.” He waved to the people on line. He caught a smile from Julie and a wink from Tina.

The redhead rolled her eyes. Joey sized her up and couldn’t help but appreciate what he saw. Her creamy pale skin contrasted with her thick, dark-red hair that framed an attractive face and fell below her shoulders. Well below her shoulders. He willed her to turn around so he could see how close it got to the top of her narrow waist. She had her hands pinned to her waist and tapped her foot to show her impatience. Pity. He’d have to wait. He imagined her walking away and he predicted he’d enjoy the view from behind as much as he liked his present view.

“Your fans await.” She pointed to the other women and frowned.

He knew he was staring, right into the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Green and clear like the ocean water in the Cayman Islands where he had vacationed once. He swallowed hard and ignored their pleas to come over. They commiserated near the cotton candy machine. He turned back to the redhead and regarded her instead as she studied his old girlfriends. She wore a green dress that came up just above her knees. Pretty silver flat shoes covered her delicate feet. He finally managed to say, “Thanks for all of your help.”

His sister, Caitlin, wandered over with his partner, Alex. He noticed the rest of his family huddled together at the ice-cream stand.

“I see you’ve met Miss White, Christopher’s first grade teacher. She’s new to the school this year,” Caitlin said. “Madeline, my brother was a hit. I told you he would be.”

Joey reached out to shake the redhead’s hand. “Madeline, nice to meet you.” He held her soft palm between both of his, slightly aware of his own being covered in a film of sticky pie cream. He hoped she didn’t mind, but he couldn’t help himself. She intrigued him and he was enjoying getting to know her better.

Madeline arched a brow and frowned again, but didn’t pull her hand away. “Yes, seems you brought your entourage as well.”

“What?” Caitlin whisked about and spotted the three ladies beckoning him. “How could you, Joey? This is no place for your
special
friends,” Caitlin whispered through gritted teeth, but her voice carried. “It’s for the children.”

Alex seemed unfazed and defended him in an even tone. “That’s not fair. Joey didn’t ask them to come.” Alex gave Caitlin a knowing look, and they exchanged nods.

He might not recognize trouble when it came to women, but he did know when they harbored a secret or private joke. And it was not his imagination that something had just passed between his sister and partner. He also knew that he would never figure it out, so he went back to focusing on Miss White. The abnormally warm October weather must have been causing havoc to his senses because he would swear the woman was now acting hostile toward him. Must be coming down with something, he thought, as perspiration began to break out on his forehead.

The sun was beating down and probably curdling the cream in his hair. Who was he kidding? It wouldn’t have mattered if it were the dead of winter, the teacher’s fierce glare threatened to set him on fire. He released Madeline’s hand.

Though clueless as to why the redhead was angry with him, he still tried to lighten up the situation. “Miss White, you’re upset. My friends offended you, and you’re only thinking of the children. I’ll ask them to leave. I’m on my way home anyway. They didn’t mean any harm. I think they thought they were helping. You know, two heads are better than one. In this case, three heads.” He smiled at her, hoping to release the tension.

She clenched her jaw instead, and when she finally spoke, she raised her voice an octave. “Are you serious?”

He tugged at his sticky T-shirt and turned to Alex for support.
What was with this redhead?
“I was just trying to use humor. Didn’t mean to upset you more.”

“Figures you would crack a joke.” Madeline placed her hands on her hips. “Well, for what it’s worth, thanks for your help today.”

She might be gorgeous and a little fascinating, but maybe she was more than he bargained for and he didn’t need to deal with the strange woman any more. Joey gave Madeline a curt nod and began to head toward the three other problems he had to deal with. Each one a blonde and waving him over.

“You don’t remember me, do you, Joey?” Madeline’s accusing tone stopped him.

Joey whipped around. “Have we met before?”

Madeline waltzed up to him. She tipped her chin up and knitted her brows together as she stared at him. “We went to high school together. We graduated
the same year
.”

Joey turned to look at Caitlin, who shrugged her shoulders and gave him a ‘news to me’ look.

“Ah, that explains it,” Alex muttered under her breath. She patted Joey on the arm. “Good luck. I’m going to the park to play basketball with the guys. Can’t wait to get in the car and blast the air-conditioning. Crazy weather for October, isn’t it?”

He ignored Alex and faced the fiery redhead. “We went to high school together? I would have remembered you. You must have me mistaken for someone else.”

“Come on, Joey.” She laughed, a genuine laugh, not forced this time. “Well, maybe I’m not being fair. I went by another last name and I do look a lot different. I had braces. Glasses. Blotchy skin. And my hair . . .”

“I would have remembered you
because
of your hair.”

She ran a hand down the length of it. “It was much shorter back then. And curly. I looked like Annie. You used to tease me and call me
Little Orphan Annie
.”

Joey stepped back and studied her. He could only imagine her hair’s silkiness. His hand itched to run along the smooth tresses. “Geez, I’m sorry. I really don’t remember you. We did have one of the largest graduating classes ever that year. And, wow, if I said that, I guess I was jerk.”

She shrugged, but he could see a flicker of mistrust in her green eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You were too busy being a football jock. And if you weren’t playing that field you were playing another. I think you single-handedly dated every blond cheerleader, then moved on to the girls’ gymnastic team and then . . .”

“It wasn’t like that. I dated brunettes, too.” He grinned at her.

“Oh, so it was just us redheads that you treated like the dirt on the bottom of your shoes.” She had lowered her voice, but her dry, even tone challenged him to say otherwise.

Her words sliced through him and he needed a moment before he responded. “Look, I’m not sure what your beef is. So what if I didn’t date a redhead? I don’t even remember there being many redheads.”

“We were there, Joey, you just didn’t notice.”

Again with the sarcasm in her voice!

He folded his arms across his chest and took in her words. Her jaw was tight and tilted up in defiance. Reality sank in. She was genuinely miffed with him! How was that possible? Didn’t he have enough troubles with women? Like the ones with whom he had had relationships? Here was a woman whose path he didn’t even remember crossing before and she had just added herself to his rather lengthy list. The smile disappeared from his lips.

“Well?” she asked, impatience brewing in her tone.

“Well what? I don’t know what you want me to say. I already said sorry for the Annie thing. Do you expect me to apologize for not noticing you in high school?”

For a moment he thought she was going to say she did, but then her shoulders relaxed a bit and she unclenched her jaw. He already apologized for calling her something he didn’t remember just to make peace. The married men in his family did it all the time to keep their wives happy. On the other hand, the only role she played in his life was as Christopher’s teacher.

She broke the awkward silence. “No, of course not. That would be silly, wouldn’t it?”

She was close. So close, in fact, that he caught a whiff of an attractive scent. Vanilla. Yes, that was it. It suited her well. Earthy. Spicy. Under other circumstances he might have leaned in closer, but he stopped himself.

“What is it that you want from me then, Miss White?”

She gave a tight laugh. “Joey, please call me Madeline.”

“Okay, Madeline. I get the sense you want
something
from me. If not an apology, then what?”

She glanced over at Caitlin, who had moved several steps away, but lingered. He knew his sister well enough to be certain she was straining to hear their conversation over the roar of nearby activities. “You really don’t remember what you did, do you? Was I that insignificant that you don’t remember what you and your stupid friends did?”

Bewildered, he shrugged and was about to demand more of an explanation when she held up her hand and cut him off.

She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and her eyes clouded over. “I’ve been avoiding seeing you here at school for weeks because I didn’t want to have to dredge up the past and discuss it at my workplace, and now you don’t even remember me? Oh! Just . . . never mind! It’s ancient history, anyway!”

Instinct told Joey that whatever was bothering Madeline was far from history.

Madeline cleared her throat, erasing the current topic from the conversation. “Your sister said you’ve volunteered to talk about Halloween Safety during our ‘Just Say No To Drugs’ assembly.”

“That’s true. Alex and I are the district’s Safety Officers.”

Madeline bit at her lower lip as if contemplating whether or not to speak her mind. “Please remember these assemblies mean a lot to the students and our school. I want you to promise me you’ll take this seriously.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms. The woman had nerve; he had to give her that. But now she was way out of line. With that, he lost all sense of any humor in dealing with the situation. “Miss White . . .”

She held up her hand to correct him. “Madeline . . .”

“Madeline, I take my job and the people I serve
very
seriously. I don’t know what your problem with me is, but this conversation is over.”

“Joey, I . . .” Her voice softened. “Maybe we can clear up our
history
privately.” She glanced about at the people laughing and walking around. “I can’t dodge around the corner or slip into a random classroom every time I see you walking down the hall.”

Suddenly he thought he caught a glimpse of that girl from high school. A doe-eyed skinny teenager with pale skin and a curly mop of red hair who followed the team players around with a notepad and pen. He shook away the possible memory. It was his turn to hold up a hand to correct her. “I’ve heard enough.”

“Listen, Joey, I didn’t mean to imply that you wouldn’t do your job. But I’m having a difficult time believing you’re a hardnosed cop when I remember you as a high school jock who thought everything was a joke. These school activities mean a lot. The Safety Program is a wonderful, meaningful program.”