Traffic Stop (2 page)

He’d been on the force just two years longer than Ryan, and she couldn’t have asked for a better partner. He always told her that she was the little sister he never had.

Jake and Tim had dated for just five months before moving in together. That was almost six years ago. At six-foot-three, two hundred and twenty pounds, with huge muscles and rugged good looks, Jake made an impressive appearance. As long as Ryan had known him, Jake had always taken very good care of his body and mind. He was also the gentlest man she had ever known, aside from her father. Between Jake and Tim, not one day went by without one of them calling her just to “check in,” as they both put it. Ryan had wondered on many occasions if her mother had some kind of conspiracy going with them.

Ryan flicked on her turn signal and glanced in the mirror before turning down her street.

She knew that very few were aware that Jake was gay. He had commented on several occasions that he wasn’t sure how well it would be received at the precinct. Rather than take a chance, he preferred to keep his private life separate from his professional one.

Ryan pulled into the garage, gathered her things, and made her way into the house. In the kitchen, she tossed her keys on the table and considered what to eat for dinner. As she did every night, she ate without tasting her food, and shuffled through the mail without really reading it. She dropped the mail back onto the table and stood up, smothering a yawn behind one hand.

The pulsating rhythm of the music at the bar had given her a niggling headache that was waiting to explode. Ryan grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, found a couple of aspirin in a cabinet, and swallowed them with a gulp of water. She leaned back against the counter and took a few more sips. Usually she enjoyed the silence in the house, but some nights it made her feel really lonely; tonight was one of those nights. She sighed, recapped the bottle, and put it back in the fridge. Finally, before shutting out the lights and heading to the bedroom, she went through the routine of securing her home. It was so second nature that most nights she was barely aware of doing it.

Ryan slipped her work clothes off and pulled on a T-shirt and boxers. She brushed her teeth, clicked off the light, and crawled under the covers. The chill of the cool sheets made her shiver.

There was a time when she would have welcomed that chill, knowing that shortly someone would be along to warm up the sheets—and her.

Goddamn you, Stacey! No! Stop that, Ryan. We are not going
there tonight. Just roll over and go to sleep.

For once, Ryan listened to her inner self.

“Dr. Drexler, wait up a second. I have those reports you wanted to sign off on before leaving,” Marcy called down the hall.

Tobi Drexler leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She was a radiologist with a specialty in ultrasound, and today she had lost count of the number of cases she had dictated. The ache and burning in her eyes hinted that it was time to go home.

“Ugh. This day is never going to end, Marcy. Just when I think I’m home free, someone else stops me,” she said, turning toward her secretary and friend. Marcy grinned and handed her the reports.

“Tobi, I know you’re tired and ready to get out of here, but can you honestly say that, come tomorrow, you’d have been happy with me if those were still sitting on your desk?”

Tobi glared for a few seconds before sighing. “No, I would not have been happy. I’m sorry for being so short with you. I’m just really tired, and a date with my tub sounds like heaven right about now.”

“Well, just glance over these few reports and sign them, then you can get out of here. I promise not to hold you up any longer,”

her secretary replied while patting Tobi’s shoulder in sympathy.

Tobi set her briefcase and jacket down on the counter and glanced through the first report before signing it. While looking over the second, she spotted a mistake that she normally would not make.

“How on earth does that dictation system confuse bladder with blabber?”

Marcy shrugged her shoulders as Tobi rolled her eyes and made the necessary correction before going on to the next report.

Finally finished, she handed the reports back to Marcy.

“I’m going now; cover for me till I make it to the garage,”

Tobi said as she walked toward the stairwell.

“Get out of here, you goof! I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well.”

“Thanks. Oh,” Tobi said, stopping in mid-stride. “Did you by chance water those two plants for me?”

“I got them, shorty.”

“Hey, I’m not short, you’re just an Amazon.”

Laughing, Marcy replied, “What are you, all of five-foot-four?”

“I’m five-foot-six, thank you very much!”

“Whatever,” Marcy said. “Listen, are you feeling okay? That sparkle in your baby blues has been missing lately.”

“I’m fine,” Tobi responded abruptly. Marcy didn’t speak, but Tobi knew she was waiting for more of an explanation. “Really, I’m okay, but thank you for asking.”

Marcy quietly studied Tobi before nodding. “All right. Go on then, get on out of here. I’ll see you later.”

“Good night.” Tobi smiled tiredly as she waved and pushed through the stairwell door.

Tobi’s heels clicked on the pavement as she walked toward her car. She keyed the remote to unlock the car doors and gave an audible sigh as she slid in and sank into the plush seat.

Finally, there is nothing that can stop me now. Eat dinner,
take a nice hot bath, and crawl into bed for some uninterrupted
hours of sleep. And all in that order, too.

Tobi changed into comfy clothes and browsed through the refrigerator, deciding on a chicken salad. She curled up in a corner of the sofa and ate while watching the evening news. After getting her fill of shootings, stabbings, and car accidents, she clicked the television off, put her bowl in the dishwasher, and headed into the bathroom for a nice long soak. Tobi turned the water on as hot as she could stand it, and then dropped in some bath beads. She slipped out of her clothing and gingerly stepped into the tub. The long day, combined with the anxiety over her own doctor’s appointment tomorrow, pushed Tobi beyond exhaustion. She ran a finger lightly over the small, fresh, pink scar across her left breast.

Her doctor had recommended she have a biopsy on a lump she had found just over a week ago. Tomorrow she would find out the results. She slid down until her chin was barely out of the water.

“Mmmm, heaven,” Tobi mumbled as she closed her eyes and let the water work away some of the kinks.

She awoke with a start and sat up, sloshing water onto the tiled floor. “That was really dumb, Tobi.” She opened the drain and stepped from the tub. After slipping into her bathrobe, she applied some moisturizer to her face and then shut the lights out.

She loved the feeling of the thick, soft carpet squishing between her toes as she walked into the bedroom. Tobi let the robe slide from her body and fall to the floor before climbing into bed. She pulled the covers up over her bare shoulders and, with a soft sigh, closed her eyes to let Mr. Sandman carry her away.

Ryan’s thoughts churned over and over in her head as her fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel. She knew she had a ton of things she could be doing with her upcoming weekend off, but none of them seemed appealing. It was only Friday, 11 A.M., and already she wished it were Monday, 6 A.M. Over the past two years Ryan had found herself volunteering for shifts just to avoid the weekends, but she knew she couldn’t keep up that pace. She already had enough people taking notice and telling her that she needed to get on with her life. “Go out, have fun,” they said.
What
exactly does that mean again?
Spotting a car up ahead, Ryan sighed. Ah, just what she needed, something to save her from herself.

“Jake, how many times have we traveled this same road?”

“Over the last three years? I’d say at least twice a day, almost every day. You do the math,” he replied.

“And how many times have we had to stop and move along cars that were pulled over on the shoulder, even when they knew they were not supposed to stop along this strip?”

“At least twice a week. What’s with all the questions?”

“Just curious; it looks like we are about to move another one.”

As Ryan pulled the cruiser behind the blue Audi, she noticed a small decal on the bottom left corner of the rear window. Taking a closer look, she realized it was a black lower case Greek letter lambda in a pink box. She smiled to herself and glanced through the rear window. It appeared the driver was either leaning into or over the steering wheel.

“I’m gonna check this out. Stand by on the radio in case we need to call for medical assistance.”

“Will do, Ryan.”

Ryan stepped from the car and placed her hand lightly on her weapon. She walked cautiously to the driver’s side window and tapped gently so as not to startle the driver. She could feel her heart pounding within her chest when one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen lifted her head and looked up at her.
My
God. She’s stunning!
The driver’s fine hair was almost white-blond and long. It was the type of hair that Ryan itched to run her fingers through. Ryan couldn’t see the woman’s eyes because she was wearing sunglasses; she could, however, see that the woman had been crying.

“Ma’am, is everything okay? You know, you’re not supposed to stop on this shoulder.”

“Um, yes I’m fine. I…uh…well…I just needed to pull over a minute to collect myself. I’m sorry; I’ll be on my way.” Tobi surveyed the dark uniform covering the officer’s lean torso, taking in lightly tanned and muscled arms. Her gaze wandered up a delicate neck and strong jaw, to soft, pink lips before continuing up to blue-gray eyes with long, thick eyelashes. She had just noted wisps of dark hair curling over small ears when she realized the officer was speaking to her.”I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I said are you sure you’re okay to drive? I don’t mean to pry, but you seem very upset.”

“It’s just been one of those days, and I just…” the blonde woman sighed. “I’m sorry, really, I’ll just go.”

What Ryan should have done at this point was let her go with a warning to drive carefully, the standard “cop send-off,” but she could still see the tears on the woman’s cheeks, and she wanted to reach through the window and brush them away. Instead, Ryan did something she couldn’t even explain to herself. She leaned an arm on top of the car and bent down so their eyes were level.

“Listen, I know this is highly irregular, but I’m a pretty good listener if you need to talk.”

“Thanks for the offer,” she paused to glance at Ryan’s badge before continuing, “Sergeant Thomas, but I’m really okay.”

“All right then, if you’re sure,” Ryan replied, straightening up.

“Please be careful.”

Ryan watched as the woman started to roll the window up, then turned to walk away.

“Sergeant Thomas?”

Ryan turned back as she heard the woman call out her name.

“Yes?”

At that moment the blonde slid off her sunglasses, and Ryan felt as if she was punched in the gut. The woman had the most incredible blue eyes; it was like looking at a summer sky after an afternoon sun shower.

“Thank you for…well, just thanks.”

Ryan smiled gently at her. “You’re welcome.”

Tobi rolled the window up and glanced in the mirror before pulling out into traffic. She looked in the rearview mirror and watched as the attractive cop got back in her cruiser, spoke briefly to her partner, and then pulled back into traffic herself. As she drove, Tobi thought about her test results and decided that she was going to start living her life rather than merely existing. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gone out with someone other than herself.

Ryan and Jake entered the station and headed to their mailboxes. This time of day was always busy as everyone was trying to finish up their reports before shift change. Ryan flipped through various memos while walking over to a desk.

“Thomas!”

Ryan looked up to see the desk clerk pointing at the phone in his hand and holding up two fingers indicating she had a call on line two. Sitting down in the chair, she reached for the phone.

“Sergeant Thomas, may I help you?”

“Hello, Sergeant Thomas. Um, this is going to sound insane, but I’m the woman who was pulled over on the side of the road earlier today…”

Ryan sat up in her chair. “Yes, I remember you. What can I do for you?”

Tobi nervously wrapped the phone cord around her hand before continuing. “Well, talking would be just what I need. That is, of course, if you still don’t mind listening.”
Please say you
don’t mind. I would really like to get to know you better.

“The offer is most definitely still open.”

Jake sat on the edge of Ryan’s desk pretending to read through his memos, but actually hoping to hear more of the one-sided conversation.

“Great. How long before your shift is over?”

Ryan peered at her watch. “My shift ends in about a half hour.” Ryan glanced at Jake just in time to see his eyebrows rise.

Feeling the heat of a blush coming on, she turned her back, which garnered her a few chuckles from him.

Tobi was thrilled that the officer was still interested and took a deep breath to calm her shaking nerves. “Would you like to get together for dinner—say about sixish? There’s a nice little Italian restaurant on the corner of 18th and Main that is really good.”

“That would be perfect,” the officer replied.

“Well then, Sergeant Thomas-”

“It’s Ryan.”

“Well…Ryan, I’ll see you around six. By the way, I’m Tobi, Tobi Drexler.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Tobi. I’ll see you later then.”

Ryan said goodbye, then looked at Jake and could tell by the smile on his face that he was not going to let her alone about this one.

“Not one word, Jake,” Ryan said, pointing her finger at him.

yan stepped from the shower and grabbed her towel.

She was extremely nervous about meeting Tobi; she R hadn’t felt comfortable enough to date in a long time.