Touching the Moon Page 4

  “You look a little down,” said Julie, as they stepped outside.

  “That obvious, huh?” he responded, looking at his feet.

  “Did you lose someone, Elliott? Is there anything I can do?”

  “Yeah, I lost someone, Julie.” He rubbed his forehead. “My girl decided that she wanted to move to New Orleans. She got a big break as a lead singer in a jazz band there and took it.”

  “Hey. Long distance relationships can work. Don’t you worry.” She looked at his sandy brown hair as it tossed in the wind. His eyes were dark. Looked like he hadn’t been getting much sleep.

  He glanced up at her with a pained expression. “She doesn’t want to come back.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “Would you consider moving to New Orleans, then?”

  “No,” he said, his voice heavy with regret. “That city would kill me as much as this back-country kills her.”

  Julie sighed deeply. “Then, Elliott, its best that you both found this out before you were married with kids.”

  His head shot up sharply.

  “Forgive me for being blunt. You two weren’t right for each other. Perhaps you were good for each other for a time, but now you both have to move on.”

  He frowned.

  “You know what? I think we all live our lives in little compartments like separate and distinct TV shows… childhood, adolescence, relationship one, relationship two, etc. We are single and wild, married and settled, widowed and lonely or divorced and fancy-free. Some of the shows last longer than others, that’s all. But every television series comes to an end. And next season, well, there’s a whole new list of offerings.”

  He laughed despite his pain.

  “Compartmentalizing ‘things’ helps me move on.”

  “And where are you in the TV guide, Julie?”

  “Right now, I’m the featured attraction of the Discovery channel, Elliott. Maybe you should try that out tonight.”

  He grinned. “The Discovery channel?”

  “Yeah.” She shrugged then grew serious. “With the two of you pulling towards such opposite poles, did you ever feel that you compromised more than you should have?”

  “She said so.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, her love is jazz. I like country and pop. She was the lead singer in my band.”

  “You have a band?”

  “The Copper Pigs.”

  “The Copper Pigs?”

  “We’re all cops. So, we took the Brit slang word for policeman and the American slang word for policeman and put them together to come up with our name.”

  “What’s your passion? Music or police work?”

  He frowned again, and took a deep breath. “It’s hard to explain really. I love being part of a team. I love the force, that sense of community. It makes me very happy. But there’s a part of me that needs to come out from behind the badge and make some noise.”

  “I hear you.”

  Dan Keating pulled up in his squad car. They both watched him approach, but Julie wanted to finish the conversation.

  “Elliott, there is no reason you can’t do both. I bet any nightclub would be very happy with a band that’s all cops. Imagine! They’d have their own security squad right up there on stage.”

  His jaw dropped. “I never looked at it that way.”

  “Market it that way,” she said, giving him a slow and significant nod.

  Dan stepped up to the two of them, his eyes darting back and forth between their faces. It was obvious that something significant had transpired. Elliott hadn’t smiled in weeks.

  “Hello, Officer Keating.”

  “Hello, Ms. Hastings. What brings you to my world?”

  “You, good sir. I dropped off a tin of gingersnaps at the front desk for you, as a thank you for Saturday.”

  “A thank you wasn’t necessary, but I’m very grateful for the cookies. Where are you headed, Elliott?” Dan asked.

  Elliott wasn’t headed anywhere, but he got the hint.

  “Home.”

  “Good day?” Dan asked.

  “Yes,” said Elliott cryptically, receiving all kinds of silent signals in man- speak that he was to vacate ASAP.

  “See you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, tomorrow,” said Elliott. He smiled at Julie and nodded to Dan then headed off.

  “Can you visit for a while?” Dan asked.

  “No, actually, I can’t. I had a small break in my day, which is why I stopped by, but I need to head back to the office.”

  “I see.” He didn’t hide his disappointment well. “Thank you for the cookies.”

  “Enjoy.”

  Both of their heads turned as Elliott drove by with a honk to the horn.

  “Did you know about his break-up?” asked Julie.

  Dan grimaced. “It was for the best. She was no good for him.”

  “Did you tell him that?”

  “On multiple occasions.”

  “I see.” She paused. “Well, good for him then that he’s escaped whatever would have dragged him down.”

  “He’s too young to see the agony he’s been spared, but he will.”

  “Relationships are messy, aren’t they?” she said softly. “And there is no happily ever after. Good that he has you for a touchstone.”

  He looked at her quizzically.

  “Have a good week, Dan.”

  6

  Gray Walker stopped by the office a few days after the hiking accident to check on her ankle. She wiggled it for him and thanked him again, handing him a tin of homemade cookies in gratitude for the lift down-mountain. He was not only surprised by the gift, but genuinely pleased.

  “I baked them for you,” she said by way of explanation, “But then I had no idea how to get them to you. I’m so glad you stopped by.”

  “Me too.”

  Dan Keating stopped by that week to check on her also. He gave Rose quite a scare by waltzing into the waiting room wearing his police uniform, but she recovered as soon as she realized that it was a social call and that he had no intentions of taking one of their more thirsty bloodhounds to the pound for raiding the local goose farm. For the fifth time.

  He had wanted to chat, but Julie was pulled into an emergency surgery with a very sick feline.

  That day it snowed, and that first snowfall descended as a permanent base for subsequent storms. Julie’s days were an endless battle against Mother Nature. She chipped ice off of her car, shoveled her driveway, and salted every surface in sight. Again, and again and again.

  Her world consisted of her home and the veterinary office and the connecting distance between the two. She spent Thanksgiving with Cole and his large circle of friends. She shared Christmas with Rose. But she was going to celebrate New Year’s Eve alone, by choice.

  The last day of December ushered in yet another layer of snow. They closed up the veterinary office at noon and she drove home in good spirits despite the weather.

  To her surprise, a very anxious wolf was waiting on her doorstep. His forelegs pounded the ground like pistons in excitement at her arrival. She hadn’t seen him in weeks and was nonplussed to find him standing in front of her.

  She glanced around. The streets were deserted. Nobody was out in this weather, but she wondered how he had found her and why he had dared to venture so far into town.

  “Well, now, if you aren’t a welcome sight!” She opened her front door.

  “I’m going to watch old movies and camp out in front of the fireplace all day and all night.” He chased his tail. “Sound good to you, too? We’ll make a party of it. Do you want to come in?”The wolf sniffed in the doorway, then stepped inside and slowly walked his way through the entire house. She stripped off her winter gear and followed him as he made the rounds.

  When he returned to the living room and sat down, she shut the door and locked up.

  She scratched his neck as she made toward the kitchen. “Hungry?”

  He yipped.

  She warmed u
p some beef stew and served his lukewarm in a bowl on the floor. She ate hers standing up. After cookies, she started a fire, kicked off her shoes, popped in a movie, and settled into a thick blanket on the floor, her back to the sofa. The wolf lay down beside her, quiet and content.

  They snacked, they snoozed, and they snuggled… his big wolf head in her lap, her hands stroking his thick fur. He grumbled in displeasure when she got up for any reason and nudged her arm if she stopped loving on him.

  “You know that you are incredibly demanding,” she complained.

  The doorbell rang.

  Big Boy was on his feet in an instant. Julie hushed his hostile growl as she made her way to the door. When she saw that it was Officer Keating, she opened it.

  “Hey! What brings you by?” she asked, stepping back to allow him to enter. A gust of frigid air stepped with him across the threshold. His face was ruddy from the cold and his eyes seemed all the more blue by stark contrast. As he stepped close to her, the wolf growled again, deep and low.

  “Holy hell!” Dan yelled, reaching for his gun.

  “No, no,” she said, crossing over to the wolf and placing her hand on his massive shoulder. When standing, he reached her waist. “This is my wolf.”

  Dan just stared at her. “You’ve brought a wild animal into your home?” He was incredulous.

  “He showed up on my doorstep today.”

  Dan frowned. She could see him processing the threat… to her, to the community.

  “I don’t like this,” he said, his voice official.

  The wolf growled again, his lips curled back, exposing large canines.

  “He must have been in the woods behind the house and smelled me.”

  Dan’s frown deepened. “Do you have any idea of the danger you’re in?”

  “None at all,” she said, pinching the wolf’s muzzle together with her hand. He stopped growling immediately. When she released his snout, he licked her hand.

  “Can you control him?”

  “Yes. He’s being protective, that’s all.”

  “Protective?”

  “Yeah, he’s quite the body guard. Once on the trail, a hiker approached me. The guy was quite friendly, totally non-threatening. But, Big Boy,” she faltered, opting to give the story a more generic ending. “Big Boy didn’t like him.”

  Dan looked at the wolf. “If I approached you, what would he do?”

  “How about if I approach you instead?” she said, stepping toward Dan and placing her hand atop his… the hand that was still resting on his gun.

  She stood in front of him, soft and warm. Her chestnut hair fell in soft curls down her back and her green eyes looked up at him expectantly. He forgot about the wolf.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said quietly.

  “Thank you,” she said with a blush. “But you didn’t stop by to tell me that.”

  “No, it just kind of popped out.”

  “So, what can I do for you, Officer Keating?”

  “Today, well, at midnight, we start a whole new year.”

  She nodded.

  “You’re settled in.”

  She nodded again, her eyes wary.

  He moved toward her and a menacing growl filled the air. With a grimace, he pulled her outside on the front step and pulled the glass storm door shut behind them. She shivered in the cold and he stepped closer to block the wind.

  “I was hoping you’d consider another meal at Jake’s.”

  “Oh.” She turned to see Big Boy’s snout flat against the glass, his growl a ferocious rumble.

  “I’ll settle for a maybe.”

  He watched the emotion play across her face.

  “Maybe.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “Okay!” he said, clearly considering this a major victory. “Happy New Year, Julie.” And he lifted her chin and kissed her gently on the lips.

  Big Boy tried to tear the door off its hinges.

  “You need to go, Dan,” she said, looking back at the wolf.

  “You need to get rid of that wolf,” he said, backing toward his squad car. He watched her step back into the living room, the wolf calm and sedate by her side. As she reached up to tuck a Christmas light back into position, the wolf glared at Dan and bared his teeth again. When Julie looked down, the wolf erased his mal intent. He was all smiles and pink tongue.

  7

  Officer Keating dropped by her house the first Saturday in January and officially requested two hours of Julie’s time. He put chains on her tires then took her out to an empty parking lot to show her how to drive in the snow and how to pull out of a skid.

  She didn’t want to go, but he had insisted, telling her that the excursion was part of his official duties in keeping the roadways safe. She had raised an eyebrow at that one, but the look he gave her was no-nonsense, and she had acquiesced.

  As it turned out, she actually responded instinctively behind the wheel, spinning her tires in the opposite direction of the skid to pull herself out of rotation. Dan was pleased. He instructed her in the art of downshifting to climb snow-covered inclines. They practiced braking on ice. She had so much adrenaline in her by the end of the lesson that she was positively quivering.

  She followed him to Jake’s, expertly navigating the treacherous roadways then whooped like an Indian when she emerged from the car healthy and hale. They both settled next to Jake’s roaring fireplace with a hot mug of Irish coffee.

  “You did well,” he said, clinking his mug to hers.

  “You are a good teacher.”

  He stared at her, his blue eyes twinkling. She took a sip of her hot spiked drink and hummed. “Thank you for taking me under your wing.”

  “I’d rather do that then have you wrap yourself and your vehicle around a telephone pole.”

  “I’m actually a very good driver,” she said defensively.

  “That’s obvious. But unless you grew up surviving our winters, you need some Special Driver’s Ed.”

  “Do you offer this service to all new residents?”

  “You’re the first new resident we’ve had in a while, and the first new resident that’s needed a winter driving lesson.”

  “Do you know everybody in town, Dan?” She slid her eyes to the stone fireplace and the stack of burning logs within it. They glowed orange hot and emitted a heat that rendered her boneless. Or was that the Irish whiskey?

  “Most,” he said. “The British have a special theory regarding crime prevention. Instead of just outfitting their police force with firepower, they increased the number of cops on the beat. The town and city cops walk their area of coverage, get to know the residents, get to know their daily routines. That way if something seems off or doesn’t quite fit the usual patterns, they know immediately. And because of their presence, their constant and watchful presence, thieves and thugs are less likely to try anything.”

  “Interesting.” She took another sip of her drink.

  “You know, in the USA, the statistics say that there is very little small town crime. But it’s not that the people that live in rural areas are any more virtuous, it’s just that the police force knows the town folk. They recognize something immediately when it’s out of place, so do the neighbors, and they’re not afraid of speaking up. It’s a good type of Big Brother-ing.”

  He watched her grow solemn and thoughtful. “Earth to Julie.”

  She turned to him and smiled.

  “What were you thinking?”

  She shrugged, but the seriousness was back in her eyes. “Just that it must have been very nice growing up here.” She looked to him for confirmation.

  “It was,” he said carefully. “But routines can get tedious, even if they are safe.”

  She nodded and looked back to the fire. “Still,” she said quietly, “It must have been very nice.”

  Elliott walked in with a couple of friends, spotted them and headed in their direction. His brown hair stood straight up with static electricity when he removed his skull cap. After remov
ing his gloves, he tried to tame it, but only succeeded in making it worse. Dan ribbed him a bit as he stood to shake Elliott’s hand then greeted each of the men in turn. Julie stood also and was quite surprised when Dan tugged her in front of him, placed a hand on her hip and introduced her to each of the men. They were all policemen, and according to Elliott, all members of his band.

  Robert, whom they called Ro-bear, was the drummer. He was tall and lanky with blonde hair, a square jaw, crooked nose and chocolate brown eyes. He took her warm hand into his and shook it firmly.

  Petey played bass guitar. He was shorter than the rest of them, but that wasn’t saying much. He still stood about 5’ 9” and wore an impish grin that reached all the way to his sparkling blue eyes.

  “I can see that you are trouble, Petey,” she said as she shook his hand. The other men roared and did a lot of back slapping and upper arm punches. She must have accurately pinned his personality.

  “‘Trouble’ is his middle name,” said Dan with a chuckle. “We’re really not all too sure that he’s on our side.”

  Petey didn’t look the least bit offended by the comment, but she gave him a look of friendly warning for good measure then turned to meet George.

  “I play the harmonica and fiddle,” George said, breaking into an ear-to-ear grin. “I’m no trouble at all.”

  “That’s not what your wife says,” quipped Petey. There was another round of raucous laughter. Suddenly, all the men were pulling up chairs, studiously ignoring Dan and his ferocious frown, and delving into some of the wildest, funniest banter she’d ever heard. Dan, unfortunately, was on the receiving end of most of the jokes and he groused at them in displeasure, but that only served to goad them on.

  Elliott had plopped down right next to her. He leaned into her, nudging her gently when he delivered private commentary on the dialogue at hand. He had outrageous one-liners to deliver about everything and everybody, like a comedic commentator at a sports event. He was so “little boy”– playful, high energy, exuberant and totally immune to her personal space. He invaded it constantly, so much so, that she ended up nudging him back across her invisible comfort line, elbowing him in the ribs on multiple occasions. He seemed to enjoy the contact and made it a sport.