Adelyn hadn’t even thought about work when she told Justin she’d go to dinner with him. She called the chief and told him that something had come up and she couldn’t work, and then asked him if it would be okay if she found someone to take her spot tonight. The chief said it would be okay. Since the software thief had hit again last night, he doubted that he’d strike tonight. Besides, Adelyn still had to figure out the guy's every move and come up with some sort of game plan before they started tracking him down. She hung up with the chief and called around to find a replacement.
She was ready when Justin knocked on her door at exactly seven o’clock. Not only was he careful, he was also prompt.
“Are you ready to go, Miss Adelyn?” he asked with a smile on his face.
She nodded, grabbed her purse and followed him out the door. He looked handsome in his khaki’s and polo shirt, and when he caught her looking at him, the smile on his face got even wider. “Do you want to drive,” she asked him, “Or should I?”
“I’ve got the car all ready outside,” he explained as she took his arm while they got on the elevator.
On the roads, Justin drove perfectly. He kept his speed on the speed limit exactly… and he didn’t even know she was a police officer. He put his blinker on every time he changed lanes and waved to people when they let him in.
“I can’t believe you live in downtown Minneapolis,” she said to him after he carefully turned off of West 7th street in St. Paul. “You drive like…”
“Like I live in the suburbs?” he finished for her. “That’s because I grew up there. Plus, it never hurts to drive carefully,” he explained. “Then an accident will never be your fault.”
She thought about what he said for a second, and then furrowed her eyebrows. It was funny that he seemed more concerned about the accident being his fault than getting hurt. If Justin wasn’t a weird man, then…
“We’re here,” he announced, pulling into the Parking lot of Buca’s. The couple had reserved a table earlier that day and were immediately seated at a small round table by the window. It wasn’t long before they’d ordered their food and were sitting there waiting for it to arrive and sipping their drinks.
“So why did you move to downtown Minneapolis if you were living in the suburbs?” Adelyn wanted to know as she watched Justin stir the ice cubes around in his glass.
“Mainly for atmosphere,” he answered. “I wanted to see what it would be like living in the middle of everything, but still wanted to be close to the Tribune, so I figured what better place than downtown Minneapolis?”
“You picked a good place. If you’re looking for action, there’s no better place in Minnesota than downtown Minneapolis,” Adelyn agreed with him. “And I’m glad you moved into my building. A lot of the tenants are kinda… snobbish, if that’s even the right word. Rent is pretty high there, so I guess it automatically attracts that sort of people.”
Justin gave her a smile. “Thanks,” he said.
She was a little confused. “For what?”
“For insinuating that I’m not a snob. Thanks.”
“Are you a snob?”
“No…” Justin said, dragging the vowel out. “I came from humble beginnings,” he explained. “Two brothers, one sister… my parents are divorced when I was ten and my mom was a school teacher, so needless to say we didn’t have too much money to throw around. We lived in this tiny little house in Eagan, the five of us. My dad wasn’t around too much and he never sent us money.”
“I’m sorry,” Adelyn told him. Her parents were still together, and living in St. Paul with a healthy retirement pension, but she wasn’t sure if she should say that after he just told her about his family’s lack of resources.
“It’s okay. Mom’s doing good now that the kids are all out of the house. So, I guess everything worked out in the long run.”
“Did you go to college?”
“Yeah, I got a baseball scholarship at the University of Minnesota, and majored in English.Journalism is just the job I got.” Justin took a sip of his Coke before looking up at her. “What about you? Did you go to college?”
“You could say that,” she started to say, but the waitress interrupted her with a plate of food. “Thanks,” she said, before the waitress smiled and left their table. “This looks good,” she told Justin, grabbing her fork and twirling the spaghetti noodles around it. “Every time I come here the food is better than the last time.”
Justin stuck his fork in a meatball and smiled at her. “Good choice of restaurants,” he agreed.
Justin and Adelyn were walking back to his car, when Justin shyly slid his hand into hers. He could tell she was surprised, but then she wrapped his fingers warmly around his and he leaned closer to her.
“I’m glad I met you,” he said quietly into her ear.
She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you did too. And it’s a good thing that I found someone to work for me tonight. When you asked me to dinner, I forgot that I had to work, but thankfully, the chief didn’t think it was a big deal.”
Justin stopped in his tracks, pulling her back to a stop. “The chief?”
“Yeah, the chief of detectives of the Minneapolis PD. In all the commotion I never got to tell you what I did for a living. I’m a cop.”
Justin was absolutely stunned. “You’re kidding me. You’re a cop?” Suddenly he felt sick and lightheaded as the truth sunk in.
“Yeah…” she said, looking at him as though she thought he might have a problem with it.
He did.
Everything started to make sense. All those comments about robberies in their building, and then about his driving on the way to the restaurant…
“Justin, is something wrong with me being a cop?”
“No,” he lied quickly as he dropped her hand and made his way to the car.
She stood there for a moment and then hurried after him. When she got to his car, she opened the passenger door and got in. “Obviously something is wrong with it, or you wouldn’t be acting like this. Tell me, Justin, what’s wrong with me being a cop?”
He started up the engine. “Nothing,” he lied again, and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Then what’s wrong? You took off like there was no tomorrow, and now you’re giving me one word answers! Something has to be wrong!” She looked over at his profile, which was expressionless.
“Nothing is wrong,” he repeated, his jaw set. “I’m just tired.”
She looked ahead at the road and folded her arms over her chest. What could make a good date go bad so quickly?
Justin let himself into his apartment and threw his keys down angrily on the kitchen counter. He really liked Adelyn… but now, now he was sure he couldn’t be with her. There was no way a criminal could date a cop! Why in the hell couldn’t he figure out she was a cop in the first place? He should have known by the way she talked… he should have asked her what she did the first time they talked. Then he would have known to stay away form her.
She didn’t look like a cop… that was for sure. Since when were police officers as pretty as Adelyn?
He sighed as he fell down on his recliner. It figured that the one girl that came around… one that he actually could picture himself having a serious relationship with, was the one person he couldn’t get close to.
Chapter 4
Paying the Consequences
Justin {Fiction}
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I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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