"I don't see what the big deal is," Flynn was perplexed.
"Of course you don't." His girlfriend was not amused.
"What did I do wrong?"
"I don't want to be the second woman to anyone."
"How are you the second woman? We were just having dinner."
"And you were having so much fun, you couldn't answer my call."
"I didn't want to be rude. I called you back."
"So you couldn't answer the phone, lest you be rude to her."
"It wasn't about her. I don't answer my phone when I'm hanging out with someone in person, unless it's urgent."
"My call could have been urgent."
"It wasn't."
"You didn't know that."
"You didn't call again; how is that urgent?"
"Ugh!" She slammed down her phone.
Flynn sighed.
-Flashback-
Yesterday afternoon
Brenda had come into LAPD to discuss a case with Sharon. A plea deal that Major Crimes had helped negotiate earlier had fallen through, and Brenda was leading a team to help with trial prep. She was on her way out the building when she bumped in to Andy, literally.
"Hey Flynn," she said with her syrupy voice.
"Chief Johnson, you're here."
"You can call me Brenda now," she said with a laugh. "I just had a quick chat with the Captain."
"Is she still in one piece?"
"Yes, silly. How have you been?"
"Well, you know the deal, plea deals are crap, but it saves money, so the mayor loves it."
"Well, one of your deals fell through, so we'll probably be going to trial after all."
"Which one?"
"Remember that director's ex-wife who kept killing his wives."
"Ugh! Her!"
"Well, when the judge saw facts underlying the case, he was so disgusted that 'the state went easy on her' that he rejected the deal, so time to prep for trial."
"Imagine that. Taylor must be ecstatic."
"That's Chief Taylor to you," she said with a smirk.
They both laughed.
"Where are you off to now?" he asked her.
"Finish my work day, go home, order takeout."
"Brenda, not cooking, inconceivable."
"Oh you hush! Well, it's just me tonight. Fritz had a conference in Baltimore."
"You didn't go with him."
"It's Baltimore."
"Good point."
"We should catch up some time."
"You should try calling."
Brenda was going to say something, but she knew she was terrible about calling people, even if she had fewer work hours now.
"I will."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
Brenda went back to her office. She checked her e-mail. They were having a pumpkin risotto special at that new restaurant in Hollywood. She took a look at the website. It looked good, but a lot of vegetarian stuff. Who's a vegetarian? Andy of course. She gave him a call.
Flynn was sitting on Provenza's desk to his chagrin when the phone rang.
"Flynn here."
"I told you, I'd call."
"What's up?"
"Did you want to try out Mark's Kitchen tonight?"
"Who's Mark and why would we be in his kitchen?"
"It's a restaurant in Hollywood, silly, and they have a lot of vegetarian stuff."
"And I'm the only vegetarian you know," he teased.
"Well, yes."
"Really?"
"Pretty sure. I'm from the south. We don't do such things."
"Well, how can I resist an invitation like that? What time?"
"7:30."
"See you then."
"Where you off to?" Provenza asked, "Other than getting your ass off my desk."
Flynn laughed as he got up. "Dinner with Brenda."
"Does your girlfriend know?"
"Not yet. What's the big deal? It's just dinner."
"Let's see if she sees it that way." Provenza shook his head. Flynn was screwing the pooch, and he didn't even know it.
7:00 rolls around and Flynn leaves work to drive to the restaurant. To his surprise, Brenda actually showed up on time.
"You made it here."
"I only work 5 blocks away."
"You made it here."
"Oh Stop!" She said with a grin.
The two were seated. It was a nice place. Artsy, but simple. The prices were decent, and it seemed to appeal to a variety of people. There were groups in booths chatting away, couples on dates, business looking people, young people, the whole shebang.
They started to chat, simple stuff like work gossip. The conversation came to Rios. "I heard there was a bit of a scandal with her in the DA's office."
Brenda shook her head. "That was a mess."
"I'm all ears."
Brenda told him about how when Emma first arrived, she was super arrogant. She was the young star and everyone else was old and dated. Needless to say, she was not very popular. Anyway, some of her disgruntled colleagues made a Facebook group called Emma Rios is a Princess, clearly a joke, but not exactly workplace appropriate. They photoshopped her into the Little Mermaid, Cinderella, the Lion King.
"The Lion King?"
"It was quite foolish. Anyway, she found out about and threatened to file a hostile work environment complaint and it was a hot mess."
"Who made the page?"
"Some lowly staffers took the fall, but Rios insists that it's a coverup."
"What!" Flynn was in hysterics now.
The waiter came and took their order. Flynn got the roasted veggies with the rice pilaf and Brenda got the pumpkin risotto and the fried mozzarella for a starter."
They continued to chat about who did what at work and the mozzarella sticks arrived. They were quite tasty, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and well seasoned. Flynn's leg started to vibrate. He ignored it. "If it's urgent, they'll call again." Their entrees arrived, and they were delicious. After dinner, Brenda got a dessert, of course, and then the two said their goodbyes and headed home.
When Flynn got to his house, he returned the missed call. "Hey Baby, what's up?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to hear your voice. Were you at work all this time?"
"Oh No. I went to dinner with a friend."
"Where'd you go."
"Mark's Kitchen. The food was good. I think you'd like it."
"Well, we'll have to go sometime."
The couple continued to chat until it was time to retire for the night. Flynn said his farewell and went to bed.
The next morning.
Flynn got up and got ready for work. He got there and was just getting ready to drink some tea when his girlfriend called again.
"Hey Baby, what's up."
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Minnie's Tavern with me on Friday."
"That sounds nice. Brenda said it was a good restaurant."
"When did you talk to her?"
"Last night, at dinner."
"You blew me off to have dinner with Brenda!"
"We didn't have any plans."
"I called you, and you ignored me for her!"
-Present-
Flynn asks Provenza "Did I do something wrong?"
"Of course. What did you do?"
"So Brenda and I went to dinner last night, and my phone rang. I ignored it because I was busy and it turned out to be my girlfriend. Anyway, I call her back at home and we chat and all is fine. Today, she calls me again and when I mention that I had been out to dinner with Brenda last night, she flips out on me, claiming she's second fiddle or some crap."
"So, you went out to dinner with a woman, not her, ignore her when she calls you and you don't see why she's upset."
"No!"
Sykes comes into the room.
"Hey Sykes," Provenza starts. "Let's see if you can help with this."
Amy knew this wasn't about work, or else they wouldn't be asking her for help. She sits down anyway.
"So let's say you have a boyfriend, and he goes out to dinner with another woman, ignores your call while he's out with her and then mentions to you, the next day, that he ignored your call because he was with her. On a scale of 1-10 how mad would you be?"
"Why would I call him if I knew he was having dinner?"
"I didn't tell her about the dinner until afterwards."
"Oh that's a problem."
"Why?"
"It looks like you're hiding something. Is she an ex?"
"No. She was my former boss."
"You blew off your girlfriend to eat dinner with Chief Johnson?"
"I didn't blow off anyone. We had no plans."
Sykes shook her head. "She probably feels threatened by Brenda now."
"Why!"
Sykes couldn't explain what was obvious.
Flynn put hit head down on his desk.
Captain Raydor came in, recognizing Flynn's distress. "Trouble in Paradise?"