Waverly followed the steady movement of a satellite across the sky. She could see the beginnings of light pollution at the edges of her vision, smearing gray along the horizon, but just above her was velvety black, speckled with stars.
Waverly came here, to the middle of Purgatory Lake, late at night when she needed space to think, or somewhere to be away from the turmoil her family attracted. The calm allowed her a momentary escape from whatever demons had arisen that day. The sounds of the steady lapping of wake against the her pontoon boat and bullfrogs in the distance had long since faded into the background of her awareness as she lay back on the deck, arms folded behind her head. Waverly stared at the sky in a quiet trance, mind blank as the satellite disappeared at the edge of the sky, and her focus returned to the patch of stars directly above her.
Waverly was startled from her trance by the beam of a flashlight in her eyes. "Shit!" Waverly exclaimed, sitting bolt upright, her hand coming up to cover her eyes from the offending light.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" a smooth, female voice drawled from behind the flashlight beam.
"I'm being alone. I want to be alone," Waverly sniffed, wiping at the tears she had forgotten were falling before quickly laying back down, hoping the concerned stranger would pick up on the fact that she wanted her to leave.
"Um," the stranger muttered uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm going to have to see your license and registration before I can leave you be."
"What are you, a cop?" Waverly sat up, a look of annoyance clear on her face, before flinching away from the light. "Could you maybe…" Waverly gestured to the flashlight.
"Oh! I'm sorry, my bad." The stranger extinguished her flashlight, and Waverly rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the darkness. Under the moonlight and the red and green lights at the bow of her boat, Waverly could just make out the figure before her, a tall woman wearing a Stetson and the local sheriff's uniform.
"So you're actually a cop," Waverly sighed, pulling herself off the floor to retrieve her documentation. "Am I in trouble, officer?" Waverly asked tiredly, attempting to swallow the tears that were still pushing to fall.
"Well," came the surprisingly even reply, "I was under the impression I'd found a boat abandoned in the middle of Purgatory Lake at 2am. Now I'm wondering who you are and whether or not you're intoxicated," the officer's words were softened by the easy smile that spread across her face.
"I tend to leave that to my sister," Waverly joked dryly, handing her documentation to the boat cop. "I didn't know Sheriff Nedley was hiring a new deputy. It's about time he realized he couldn't police the whole town by himself."
"Waverly Earp…" the officer muttered, reviewing her documentation, "quite the popular girl around here. I've been meaning to introduce myself. Officer Nicole Haught" As her eyes readjusted to the moonlight, Waverly was able to make out the deputy's brilliant smile and a hand offered to her. Accepting the handshake, she was surprised at the gentleness of Officer Haught's calloused hand. Waverly barely noticed the wisps of red hair escaping from underneath the officer's Stetson. The deputy's smile faltered, "I'm sorry it wasn't under the best of circumstances. Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, noting the lines of drying tears on Waverly's cheeks, still glistening in the moonlight.
"My uncle died," Waverly blurted out the beginning of an explanation, "but I couldn't make it to the funeral, and my sister's back in town for the first time in three years, but she'll probably sneak off sometime tomorrow like always and I won't see her again for who knows how long…" Waverly realized she was beginning to ramble, "so I just needed somewhere to think" Waverly sniffed, lost in her thoughts.
"I heard about your uncle," Officer Haught admitted softly, "I'm so sorry Waverly." Waverly was shaken out of her introspective moment by how comforting her name sounded in Nicole's voice, "And I'm sorry I disturbed you."
"I should be getting home anyway. Who knows how long I would have been out here if you hadn't come around," Waverly responded indulgently.
The deputy dug through her pocket for a moment before offering a business card to Waverly. "Let me know if you need anything," she explained, before returning to the helm of her speedboat. "I mean it," Nicole smiled, and tipped her Stetson "Goodnight Miss Earp."
"Goodnight, Officer Haught," Waverly raised her hand in a shy wave as the sheriff's boat pulled away, still reeling from the unexpected company, before sitting at the helm of her pontoon boat. She lay back in the seat, closing her eyes and releasing a sigh. Waverly turned the business card over in her hands, sparing a small smile before stuffing the card in the pocket of her oversized sweater, starting the boat, and making her way back to the homestead at the edge of the lake.