Hellava Day

Vic was driving, she thought aimlessly, but realized she was headed for The Red Pony. What the hell? What made her think The Red Pony was a good idea? Shit, none of her ideas had been all that good today, each one worse than the previous. Her mind reviewed the day as she pulled into the lot and parked far off to one side. …
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… Vic walked out of the front door, backpack slung over on shoulder and coffee thermos in hand. She pushed the button on the lock and pulled the door shut. Reaching in her pocket and then quickly patting all her pockets and clawing through the backpack; she realized she had locked her keys in the house. "Shit!" Who knew deciding to start toting a thermos would cause such trouble. She remembered grabbing all her gear, keys included, and then seeing the thermos. Setting her keys down on the counter, to free her hands, she filled the thermos and rinsed the coffee carafe. Vic finished both tasks and headed out, thermos in hand; keys forgotten on the counter. Pulling her cell out she called Ruby to tell her she would be late. Then she called the local locksmith who thought it was just too funny not to tease her; having a job that required attending to details and she overlooked her own keys.

At lunch she opted to try the new Mexican food place, it was a sharp lesson in waiting for a place to mark a one month anniversary before trying it. The place had opened the previous week and Vic doubted it would make it to the end of the following week. The least of its problems was it wasn't even Mexican food, aside from the 'tacos' and 'burritos'. Apparently, anything stuffed into a tortilla constituted a 'taco' or 'burrito'. The worst of its problems was it wasn't even food; at least Vic doubted it was. Hours later and her stomach still felt odd and kept grumbling obnoxiously.

Jumping from her truck and chasing their suspect on foot, across the square and through the adjoining neighborhood, onto the long winding walking path that headed to Clear Creek was not her best decision of the day either. Well in truth it wasn't the chasing she called into question; it was the football styled tackle she launched at the man's lower legs. The move, which seemed like a good idea at the time, resulted in both of them ending up in Clear Creek. Her gun would never be the same and it didn't look to good for her cell phone either.
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Vic walked in and headed straight to the bar, she was here, she might as well have a drink; or ten. Sliding onto a stool she stared at Henry until he made his way to her. She ordered a beer and took a long draw before setting it down and staring at him again.

"Would you like to talk?"

Vic considered him for a period of time and Henry waited in silence for her to decide. "Can I hold that in reserve?"

"Absolutely, I will be here. Let me know if you change your mind or need anything else."

"Thanks." She said flatly and drew another long swig from the bottle.

Henry left her to her thoughts and tended to other customers but periodically glanced in her direction.

With the way the day had gone, getting drunk really would be nearly the worst move she'd made all day; with the exception of one. That one was not just the worst today but probably the worst move she had made in the past several years. Vic idly picked at the label on her beer bottle and thought about what led up to the dumb move in question. Wondering just how badly she had screwed her life up earlier that evening. …
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… Walt had been out of the office when Vic returned with their suspect; both dripping wet and Vic steaming mad. She had been tempted to kick 'dumb shit's' ass all the way from Clear Creek back to the office. She pushed the spindly man passed Ruby, through the low swinging door, into a cell, and watched Ferg lock it.

"I'm headed to the shower." She said to no one in particular as she pulled dry clothes from the drawer of her desk and her go bag.

Branch came in as she pushed the drawer closed with her soggy boot. Seeing her soaked, dripping clothes he asked, "Who mopped the floor today? They missed some spots."

Walt came through the door behind Branch, in time to hear Vic's response of, "Bite me," before she headed past the cells to the back stairs.

Vic returned from the cramped basement shower, dressed in jeans and a light pullover sweater. Her wet clothes were secured in double Ziploc bags. Looking at neither Branch nor Ferg she asked, "Would one of you take this jackrabbit down stairs for dry clothes?"

She did not wait for an answer and moved on to her desk. The Ziploc bags were stuffed into her backpack before she dropped into her chair to finish tying her tactical boots; another thing she was glad she kept in her go bag.

Once her boots were cinched up Ruby cleared her throat and said, "Vic, Walt would like to see you."
*********

Vic hadn't paid attention to the woman who sat on the stool next to her; she was intent on methodically pealing the label slowly off her bottle. She knew it was a woman because she noticed the bare lower leg as the woman stepped up on the stool, beyond that she'd paid no mind.

A few minutes later, Henry stepped up to the two women and asked, "May I get anything more for you ladies this evening?"

Vic looked up at him at the same time Cady answered, "Would you make me one of your monster cheeseburgers with your special seasoned fries, please?" The younger woman's voice held a slight dreamy quality to it.

Henry smiled indulgently, "The fries I only make for you?"

Cady smiled and nodded, "Yes please."

"I assume you would also like the cheeseburger cut in half." He stated rather than asked, because he knew his goddaughter very well."

Cady repeated the nod and the "Yes please" of before, but raised herself up to lean over the bar as Henry leaned toward her as well and dutifully turned his cheek to her. He smiled as Cady placed her 'payment' on his cheek in the form of a kiss; the same payment for the same order that they had exchanged for years.

Henry turned, "Vic. Is there anything I can get for you?"

Vic drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Yeah, another beer. But don't let me get drunk Henry."

"Okay another beer. But I think I will put Cady in charge of not letting you get drunk." When she stared at him he explained, "I will be in the kitchen preparing a special order."

"Right." Vic said and then looked at Cady when Henry set the beer on the bar and walked away, "Think you can handle it?"

Cady shrugged, "Are you planning on getting drunk?"

"Nope. But I wasn't planning on coming in here and I wasn't planning on leaving work early and I wasn't planning on screwing my life up today either. And I did all of those, so." She shrugged instead of finishing the statement with words.

"Wow, I guess you've had some day!"

"Oh that was just the last couple of hours."

"Maybe you should get drunk." Cady joked but the glare Vic gave her caused her to quickly backpedal, "No, you don't need to get drunk on top of all that. That won't help anything. You wanna talk about it?"

"Which part?"

"Uh, whatever part you want to talk about."

Vic said nothing and looked back to her beer and took a quick swallow. Cady thought she was going to share what was on her mind so she kept quiet and waited.