Jess didn't have to wait at the station long. She heard the door to her left squeak slightly as it opened and two officers walked in and straight over to the constable she now knew as 'Watson'. The male officer walked behind the desk and took what Jess assumed to be forms from a pigeon hole and perched himself on a stool to start writing. The female officer greeted Watson and asked if there was any coffee left.
"Charlie, there's someone here to see you." She stopped and looked over to the figure she had seen on her way in, Jess took this as her queue to stand up.
"Senior Constable Buckton?" she asked, hesitantly.
"Yes." Charlie didn't give more away nor did she provoke the conversation further. A little bemused, and thinking this wasn't a great idea after all, Jess introduced herself properly.
"Hi, my name's Jess Bailey, I'm the -" Charlie cut her off with what seemed to be a smile;
"Engineer" Charlie finished for her. Gathering her mood, Charlie held out her hand to Jess and smiled properly. The two women shook hands and Charlie invited her guest into her office.
Charlie nervously shuffled a few things around to make room for Jess. She apologised, excusing the mess on a high workload and invited Jess to sit opposite her at the desk. Jess took the seat and waited for Charlie to join her.
"I wasn't expecting to be able to get hold of you until tomorrow. I don't think I even have your number yet." Charlie opened with, looking around for evidence of such a thing. Jess watched Charlie, amused. She smiled and simply said,
"Would you like it?" Charlie stopped fussing at her desk and looked at Jess. She was smiling warmly and she instantly relaxed.
"Yes please. I guess it might come in useful." Jess read her mobile number out to Charlie who wrote it down on a nearby piece of paper. Secretly Jess wondered how long it would take for the clearly messy Police officer to lose it. After the task was completed Charlie initiated the conversation again;
"So, is there anything you need from me straight away? What is the project going to involve exactly?" Both women relaxed into their chairs a bit and Jess answered the question.
"My brief for the first month is to get all small vessels kitted out with upgraded sat. phones. All should have a certain standard of radio and backup fitted already but for the purpose of this the local government want to keep the standards the same for all."
"So the local authority is paying for the upgrades?"
"Yes. The whole idea of this is to promote small business fishing and tourism in the area. They want to give them the best chance of focussing on their businesses rather than worrying about keeping up with the technology; although all local businesses have been 'advised' they must sign up to the scheme and abide by the standards that have been set which includes letting me inspect their equipment at any time. Aside from that myself and an off-shore engineer will be available twenty-four seven for any communication issues that arise. The two of us are basically providing technical support for all vessels along this stretch of coast. If the scheme works here there will be more of us starting up in other areas." Charlie considered the answer.
"Have there been many objections?" She thought this might be where she came in so early in the project if Jess hadn't got it off the ground yet.
"Yes and no. Ninety percent of the vessel owners have signed up. I really need to get the rest on board, so to speak. I'm not sure everyone really understands it from the reports my colleague has prepared for me. It is going to be a big change; in the future we'll be linking a communication system with yours and the other emergency services but there's a lot of work to do first. I really just wanted to make sure you knew what the 'plan' was and that you would be able to support us." Charlie's door swung open before she could prepare an answer.
"Senior, you're needed out again, McGrath's getting the car." Watson looked apologetically at both women. Charlie sighed and looked from Watson to Jess.
"I'm sorry but I will have to cut this short." Jess stood up immediately,
"Oh of course, no problem you have a job to do! Perhaps we could arrange something another time?" Charlie mirrored Jess and stood also, she considered asking her to come back tomorrow but by the sounds of it she was going to have a lot on. Before she knew what she was saying she blurted out, "Are you free for lunch?"
"Er, sure I guess so." Jess responded, a little taken aback by the offer but equally as pleased. Rushing out the door, Charlie threw back some instructions to go to a diner for about one o' clock and was gone. Jess looked quizically at Watson, having only been in town a day or so she hadn't quite got her bearings yet. Watson offered up the clarity Jess needed,
"There's a diner just up from the main beach in Summer Bay, It's the only one, you can't miss it." With that she smiled and turned back to her work. Jess, still feeling a bit lost, decided to head back and take a walk around the town she was going to be calling home for some time.
Sitting in the car next to McGrath, Charlie considered her short meeting with the newcomer. She was gorgeous to look at, and had a nice accent, she seemed warm and -. Charlie stopped herself from thinking what she was sure she was about to think, albeit subconsciously. She had been so hurt by everything that had happened with Joey that her mind just wouldn't let her destroy herself like that again. She dismissed the thought as quickly as it had arrived and focussed on the view from the window.
Jess climbed down from the bus and thanked the driver, noting that a new car was a high priority. A while later as she walked along the beach, she was almost giddy at the thought of lunch with the hot police officer. She shook her head, she wasn't used to thoughts like that creeping up on her, not since – her thoughts were cut off by a high pitched squeal coming from behind her. She involuntarily turned around, a few school kids were taking the same route as she was along the beach. One of the girls looked at her apologetically and spoke up,
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Xavier here needs to learn that water belongs in the sea and not on Ruby during school hours." The girl's smile broadened as the young man she had referred to as Xavier casually put an arm around her, Ruby shot a quick smile to Xavier and looked back at Jess. Jess figured a response was due,
"Oh no worries, it's nice to see some people around actually, I'm looking for a diner and I have no idea if I've gone too far yet. I was beginning to think I'd walked out of town." Ruby noted the woman's accent.
"Ah, not from around here are you? On your holidays?" Jess gave a nervous laugh,
"Er, no actually I just moved here. I'm meant to be having lunch with the Senior Constable at one and I don't want to be late -" Ruby cut her off immediately,
"You're having lunch with Charlie? I thought I was having lunch with Charlie." To Jess the young girl looked a little hurt, she looked around confused not quite sure what to say to make it better. Thankfully the girl spoke again.
"Sorry, you must think I'm so rude! Charlie is my sister and you can have lunch with her if you like, I can annoy her any time." Ruby grinned widely to show no hard feelings and added, "So, you know who I am, what about you?" Jess mentally prepared a small statement of introduction and ensured she looked around the group as she spoke,
"My name's Jess. I've taken a job here so I'm just getting settled in."
"A job that involves Charlie?" Ruby pressed. Jess was taken aback slightly and answered,
"Sometimes I might need Police support. I'm here to support the ship owners with their new communications systems." At that point the boy Xavier jumped in,
"Ah Hugo mentioned something about this, have you met him yet? He's my brother." Jess thought to herself 'wow, small town' and more openly said,
"Not yet, Charlie was the first. I'm not actually starting up until tomorrow I just thought I'd get started with the authorities today." The group smiled at her, obviously accepting the information given to them,
"Would you like to walk with us to the diner? We're on our way there and, if you're lost?"
"That would be good, thank you. If you don't mind of course?" Ruby smiled,
"Of course not, wouldn't have offered otherwise. Come on let's go you don't want to be late or Charlie might arrest you." Jess looked briefly shocked, then eased as the group laughed at Ruby's joke. She walked along the beach with them for the short distance left to go to the diner.