"He who is not jealous is not in love."
~St. Augustine

Daisy had every intention of being at the jail before the 1:00 scheduled visitation, but she was ten minutes late thanks to Cletus and a bogus railroad crossing sign at the intersection of Mill Creek and Jimson Lane. She'd been mad enough to spit nails, and Cletus had hemmed, hawed, and apologized in sheepish tones, reminding her that Boss had him on a strict ticket quota.

Her mood hadn't lightened as she approached town, thinking of Enos and wishing it could just all be over. This time next week, she'd told herself, they'd all have a good laugh about everything. At least she hoped so. The jurors looked like reasonable people, and anyway, she hadn't allowed herself to imagine any decision other than not guilty.

No, it wasn't fear of the coming decision that made her hands sweaty as she pulled Dixie over to the curb in front of the station. It wasn't the trial she was thinking of at all - and yet her heart seemed to beat faster with every step she took towards the door. She sighed lustily, annoyed more with herself than anything, as she yanked it open and went inside.

Rosco was on the phone and, seeing no other guards, she made directly for the stairs to the basement. He looked up as she passed by, and she heard him bid someone a flustered good-bye and slam the phone down in its cradle just as her foot hit the third step down.

"Daisy, wait! You can't go down there, yet."

She didn't turn around. "It's Saturday, Rosco," she called back to him, "you said 1:00, and it ain't my fault Cletus's out there doing your dirty work and pulled me over."

He didn't follow after her as she expected he might, instead he repeated from the top of the stairway, "you oughta listen to me and just wait."

Something in his voice made her stop. "Why Rosco?" she snapped, irritated.

"'Cause you ain't the first one here to see him, that's why." She turned then and looked up at him. "She got here five minutes before you did. You didn't expect for me to tell her "no", didja?"

Daisy's mind went through the short list of women who might come to see him. His mother? Unlikely. Amy? Maybe, in which case it wasn't going to bother him if she was there, too. She shrugged, unconcerned, and started back down the stairs. She rounded the corner and stopped - paralyzed - behind the gate.

A woman with shoulder length brown hair and a pretty, red calico dress stood outside the bars, talking to Enos. As she watched, the woman reached through the bars and placed her hand gently against his cheek.

Daisy backed up two steps, around the corner and out of sight, and stared at the crumbling plaster of the opposite wall while righteous anger welled up inside of her.

What right did she have to be here? If she cared so damn much for Enos, then where had she been the last two months? Where had she been during the trial? Why did she think, now of all days, that she had some right to be here?

Heels clicked on the concrete floor of the basement, coming closer, and the gate creaked open. The woman almost walked past without noticing her, and then gasped, startled at finding someone in the stairwell.

"Oh my goodness!" Vivian said, with a laugh. "You just about scared me to death. Sorry!" She smiled shyly at Daisy and continued up the stairs.

Daisy leaned her head back against the wall, debating whether she should even go down or not. She felt like a third wheel -

"Hey Daisy," called Enos, "You gonna stand in the stairway all day?"

Busted.

She walked back down to the gate and opened it, noting with a frown the Fulton County deputy standing to the inside of the door. Enos waited in the second cell, leaning casually up against the bars as though he might have been watching a friendly arm wresting match at the Boar's Nest.

"Afternoon, Daisy."

"How'd you know I was there?"

"I didn't, I just figured you was. the Sheriff said you'd asked what time you could come by."

"Sorry...I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"Huh?... Oh, you mean Vivian?" He laughed – much to Daisy's consternation. "Funny how things work out, ain't it?"

She felt herself blushing and forced herself to say, "She seems like a nice girl, Enos."

"She is," he answered. "She's getting married next month."

"But...I thought...Rosco said you'd asked her out," she stammered.

"Reckon I moved too slow." He meant it as a joke, but his words seemed to upset her. He wished she would quit feeling sorry for him. "It's no big deal, Daisy. I only asked her to a movie, and we didn't even get to go."

She didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure why it seemed like such a big deal - but even now, knowing the truth, she didn't like it.

"Anyway, I don't wanna talk about Viv." He dropped his eyes from her face, watching as his fingernails scratched absently at a bit of rust on the bar in front of him. "I wanted to apologize. I'm right sorry 'bout the other day. What you had to talk about and all."

"You don't have anything' to be sorry for, Enos. What I've done's nobody's fault but my own."

"Ain't nobody's business but your own."

She shrugged, trying to hide just how much it did hurt. "It wasn't anything that people didn't know. Now they just have proof what kind of person I am."

"Daisy, don't do that. I'd like to think I've known you long enough to know who you really are."

"Not everyone has a long a memory as you do."

"Look, Daisy, this whole mess is my fault on account of if I'd just done my duty in the first place, none of this would've happened."

"Stop selling yourself out, Enos."

His hands stilled and he looked back up at her. "You too, Daisy."

They stood in silence, neither speaking, not knowing where the conversation went from there.

"I caught a fish," she heard herself say, wondering where the thought had come from.

He stared at her for a moment, a flicker of confusion at the abrupt change of topic before he grinned at her.

"You did not."

It was an argument that slipped past their adult lives and back into their childhoods. As country-bred as she might be, she was no good at fishing. Whether it was technique or lack of patience or both, she'd managed to snag less than a handful in her entire life. It had once been a point of constant teasing between them when they were younger, mostly at her expense.

"I did so," she repeated, defiantly. "In Miller's Pond."

"Miller's Pond?" he asked, surprised. Miller's Pond was just up the road from his mother's house. "What in tarnation were you doing up there?'

"I was...," she began, and then realized she'd backed herself into a corner. "You used talk about fishing up there when we were kids, but I'd never been."

He made a non-committal grunt, not seeing the connection between that fact and why she'd actually gone there.

"I was...I was missing you," she said, uncomfortably.

As much as he wanted to tell her how much he missed her, too, and how the only thoughts that kept him sane anymore were thoughts of her, he knew he had to play it safe. She probably didn't mean it like it sounded, and he wasn't about to embarrass himself when the only place to run to was the other side of his jail cell.

"Well, you did better'n me, then," he said, instead. "I ain't pulled more'n a dozen outta that mudhole the whole time I's a kid. The only reason I fished it was because it was close to the house."

She didn't answer, and he could tell by the distant look in her eyes that she wasn't really listening to him. She was worrying again, and thinking about what neither of them had mentioned yet. "It's gonna be alright, Daisy."

Her gaze focused. "What'd your lawyer say?"

He shook his head. "Whatever happens, it'll be alright. You just remember what I said before...'bout taking care of yourself."

"Don't talk like that," she said, fiercely. "I wish you wouldn't say that."

He frowned. "I'm sorry, Daisy, I don't mean that you can't or won't, I just..."

"That's not why I don't wanna hear it. It sounds like you're giving up." A thought struck her suddenly and she gasped in amazement. "You lied!"

"Huh?"

"In your testimony! You told that stiff from the State that you've never had me under surveillance when you weren't on duty," she reminded him," but I know for a fact that you park down the road from the Boar's Nest every night at closing time."

He grinned. "You caught me."

"Why?"

"Whad'ya mean why? You spend the last half hour every night throwing out drunk fellas. Why'd you think I watch you?"

She'd never considered that – she'd thought...well, it didn't matter what she thought.

"If I hadn't thought you'd toss me out, too, I'd of held the door for ya."

"If you'd told me what you were doing there, stead of sneaking around, I'd of let you."

He shrugged. "Wasn't my place to," he said. "'Sides, I ain't supposed to be keeping people under surveillance when I ain't on duty."

"Enos, you -" She jerked her head towards the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Alright, you Duke," drawled Rosco, as he opened the gate. "Time's up, let's go."

"What're you talking about, Rosco? I just got here, and you said visitation's 'till four!"

"Well now, you've been here twenty-two minutes," he said, glancing at his watch. "That's seven minutes past your fifteen."

"Rosco-"

He frowned and dropped his attitude. "Look, Daisy," he said, "I told you, I ain't the one in charge here. Numb-nuts up there is keeping track of everything. I'm sorry."

She shook her head in disgust and turned back to Enos. "You'll see me soon."

He shrugged. "Maybe."

"I expect that fish dinner you promised me when you get out."

He smiled. "If I ever get outta here, you'll get it."

"You will," she said. "I know you will, and if you can't believe it, well then...I'll believe it for both of us."

"Oh, good grief!" complained Rosco, "What is this, Gone With the Wind? I ain't got time for this."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Bye, Sugar."

"Bye, Daisy," he said, as she turned to follow the Sheriff. "Daisy -"

She stopped and turned back to him. "Yeah?"

"Whatever you're looking for, I hope you find it someday."