The final installment is up, thanks for reading and the feedback on this story! Hope you enjoyed it.
C.J. sat out by the lake, reading her novel having snuck out of the cabin while Matt had been doing his training run down into the arryo. She had watched him leave after tossing him a water bottle and wishing him well. Then as soon as he had been out of sight, she had changed her clothes and headed off to relax and leave the hard exertion to others for a change.
She sat alone because Vince had been busy overseeing the LAPD's share of determining the fate of the still ongoing investigation of Grant Sullivan and his actions in the years preceding his death. Vince had also gone before a board of inquiry concerning onduty shootings but thanks to sworn statements offered by Matt and her, he had been exonerated.
Mama still ran the cabin for him while he commuted back and forth from L.A. to the mountains but today was Saturday and later, Vince and Mama and the rest of their brood would be dropping by for a barbecue, the last one before Matt and C.J. would be packing up after their vacation and heading back to L.A.
The last few days of it had been much quieter than the nightmarish night which had preceded it. Matt had made sure that she had followed the doctor's sheet of orders to the letter and at one point, she had nearly sent him packing . Man, he sure could be bossy but she knew he was just looking out for her while she recovered. The concussion stopped hurting after a few days and she regained her strength back soon enough. Not enough to take on another maniacal killer perhaps but enough to at least get Matt to cut some slack though he might think the leisurely walk she just took to get here might be too strenuous. She braced herself for that upcoming conversation.
Murray had called to check in but Matt must have had a long talk with him because he didn't fax any more work but did say he'd be happy to see them back to work in a few days. And yes, C.J. would be confined to desk duty for a week, she thought with a grimace.
But she had other plans as well because she and Matt had spent the past couple of days talking, her brush with death having a big impact on both of them. He said he was going to call a realtor to shop for a spread out in the valley near Hidden Hills to live and maybe do some ranching albeit on a smaller scale than back in Texas. She had liked the sound of that a lot and soon enough, the realtor had called him back and told him the famed actress Ramona Launders who hadn't worked in a while but had been thinking about going back. He had even called Bo and Lamar his old ranch hands in Texas to fly out and help him inspect the land to see if it would be suitable and the two of them had packed up their truck and were already heading to California.
As for her, she thought that getting back to work was enough for her but she hoped that she and Matt would be able to spend more time on their fledgling investigative firm given that the cases had begun coming in since their first couple had turned out so successful. Word had definitely been getting around that they were among the best firm in L.A.
Julia had called her and said that the police had finally left her alone and that she and her family would return to working hard on their foundation and that she would be flying out to L.A. soon to pay a visit. C.J. looked forward to that definitely thrilled that Julia's health appeared to be quite good.
She heard footsteps come up behind her and she almost braced until she remembered. A familiar enough man came and sat beside her and she looked over at him.
"Houston if you're going to lecture me about…"
He held up his hand.
"Wait just a sec here C.J. I've got no plans to do any such thing," he said, "After all, I know what you went through the past weeks just to keep me in line and I have some understanding now of what that must have been like."
She softened.
"Oh Houston, we're both okay now and that's the important thing."
He nodded and reached for her hand taking it in his own.
"I've really enjoyed this vacation…most of it and I think we should do this more often."
She nodded back, certainly amiable to that because she had loved spending time with her best friend and even though they had known each other for years, they still learned new things about each other and their friendship had grown.
"Oh Crystal called by the way," C.J. remembered, "She's waiting for you to call her back about some Tom Petty concert?"
He paused and then sighed.
"Oh that," he said, "I guess I'll have to get back to her but we've got a full load of cases waiting when we return…and then I think I'm going to buy that ranch. Ramona's an old friend of my fathers and I don't think she'd steer me wrong."
C.J. smiled, squeezing his hand.
"Oh that will be nice and with Bo and Lamar…it will be like having a little Texas here."
His smile broadened.
"Oh it's going to be more than that…I'm shipping in a few more folks like Slim and Charlie Eagle and some horses and…"
C.J. laughed, as she sat with him and listened to his plans for the future thinking it just didn't get any better than this.