Snapshots of a Small-Town Life
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabitthem are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.
Rating: K
Chapter 4
The next photo showed Nick in his brand-new deputy's uniform standing beside a marked pick-up truck with the sheriff and two other deputies. It was a chance conversation that they had overheard between the other three in the local diner which had led to Nick's new career.
Looking at them now, Sara could remember that day as though it were only yesterday…
The waitress poured more coffee into Nick's cup as Sara sipped on her decaf. At the next table, three uniformed individuals – a grey-haired sheriff and two younger deputies –were talking, and they couldn't help but overhear the conversation.
"Well boy, how does it feel to know this is your last week on the job?" the sheriff asked in an avuncular tone. The youngest of the three, a clean-shaven young man in his twenties, smiled.
"Pretty good, actually. I'll miss you all, but it's one heck of an opportunity."
"Our little Stevie, off to the Bright Lights of the Big City," the second deputy, a woman in her thirties, remarked. "Remember us when you're busy busting all those crack hos and meth addicts."
"Gee Mel, you paint such an encouraging picture."
The woman smiled. "Can I help it if I think you're better off staying in sleepy ole' Greyston County?"
Stevie laughed. "You're just upset because you'll have to make your own coffee from now on."
"Well, deputies don't grow on trees, you know," the sheriff remarked. "It's been almost two months since we started looking for a replacement for you, and so far not a peep."
"Yeah, whatever happened to that guy from Atlanta?" Mel asked.
"Let's just say he'd been written up a few too many times for excessive use of force. Not the sort of thing we need around here."
"And the one from Denver?"
"I think the time he spent here for the interview made him realize just how small this town is. He withdrew his application."
At the next table, Nick and Sara exchanged a significant look. Nick leaned towards her.
"How would you feel about being married to a deputy sheriff?" he asked in a low voice.
"I think you'd look sexy in that uniform," she whispered back. He grinned and rose.
"Excuse me?" he asked, approaching their table. "I couldn't help overhearing that you might be looking for a new deputy."