Chapter 3

Jamie came to a stop just inside one of their usual haunts and searched the bar for his partner. Unsuccessful in his first cursory glance, he side-stepped through the Thursday night crowd filled with the familiar faces of off-duty patrolmen and women out of the Twefth and a few of the surrounding precincts. He heard a few greetings from some of his colleagues and was halfway through the room when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Reagan! Over here!" Vinny called out with a big wave of his arm.

Jamie nodded in acknowledgement as he spotted Vinny and two women sitting at a high top and took a deep breath to settle his nerves before heading their way.

"Hey, man," Vinny greeted and reached out to shake his partner's hand. "Glad you made it. You remember Carli?" he asked while motioning to the woman sitting next to him.

Jamie recalled meeting her a few times before and gave her a friendly smile. Vinny had only been dating her for a short time. "Yeah, it's good to see you again, Carli," he responded.

"Good to see you too, Jamie," the young brunette replied.

"And this is Carli's friend, Julia Adams. Julia, this is my partner, Jamie Reagan," Vinny said, making introductions and secretly hoping he could get the two to make some kind of connection, however small.

Jamie turned to fully face his blind date and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Julia," he said, smiling nervously at the blonde. He had to admit that Julia was attractive, but in a heavily-made-up, look-at-me kind of way. Jamie shook his head subtly and pushed that thought out of his mind quickly, not wanting any negative thoughts to ruin the evening before it even began.

"Likewise," Julia said as she looked Jamie over appreciatively.

"Julia is a financial consultant at a big firm downtown," Vinny advised.

"Oh, that's great," Jamie said with some forced enthusiasm. He gave the woman a tight smile and took a seat next to her. Try as he might, Jamie couldn't ignore his gut and it was telling him this night would not end the way he was sure Vinny wanted it to end.

"Yeah, it is," she said confidently. "If you ever need financial advice, just give me a call," she added as she eyed her surroundings with a look of distaste.

Jamie picked up on the way she was sizing up the place, certain it wasn't the type of establishment she preferred for a first date. He also sensed there was some doubt on her part as to his need for the kind of financial advice she offered her clients. "I'll remember that," he said politely.

Julia huffed in annoyance. "Where's the waitress? We've been here forever and no one's come by," she complained.

"This is a great place; they must be short handed. A couple of guys from our precinct own it," Vinny stated as he searched the room for one of the usual servers.

"If you're into places like these," Julia mumbled. Bored with the wait, she reached into her purse for a compact and checked her face.

Jamie's gut was screaming at him now. "I like it," he said as he met Vinny's eyes for a very brief moment.

Vinny already sensed this wouldn't end well.

"A menu would be nice," Julia grumbled as she put the compact away.

As if on cue, a petite blonde with a friendly smile arrived at their table. "Sorry about the hold up, guys, Rick's got a few people out sick tonight," she apologized.

Jamie looked at the waitress, finding something about her familiar. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.

The waitress turned to Jamie and studied him as well. "Maybe. But I'm usually drinking here and not serving. Maybe that's why you recognize me, I'm here a lot. I'm helping Rick out tonight since he's short staffed," she explained. "I'm Eddie by the way."

Jamie reached out to shake her hand. "Jamie and that's my partner, Vinny."

Eddie's brows shot up and her blue eyes brightened. "You two cops?"

"Yeah, out of the Twelfth," Jamie confirmed.

"Can't wait to join the club. Maybe I'll be seeing you around a lot more. I'm actually in the academy right now," Eddie advised.

Jamie was surprised. "Oh, seriously? You're gonna be a cop?" he asked.

Eddie chuckled. "Don't sound so surprised there, sport," she replied.

"Oh, I didn't mean -," Jamie backtracked, hoping he hadn't insulted her.

Vinny raised an eyebrow at the waitress and his partner as he observed their exchange.

Eddie smiled at Jamie's look of alarm. "No worries. Like I said, I'm just helping Rick out, so this isn't my regular gig. But the extra cash doesn't hurt," she returned.

"Ahem. Excuse me. Could we get a wine list please," Julia snapped impatiently.

Eddie's head turned to the other blonde. "A wine list?" she asked as she looked at the others at the table and wondered if this woman hadn't realized she was at a cop bar. "Really?"

"Yes," Julia huffed with some annoyance.

Eddie snorted. "Well, we have some wines, but not enough to warrant a list," she pointed out.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Well, that figures," she muttered under her breath before eyeing Eddie. "Do you have anything French? I can only drink French wine."

Eddie plastered a large fake smile onto her face, wondering what would happen to the snooty woman if her wine wasn't French. "I'm sure we do. Red good?" she asked sweetly, pretending she hadn't picked up on the snotty attitude from the other woman. She glanced at Jamie quickly, thinking that the pair didn't match, not that she knew him at all.

"A Bordeaux, please," Julia ordered.

"I'll have a margarita," Carli requested politely.

"Two pints for us," Vinny said as he pointed between himself and Jamie.

"Right away, guys," Eddie said and left to get their drinks with a quick glance Jamie's way.

Julia sighed. "Well, she had a bit of an attitude, didn't she?" she snarled.

Jamie shook his head as he followed Eddie with his eyes. "Nah, she was alright," he countered.

"No, I can always tell with women," she argued.

Jamie was surprised at the attitude coming from Carli's friend and figured Vinny hadn't met her before today either. He suddenly felt the need to get out of there. "Uh, would you excuse me for a second?" he said as he slid off his chair.

"Where you going, Reagan?" Vinny asked suspiciously.

"The restroom. I'll be right back," Jamie assured him and he would be, but he was quickly formulating a plan in his head. Some may argue that he wasn't giving Julia a fair chance, but he was willing to bet Julia would not grow more pleasant as the evening continued. He easily gave in to his urge to flee.

Jamie was making his way to the back of the bar as he quickly - and discretely - typed out a message to his brother.

call me in 10, ignore whatever I say

As he hit send and slid the phone back into his pocket, he caught sight of Eddie putting a tray together with their drinks. She reached toward the back of the bar and pulled out a single serve bottle of cheap, red domestic wine - the kind you'd find at the check out of a convenience store. Jamie grinned as she poured the wine into a glass while looking around the crowded bar. Startled when she caught him staring back, she turned quickly, just enough so the bottle was hidden behind her, but the look of guilt on her face was proof that she knew she'd been caught.

Jamie was not in need of the bar's facilities, but continued on his way, stopping near the back to say hello to a few more guys from the precinct to kill a few minutes. Jamie eventually bid farewell to his colleagues and plastered a fake smile onto his face as he headed back to the table. There were still a few minutes to spare before Danny hopefully came through for him. He was just sitting back down when Eddie came back with a full tray. Carli, Julia and Vinny's conversation came to a halt as the drinks were passed out.

"Here you go, a glass of France's finest," Eddie proclaimed as she placed the wine in front of her customer. Her eyes darted over to Jamie, wondering if he'd rat her out, but she quickly went about passing out the rest of the drinks. "Here are some food menus and I'll come back and check on you guys in a bit," she said and quickly left the table.

"I wonder if they make anything that's not deep fried," Julia groused as she picked up her glass.

Jamie fought to keep the smirk off his face but lost that battle when Julia began sniffing her wine, casually bringing his hand up to his face to hide it.

"Oh, this is lovely," she said and paused to take a sip, closing her eyes as she appeared to be pleased with the wine. "There's nothing like French wine, don't you agree Jamie?"

Jamie looked over at Julia with a thoughtful expression. "I'm more of a beer guy myself. Wines all taste the same to me," he responded and took a long drink from his glass to occupy himself.

Julia placed a hand on Jamie's forearm. "That's because you're not drinking good wine. I must take you to a tasting," she offered.

"Oh, uh, that sounds -" Jamie started to say when he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone which he had conveniently placed on the table when he returned to his seat. He looked down at the caller ID and found Danny's number on the screen, sending prayers of thanks for his impeccable timing.

Vinny glanced down at the phone as well.

"Excuse me a sec, it's my brother," he said as he turned to face away from the group. "Hey, Danny, can I call you back later?" he asked.

"What're ya talking about, kid?" Danny asked in confusion. "You told me to call you. What's going on?" he grumbled.

"No kidding?" Jamie asked as he glanced at the other occupants at the table with an expression of surprise. "Where are you? You okay?" he continued.

"What're you talking about? I'm fine. I'm at the precinct. What's going on with you?" Danny asked more forcefully.

But Jamie continued to ignore Danny's questions. "No, no, that's fine. I was just having drinks with some friends, but I can come get you."

"What?"

"I can be there in twenty, okay?" Jamie advised.

"What are you trying to get yourself out of -"

Jamie cut him off and began to get back off his chair. "All right, Danny, see you later," he said right before disconnecting the call despite Danny's continued attempts to question him.

"What's up, Reagan?" Vinny asked, suspicious of his partner once again.

"That was Danny. He broke down on the BQE and Linda's working tonight, so he needs a ride," he explained, doing his best to act disappointed.

Vinny arched a brow at his partner. "Oh, yeah?" he said with a hint of doubt, but he guessed he couldn't blame the guy. He knew as soon as Julia opened her mouth that she wouldn't gel with Jamie.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, man," he told Vinny before turning to the blonde. "Julia, it was a pleasure. I'm sorry that I have to leave so early," he apologized.

"That's a shame," Julia said. She appeared to be put off by his sudden departure.

Jamie gave her a tight smile before nodding at his partner. "I'll see you, tomorrow, man."

"All right, I guess," Vinny returned.

Jamie was headed out of the bar as he texted his brother once again.

Ur a life saver. Owe you one

He was just about to make his way through the door when a female voice stopped him.

"Hey, why are you leaving so soon?"

Jamie turned around to find Eddie behind him, hugging a serving tray to her chest.

"Yeah, well, I had something come up," he said as he pointed to the door.

Eddie slid a lock of her long blonde hair behind her ear. "Listen, I'm sorry about the whole thing with the wine and your girlfriend," she apologized, a mix between guilt and mischief evident in her expression.

Jamie's eyes widened in slight horror and he shook his head adamantly. "Oh, her? No, she's not my girlfriend, not even a friend. Barely an acquaintance, really," he explained. "And I think she had it coming, so no apologies. That was actually pretty amusing," he shared, smiling shyly at the friendly blonde.

Eddie's blue eyes twinkled. "Okay, well, maybe I'll see you around?" she asked, her voice hopeful.

Jamie nodded. "Sounds good. Until then," he said, but lingered there with her. He couldn't understand why his feet remained glued to the floor.

Eddie nodded, biting her bottom lip to contain the smile on her face.

Suddenly, Jamie felt another pair of eyes on him. He looked over Eddie's shoulder and found Vinny staring back with a knowing smile as the two women at the table carried a conversation. That reminded him that he needed to get out of there and he looked back down at Eddie. "I'll see ya," he said with one last smile and went on his way.