The dangers of Smoking.
The dangers of smoking are widely known, by smokers and non smokers alike. Detective Sergeant James Hathaway knows them, accepts them and lives with them. Except one. No one thought to warn about that one did they?
Chapter 9
"Phase one complete" Laura told Robbie, sliding her hand into his as they watched James and Evie head off along the riverbank, together.
"You do realise that he's going to make my life hell tomorrow?" Robbie replied "He knows he's been set up"
"He might just thank you" she looked at him.
"I've known him fancy three women, seriously, in all the time I've known him" Robbie replied in a quiet voice "One, a woman he carried a torch for for years, and she almost cost him his job, another, turned out to be have had a sex change, hell bent on revenge on him and almost killed him, and the third? He bowed at her"
"Bowed?!" Laura laughed.
"Yes" Robbie replied "You can see why I worry"
"You're really fond of him aren't you?" she said gently.
"Yes" Robbie nodded "The grumpy sod"
"He's not grumpy" she defended "Just guarded, he's been hurt"
"So has she"
"That's why they're drawn to each other" she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him.
"You're not gonna start on about kindred spirits and soul mates are you?" Robbie chuckled, grinning down at her, hands linked behind her back.
"No-o" she laughed "But I think there'll be some hot sex heading their way, at least"
"I don't need to think about that" Robbie pulled a face.
"You don't want to think about hot sex?" Laura challenged.
"Not involving Hathaway" Robbie laughed "You on the other hand, I could be persuaded"
…...
James lit her cigarette and then his own, and they continued along the riverbank. Taking a deep lungful he thought back on the evening.
He'd drank more than he intended, and had hardly been the highlight of conversation. Nerves had strangled him.
He knew he liked her, maybe a bit more than liked, but he wasn't sure what, if anything, he should do about it.
Evie had been surprised by James' reaction to her as they'd caught sight of each other across the pub. She'd realised instantly they'd been set up, and judging James' dark look in Lewis' direction, so did he.
He'd looked pleased before he closed his expression down, a smile had been forming, one she'd seen a couple of times before, a genuine smile that reached his eyes, and made her feel warm.
"Laura said you row?" Evie asked, out of the blue.
James didn't miss a beat, though the question had shocked him from his thoughts.
"At university" he confirmed "A bit"
Evie laughed "She also said you'd say that too"
"What?" he flashed her a look.
"That you rowed 'a bit'" Evie explained "You rowed for Cambridge, that's more than a bit"
He shrugged slightly "Kept me fit"
"What did you study?" she asked "Criminology?"
"Theology" he corrected.
Evie did miss a beat "Oh"
He smiled, he was used to the reaction.
"I intended to be a priest" he continued.
"Quite a career change" Evie replied "Priesthood to policing"
"Not as much as you would think" he said.
"No" she agreed after a moment "Still looking after people"
"But rather than listening to sins" he replied "I investigate them"
She nodded and silence fell again before James spoke.
"Do you miss nursing?"
"Some of it" she replied quietly "I enjoyed watching people overcome some truly scary illnesses and go back to being themselves. Mental illness still has such a stigma, and people are scared"
"Sometimes with good reason" he pointed out softly, pausing in his stride to stop and look at her.
"He was deluded, clinically I mean, the man I...killed" Evie said, her eyes far away "And I didn't realise how much until that night, I was young and naive and I thought I could handle it"
She shrugged "It was a long time ago. It doesn't sting as much as it used to"
"I know what you mean" he replied "Time heals and all that"
"Not so much heals" she sighed "As glosses over, don't you think?"
"In some respects, yes" he agreed.
"Why didn't you carry on and become a priest?" she asked.
"I joined the seminary" he replied "But I wasn't...compatible with the lifestyle I suppose, I left, joined the police force"
I'm glad she thought and they started to walk again, just as awkwardness reared it's ugly head. He'd had that intense look again, she thought.
"You realise we've been set up?" he asked as they turned from the river to the small streets.
"Hmm?" she asked, roused from her thoughts.
"Tonight" he continued "By my Inspector and your boss"
"Oh" she coloured "That, yes, I noticed"
"Does it bother you?"
"I guess they just want people to be as happy as they appear to be" she shrugged.
"A warming sentiment" he said, she noticed his lip curled slightly as he said it.
"Does it bother you?"
He stopped again "It should" he replied "But it doesn't"
"Why?"
"Why should it?" he asked "Or why doesn't it?"
"Both" she answered, he looked at her, she held his eyes and he saw genuine curiosity, and something else, something he found he was a little scared to name.
"It should" he found himself shuffle closer "Because I don't like having my life arranged for me"
"Understandable" she agreed, he was closer still, somehow.
"It doesn't because I wouldn't have had this chance if they hadn't" he was so close he could smell her perfume, or maybe her shampoo.
"What chance?" she replied.
"The chance to get to know you better" his eye contact was unnerving "For more than the 5 minutes it takes to smoke a cigarette"
She blinked at him, again, and he pulled back.
"In that case" she said, recovering first "Would you like to come in? Coffee?"
"Only if you have biscuits" he replied with a wicked smile.
…...
Just over an hour later James stood on the doorstep of her flat ready to leave, but not wanting to.
"Thanks for walking me home" she said, leaning on the door.
"Thanks for the coffee" he countered "And the chocolate biscuits"
She laughed "Have I found your weakness James?"
He laughed a little and looked at his feet "Quite possibly"
I am so bad at this he cringed.
"Well, goodnight" he said, holding his breath in shock and pleasure as she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
"Goodnight" she said quietly.
He stepped down the stairs, turning and giving her a wonderful smile at the bottom before burying his hands deep in his pockets and heading for home. Feeling lighter than he had for a long time.