When we arrived at his friend's house, I was immediately introduced to Rick. From what I could pick up, Nate and Rick had known each other since they were in diapers, which was an interesting tidbit to know because I instantly tried to picture the two of them in diapers. My imagination wasn't that good and the images that came to mind were rather scary.
Rick stood a little shorter than Nate, so about six foot even, but he had Nate beat in the muscle mass department. He worked as a detective for the NYPD, so it paid for him to look big and intimidating. He definitely fit that bill, with his jet black hair and piercing bright blue eyes.
I couldn't remember ever seeing eyes that particular shade, but at the same time, there was something really familiar about them. There was something familiar about Rick as a whole, and even though I was sure we'd never met, I could've sworn we had.
"It's really nice to meet you, Avery. This knucklehead has told me so much about you. I was starting to think maybe he was making you up. There was no way a woman could be as perfect as he described, and yet here you are."
I gave Nate a look that indicated he had some explaining to do. I didn't like the idea of him blabbing to his friend about me, especially when there wasn't anything between us.
"Really? That's interesting since we have only been acquainted a few days and he knows next to nothing about me." Giving Rick a flirty smile, I winked at him.
"Okay, you got me. Maybe not your life story, but he has mentioned you on a couple occasions. You do know he's smitten with you, right?"
I scoffed at Rick's words. "Smitten? That is pretty funny. Mr. Work Relationship is definitely not smitten with me. I'm pretty sure I frighten him." I leaned in and whispered that last part conspiratorially to him.
"You guys do notice I'm standing right here. It's not nice acting like you're revealing my secrets when neither of you have any idea what you're talking about."
"You're right," I said, giving him a sincere compassionate look before turning back to Rick and saying, "I think someone missed his nap time, so we better hit the road."
"You're impossible," Nate exhaled and went to sit on the bike he'd be using. Compared to mine it was rather plain, with a black paint scheme and only a few accessories, like a custom derby cover and foot pegs.
Nate seemed ready to go, so I was too. Even though spending a few minutes talking to Rick about what Nate had told him about me also sounded like an interesting way to spend the afternoon. Since I couldn't carry a conversation, and eventually Rick would run out of things to report, going for a ride sounded like the best idea.
I waved goodbye to Rick and we headed out. We ended up taking I-87 towards Saratoga Springs. It was less than two hundred miles, so it'd be a nice easy ride. After about fifty miles my gas indicator light came on, so I signaled that I needed to stop.
After a quick refueling, we didn't stop again until we hit Saratoga Springs, a couple of hours later. We pulled into a gas station to top off the tanks.
"How about we grab some sandwiches and chips for a picnic over in Saratoga Spa State Park?" Nate suggested.
"I'm hungry and can't remember the last time I had a picnic. It's probably been ten years. I want some cookies for dessert though. We can't have a picnic without cookies." Grinning, I followed him into the store.
Once we attached the food to his sissy bar with some bungee cords I kept in a little tool bag on my forks, we cruised over to find a picnic table.
"This is really beautiful," I said taking in the area. "I tend to stay indoors so much that I don't get out in the wilderness often enough."
"Yeah, it can be difficult when you're based in a big city. I try to get out camping at least once during the summer. It's always good to get away from the job for a while. When was the last time you took a vacation?" he asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"I think my uncle's funeral was the last time I took time off work. I guess that wouldn't really qualify as a vacation. I like to keep myself busy and the few friends I have tend to have their own lives. I don't mind though. I relax when I get home at night and have Winnie if I need a day break."
"Winnie?"
"My beast over there," I pointed towards the bikes. "I like to name things and her name just happens to be Winnie, short for Winifred, not Winnie the Pooh."
"Ha." He tilted his head up and started laughing. "I thought only guys named their machines. My bike at home is called Tank. It's flat black and has everything blacked out like your bike, but it has machine gun clips along the side of the tank and up the forks there are fifty caliber bullets. Here, I have some pictures of him on my phone."
He hit a few buttons and handed me his phone. "Wow," I said, starting to scroll through the pictures. "He is a handsome devil." I stopped when I came to a picture of a gorgeous blonde sitting on the bike. "Girlfriend?" I asked titling the phone towards him.
"No need to get jealous. That is actually a friend's little sister and there has never been anything other than sibling style feelings between us. I have very particular rules when it comes to people I date and she breaks every one of those rules."
"Hey, professional business relationship going on here buddy, jealousy doesn't even compute as an emotion in this situation." I said it, but really I felt maybe just a tiny bit jealous.
I wasn't sure if it was because she was hanging out with Nate or she was sitting on Tank, so I told him, "If anything, I'm jealous she's all up on Tank. Now, he's a boy who could get my motor running."
I was curious about what rules the pretty blonde broke, or what rules, other than not dating coworkers, Nate had, but I refrained from asking. I didn't want it to sound like his list was important to me.
"When was your last romantic relationship, Avery?" he asked a little out of the blue.
Blushing, I replied, "The one and only relationship I've ever had was about four years ago. It lasted six months and was nothing to really write home about. He was a nice guy. We met at the library of all places.
"That's pretty funny since that's where most people think I work. He was my first and only, but he just ended up being too boring for me, so we split and I went about life as normal. I'm sure you've had wild escapades and a different girl every weekend, but the love them and leave them life isn't for me."
"It's not really for me either. I've had one woman I would classify myself as being serious with, and by serious I mean I thought a day without her would be the death of me. I'm not the wild guy you seem to picture me as in your mind. I'm a firm believer that there is one person out there meant for each of us."
"So you have a romantic side buried between all those gruff layers. I'll say I'm impressed."
"Not so much romantic, as it was driven into me at birth that I would one day find my soulmate and live happily ever after," he replied.
I got a nostalgic kind of vibe from him that would've made his words seem sad, like maybe his one and only died and he was stuck roaming the earth by himself. He had a smile on his face, so it was more than likely me just reading way too much into the situation.
"I'm surprised, since you said your parents were divorced. Which one preached about soulmates?" I asked.
"Actually both of them did. They knew they weren't each other's one and only, but they were tired of looking and decided life together was easier than apart. At least it was for about five seconds. They're both happy they got me out of the deal though and I can't say I blame them because I am pretty great," he explained.
Yes you are,?I thought to myself. "All this talk about parents reminds me mine have decided to come to town next weekend. That's a visit I'm not looking forward to. They're always vague about how long they're staying and they make living a double life difficult. My mom will probably want to come meet my coworkers and bake us all cookies." I grimaced at the thought of my mother in the Pit.
"You keep what you do from your parents even? Mine have known forever what I do."
I sighed. "Yeah, well your mom obviously isn't the biggest gossip in a three state are
a. Mine couldn't keep a secret to save herself. She'd probably tweet about it, taunting all her friends on how important her daughter is.
"I wish she was one of those moms who are leery when it comes to technology, but sadly when I was younger I educated her a little too much past 'click here to get your email'. She found Google and learned all about social networking.
"I bet she was one of the first people to sign up for Myspace, let alone Facebook and I think she may even keep up her Myspace account still, when most people have moved on. Really, what I do is best kept locked up in a vault away from her."
Just thinking about my mother in more detail had me sweating for the visit to come. Hopping on my bike and driving until I ran out of money sounded like a good idea. With the savings I'd accumulated, I was pretty sure I'd be able to make it far enough that it'd be a while before my mother found me.
"I guess, but it must be difficult not being able to let others see your real life. I know Frannie and Gary have no idea who you really are. What does that leave you, your coworkers?" he asked, bringing me out of my planning.
"Pretty much. I don't tend to hang out with them outside work, though. Maybe lunch a few times a month is it. I really don't mind being alone. I'm not good at talking to people and I'm always afraid I'll say the wrong thing, so keeping to myself works well for me. Being alone is something I've just become used to." I shrugged. "I don't think I'd do well if I had to spend time with someone else all the time."
He stared at me questioningly. "So you aren't planning on settling down, getting married, having a baby?"
"I don't think that's in my cards. Talking to men is really difficult for me. I kind of sit there and stutter a lot. Hard to get past the first date when I don't open my mouth. Although, I guess there are guys out there who would value that in a wife." I'd managed to make it through all my food. I was full, but wanted something else to occupy my hands.
The conversation had been interesting enough that I hadn't spent a lot of time looking around, like I assumed I'd have to do. When conversations lulled, I tended to just stare off in the distance.
"You don't seem to have any difficulties talking to me, and we've been getting along great."
I stated the obvious, "Well yeah, because there was never any chance for us to begin with. We were set up on a blind date and everyone knows those fail. Plus, the very next day we found out we were going to be working together, at least for a little while, and that pretty much killed any romantic notions. Not to mention you happen to be gorgeous and I'm only mildly interesting to look at, if you're farsighted."
"I'm going to take that end part as a joke. What about when the mission is over?" he asked. "Then we don't have work between us, and we know each other well enough the blind date kind of gets negated."
"Afterwards, you'll go back to Chicago and I'll keep myself busy in the Pit. I'm not sure why we're even discussing this. As I indicated, you're in a whole other league from me. The aesthetically gifted do not get involved with a person like me."
"My little butterfly, you really don't know the way others see you. It's too bad really. All this talk about a relationship you're bound and determined not to allow happen is making me depressed. What do you say we head back to town?" He stood up and threw our trash in a nearby garbage can.
"Sounds good. It'll take a few hours to get back, and by then I'll need to get some sleep, so I can wake up for work tomorrow. Mentioning work, we didn't really talk about the case today, which surprises me. Do you have any ideas why that man was killed? Or who did it?" I asked.
"No, so far I have no idea, but I'm not really heading up that investigation. My part of the case is the guns and I was just brought in for the ID, since I'd posted the guy's photo around trying to find out who he was. I'll check in when I get back and give you any extra information I find out in the morning."
With that, we both got on our bikes to make the journey home. It had been a really nice day and Nate was turning out to be a great friend. Maybe it was time I confided in someone, so I didn't have to hide and lie about every detail of my life. The only person I could even imagine trying to tell was Frannie, and like my mother, she tweeted every detail of her life, literally.?
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CHAPTER 11
Some days it's better to stay in bed