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She knew to the outside world it might look like he was moving on too fast, something she was constantly worrying about on his behalf because she hated the thought of anyone thinking poorly of her boy, even though she had had her doubts in the beginning. But she is the closest thing to him, and she knew without a doubt that this was the best thing for him. Even Constance and Lenore agreed, and everyone knows those two are hardly ever wrong.
Celia came downstairs minutes later feeling just a little bit better than warmed-over crap to see the three people waiting for her. “Who’s this? Hello.” She held out her hand to the elderly gentleman that she’d place in his seventies with a smile.
“Hello young lady, how do you feel? I’m Doc Cleavers.”
She turned her head to look at Riley with a look of ‘seriously’ on her face. The man is too much. Who calls a doctor because someone drank too much the night before? “Come, follow me.” She followed the doc out of the room and into the living room, where she doesn’t recall having spent any time since she moved in. This one was more formal than the other, with its high windows and what looked like silk wall stenciling covering each wall in a jacquard print of cream and yellow.
The room always struck her as too fancy, but it didn’t seem to faze Doc as he led her to the settee. He tried shooing Riley from the room with no luck, and Celia still had no clue what was going on. Her pulse was taken, there was a pelvic exam while Riley hovered, and she was made to pee in a cup. “I’ll have the results back to you by later this afternoon, but so far, she seems to be fine. Just keep her off Constance and Lenore’s porch for the next little while.”
“She has a headache; anything she can take for that?”
“She has a mouth.” Celia piped up, and Riley ignored her while Doc Cleaver rolled his eyes and opened his little black bag, something Celia had not seen outside of a TV screen. “Here, take these.”
“What are these…?”
“What are those…?” Celia and Riley spoke at the same time.
“Tylenol and yes, Riley, before you ask, they’re safe.”
Celia waited for the pills to kick in, which they did almost immediately before tackling her first cup of coffee. Just the thought of food made her sick still, so she grabbed a hot bun for later and headed out the door for work with Riley on her heels, annoying her about coming straight home after work and what he would do to her if she didn’t.
Celia ignored all of that until she tried climbing into her SUV and was reminded of her other aches and pains. “What did you do to me last night? I noticed lots of hickeys all over my chest and…”
“And what?” Him and that damn sexy grin.
“Between my thighs, just what the heck did you do to me while I was drunk?”
“What you should be asking is what I didn’t do; that would make for a shorter list. Behave yourself, Detective.” He moved in closer after saying this to put his lips to her ear.
“If you’re a good girl, I’ll lick your kitty when you come home.” Her damn knees went weak, and she fell into him, making him laugh as he lifted her into the driver's seat and belted her in. “See you later, Detective.” She didn’t stop throbbing until she pulled into the station, visions of what happened the night before now flitting in and out of her head. He’s right. It would be easier to list the things they hadn’t gotten around to doing.
Officer Pete Bailey was still smiling when Detective Sparks walked into the station. After the hell that has been the last few weeks, he was happy that his faith in humanity had been restored. He was still shaking his head at the antics of his friend. After Ryan had called him last night, he’d felt a little bad. His old friend had sounded torn, but at that time of night, Pete knew there wasn’t much they could do to get Connie out of the group home.
He hadn’t expected his friend to go to the lengths he had to retrieve the kid he’d had no interest in just a few hours earlier. From what he learned from the social worker when she called to get him out of bed, Ryan had made a fuss and threatened to sue the county for locking his kid away when she had a perfectly good home to go home to.
He’s still not sure how they got it to work. Maybe it’s because he’d gone down there to meet them and had put in a few words on Ryan’s behalf. Perhaps it was telling the story of what was going on in the girl’s life, leaving out her part in the messages, of course, that had turned the tide. Whatever the reason, Ryan had walked away with the kid, who’d seemed flustered as all hell.
