Shelley Galloway - Baby Makes Six

Shawn blinked. Against her will, she started imagining just how great Tricia would be with her kids. Especially when the baby came.

“I didn’t want to tell you things weren’t working out for me here—after all, you were so nice to give me a reference.” Tricia was prevented from adding any more comments by the not-so-subtle chime on the oversize clock above them. Glaring at the timepiece, she said, “Back to the grind.”

Grabbing her can of soda, Shawn carefully wrapped up the last of her muffin. Remembering also how Tricia was always on the lookout for a new guy, she teased, “Maybe your afternoon will be better. Who knows—you just might talk to someone tall, dark and handsome today.”

“Doubt it. Most likely I’ll only speak to people who want me to tell them all about our airline specials and flight times and then book a flight on the Internet.” Blowing dark auburn bangs off her forehead, she added, “Not everyone falls in love on the phone here. Only you.”

“I didn’t fall in love on the phone.”

“Still, it was romantic,” Tricia said right before they parted ways at their cubicles. “Your story about how you and Eddie met on the phone is the best ever.”

It had been, Shawn mused as she slid back into her rolling chair and slipped her headset on. Eddie had still been in the military and had been trying to get home.

She’d done everything she could to help him, especially since he’d had the kind of voice that screamed alpha male. So masculine. Sure-sounding. Almost gravelly.

Oh, he’d been so sexy.

By the time they’d disconnected, he’d known her name, and she’d known that he’d grown up only a few hours away.

And though she sometimes hated to remember, by the end of that phone call, she’d known she’d fallen in love.

She still didn’t understand how that feeling could have faded away.

“You working a double shift, Eddie?” Sal Temple called out from the other end of the community room in the police station.

Eddie pushed E5 on the vending machine. Slowly the mechanical arm retrieved a red Gatorade. “Yeah.”

Crossing the room, Sal fumbled in his pocket, pulled out two bucks and slipped the bills in the slot of the machine as soon as Eddie stepped away. After a pressing a few buttons, a Snickers bar free-fell to the bottom. “Didn’t you work a double shift last Thursday, too?”

“I did.” Curious, Eddie looked a little more closely at his lieutenant. “You keeping track of me?”

“No, just wondering why you’re working so much.”

Eddie didn’t have a real reason, other than he hated going home to an empty place and extra money always came in handy. Especially now that he had child support and Jayne. Jayne liked nice dinners. “The money’s good,” he said.

“It’s only good if you’re around to enjoy the stuff you can buy with it. Overtime can kill a guy, you know.” Thumping on his chest for good measure, he added, “You’ve got to watch your heart.”

“It’s ticking just fine. Don’t worry so much.”

“I’m just looking after you. Someone’s got to, you know.” As he neatly placed his candy bar on his stack of paperwork, Sal said, “By the way, I heard you’ve got a new girl.”

Eddie almost choked. “Where did you hear that?”

“The usual way, the grapevine.” Sal looked him up and down. “So, Wagner, is it true?”

“I’m seeing someone, but it’s not serious. I wouldn’t call her my girl.”

“Uh-huh. When did you get divorced?”

“It was final four months ago.” Eddie closed his eyes for a moment as he heard his tone—completely defensive. “Sal, Shawn and I were separated six months before that. I’m not doing anything wrong.”

“Still—” Sal clucked. “—it’s kind of soon for a rebound gal.” Wagging a finger, he said, “You gotta watch those women, you know. She’s probably looking for a ring. Don’t want to rush into anything.”

Oh, these old guys, always imagining the worst! “Jayne’s not a rebound anything, and she’s certainly not looking for a ring already. She’s nice, Sal. I promise. Plus, she’s a teacher.”

To his surprise, Sal didn’t look too impressed. “Humph.”

“She’s educated and good with kids. She’s a dynamite person. Organized, too.” Actually, there were a lot of things to admire about her.

“I liked Shawn. Even more, I liked you with her. I thought you two were good together. She kept you lively.”

“I’m plenty lively now.” He didn’t want to be any livelier, anyway. Living with Shawn had been exhausting. He never knew what she was planning or what she had in mind.

Sometimes, those spur-of-the-moment decisions stressed him out—like the time he’d come home from work to find a trio of suitcases in the kitchen. Without consulting him, she’d decided they needed to take the girls to Disney World because there was a special going on.

Yes, they’d had fun, but the whole while he’d been wishing for just a few hours of downtime. Every time he’d tried to tell her about the rape case he’d been working on, she’d changed the subject. Like it was going to mess up their holiday.

Jayne was the exact opposite. Calm. Serene. On time. She kept a database of all the books she read. He admired that. “You weren’t married to Shawn, Sal.”

Eddie hated like hell to snap at his lieutenant, but honestly, did the old guy have to comment on everything in his life? Tell him exactly what he thought about things? He had parents who already did that. “Shawn’s the mother of my children. She’ll always be special to me. But we’re through. It’s over.”

“I hear you.” Sal put down his stacks of folders and bit off a chunk of his candy bar. “So how is Shawn? How’s she doing?”

“Fine, as far as I know.” He couldn’t deny that she looked just fine at the beach.

“Is she working?”

“Twenty hours or so a week at Carnegie Airlines.” He’d always hated how it took her away from him. She was always sprinting either to work or home. She’d never understood how much he’d counted on things being settled when he got home from a long shift. Months before they separated, he’d be lucky to find milk in the fridge.

“I always liked hearing her stories about the customers.”

“The thing is, it’s not like she has a career—she answers the phones. Shawn makes that job sound like it’s amazing. Like she’s helping to change the world.”

“She told me once that she helped a lady get funeral tickets,” Sal chided, telling him pretty plainly that he didn’t like Eddie’s tone of voice. “I thought that was special.”

“She told everyone that story because that was the only big thing that happened. Most of the time, all she does is listen to people complain and try to help them.”

“Sometimes that sounds like our life, huh, Wagner?”

To his surprise, Eddie realized he was sweating. Remembering all their problems got him worked up like nothing else. Privately he knew he’d made plenty of mistakes, too. He’d been so upset about losing the baby that he hadn’t thought about her needs enough. “I’m sorry about snapping at you. Thanks, you know, for caring.”

“I have to. I used to work with your dad, though he decided to retire early. So it’s up to me to look out for you.” Talking around another bite of chocolate and peanuts, he barked, “Watch your overtime. There will still be bad guys when you get back on your next shift. I promise.”

“I hear you.”

Sal slapped him on the back, then picked up his trash and wandered out of the room. Eddie grinned when he heard Sal’s booming voice target another officer.

All their business would always be the lieutenant’s, too.