Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,77

body. I squared my shoulders and for women everywhere who waste their time pining over a man like Sheriff Cal, I drank the entire bottle of water and handed off the empty bottle to him. I unscrewed the cap to the piss cup and handed him the cap. I unzipped my jeans, thankful my denim top was extra-long to cover me, dropped to the toilet seat with the piss cup in my hand and shoved it between my legs.

Nothing. Not a drop. I cleared my throat several times and he never once took his eyes off of me. Something in his eyes softened on me a bit. Maybe it was the blue in them that made me think of storm clouds brewing. Maybe it was the way the blacks of his eyes enlarged a bit for a flash and returned to normal. Maybe it was the fact that for five whole minutes, I sat on that toilet with my hand under me trying my dandiest to pee and just could not let a drop loose.

"Christ woman. You are as tough as they say. Forget it. It's been over three hours since you slammed your car between those boulders, six hours since you had a beer at lunch. I'm hungry, tired, got a truck to fix and a game to catch. Meet me in my office once you're done."

I sat in that bathroom for fifteen more minutes. Not a single drop of pee. I washed my hands, applied makeup from my purse, filed my nails, texted Meg with an update of where I was at and called my mother back to answer her questions about me being on the five o'clock news. Apparently, through all the mess, I did not notice a news crew there. And, they always revamped my previous mishaps. I was a local mess a muck that kept everyone busy with conversations for the next week or two until some other caper came our way. I should be proud to carry the title of the county, but instead I was feeling like my time had come for things to change.

Just as I hung up with my mom, the bathroom door flung open. Cal stood there with a look on his face that made me want to melt. "Let's go."

I questioned what he meant. "Go where?"

"Home."

"I can walk."

"Suit yourself." Then he turned and walked back out of the women's restroom. I quickly went running after him.

"Does this mean I don't have to pee in a cup?"

"Yup." He kept on walking until he got to his office. I tossed the unused pee cup into an empty trash can en route to follow him at a brisk pace. He grabbed three uniforms on hangers in dry cleaner bags and turned back towards me closing his door behind him.

"What about the paperwork?" I wasn't sure, but the old Sheriff Cleat had never made me do my own paperwork or file. In fact, most times he never filed paperwork on me at all, not to mention he changed facts to keep the media from the real scandalous story, but something told me he didn't keep it from himself or the new Sheriff Cal Taylor.

"Forget about it." His look softened a bit, but his body language gave me the impression he couldn't get away from me quick enough.

"So does that mean there won't be charges?" I fidgeted with my purse and looked down the hall to see that the next shift of staff was starting to arrive.

"Nope. And don't take the next thing I say wrong, but I hope we don't meet again."

At that instant, my heart sank. I had some stupid romantic notion back in the bathroom that I had a glimmer of hope that Sheriff Cal and I, were going to get to know each other on a much more intimate level when I wasn't getting in trouble or being rescued. I guess the disappointment showed on my face as a soft set of words left his lips.

"Nothing personable. It's just I took this job hoping for a nice quiet town." He turned and began walking down the hallway, and I turned the other direction and began to walk out the front doors of the sheriff station for the umpteenth time in my life.

I hadn't made it ten blocks before I had to pee. I walked three more blocks convincing myself I didn't need to go and two more blocks after that, I spent looking for a huge bush to pee behind.