Ellie looked at her phone message confused. Dale had sent her weird messages before but this one was on a whole different level of strange.
“What’s wrong?” Kris asked, stepping behind her.
“Dale’s weird message… he says we shouldn’t go out alone, it’s safer to walk together…. are we in high school again?”
Kris laughed sitting back on the couch. “He’s sweet and just worried,” changing the channel from Two and a Half Men to CNN, “We have a serial killer in Georgetown,” she went on pointing to the screen. Ellie sat next to her, her eyes glued on the screen, “Is that Dale?” Kris asked, stunned.
Right next to the man speaking on the podium, Dale stood next to him, his sun glasses on and his face held stiff and hard. His hands were held behind his back like a soldier in a parade. He looked like a different person, stern and emotionless, a complete opposite to the man she was cuddling with a few hours ago.
“He’s a cop?” Ellie whispered, genuinely surprised. She buried her face in her palms; this was the last thing she wanted.
Kris jumped in, “Maybe not… he might be….” her quick tongue failing her. She moved to her and hugged her by the shoulders, her voice conciliatory, “Honey it doesn’t have to be a deal breaker if you really like him.”
Ellie lifted her face out of her hands and laughed sadly, blinking back the tears threatening to spill over and betray her. “It’s a good thing nothing happened yet.”
Kris held her tighter, “You can try to lie to yourself but you can’t lie to me. You like him, and it hurts you that he’s a cop.”
Ellie pulled away from Kris and stood up in front of her, “Why would Ellsa hook me up with a cop?” the anger simmering slowly inside her, “She knows I wouldn’t date a cop if I had a gun held to my head. Is this another one of her stupid pranks or is this payback?” She paced the small living room. “This is revenge for her stupid boyfriend. Why is she punishing me, it wasn’t my fault!”
“I’m sorry to say this but, it’s always someone else’s fault but Ellsa’s.”
Ellie simmered down, “It’s not her fault she dated a horse’s ass.”
“Ellie, one of these days you are going to have to put yourself first,” Kris said, changing the channel.
“Until then, I have a bone to pick with a certain cop!”
“And the next day you are going to have to get over it. It’s been eight years, let it go,” she said, more cautiously.
“My parents are dead Kris, I can’t just let that go.” Her eyes filled with tears as a piece of her heart broke away. She missed them and the pain of losing them didn’t seem to be getting any better.
****
“I’m looking for Dale Carson.” Ellie told the first person who approached her. It didn’t take long before someone had noticed her. She looked like a fish out of water with her arms wrapped around her, feeling major discomfort being in a federal building. She stood close to the elevator. She needed a quick getaway once she’d said what she needed to.
“I’ll get him for you.” Paloma answered, with a polite smile. She eyed her like she would a nervous suspect, before she walked away. “Carson, there is a girl waiting for you by the elevators.”
He took his feet off the table and put down the victim’s file he’d been going through with a fine tooth comb just in case they missed something. “Why didn’t you ask her to come here? Or is there a new policy that states we receive visitors by the elevators?”
“Even if I asked her to come, I’m sure she would have said no. She didn’t look like she wanted to get far away from the elevators. She’s anxious, like she’s waiting to spill something before she runs off.”
Curious, Carson went to see the antsy girl. His heart smiled when he saw her, it was Ellie. “Hi babe. How did you know where I worked?” he kissed her before she had a chance to answer.
“You were all over the news yesterday it wasn’t hard to find out.” Her voice sounded like she had something stuck in her throat.
“So, what’s up?” he caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. She leaned into it longingly for a moment before she turned away.
“I came to tell you that this can’t work.” Her voice trembled as she spoke the words she knew she would come to regret one day. But she’d thought about it and it was the only way to go. She’d never be able to look past his badge and gun no matter how hard she tried.
“What?”
“I don’t date cops Dale. Why didn’t you tell me you were a cop?”
“First of all, I’m an FBI agent not a cop and because I didn’t think it mattered.”
“To me it does,” she pressed the down button on the elevator, “good bye Dale.”
“Ellie wait, you can’t be serious,” he felt like he was being punked, a victim of a practical joke, but the look on her face told him she was as serious as she sounded. “That isn’t a solid reason to end this.”
She stayed quiet, keeping her back to him as she struggled to swallow the sob in her throat. The second the doors opened she jumped in, keeping her eyes away from him. “Good bye Dale,” she said, one last time, as the tears trickled down her cheeks.
Carson stood there frozen for a second as he stared at the metal doors, still thinking that it could all be a huge joke.
“Carson, we have a case to get to,” Doran called out, from behind him.
“What did you do?” Audrey asked, infuriated by Carson as she walked with him back to the large case room.
“I didn’t do anything!” Carson answered, irritated by her accusations. Usually he was to blame for most of his relationships collapsing but this time he didn’t do anything wrong, except his profession, the one thing that got him girls and not the opposite.
“Then why did she dump you?”
“I’m the one who got dumped and yet you are the one who’s offended?”
“Why Dale?” she asked, again with a gentler tone.
“Because I carry a gun and a badge, that’s why,” he answered, even more annoyed. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed and when he said it out loud it sounded ludicrous!
“I knew something like this would happen, just not for the reason I thought. You can’t just let it go like that Dale, get our girlfriend back. I like her!” She whined.
Carson chuckled and pulled her in a hug, “You don’t even know her.”
“I’ve seen her from afar and talked to her… once. She’s beautiful and I like it.”
Kissing the top of her head, “She thinks you sound sweet.”
“You’ve been different since you met her. You haven’t looked at a girl twice and no sexual innuendo or trying to catch a girl with your devilish smile.”
“Wow, then we should stay broken up,” Carson joked, but the thought of it unsettled him.
“Dale…”
Kevin approached the others at the table and asked, “Trouble in paradise so soon?”
“I told you it wouldn’t last a month,” Gwen proclaimed, with a wide smile, “Guys pay up.”
Carson stared holes through her. He was getting tired of her and her stupid comments. “Could we please concentrate on catching this guy?”
“It’s a small bump that will be resolved soon,” Audrey defended, “So hang on to you money.”