Page 186 of Their Naughty Student
As I lay in the dark, Jamie curled up beside me, I stared up at the ceiling.
For the first time in a long time, I wanted to talk to my mother, to tell her the good news.How I’d fallen in love, settled down in one place, and what I imagined for my future.
But I couldn’t call her.Couldn’t tell her any of those things because my mother had disowned me a long time ago.She had written me off back when my father had left, along with everyone else in her life.She’d become bitter, angry at the world, and no matter how hard I’d tried, I couldn’t get through to her.
For the longest time, I had expected her to call, to check on me, ask about my life.That call had never come.
“Cav?”
I turned my head, kissed Jamie on the forehead.“Go back to sleep, cupcake.I’m right here.”
Her hand moved over my stomach, her fingertips grazing the scar from the bullet wound I tried hard to forget.
“How’d you get the scars?”
I didn’t answer immediately.The answer was a story I didn’t enjoy thinking about, much less telling.
Jamie’s lips grazed my shoulder, and I sighed.“I was shot.”
She lifted her head, stared down at me.I could just make out her features from the light cast by the alarm clock.
“Shot?”
“In the line of duty,” I explained.“After I graduated from college, I was adrift, not sure what I wanted to do.Having gone back to Houston for a while, I met up with a couple of my old friends.One mentioned he was joining the police academy, suggested I do it.
“I think it was more of a dare than anything, and since I had nothing else on the agenda of my life, I figured why the hell not.Entered the academy, passed with flying colors, went on to join the Houston PD.Ended up with a K-9 partner.”I smiled in the dark.“His name was Kano.Sweetest damn dog in the world.Fiercely loyal, too.”
“Did he live with you?”
“Yeah.Spent every waking minute together.He was so damn smart.”
“Past tense?”
I swallowed hard and relayed the details of the event that had changed my life.By the time I was finished reliving that dreadful day, Jamie was holding me tightly, her tears falling onto my chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she muttered, squeezing me.“So sorry you lost him.”
“Yeah.Me, too.”
She snuggled closer.“You haven’t met Tank,” she said.“He’s my brother’s yellow lab.”I could hear the smile in her voice.“I got him for my brother because I knew Zeke had needed someone to love.He’s always been my rock, ever since our parents died, and I hated to see the way he kept himself closed off.So, I adopted Tank, but told Zeke I’d found him near my grandfather’s house.”She chuckled.“I remember the look on his face when I took the puppy over, begged my brother to keep him, to give him a home.I knew he would do it for me, so I’d used that against him.Don’t regret it either.They’ve been good for one another.”
I couldn’t help but smile as she relayed the information.I could hear in her voice how much she loved her brother, how far she would go to take care of the man.Though I didn’t know Zeke all that well, I did know him.He didn’t seem like an easy man to deal with, but to know he went soft for his sister and a puppy spoke volumes.
“What about your parents?”she asked after a few minutes of silence.“Do they live in Houston?”
I shrugged.“Not sure.Probably.They divorced a long time ago.Haven’t talked to either of them.”
“Why not?”
“My mother was so hurt when my father left, she took it out on everyone else.Including me.Wrote me off a long time ago.”
“Your father?”
“He got remarried, has a new family.Never looked back.”
“What about when you got shot?Didn’t they come see you?Take care of you?”
“No.I have no way to reach my father.And my mom … I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.Haven’t tried since.”
