“That might not be a good idea. She was seeing the Lieutenant until recently. You know we’re like a family around here. The breakup has been kinda hard on the Lieutenant and Ms. Williamson. I’d leave her alone if I were you,” Barista said.
“If she and Lieutenant aren’t seeing each other any more, she’s free,” Jackson replied.
“She’s free, but she’s off limits,” John McBain said from behind the two officers.
“But Lieutenant…”
“There are no buts. Evangeline Williamson is off limits to you and anyone else in this precinct. You got that?”
Jackson swallowed and nodded. John looked around the squad room waiting for anyone to say something. When no one did, he walked away without another word.
---------------
“Hey, Cerutti. How’s it going?”
“Okay, Baker. Just following up on a couple leads in an attempted robbery. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing. I was just reading the paper and I saw that Evangeline Williamson won Woman of the Year or something like that. Damn, the Lieutenant is a lucky man.”
“You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Man, Lieutenant McBain and Ms. Williamson broke up. You should have been here earlier.”
“Why? What happened?”
“That rookie, Jackson, was talking to Barista. He was telling him how fine Ms. Williamson is and how he’d had to testify in a case she was defending. He was planning on asking her out; like she has the time to be bothered with him. Well, anyway, the Lieutenant overheard and the next thing you know, he’s making it clear that nobody better try to make a play for Ms. Williamson. It was funny. When the Lieutenant walked into his office and slammed the door, Jackson ran out of here like he was on fire.”
---------------
Evangeline couldn’t believe her ears. Officer Jackson was a sweet kid and while she wouldn’t have gone out with him, where did John get off telling him anything? They weren’t together, so what was going on with him? Whatever it was, she needed it cleared up.
Natalie wasn’t at her desk when Evangeline went to John’s office. For that, Evangeline was grateful. The last thing she wanted was another run in with Natalie, when she was still raw. She knocked lightly on John’s door and hoped that he was in so this could be settled.
“Come in.”
Evangeline took a deep breath, before opening the door. John glanced up from his desk and smiled at her.
“Hey,” he said. It appeared that he was surprised to see her; he shouldn’t be after the way he was acting.
“Hey. Do you have a couple of minutes?”
“I have all the time in the world for you.”
“That’s a change,” she said with a smirk.
He chuckled in response and was obviously waiting for her to continue. From the look in his eyes, John appeared to be glad to see her. They’d only been apart since the day before, but Evangeline could tell he missed her as much as she missed him.
“I heard that you had a talk with the officers here in the precinct earlier.”
John took a deep breath, before saying, “I did.”
“Was it about me?”
“It was.”
“Why?”
“I know how hard this whole thing has been for you and I wanted to keep the guys out of your face.”
“John, it’s none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
“Why do you care?”
“Why do I care? I told you that I didn’t want us to be over. I still don’t. I wasn’t able to give you what you needed, but I’m trying to work on that. I’m not just giving up on us.” John moved close to her, but she refused to back away.
“So what? You just want me to wait until you’re ready?”
“Yes, that would be preferable, but I understand if you can’t. What I do know, is that you still love me.”
“How do you know that?”
“I can tell by the look in your eyes,” he said with a soft smile.
“John, you’re right, I do love you, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ll continue to hope that your love for me makes a difference.”
“I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Why not? I’m harmless.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she smiled. “John, I just want to get past this and I can’t do it with you butting into my life. Jackson is a sweet kid. I can handle him on my own. I don’t need you to protect me.”
“That’s a little too bad, because I can’t help it. I’m not going to stop looking out for you, just because it’s inconvenient to you. You can get over it.”
“This was a waste of time. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“You’re never a bother.”
Evangeline shook her head, picked up her briefcase and walked out the door without a backward glance. She couldn’t take any more. John wasn’t listening to her and if she stayed, they would surely get into an argument. That wasn’t something she could take this close to the breakup. When she was stronger, she’d deal with John if he kept this territorial crusade up. Otherwise, she could totally avoid it. That was her hope.
---------------
John stared at the closed door for a moment before taking his seat behind the desk. The vision he’d had of his dad came back to him. He could still hear his father’s words.
If I could relive one minute of my life it wouldn’t be standing in the path of a bullet. I’d spend those precious sixty seconds with my beautiful wife and two sons. Those are the only moments that count and you need to realize that before it’s too late, Johnny.
“I do, Dad. I do.”