Charlie Bishop and Happy Lowman were childhood sweethearts as they grew up in Bakersfield, California, but fate intervened sending Charlie with her parents to Alaska. Now, several years later, they are both in the same place again, but will fate int...
The next day, Charlie was in her office sorting through some files that David had dropped off to her earlier that morning. There was a knock and she looked to see a grinning Happy standing there with a white take out bag in his hand. He held it up and pointed to it.
"Lunch."
Charlie grinned. "You a delivery boy in your spare time now?"
Happy shook his head and walked in, shutting the door behind him. "Nope. I was waiting for mine and I heard your name. Thought I'd save the delivery guy a trip since I was coming to see you anyway." He sat down in the chair opposite her desk as she pulled a burger and fries from the bag. "I gotta say, I'm surprised. I thought you'd be one of those women that watch every calorie."
Charlie lifted a brow and snorted as she shook her head. "Nah, the greasier something is, the better I like it. I'm sure one day it will bite me in the ass, but I'll cross that bridge when it comes."
Happy copied her look as he openly appraised her. "Really? Cause you got a slammin' body, little girl."
Charlie ignored the way her heart rate picked up as he continued to look her over. She cleared her throat and shrugged. "Must be all the running I do after the bad guys." She made a point of looking him up and down. "Time hasn't hurt you any either, Hap."
He winked at her and smirked as he stole a fry from the pile in front of her. "Must be all the running I do to get away from the good guys."
She shook her head as she took a bite of her burger, her eyes closing in appreciation and a small moan coming out of her mouth. When she was able to speak again, she grinned. "Ok, the diner is officially my new favorite. Holy shit, that's good."
Happy's smirk got bigger. "How does a guy get on that list?"
Charlie choked on a fry before looking at him with wide eyes. "Are you flirting with me?"
Happy chuckled quietly and nodded. "Yeah, but I thought I had moved past flirting into being obvious." Something on her desk caught his attention and he shook his head. "You still got that thing?"
Charlie looked offended as she reached over and petted the stuffed animal. "Of course, I still have it. My best friend gave it to me."
Happy shook his head. "Babe, we were twelve."
"So?"
"So, it's ugly."
"It's a majestic unicorn. Majestic unicorns are never ugly."
Happy rolled his eyes. "It's raggedy and has stuffing coming out of it."
"Did you know that unicorns are in the bible? I'm assuming they missed the boat."
Happy gave her a look that she knew meant that he was getting annoyed. She grinned and threw a fry at him as he shook his head. "You're ridiculous."
Charlie nodded. "Agreed."
"Go out with me tonight."
Charlie choked on another fry, making Happy chuckle as she worked to recover her dignity. Finally, after taking a drink of the chocolate shake that he had also brought, she shook her head. "That's not a good idea."
Before she could blink, Happy was up and around her desk, leaning down to cage her into her office chair. "Why not?"
Charlie shook her head, trying to ignore just how close his mouth was to hers. "Because, if you haven't noticed, we seem to be on different sides these days."
Happy leaned in a little closer and grinned. "You used to like that I was a bad boy." He let his nose rub against hers and winked when he heard her sudden intake of air. "I think you still do."
Before she could answer, there was a light tap on the door before it opened to show Wayne, who was grinning at how close Happy was to Charlie. "Sorry to interrupt your... lunch, but we have a dead body."
Charlie blew out a breath of relief as Happy stood up straight and walked toward the door. "Saved by the body."
"Only a reprieve, little girl. I'll pick you up at seven. Wear something you can ride in."
Charlie growled under her breath. "You don't know where I live, Hap."
Happy chuckled as he passed Wayne. "Yes, I do."
Charlie sighed as she stood up and grabbed her gun from her desk drawer. "Not a word, Chief."
Wayne held up a hand as she stepped past him into the hallway. Neither said anything until they were in the car. Finally, Charlie glanced over at the Chief and sighed. "Spit it out before you choke on it, Chief."
"You and Happy seem to be... reconnecting."
Charlie shot him a look as he pointed for her to turn. "We're just old friends who happen to once again be in the same place. It doesn't mean anything."
Wayne shrugged. "Well, if it did start to mean something... "
Charlie nodded. "I know, but it won't."
"David and Jacob might see it differently."
Since Charlie didn't give a rat's ass how the Hales saw anything, she turned to Wayne and looked at him seriously. "You're the boss, Chief. How would you see it?"
When she stopped the car beside the coroner's van, Wayne turned in his seat and looked at her. "Some might see it as a conflict of interest on your part, seeing as how, in the past, he and his club have been persons of interest in various crimes... " He held up a hand when she started to speak. "But, as of now, neither Happy nor the Sons are wanted for anything, so as far as I'm concerned, he's just an upstanding citizen in our fair community, as are you, and you are entitled to date whoever you want."
Charlie grinned and shook her head as she opened her car door. "Yeah, that was a nice speech and all but it doesn't matter. Nothing is going to happen. Now, what have we got here?"
Wayne sighed as they exited the car and walked into the woods a little way to where various crime scene people were gathered at the base of a tree. "Park worker found the deceased here. Looks to be a drug overdose. This is the fifth one in two weeks."
When the crowd parted, Charlie was saddened to see a young girl, probably no older than fifteen or sixteen propped against the tree. She shook her head as she saw the spoon, lighter, and needle laying beside her. She crouched down in front of her for a moment before turning to the chief. "Bad batch of meth maybe?" When the chief nodded, she sighed. "Well, if the dealer knew it was bad and sold it anyway, that's murder." She stood up to let the coroner remove the body. "Looks like I need to acquaint myself with the local drug dealers."
