Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(42)

“It looks like it’s going to take a long time, but it’s not,” Caley said. “Instead of dropping me off with the other kids, I can get out at the crosswalk. I have band first period and it’s a shorter walk if I get dropped off there.”

Doing as she asked, she quickly bailed out of the van.

I watched as she got out so quickly that she nearly tumbled over her own two feet as she swung her backpack over her shoulders.

The next thing I had to conquer was the drop-off line.

“Ready?” I called back to the kids.

“Yes!” all of them said, tones bored and even.

I snorted and reached back, closing the video monitor.

“Aww, come on! That was the best part!”

Snickering at the twin’s comment, I slowly crept forward.

“Get out already,” I urged the young girl that was about Caley’s age getting out and taking her sweet ass time.

“What the absolute fuck?” the eight-year-old from the back seat said. “This is a goddamn drop-off zone. Not a kiss your fucking kid zone.”

I blinked, then looked into the rearview mirror.

“Umm, Beanie-Weanie. Let’s not call them fucking kids, okay?”

“Why?” Beal, the eight-year-old, asked. “Mom and Dad say it all the time.”

“Well,” I hesitated. “What if the teachers heard you?”

“The teachers can kiss my ass,” Beal said.

I would not laugh. I would not laugh.

I loved these kids.

I hadn’t known them for long, but seriously, they were the greatest.

The teachers could kiss my ass. Jesus Christ, it was inappropriate to laugh!

Before I could say another word, they were climbing out of their seats and bolting out the door before I could say goodbye.

“Have a good day,” the teacher who’d opened their door said.

I waved and crept the minivan back into traffic, vowing to myself that if I ever had kids, they’d be riding the freakin’ bus.

The drop-off/pickup thing was extremely sucky.

The only highlight of my morning was seeing Dax again.

He didn’t see me drive by since I was in the minivan, but I did slow down long enough to roll the window all the way down and whistle at him.

His head whipped around, and an annoyed look crossed his face until he realized who’d done it.

Cracking up at Dax’s wicked grin, I waved and continued back to the office.

Once there, I told Jenny that she could fire me if she wanted. And that there was no way in hell I would ever go to another drop-off for the rest of my life.

***

Dax and I met at a restaurant when he got off work later that evening.

He was grinning as soon as he walked through the door.

“What’s that look for?” I asked curiously as he made his way inside.

“That look is because I’m happy to see you,” he told me. “I like the hat.”

The hat I was wearing today was a cowboy hat. Jenny and Clancy’s daughter, Caley, had given it to me.

“They got it at Disney World,” I told him. “She said she didn’t wear it anymore, then put it on my head. It’s a wee bit tight but other than that I think it’s adorable.”

He took the seat across from me and gestured at my plate.

“Did you eat without me?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, just got here, actually. My dad happened to be here when I got here, so I sat down with him and waited until he was finished eating. He left about ten minutes ago, but they haven’t been by to pick up the trash.”

He stood up and offered me his hand. “Let’s go to a booth then. They’re more comfortable, and there’s a wall to my back.”

“My dad was exactly like that, too,” I told him. “But that was the only table available. So he was forced to take it.”

It was as we were getting seated and comfortable that I happened to look over and see Dax’s ex-girlfriend two tables over eating pizza with a fork.

“Ex-girlfriend, two o’clock,” I murmured, keeping my eyes averted.

Dax didn’t even pretend to see the move for what it was.

They didn’t look the least bit comfortable in the joint.

The restaurant we were at served bar food and beer. They didn’t even have a wine list or hard liquor.

And Rachelle and her husband were definitely wine drinkers. I had a friend that frequented wineries, and it had come up in conversation that it was rare that Rachelle and her husband didn’t show up every Friday night.

“Great,” Dax supplied. “This is just perfect. Get off a long ass shift, sweaty as hell, wanting to see my girl, and then I have to see her? That’s just cruel and unusual punishment.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I saw her today at the precinct. Also saw her when she walked across the crosswalk to take her nephew to school. That’s why I scowled at you at first when you’d whistled. I thought it was her,” he said.

I made a gagging sound.

“When was the last time you saw her before that?” I asked.

“I think I saw her at the grocery store last week,” he answered. “But that was only in passing. She came through the doors as I was exiting them. She gave me a smile, and I ignored it and walked to my bike.”