Hit and Run

"It's okay. You're going home," he told her as he stroked the back of her head.

"My car. It's at work," she said, her voice choked with emotion.

"You can ride with me, honey," Heather offered as she moved closer and looked at Jeff.

"Oh. Sorry. Jeff? This is my friend. From work. Heather. Heather, this is...."

"Jeff, right?" she said, a big smile on her rather round face.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you," he told her as she extended a hand.

Jeff shook it and thanked her for being there.

"Hey, she's my friend, too," Heather said as she shifted her gaze to Suzanne.

Heather whispered, one hand covering one side of her mouth, but Jeff heard her say, "You weren't kidding! He is...smoking hot!"

Too emotionally rattled to feel anything but relief, Suzanne just smiled and thanked her friend for being there.

"Anytime, sweetie. Anytime."

She then looked at Jeff, smiled at him and said, "You, too, handsome."

She also winked at him which almost made Jeff laugh. Instead, he only thanked her then asked if he could do anything else.

Suzanne thanked him, too, then told him 'no' as they all stood up.

Jeff put his hands on her upper arms then said, "I really think you should have someone with you for awhile."

She looked at Jeff then asked almost demurely, "You wouldn't mind, would you? I mean, not that you were referring to yourself."

"No. Of course I wouldn't mind. I'd be happy to. And yes, I was referring to myself."

"That'd be nice, but you don't have to do that," Suzanne told him as she shook her head. "I'll be fine."

"Sweetie? I agree with Jeff. I think it'd be better if you had some company," Heather insisted. "I'd volunteer, but I still have to get back to work. You, however, have what's left of the rest of the day off. Yes, I called our boss, and no, he's not mad, and no, you are not fired."

Suzanne smiled but still couldn't laugh just as the assistant DA popped her head in and said, "Ms. Odd? You're free to go."

"Thank the Lord!" Heather said rather loudly before quietly saying, "No thanks to you...bitch."

She'd also seen the attractive lawyer ogling her new friend's 'boyfriend' and already hated her, and that made Suzanne laugh as she moved to give Heather a hug.

"I think you owe someone else a hug, too," Heather said, nodding at Jeff.

"I'm...a mess. I'm all sweat...." he started to say just as Suzanne threw her arms around him again.

"A don't suppose a little perspiration on this nasty jumpsuit will make it any worse for wear," she said as she held him tight.

Jeff held her back, and just before letting go, he said, "It's amazing to me how you can look just as beautiful in this as you do in a dress."

"Beautiful. Listen to you," Suzanne said, as he let go of her, her head looking down at the floor as she said it.

"You're more than welcome to ride with us, too, Jeff," Heather told him, that 'gooey' look on her face again.

"I kind of...stink," he replied as he pulled the shirt he was wearing away from his skin.

"I don't think either of us will mind, right, sweetie?" she said to Suzanne without taking her eyes off of the handsome, younger man whose body was as 'hunky' as his face which was...freaking gorgeous!

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Suzanne told them both after a female police officer asked her to come with her so she could change back into her clothes.

"We'll be right here," Heather promised. "Both of us."

Heather's attorney friend (via her husband) came back from signing some paperwork and said, "It looks like that went rather well. If you don't need me, I really do need to get back to the office."

Heather thanked him profusely then Jeff shook his hand before the older man departed.

"Well, here we are," Heather said once it was just the two of them.

"Indeed," Jeff replied, remembering to smile.

"I think my friend may have a little crush on you, so...be nice, okay?"

Heather was a 'buttinsky' and knew it. But she'd been one all her life and had long ago made peace with it and gave no thought to her comment or the look on Jeff's face.

"Really," Jeff replied, his head tilted slightly to one side.

"Listen. I know she's...a little older than you...but she's been through a lot. If you could, you know, maybe be...friendly...to her it would be very appreciated, I'm sure."

Jeff was only 27 years old, but he was already a very good judge of character and knew that Heather was a busybody, and that meant that anything he said to her would be repeated to Suzanne. So he kept his feelings about the beautiful, older woman who'd nearly run him over the day before to himself.

"I'll do my best," he told before the barrage of questions began.

By the time Suzanne showed back up wearing her own clothes, Jeff was at wit's ends.

"Suzanne!" he said, standing back up out of relief as much as a sense of being genuinely glad to see her.

"I feel bad making you wait and take so much time out of your day," she told him. "Again."

"Neither one of those things is true," Jeff assured her with a warm smile just as Heather, who was right behind him, was pointing at the back of his head and mouthing, "he is SO hot!"

Jeff sensed something was going on, but as he casually turned around, all he saw was that 'look' on Heather's face.

"What? I was just...pointing to my watch. Lordy, look at the time!" Heather said as she began shooing them toward the door.

Outside, Heather finally said 'goodbye' and left her new friend with her new...friend...as she went to get her car.

"I should probably apologize for Heather's...antics," Suzanne told Jeff.

"Oh? What antics would those be?" he asked as though he had no idea what she was talking about.

"The way she...when she...."

Jeff raised an eyebrow as he watched the beautiful, older woman search for words.

"She seems to have this...this...notion...that you and I should...um, I think she thinks...."

Now totally at a loss for words, Jeff finally chimed in to help.

"That we should be dating?" he suggested as he raised the other eyebrow to make his question seem like a genuine question rather than a statement.

"Yes! Isn't that crazy! I have no idea where she got the idea from. I mean, we don't even know one another, and I'm, you know, like...a million years older than you."

"A million, huh? I wouldn't have guessed more than...."

He paused for dramatic effect then said very seriously as he gave her a 'look over' of his own before saying, "A thousand. Two thousand tops."

Suzanne's eyes opened wide as she feigned disbelief before saying, "Um...thank you?"

Jeff laughed which made his handsome face look even more attractive, causing Suzanne to laugh, too.

"Even if it's only a thousand...or two...it's still pretty ridiculous," she said even as her heart began beating faster.

"Is it?" Jeff asked, this time in a much more serious way.

"What?" Suzanne said, caught off guard by his question.

"Is it really all that ridiculous? Especially if it's just a matter of a few years?"

"I...I'm not following," she told him as her eyes darted between his.

"If you were seeing someone else or maybe if you just didn't care for...my antics," he began, smiling as he did. "Then I could see you believing that it really is ridiculous. But if it's just about...time on planet...maybe it's not so ridiculous."

"Time on planet?" Suzanne asked, even though she knew what he meant.

"Yes. The number of years one has existed here. On earth. Planet Earth."

"Right," she replied nervously and with an equally nervous laugh.

"So is it?" Jeff asked, his head tilted a bit, indicating he was waiting for an answer.

"Is it...what?"

"Time on planet. Years. You know--age."

"I...it...well, wouldn't you have to also, you know, be interested...to want to...to even do that?"

"Do that? As in...go out with you?"

Those words made Suzanne's skin turn to goose bumps.

"Um...yes. You can't possibly want to. Do that."

"I can't?" Jeff said, now enjoy the word play game even more.

"Wait. Are you just teasing?" she asked, now believing that was what was really going on.

"No. I will admit to enjoying myself as you try and wrap your brain around me waiting to go out with you, but no, I am definitely not teasing. About us going out."

"You...you want to...go out. With...me," she said, making it more of a statement than a question.

Unable to resist the desire to 'circle back', he smiled then asked her, "Why? Is that really so...ridiculous?"

She broke eye contact immediately and looked down at his feet for a moment before looking back up at him and asking, "So...do you? Want to...go out with me?"

This time it was definitely a question, and somehow Jeff managed not to laugh.

He moved a little closer then quietly said, "I do. I'd very much like to go out with you."

Now seriously rattled Suzanne blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"But you know I...I have a child."

Jeff moved even closer as he reached out his hands for hers. There was a moment of hesitation before Suzanne's moved, but when they did, he took her fingers in his.

"I do. I met him, remember? And I really like him. Todd is great. And so is his mom."

He smiled then said, "Who is quite beautiful, by the way."

Before she could respond, he put his serious face back on and said, "Even if she is a couple of thousand years older than me."

Jeff laughed, and Suzanne knew she should do the same, but something inside wouldn't let her. She just stared up into his amazing eyes, unable to speak.

"Let me take you to dinner this Friday. Both of you."

When several more seconds passed in silence, Jeff let go of her hands and put his behind the back of her upper arms and gently ran them up and down.

"This is where the girl is supposed to tell the boy 'yes' or 'no'," he informed her.

"I...are you...is this...are you actually asking me out?" was all she could say as though he hadn't already done that more than once.

Rather than beat the 'is this ridiculous' horse one more time he just said, "Yes."

"I...don't understand," she said as her eyes continued moving between his.

"Then let me be more direct. You really are beautiful, Suzanne. And the truth is I can't remember ever meeting anyone as charming and likable as you. So if Todd is a big concern, and I think he should be, don't worry. I honestly like him, too."

He ran the back of the fingers of his right hand along her cheek then said, "Does that help you understand?"

"A little," she told him, her mind little more than a swirl of confusing emotions.

"What more can I say to convince you?" Jeff asked as he slowly moved his hand away.

"Why me?" she finally asked. "You are so good looking it isn't funny. And joking or teasing aside, I really am a lot older than you."

"Now I'm confused," he told her. "If you find me attractive and enjoy my company, why wouldn't you want to at least see whether or not we have something? It might even be something...special."

He took her hands again then told her, "I'm not looking for a...hook up...in case you were wondering. Not to sound too serious here, I'm kind of looking for something longterm, and you're the first woman I've felt that way about. I'm really not trying to scare you off, but I think the age difference is where you're stuck, so I'm doing my best to let you know why I want to get to know you, Suzanne. If that's not enough, I'll respect your wishes and leave you alone, but I really do like you, and I was hoping we could...."

His words were cut off when Suzanne suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him in mid-sentence. Jeff tried to kiss her back, but before he could she pulled away and started apologizing, her eyes open wide in disbelief which quickly turned to horror.

"I'm so sorry! I...I've never done anything like before in my life! I was just so caught up in the moment that I...."

Jeff then took her face in his hands and kissed her into silence just as she'd done to him. But unlike her short kiss, this one lasted for several seconds during which Suzanne put her hands on his chest as he put his in the small of her back and pulled her close.

When it ended, Suzanne managed to say one word.

"Okay."

"Yeah?" Jeff asked as he kind of leaned to the side to get her to look at him. "So you'll go out with me?"

"Yes," she told him even as her rational brain tried to warn her against it.

"Great! That's...great!" he told her, the happiness in his voice coming through loudly and clearly. "I'll uh, I'll call you. Later tonight, okay?"

"Okay," she said again as her head continued to spin.

"I'm sorry all of this happened," Jeff told her as he nodded toward the police precinct.

The spinning slowed, and somehow Suzanne found her voice.

"I'm not," she told him, now wondering if all this was some kind of cosmic serendipity. "I mean, if...if it hadn't, then you and I wouldn't have talked, and you wouldn't have...."

"Asked you out?"

She finally smiled before saying, "Yes."

"Well, from that perspective, I'm kinda glad it did, too."

Neither of them had any idea that Heather had pulled up to the curb and seen nearly all of the interaction between them--including the second kiss. Until she tapped on her horn.

Suzanne flinched so hard it made Jeff laugh.

"Not funny!" Suzanne said before laughing herself.

"I believe you're going to have a lot to listen to on the ride home," he told her as he walked her to the car. "You may even 'have some 'splaining' to do."

He could tell that in spite of her being older than him that she didn't understand the reference to Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy, so he let go even though it should be her and not him who 'got it'.

"You're not coming with us?" Suzanne asked rather hopefully.

"No. No way!" Jeff told her in a way she understood and that made her laugh again.

"Gee, thanks," she told him playfully, as he opened the front passenger door.

"For what?" Heather called out to them.

"Oh. Nothing!" Suzanne said as she looked at Jeff wondering how she heard that.

He waited for her to get in then promised to call before closing the door.

"Jeff?" Suzanne said as he looked through the window.

Heather hit the down button and lowered it for her friend.

"Thank you. For everything."

"I'm just glad all of this is behind us."

The word 'us' sent a flash of warmth through her body as she said very sweetly, "Me, too."

"Bye, Heather!" Jeff said, standing up before giving the other woman a chance to pepper him with questions.

"Bye, handsome!" she called back before putting the car in gear.

The window was still down as Heather pulled into traffic, and the only thing Jeff heard as she drove away was, "Tell me EVERY WORD he said!"

The younger man chuckled as he imagined what Suzanne was going through then glanced down at his watch.

"Another five miles couldn't hurt," he told himself before hitting the stopwatch function and heading toward his place feeling better than he had in a very long time.

Suzanne was so relieved not to be facing a trial and jail time that the rapid-fire series of questions Heather threw at her didn't bother her in the least. She did her best to answer them but soon realized she didn't know how she really felt. The kiss, or rather both of them, had been nice. Pleasant even. But now that the crisis had passed, she wasn't sure to make of what had just happened.

"So you kissed him then he kissed you and after that he asked you out," Heather summarized after having asked the same question in some slightly different way several times.

"Um...yes."

"So...when are the two of you going on your date?"

"I...I'm not sure," Suzanne told her as she wondered how she could have let herself get into this kind of a predicament.

"What do you mean you're not sure? He clearly likes you, he told you you're beautiful, he kissed you for crying out loud, and he asked you out. Oh. And he's freaking gorgeous! How can you not be sure?"

Suzanne understood that Heather's disappointment was projection on her part. The thought of finally having the chance to be with Danny again was in her grasp even if only via proxy. She probably even believed what she was saying, but Suzanne wasn't sure she believed it, and there were several very good reasons not to.

"Yes, but I barely know him, I have no idea what he does for a living, I have a son to worry about, and did you not notice how young he is?"

Heather used her free hand to reach over and touch Suzanne's lower left arm.

"Did you not notice how utterly handsome he is?"

"He is a very attractive man," Suzanne admitted as her brain began arguing with itself again.

"It's just a date, hon. He's not proposing," Heather pointed out.

Suzanne looked over at her newest friend then asked, "You really think I should?"

The look she got in return was enough to make her laugh.

"So that's a 'yes', I take it."

"Let me just say that if you don't go out with him I may never forgive you!" Heather told her before laughing a little herself.

"It is just a date."

"See! That's the spirit!" Heather said, as she grabbed her friend's hand just as they got to the office.

"Are you sure it's okay for me take off?" Suzanne asked as Heather pulled in behind her car.

"Yes. Absolutely."

Now it was Suzanne who reached over to touch her girlfriend's arm.

"I can't thank you enough. For being there, for arranging an attorney, and...for being my friend."

Heather's faced beamed as she leaned over to give Suzanne a hug.

"I'm just glad I could help."

"I don't know how to repay you," Suzanne told her sincerely.

"Go on your date and we'll call it even. If you tell me everything!" Heather bubbled before they both laughed and hugged one more time.

"Okay. I will," Suzanne said, mostly to convince herself that she would, and by the time she got home she found herself feeling much better about this first date. Her first and only date since the divorce.

By the time she got to home it was almost time to go get Todd, and as her thoughts shifted to her son her short-lived happiness faded as she realized she'd only thought about herself since dropping him off that morning. Yes, her problems were significantly bigger than her son's, but for a boy his age his problems were just as real as his mom's. As she drove to go get him she could only hope that he'd had a better second day at his new school.

Her son's second day not only wasn't better, another boy had teased him about his name, too. Todd not only didn't want to talk about it, she could tell that he was on the verge of crying, and when she saw that, her heart broke.

Against her better judgment Suzanne said, "Guess who I saw today?"

"Who?" her son asked, the expression on his face changing from sad to hopeful.

"Jeff."

"You did?"

"I did. And he told me he thinks you're pretty great."

Todd smiled so big his mom nearly teared up but held it together.

"I thought you said we wouldn't see him again."

Caught in a trap of her own making, his mom hoped she wasn't digging an even deeper hole.

"He came to the police station. To talk about when I, you know...."

"Ran into him?" the now-excited boy asked.

"Well, okay. Yes. When I...bumped into him."

"Wait. Did you get in trouble?"

"No. They just wanted to ask me some questions about what happened."

"Oh," her son replied before asking, "how did they find out?"

"Um, well, someone who saw what happened thought I hit...bumped into him...and left."

"Is that bad?"

"Yes. That's called 'hit and run' and it's very serious. But I didn't run."

"So Jeff told them you helped him, right?" the little 'grownup' said more than asked.

"Yes. Yes, he did. He was very helpful," his mother said, without saying a word about having been arrested and having to sit in a jail cell for a couple of hours.