51: The Beginning Chapter 2 Part 1

Lindsay Gold finally made it home and was hoping to have a quiet evening and night after her first day as county sheriff. Thankfully, the day was largely uneventful. All the personnel files were reviewed, notes were taken, and a list of employees she wanted to meet was compiled. So far, it had not been a bad day, and hopefully it would stay that way.

As soon as she walked into her house, she could smell pizza. That meant her husband, Wren, made it home first and decided to make dinner. She walked into the kitchen to find him standing in an apron, with an oven mitt on each hand, facing the oven, looking as if he were ready to battle it.

“Hi, babe. How was your first day back at the department?” he asked without turning around.

“It was good. I read all the employee files. I may need your help with one of my deputies,” she answered.

Wren took the pizzas from the oven and set them on the counter to cool. He walked over to Lindsay and gave her a quick hug and kiss.

“If you need my help, this has got to be bad,” he said with a smile.

Lindsay laughed, “I don’t know if that even describes this situation. Let me start by saying that this deputy is highly trained and very good at what he does. The problem is, he is afraid of every woman on the planet over the age of twelve. He can’t look at them or talk to them face-to-face.”

Wren started laughing. He leaned on the kitchen counter to keep from falling. After a minute of uncontrollable laughing, he finally caught his breath enough to ask a question.

“You are telling me that you have a male deputy who is afraid of women?” he asked.

“Yes, I am. If you want to know, I also have a dominatrix who is my receptionist and day dispatcher,” Lindsay replied. “But I don’t need your help with her. I only need your help with him.”

“Wait…your dispatcher is a what?”

“You heard what I said, sweetie. She doesn’t wear leather to work as far as I know, and even if she does, I’m not going to ask a lot of questions,” Lindsay said.

Wren looked at her and said, “I may tease you about this, but tell me what you need me to do to help. Also, as far as your dispatcher is concerned, you are on your own. I have heard things about her. Don’t worry; they aren’t department-related.”

“How do you know about my dispatcher?” she asked with a smirk. “And when it comes to my deputy, I don’t know yet what we will need to do. He may need more therapy than is even possible. I am meeting with him tomorrow, and I will know more then.”

“I have heard things about her from others. I can promise you that you have nothing to worry about,” Wren said.

Lindsay smiled. “I know. I am going to change clothes real quick, then let’s cut those pizzas. Is Dillon home?”

“He is playing video games right now. I will let him know that supper is ready to eat,” Wren answered.

“Thank you, babe,” Lindsay said. 

While Lindsay changed clothes, Wren went to Dillon’s room to interrupt his video games. Dillon was the typical teenage boy. He loved his video games and his movies. Dillon was Wren’s stepson, but Wren never thought of him that way. From the very beginning, he had thought of Dillon as his son and treated him accordingly. Wren knocked on Dillon’s partially closed door.

“Dillon, your mom is home, and the pizza is done,” he told Dillon.

Dillon did not even look up as he said, “Cool, what kind of pizza?”

“Seriously, that is the only question you have?” asked Wren. “You don’t want to know how your mom’s day went back at the department?”

“I do, but I will ask her when I see her,” Dillon answered.

“Look, I know you are not thrilled with her going back to work at the sheriff’s department, but she is really happy about this. Can you try to show a little bit of joy about her being happy?” Wren said.

“I’ll try, but this isn’t going to end well again,” Dillon answered.

“Just be nice at dinner. OK?”

“Fine,” Dillon huffed.

By the time they reached the kitchen, Lindsay had already finished changing and was preparing to cut the pizzas.

“Ma’am, put the knife down and step away from the pizza,” Wren said as he walked up behind her.

She just smiled and followed the instructions. Wren always tried to take care of her, even when she did not need it. That was only one of the many reasons she loved him.

The three of them ate and talked about their respective days as much as possible. While Dillon could tell them everything about his day, but rarely did, Wren and Lindsay had a somewhat different relationship when it came to discussing work. Lindsay did have some restrictions when it came to open cases and victims that she could not disclose. Some cases arose due to the adult entertainment surrounding the military base, which she could discuss with her husband but not with her teenage son, for obvious reasons. On the other hand, Wren could talk about almost nothing involving his job. He could not even tell Lindsay what he did because everything was confidential or classified. This was part of what made their relationship unusual. Unusual or not, for them, it worked perfectly. If one did not volunteer something about their day, the other did not ask.

After they ate, Dillon returned to his video games, and Lindsay and Wren settled in on the couch to watch some evening television. While they were searching for something to watch, there was a knock at the door. They looked at each other as Wren got up to answer the door. When he looked out, he saw a young man wearing a sheriff’s department uniform on the porch.