“Serg…I mean Jim! What are you doing here?”
 

“You can ask me when you get in the car; you’ll catch your death out in this.” He gestured to the rain.

Without further delay, she ran the short distance to the car, opening the door she practically leapt in and slammed the door shut. Once inside she saw all the cop-related, she felt a sense of pride that she knew that from just looking at it.  

“Here, I think you need this more than me right now.” He offered her a handkerchief.

“Thank you!” She smiled, out of the corner of her eye; she could see him rub his glasses with his tie. Without his glasses on Rachel was surprised at how young he looked. Dabbing her face and neck with the handkerchief, she could smell a hint of cologne or aftershave lingering on the fabric. The smell comforted her; it was worlds better than the smell of the rain and the concrete. Heck, she admitted to herself, if it had been a clear sunny day, it would have been nice. “You are a life saver.”

“It’s all part of the job.” He said with a wink and a half smile.

 She dabbed her neck one more time trying to repress the feeling the wink caused.

“Here you go, thank you.” She handed it back to him, for a brief second their fingers brushed against each other. She smiled.

“You’re welcome.” He tucked it into his breast pocket. “In answer to your earlier question, I was feeling cooped up in the office, I figured I would patrol the neighborhood. Some muggings have been reported in the area.”

She put a hand to her throat, “That’s terrifying, my roommate and I had not heard about this,” she paused. “At least she had not mentioned anything if she had.” Rachel could only shake her head.

She watched as he reached into this jacket and pulled out a small white card. “If anything ever happens, if you think someone is following you, anything you call me on this number and I will come.” He handed it to her; she put the card in her purse.

She gently put her hand over his, “Thank you, I hope I won’t need too.” Then she put her purse back down beside her feet.

“I overslept this morning and a taxi wouldn’t stop for me so I was walking to the office.” It had dawned on her months ago, that he was so easy to talk too. Now, it still was so. It made her happy. “I hoped I would be able to hail one somewhere between here and there.”

He nodded. “I see, so you would be stuck being soaked at the DA’s office just so you could get there.” A smile played on his lips.

She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Believe it or not, I have a change of clothes. This seems to be turning into being more of a job than an internship with all the time I spend there.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be known as the cop that makes you late. I better get you over there.”

“You could just drive me over to the quickie mart and I could call for a taxi.” She almost instantly regretted saying that, she wouldn’t mind at all if the two of them could spend more time together. Right after thinking that however, she mentally kicked herself. What was she thinking, this is Sergeant Gordon, he was years older and she kicked herself even more since she knew he was married.