Just Being Friendly

"It took Joan and my own daughter to point this out to me, the last few weeks just nailed it as far as I'm concerned. The cosmos pushed us together and told us to get on with it. The 'screaming banshee' that you've seen is the defense mechanism of all women protecting their young."

When she ran, all she had in this world was Casey, a few dollars out of the bank and a couple of suitcases. Not to mention, leaning heavily on a promise of a debt owed and made to her mother so many years ago. Barney, realizing he had to act fast and sent her here to start again even asking for the help of Lionel and Joan to do it. I wasn't even in town when they arrived and when I did get back, our first introduction was me mowing the back lawn. I suppose in her eyes I was just another pushy male.

When I looked at Hannah again her smile was growing on me. I sure liked it better than the screaming banshee mode she had perfected.

"Ok let's take this new phase in our relationship for a walk, shall we? Keep your eyes on me and no cheating. Describe the woman you're sitting across from."

I kept eye contact; I could still feel my cheeks get warm. "Please don't ask me to do this."

Hannah just smiled and then tilted her head ever so slightly, showing me she was waiting and nothing was going to happen until I did as she asked. I blinked first and pulled air into my lungs, Hannah's smile just got bigger and more...radiant.

It was easier to start from the top and work down, so I stated the obvious; Hannah was a brunette, the eyebrows matched so that meant she was a natural and not a bottle brunette. It was also rather short for a woman.

What came next was purely an unguarded moment from Hannah when she said. "I kept it short so h..." Her mouth formed an O before her hand covered it, the tears welled up in her eyes. But Hannah wanted to quickly move away from this conversation, so I helped in a way that she could understand.

"You have green eyes, something I noticed first about you and yet I couldn't afford to mention since you were then in 'screaming banshee' mode."

By now her smile was one of warmth as I continued my journey down a naked Hannah. I mentioned she wore glasses but only for reading or watching the television. Her eyebrows creased together in confusion over how I knew that since she had never worn glasses in my presence before. I pointed to her elegant nose and had noted two small patches of harder skin at the bridge of her nose, which meant she wore glasses. People who wear glasses don't often use contact lenses; it's either one or the other, rarely both.

"You have what I would call a full palm neck."

Her look of confusion returned, I offered to show her but being thoughtful of her past history, I wasn't going to do anything unless she agreed. Curiosity being what it is, she told me with a smile to "put up or shut up." My right hand was still in hers so my left hand inched towards the base of her neck and I was correct. With the base of my hand on her collar bone and my open palm on her neck my thumb just rested under her jawbone.

She had a full palm neck. Her head tiled into my hand and the tips of my fingers rubbed the shallow point beneath her skull. Her eyes closed and she sighed. Looking on that as a good sign, I continued the gentle up and down motion with my fingertips. The warmth of her cheeks spread to her neck and warmed my palm as well. Suddenly she gasped and her hand quickly came up and pulled my hand away; opening her eyes took a second longer.

My attention was still on the flush of her cheeks mixed with the biting of her lower lip. Thankfully her eyes were still soft so I think I was forgiven.

"You're a dangerous man, Mitchell Carter. A very dangerous man indeed."

I tried my boyish charm type smile, and judging by her smile, I'm almost sure I got away with that one. Her shoulders and tight stomach made me wonder aloud if she had done sports at school and continued with it onto college. Hannah helped me out with that one and nodded her head. She loved track and even now still watches track events on TV when it's on.

Hannah lowered her head slightly and raised an eyebrow and then mentioned that I had missed a bit, her smirk warmed my own cheeks. She was enjoying herself way too much at my expense here. Hannah must have had the discipline of sitting up straight instilled into her from a very early age, since it had become second nature to her as she grew older.

It just highlighted full and round breasts that had a smattering of freckles across them and sagged so they almost touched. To us guys her breasts were considered pear shaped and when her arms moved of course, they did touch. Her nipples were puffy and me staring at them seemed to make them tighten-up and stand out more as well.

Hannah's sitting position also highlighted her tight stomach. Childbirth had been kind to her and the stretch marks were minimal and rather attractive on her. She was also an outie which made me pause and stare again. Her pubic hair or at least the part I could see, was trimmed into a strip. With her legs still crossed it was more difficult to make any observations on them. Other than the times I had seen her in dresses and my memories supplied those details, Hannah sure had long legs. She also didn't adhere too much to fashion when it came to shoes, favoring flat shoes when at work and open shoes or sandals when at home.

I was brave enough to look directly into her emerald green eyes once again, the smile that awaited me when I did was a welcome relief.

"Now that wasn't difficult was it?" She giggled before lifting my hand to her lips and kissing it. For something so intimate, it was surprisingly also one of the most erotic scenes I had participated in for some time.

Hannah's voice took on a more serious tone when she said, "Mitch, the urge to jump on your bones and bump uglies with you right now is only held in check by the realization that you still need rest and of course, more time to heal."

She then leaned in and her lips met mine and a slow sensual kiss held us both to the point that neither one of us wanted it to end, when we parted her eyes were still closed. Hannah then let out a soft groan.

"Although you're not making that realization easy to implement, are you?"

Hannah stuck to her decision and within minutes we were lying in bed and she was putting out the lights.

She lay down and paused, "Well?"

When no answer was forthcoming, I heard a sigh and her hand went behind her to find mine and pull it over her body so my hand was on her stomach.

"You've just come out of the hospital after going in with a knife in you Mitch. Give your body time to heal because when we do get down to the fun bits, I don't want to bust you open again. I couldn't look Casey in the eyes if I sent you back to hospital."

Now THAT was funny and we both laughed. Hannah closed the gap to nothing between us, her skin was so warm to the touch. She also let go of my wrist and my hand settled on that real comfortable place, just under her breast.

Her breathing evened out. "My only regret is that I never met you before I met him. The only real positive I ever got from that marriage was Casey and I'm so proud of that girl."

Her head turned as best she could to see me, I leaned up so she had a better view and in return I got a smile that the moonlight coming through the window caught and seemed to magnify. My heart stopped again that night but for a different reason than a knife stuck in my body.

Hannah used her free hand to wipe away a tear before saying, "That proverb says that you have to look after us now, I give you this in return: Casey and I will do everything in our power to look after you as well and you can take that to the bank, Mitchell Carter."

I leaned down and kissed her cheek. she was having none of it and held me still so she could adjust her position so we could truly kiss. That kiss kept us both company for the rest of the night, it was perhaps the soundest I've slept in sometime. I woke to Casey running out of my bedroom and an empty space that Hannah had occupied all night next to me. It was barely two minutes later that they both appeared again with Casey leading and Hannah carrying a tray.

Hannah smiled and said, "Morning sleepy head."

We then set about eating breakfast with me in bed. Hannah leaning against the headboard and Casey, still in her pajamas, sitting at the end of the bed chomping her way through a bowl of cereal. With the general banter going back and forth, I noticed something that I could almost kick myself for not even seeing before now, smiles.

Each of us talked and had a smile, well except Casey. The cereal she was munching on meant her eyes relayed her smile, backed up by the grin that was never too far away. For so many years I've lived for this moment. The Army was my family after I left home and then something in my head made me think that wasn't enough. It was close, damn close, and for so many years I pretended that it was enough. Looking at these two women that were now in my life: this was family.

Barney sent these two frightened people here, to small town Maple Grove and were protected by a small army of its citizens, why? Because Barney felt he owed them the life he was able to live at the expense of Hannah's late father. He knew Lionel would look after them, just as he knew I would as well, because Barney asked us too. His letter opened me up to listen to the cry for help, help that these two angels so desperately needed.

"Eat up, your thoughts are miles away."

I looked at the smiling face of Hannah as I came back from my wandering mind.

"I'm just basking in the warmth of two beautiful ladies is all," I said.

Hannah smiled and went just a little pink around the ears and cheeks. Casey pretended to put two fingers into her mouth and started making chocking sounds. We both laughed at her as she got off my bed and headed for the door and to her room to get changed. I shook my head thinking to myself that this could be a real tough audience.

*******

Hannah dropped me off at the mayor's office; it was the first time I had lied to her and had solemnly promised myself that it would be the last time as well. Candy had been the Mayors secretary for as long as he had been the Mayor of our town. No one, and I do mean no one, got to see the Karl Hammond without an appointment. Only the Mayor got to overrule that statement. She watched me enter the outer office, her smile quickly diminished as I walked up to her desk with the aid of a cane.

"I need to see the mayor please Candy. Is he in?"

She automatically nodded her head before saying, "You just sit over there, sweetie, I'll see if he's finished the call he's on."

Candy then nodded to a chair next to her desk for me to sit on and then turned and knocked once before entering. She was gone all of five minutes before she came back out again, her smile still sitting perfectly on her lips.

"He'll see you in a minute sweetie, he's just finishing up."

Although I wasn't keeping an eye on the time, my best guess it was closer to five minutes. The mayor's door opened and out walked Mayor Karl Hammond, full three-piece suit. The hair was a pepper gray and with matching mustache. Karl Hammond still sat in the one-eighty to two hundred pound mark. He was the real power in Maple Grove, and the reason he still held office after all these years was because he knew when to use that power. He smiled and waved me into his office.

He ushered me in before saying, "Sit, sit. Take the weight off. I wasn't expecting you. Hell, you're still supposed to be convalescing."

I turned my head to make sure the door was actually closed before I looked at him again. Karl noticed what I did and waited, his face giving nothing away. Although this wasn't a staring competition, it really did feel like the calm before a storm. Neither of us said a word, and then someone knocked on his door and it opened. Lionel Becks came in, nodded to us both and closed the door behind him before going over to the mayor's coffee pot and helping himself to a cup before sitting down.

Somehow I wasn't surprised. Now I knew why I was sitting outside for so long, the mayor was waiting for Lionel.

We both watched him as he sat there drinking it. "What?" He said looking very confused.

My gaze turned to Karl. I smiled and said, "Even in my crippled state, Mayor, would you like a coffee?"

He laughed, it was water off a duck's back for Lionel. He just sat there drinking the mayor's coffee while the mayor got up and made us both one each.

I think as far as they were concerned, I came here so it's my party. "So, are you both going to break it down for me or am I going to have to ask questions?"

Catching the sideways glance from Lionel to Karl was easy; I was half expecting it, to be honest. The mayor leaned back in his chair. It was only then that I knew he had instigated all this.

Karl's eyes seemed to fix on a spot on the wall behind me for a moment, almost like he was trying to find a starting point. His head tilted to one side for an instant and then came the slightest of nods before he said. "When Barney got his call-up papers, mine came in the same mail. We went in together but, while he went Infantry, I was Transportation."

They both stayed in touch. The service may have parted them but they still grew up together and the bond of Maple Grove kept them in touch. They had both been in Vietnam eight months when Karl found out that Barney was caught in an ambush and was in the hospital. He managed to visit his old friend, and it was then that Barney told him of his now debt to the one man who saved his life, but at the expense of his own life.

"Emotionally, it nearly killed Barney that his friend sacrificed his own life for him. It was his single-mindedness that got him well enough to travel back with the casket so his friend could be buried in his home town."

Both the mayor and Lionel looked at each other just then, moral support perhaps.

"Barney was a changed man when he came back to Nam; he told me that his life was on loan. A man with his own family to go back to had committed the ultimate act and pushed him to safety and in doing so, placing himself in harm's way."

Karl Hammond understood his friends reasoning. Karl is one of the gentlest of men I know of and here he was willing to do whatever he could to help Barney with this debt he felt he owed to another.

Karl placed his coffee cup on his desk and leaned back on his chair before saying. "I would ask him about his debt from time to time, eventually even that question was pushed further back in our conversations."

Then, out of the blue Barney had phoned Karl to tell him that he now had a chance to wipe his debt. He had only been living with his son for a couple of months and by pure chance he had given an interview to the local paper. He hadn't thought anymore about it until he received a phone call off the back of that interview. He explained that he was helping the daughter of his friend. He had met her a couple of times already and was laying the groundwork to get her and her daughter away from her violent husband.

A great sadness swept across the face of Karl Hammond when he said. "Then it all went to shit so fast that neither of us could keep up with it."

He leaned over to his desk to take hold of his coffee, lifted it to his lips and drank what was left.

Barney had just gotten off the phone with Karl to let him know the details of the arrival of Hannah and Casey. That was the last conversation Karl ever had with his friend; Barney was involved in a car accident that killed him. It also left Hannah and Casey in mid-air so to speak. Karl instantly took over the mantle of protector and with the aid of Lionel who elicited the help of fellow officers from another county, intercepted Hannah's car and escorted both to Karl's hunting cabin until Karl and Lionel could find out if Barney's accident was indeed an accident.

Karl simply watched me; I thought for a moment that he was going to wait until I asked him. As my lips parted to ask that very question, he continued. "The truth is, Mitch, we simply don't know. The report of Barney's accident came back inconclusive."

Now that was a word I was becoming familiar with. That same word sat on the file belonging to Hannah's mother and her husband.

I held Karl's gaze as I said. "Did you tell his boys of your suspicions?"

Both men vigorously shook their collective heads and the breath I held within me slipped out in the form of a grateful sigh. So, to all of us at the funeral, Barney's accident was just that. A new level of respect for both Karl Hammond and Lionel came to me at that moment. Leave Barney's family thinking it was an accident rather than spending years wondering, what if. That's pain that neither son nor family member should shoulder, Barney was now in the arms of his wife.

We all seemed to be in our own thoughts for a moment, eventually I asked the question that could well destroy my relationship with these two men.

"When I got back you sent me to the seminar, why?"

Karl leaned back in his chair again, this time to pull open a draw his side of his desk. An office diary came to rest on the desk and he thumbed through some pages. Then with a slight nod almost to himself that he had found the right page, he turned it to face me.

Amongst several notes for that day sat a reminder to talk to me about going to the seminar rather than sending someone else. Even underlining a couple of words, school shootings.

"We didn't get Hannah and her daughter into Barney's old house until the day after you left. When you phoned and told me you needed to extend your time there, it gave us time to get them fully in and comfortable with their surroundings."

Well that answered that question, only one more remained.

"Why didn't you tell me everything when I got back? I even made a point of coming to see you the same day I got back."

Lionel watched me for a moment and then looked towards Karl. Some subliminal acknowledgment passed between them and seemed to be confirmed when Karl nodded to Lionel and his hand once again went into the same open drawer that the office diary came out of. A file rested against the diary, Hannah's ex's name printed across it.

I sat for the next twenty minutes and read the life history of her ex. Smart but a clear sociopath. He was pulled over for a traffic violation the day after Barney's death. It was only then that the outstanding warrant for his arrest for assaulting his wife and jumping bail slowed his progress in killing Hannah and Casey. It was only when I put it back on the desk that Karl spoke again.

"Lionel wanted to tell you everything, I overruled him. Mitch I've known and respected you from the day Lionel vouched for you and you became a deputy. Hell, my wife and I were first to endorse your ticket for sheriff. But look at the facts, you and he are so closely matched that if or indeed when confrontation came, you needed to be on your A game. And even with our best efforts to hide Hannah and Casey here, he still found them."

I sure wasn't happy. My understanding why Karl kept me in the dark was self-evident. If I had known Hannah's ex was involved in the death of Barney my anger may have clouded my judgment. As it was, it was my ignorance of those facts that only just got me ahead of him in a life or death confrontation.

The deciding factor, of course, was the fact that my sidearm was in my gun safe down in the basement. In a sense I suppose that was my own fault, I had become so used to backwater Maple Grove. Nothing happens here so why keep my sidearm close by. My decision and one that almost cost me my own life. Pointing fingers at others on the choices I had made was pointless.