Visitation

"Okay, well, I was going to say I was almost envious of your husband being married to a woman as caring and thoughtful as you." Greer wasn't shy, but he really did feel this was something he shouldn't be saying.

"Thank you so much. That just made my day," she told him with a happy smile.

In spite of his deep misgivings he found himself blurting out the rest of what he'd been thinking. "You're also very attractive on top of everything else."

He saw Shannon stop smiling and turn away and knew he'd crossed the line. "I'm sorry. That was totally out of line. Shannon, I don't normally just say things without thinking. It kind of just came out."

She grabbed a napkin and dried her eyes. "I'm not upset, Weston. It's just that I wanted my husband to something like to me for so many years and he never..."

She looked over at him and said, "Maybe we should get back to the house. That is, if you're not fed up with my overly emotional reactions to everything. It's just so nice to hear anything positive. Thank you, Weston. And Potbellys is a great place for lunch. I'm glad you suggested it."

"Boys? You ready to head back?" Shannon asked making sure Colby hadn't see her crying—again.

It was after five and hours of putting things away before Shannon said to Greer, "You ready to call it a day?"

"I would be except now that I know that finishing means moving your dad in here, I'm up for a few more hours if you are. I could order some pizza and we could just keep on trucking."

"We got a ton of stuff done today and Colby's bed put together so please don't feel obligated to stay."

"I don't feel obligated," he told her. "I feel honored. And like I said, I really don't have anything else to do today so..."

"Okay, then. You're on!" she told him smiling happily.

Dustin had to go home for dinner, but Colby was thrilled to be eating pizza from Pizza Hut. He loved their pan-style crust with pepperoni and sausage, while his mom asked for mushrooms and black olives on the other half. Greer just liked pizza so he had a couple of slices of both along with some cherry diet Dr. Pepper to wash it down with.

It was eight o'clock when Shannon said, "I can't lift one more thing, Weston. I've got to take a break."

"Oh, sure. That's fine. We've been at this all day. I'll just grab my stuff and get out of your hair. I can be here again tomorrow if you'd like."

"You deserve some kind of award," she told him. "I won't refuse your offer, but again, please don't feel..."

"Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow again at 9am!"

Shannon walked outside with him and thanked him profusely for the help. "You're a lifesaver, Officer Greer," she said as they stood by his car.

"I'm just glad I could help. I guess being forced to take a little time off isn't such a bad thing." He smiled but Shannon sensed something wasn't right.

"Weston? I know it's getting late, but I get the sense there's something going on you might want to talk about. Is there?"

"Oh, I don't want to bore you with work stuff, Shannon. They should be done with the investigation in a few days and then I'll be back at work." He didn't mention the mandatory requirement to see the department's shrink to be cleared before returning to full duty.

"You won't be boring me at all. In fact, there really isn't anything to do since we have no TV, no DVD player, or... Well, there is a boombox but listening to the radio alone isn't exactly my idea of a big night. I'd actually really like some company, and if you care to talk about whatever's going on, I'll share my sad story with you."

She had this imploring look in eyes he knew he couldn't resist. He was all about helping people and even though it meant missing his visitation time at the nursing home, he was sure they'd forgive him this one time.

"I could go grab a six-pack of cold beer," he offered.

"Great! I'll take a shower while you're gone now that we found the box with the bathroom stuff in it."

"Oh, in that case, I'd smell like wet tennis shoes to you so maybe we should postpone this until..."

"Don't be silly. Come back and take a shower here. Colby's home so it's not like we're 'doing something wrong'," she said making air quotes for the doing something wrong part.

"Well, I've got my gym bag in the trunk with a spare pair of shorts and another tee-shirt and some clean socks. Okay, if you're good with that, that works for me, too."

"Okay. So...I'll see you in a few minutes then! And I promise to try and not look like such a...mess."

Just like Greer, Shannon was dirty and sweaty, and even though her long, blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, it was looking pretty ragged, too. Even so, she still looked incredible and Greer found himself saying so.

"You look just fine to me," he said. "But I do know how good a shower feels after working all day so have it at it. What kind of beer do you drink?" he asked.

"The cold kind," she told him with a sweet smile. "Get whatever you like and that'll be fine with me."

He hit a convenience store a half mile down the road and was back in less than ten minutes. He knocked but no one answered so he went back in and put the beer in the refrigerator and set his gym bag down on the floor.

Shannon clearly didn't know he was there as she came walking into the kitchen with just a towel wrapped around her. When she finally did see him, she made a loud noise which scared the hell out of Greer.

"Sorry! I didn't know you'd be back so soon," she said pulling the towel tight.

"My apologies," he said turning his back to her. "I put the beer in the fridge so whenever you want one..."

"Weston? It's okay. I just didn't know you were here. Really. I'll go put some clothes on and dry my hair while you take a shower in Colby's bathroom. He's in mine now taking a bath, by the way."

Greer turned around and did his best not to look. Everything was covered, but there was a lot of cleavage showing and the towel just barely covered up her...backside so he grabbed his bag then intentionally avoided eye contact as he went by.

He took a very quick shower then came back out to find Shannon sitting on the couch with her legs up drinking a beer.

"Is it cold?" he asked as he went to grab one.

"Oh, it's great!" she said. "I'm not much of a beer drinker but after a day like today, this tastes so good."

Greer grabbed one then joined her taking a seat on the recliner they'd put together while Shannon relaxed on the sofa. Even without any makeup, she looked amazing. Her hair was dry now and it was soft and full. Her face was clean and fresh and so...pretty. Yeah, pretty was the word that fit.

"You look great," Greer told her.

"Thank you—again," she said. "I don't know about 'great' but I do feel clean." She smiled at him then said, "You clean up pretty well yourself, Officer Greer."

He took a long pull from the bottle then said, "So do you still feel like talking?"

"I'd rather listen first, if that's okay," she replied. "You said your time off was...forced?"

He took a deep breath then spent the next couple of minutes telling her what happened.

"Oh, my goodness. So your partner is okay and this kid survived?" she said hardly able to believe what he'd just told her.

"Yes and yes," he said. "I've never even drawn my weapon before. It's not like on TV where cops pull their weapons out at least once an episode. And actually firing it is even more rare." He made a face then said, "Or would that be 'rarer'?"

Shannon laughed and said, "Don't ask me. English wasn't my best subject."

"So that's the short version of why I'm on administrative leave. Care to tell me your story now?"

"I'm tempted to ask you how all of that makes you feel, but I don't want to make you relieve it so I won't."

"Don't worry about that. I've relived it a hundred times already, and while I hated shooting someone, I know I did the right thing so it's not gonna give me PTSD or anything. I slept just fine and I'll continuing sleeping well knowing my partner is going home to his wife and kids tomorrow."

"You know you're a hero, right?" she told him.

"Hardly. Well, maybe to his family, but I really was just doing my job. Anyway, enough of that. I'd like to learn more about you and this thing you seem to want to talk about or anything else you'd like to share for that matter."

"I don't know. Now that I've thought about it, I'd probably just feel bad for bringing this up and there's nothing that can be done to change it so I'm not sure it's such a good idea."

Greer was watching her carefully. It was much more than her words. It was the way she said them and the way she looked when she spoke.

"It was more than just being alone too much, wasn't it?" he offered in a kind way.

"Is it that obvious?" she replied.

"I get the feeling you weren't just alone but also—lonely."

"Wow. I didn't even have to say it." She took a sip then said, "Do they teach you that at the academy? Mind reading?"

She smiled but he could tell she was hurting somewhere deep inside.

"Marriage is supposed to be a partnership, you know?" she began finally wanting to talk. "You're supposed to be a team. You work together and compliment one another. Not the 'say nice things' kind of compliment, but where you mesh your strengths and weaknesses and become closer and stronger."

She was having a hard time, and Greer told her she didn't have to share any of this with him. "It's okay. I'm not sure why, but I trust you, Weston, and I feel like you won't criticize me or judge me."

"Nope. I won't do either. I'm just a friend ready to listen."

"Well, in a nutshell, Dale was so...different after we got married, you know? He went from being warm and affectionate to distant and cold. He was 16 years older than me and he'd always made me feel so...safe and so cared for. I went from feeling like I'd married my best friend to living with a stranger. We had Colby our first year together and that's when things went from bad to worse. Yes, I gained quite a bit of weight, but I got it all off within a year. Even so, he just never wanted anything to do with me after that. I had Colby and that gave me something to do and someone to love, but living with the person you love and want to be with, but who no longer wants you is...is worse than being alone. It got to where I looked forward to him leaving and dreading when he came home." She looked at him then said, "That sounds terrible, doesn't it?"

"Terrible? Not at all. It sounds...tragic. I don't know anything about your husband or your marriage, but I do know you're one of the most attractive women I've ever met and the thought of not wanting to be with you is something I just can't understand."

He stopped talking and saw she was tearing up again. "Hey, are you all right?" He instinctively went to comfort her. He sat next to her and said, "It's okay. Or it's going to be okay. None of it was your fault."

She shook her head but didn't speak.

"What is it, Shannon? Can you please talk to me?"

She was fighting hard not to start crying, and he wanted to hold her more than anything but knew that wasn't okay. She took several deep breaths then tried to talk.

"I'm not so much upset about the past as I am with how needy I am now because of it." She wiped her eyes with a clean napkin then said, "That's twice today you've said something really nice to me and...and I just wanted to...drink it all in. I feel so empty inside, you know? All I ever wanted was someone to make me feel...to make me feel like you've made me feel today."

She was still very shaky as she tried to steady herself. "Is that too much to ask? Is it too much just to want the man you love to tell you you're beautiful once in a while? To maybe say he can't live without your touch every now and then? That he wants to make love to you so bad it hurts?"

Greer gently put a hand on her forearm as she took some more deep breaths. "I didn't need the big house or the expensive cars or the...stuff his money bought. He was always working and we had more money than I'd ever seen in my life, but I was so lonely. I hurt so bad and I cried so many times. And then one day, I just stopped crying. And that's when I stopped caring. I...I built my entire life around Colby and the one or two friends I only occasionally saw because we lived so far from anyone else. I was living in this huge, gorgeous home in the middle of nowhere with my wonderful son and my heartless husband." She was doing better finally and said, "This is the most terrible thing of all. I... I was almost happy when I found out he..."

"Mom! Can you bring me my clothes?" Colby called out.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll be right back. And I promise I'll stop blubbering."

She grabbed his hand as she stood up, squeezed it gently, then slowly let it go as she headed toward the other end of the house.

"Be right there, honey!" she called out.

A couple of minutes later she came back and said, "He'll be coming out to say goodnight here shortly so I can't be crying." She'd obviously splashed some water on her face and looked pretty close to normal again. "Thank you for listening, Weston."

"Hey, my pleasure," he told her. "Anytime. And Shannon? No disrespect, but your husband was well, he was a...he missed out on someone and something truly amazing."

He saw her tearing up again so he changed the subject. "Oh, you never told me if I could take Colby skating. How about we all go tomorrow? We'll just take an hour and go over to the half pipe."

He saw Shannon's eyes look right passed him, so he knew Colby was standing there.

"Are we going skateboarding tomorrow?" he asked, his eyes wide with anticipation.

Greer looked at Shannon who nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, we are. How does that sound?"

"Awesome!" he said. "Mom? Did you find my skateboard yet?"

"I know which box it's in so we can get it first thing in the morning, okay?"

"Cool! I can't wait to show you my moves, Mr. ..."

"Greer," his mom said. "And it's Officer Greer."

"Weston is fine unless you mind," he said.

"Okay. Then I guess you can call Officer Greer—Weston."

"I can't wait to see you do your thing, buddy. I used to be pretty good back in the day."

"This is gonna be so cool!" Colby said excitedly.

"Do you want to invite Dustin?" Shannon asked.

"No, not tomorrow. I just want to hang out with Weston!" he said still beaming with excitement.

"Okay, then that's exactly what we'll do!" he said. "Oh, hey. Is it okay if your mom tags along with us?"

Before Colby could answer, his mom chimed in. "I can't skateboard, but I used to be a cheerleader. Rah, rah, rah and all that. I can at least root you guys on," she said holding out her arms for her son. He gave her a hug goodnight then turned to Weston but immediately stopped.

Greer could see Colby wanted to hug him, but it obvious his father hadn't encouraged that kind of thing. He stuck his arms out and said, "Come here, big guy. Give me one those too, would you?"

Colby's face lit up as he ran straight into Greer's outstretched arms then latched on tight. "I liked hangin' out with you today, Colby."

"Me, too," he said his face still buried in Greer's neck.

"Okay, tell Weston goodnight and let's get you ready for bed," his mom said prying him off of Greer.

"Goodnight, Weston," he said with a big smile. "Will you be here in the morning?"

"Not until about nine, but yes, I'll be here."

"Promise?" he asked.

"Colby? Weston said he'd be here."

Greer knew why he was asking and said, "I promise. There's no way I'd miss a chance to go skating with my new best bud!"

"Cool!" he said again as his mom led him off to bed.

Once Colby was tucked in, he fell asleep within two minutes.

"He had a long day," Shannon said. "But he had a lot of fun, too."

"It's great that he's already made a friend and one who lives right next door."

"True," she said, "but it was you who made the difference, you know. He hung on every word you said, Weston. And the way he hugged you tonight?" Tears formed again as she said, "That just melted my heart and my heart has felt like it's a lump of coal for a very long time."

"It's how you've protected yourself from getting hurt," he told her letting her know he understood.

She blinked away the tears, smiled and said, "You're right. I had to toughen up to stay with Dale knowing I wasn't ever going to get the kind of love and nurturing I needed." She looked at him and said, "That makes me sound so weak and needy, doesn't it?"

He reached out for both of her hands then said, "No, it makes you sound human. Who doesn't need love, affection, and nurturing? Sure, we're adults and we're supposed to be strong and brave and all that. But deep down we still have the same needs we did as children. We just need different things to fulfill them."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Getting a pony or a shiny new bicycle doesn't have quite the same meaning now as did when we were Colby's age." She was still letting him hold her hands when she said, "You're the most unusual guy I think I've ever met before, Officer Greer. Were I a little closer to your age I might..."

"What? Flirt with me?" he said lowering his head to get her to look into his eyes.

It took a couple of seconds, but she finally looked back at him.

"Maybe," she said in a noncommittal kind of way. "But I'm not closer to your age or even close to it, so I guess I'll have to settle for calling you my friend." She smiled and told him, "A very good friend, by the way. I want to thank you one more time for being so helpful today, Weston."

"I wouldn't have missed it," he told her before saying, "I should probably be going."

"Oh, okay," she said as he let her hands go. "So do you know how long this investigation will take?"

"No, not really. I'm guessing just a few days. I understand they have a video of it from a street camera right in front of the store as well as my partner's statement."

Shannon didn't want to say goodbye, but after a deep sigh said, "All right, I guess I'll let you go. I'll dig Colby's skateboard out of the box it's in before you get here so we can go to the um...skate thing. What did you call it?"

"A half pipe. You'll understand why when you see it," he let her know. "Okay, so see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. I'm really looking forward to it, Weston." She let him out then smiled one more time before saying, "Good night!"

Greer had to hunt down his own skateboard when he got home. He hadn't been on it since he was maybe 14 or 15. When he found it, it brought back a lot of very pleasant memories along with recalling the way he'd broken his wrist the last time he ever rode it. He'd tried to grind a double handrail but unfortunately, the rail ground him and then grounded him after that. He was at the age where he was getting tired of skating anyway and that event convinced to put his board away and take up a more interesting hobby—girls.

Greer had had a girlfriend or at least a series of girls in his life ever since. The only real break had come during his time at the academy and maybe the first month on the job. He was attractive enough that he didn't have to do the pursuing in most cases. The girls—and later, women—came to him with great regularity. Between those good looks and his boyish charm, he was very popular with pretty much every female he met from Mrs. Garr to... That's when it hit him.

"Where did I put that envelope?" he said when it hit him. He went to his study and found it then slit open the top with a letter opener. Inside he found a certified check for $10,000 along with the card.

"Hello there, handsome! I've gone to be with Jesus, but I'm still thinking about that nice-looking young white boy who was such a good kisser. (I'm gonna miss that most of all, don't you know!) This is all the money I got left in the world and the home don't know I have it. I'm leaving it all to you because you been nicer to me than anyone in my family. Weston? You are like a son to me and your visits were the highlight of every day. I can't tell you what they meant to an old woman who was ready to give up right about the first time you walked in. You gave me somethin' to live for so I want you to have this. And I want you to do somethin' nice for yourself with. Knowin' you, you'll spend it on someone else, but that's okay, too. Long as I know it went to you, then I'll die happy. You're a good boy, Weston. Don't ever change. (If you do, I'm gon' come and beat you upside the head, you hear me?) With my love and gratitude (and one more kiss), Lucinda Garr."