chapter 111

word count: 1429

it didn’t take the gil machine long to endear himself to his new found friend chrissy’s ‘heart shaped box’,, and hank couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head, as he watched the two of them groping their way out of the bar together.. 

“what cha laughing at?” stephanie asked as she followed hanks gaze and caught up with it just about the time the backsides of her friend chrissy and gil disappeared through the door of the bar and it swung closed behind them.. 

“lawdy ,, lawdy!!” snickered hank.. “young people these days!!”

“i know,, isn’t it crazy??” stephanie giggled back at him..

“and that chrissy,, she has a heck of a batting average!!!”

“the self-proclaimed ‘gil machine’ is somewhat of a heavy hitter himself!!” hank exclaimed,, as the two of them joined in a round of uproarious laughter.. 

boy it felt good to laugh.. all the stress of the last few days seemed to disseminate like a low lying fog as hank continued chatting stephanie up,  ‘old school style’.. 

they speculated on the events of the evening that were about to unfold between gil and chrissy.. they shared their respective stories concerning the loss of their respective spouses. they commiserated over feeling felt pushed out of their children’s lives by the sheer passage of time and evolving families..  they had so much in common it was unreal.. by the time hank thought about checking his watch,, it was nearly time for last call.. 

“oh my god, steph, it’s nearly 2:30!! where has the night gone??”

“no way!! she stated in sheer disbelief and checked her own watch.. 

“it sure is!! damn,, and i was just getting warmed up!!”

“i know,, this is crazy!!” hank responded.. he was definitely not ready for this evening to end either.. 

“i’m gonna end up having to get a cab outta here,, as the ‘gil machine’ and his new found friend are probably still going at it hot and heavy in the back seat of the car i arrived in,, any chance you wanna join me somewhere for a cup of coffee before we call it a night?? i mean,, only if you want to,, no pressure.” hank inquired in a somewhat somber tone,,  as his reluctance to really put himself out there and very possibly face rejection set in.. 

stephanie laid her knowing hand gingerly over his,, “i thought you’d never ask!!”  she answered as the two of them gazed into each other’s eyes for the first time the whole evening.. it just lasted a second,, as they both, as if on cue, diverted their eyes and stephanie quickly retracted her touch.. 

they were acting  like two school kids who had just been caught fooling around.. had the lighting in the bar not been so dim,, it would have been evident that both of them were blushing.. 

“uh hum” hank cleared his throat loudly as he waved down the bartender..

“i’d like to settle up, and have you call me a cab if you would.” hank said as he withdrew his wallet..

“i can’t let you do that!” stephanie interjected politely as she reached for her hand bag.. 

“young lady,”  hank started as he laid his hand over hers making it impossible for her to open her hand bag,, “i am now,, and always have been a gentleman.. i would take great pleasure in your allowing me this opportunity to prove it.”

stephanie just smiled up at him.. true gallantry was almost nonexistent in her world,, and she allowed herself this moment to just savor it.. 

‘wow!’ she thought to herself as she looked on as hank settled up the bill,, and turned back to her..

“if you’ll excuse me,," hank said cordially, "i have to let mick know what’s going on.. he may have been too engrossed in his female companion to notice gil left with the car.. just gimme a second..”

“i’ll be right here!” stephanie assured him as she watched him weave his way through the crowd searching in the dim light for his compadre..

hank finally found mick in a corner booth,, leaning in close,, clearly trying to work his magic on the cute young read head that he had wandered off with earlier in the evening.. 

“hey there!!” hank bellowed over the clamber of the dj and  the raucous crowd on the nearby dance floor. 

‘funny,’ he thought to himself,  he hadn’t even noticed there was a dj or a dance floor till just now..

mick excused himself and jumped up from the cozy corner booth,, meeting hank a few steps away from the table.. 

“what’s up buddy?”

“i just wanted to make sure you knew gil took off with that blonde number,, so it looks like we are on our own getting out of this place.”

“yeah,, i kinda figured that was the case when buzz called and told me he couldn’t get a hold of gil’s cell.. i was pretty sure that meant the ol’ gil machine was in motion!” mick chuckled and nudged hank knowingly..

“buzz called?” hank asked as he withdrew his cell to see if he had a missed call or a message from buzz himself..

“yeah,, he said my mom explained the mix up to him and he was just calling to confirm. he’s a great guy, that buzz,, he saw  to it that mom took a sleeping pill and stayed with her till he was sure she was resting comfortably..”

noticing that he had no voicemail’s and no missed calls,, hank was a bit puzzled by the fact that buzz would try gil,, and then go directly to mick,, but under the circumstances he could pretty much understand.. after all,, he had probably just wanted to make sure mick knew all was well with his mother in his absence.. well,, that and the fact that he and buzz were not exactly on the best of terms right now….

“ok,” hank shouted above the crowd,  “so i called myself a cab,, and me and stephanie are gonna drop in somewhere and have a cup of coffee before i see her home.”

“score!!” exclaimed mick,, as he did an excellent job of feigning delight at hanks prospect at getting lucky tonight.. 

“way to go bud!!”

“it’s not like that!!” hank exclaimed,, clearly wanting to set the record straight.. 

“it’s only coffee..”

“if you say so!” said mick as he shot hank a look that said, ‘yeah right!’

“no really!!" hank stated, with a negative shake of his head.. 

“so, anyways,  i gotta go,, i had the bartender call me a cab.. you got this right?? i mean after all you have been through today, you’re gonna be alright on your own?”

“oh yeah,, linda here has been talking me through it.. i’m ok.. just wanna get home before my mom wakes up.. i need to be there for her..”

“sounds like a plan.” hank stated as he extended his hand to mick.. a quick firm handshake,, a nod to the lady,, and he was off.. 

stephanie jumped to her feet as she saw hank approaching the bar.. 

“our cab is waiting.”

“perfect!” hank replied as he quickly forgot all about buzz, and mick, and gil, and took stephanie by the arm  genteelly guiding her through the crowd and out the front door to their waiting cab.. 

“mickey’s sound ok to you??” hank asked as they settled into the rear seat of the cab, and he clicked off his cell phone to be sure nothing would pop up and divert his attentions from the ambiance of the evening.. 

“perfect!” stephanie mimicked in affirmation..

“‘then mickey’s it is!! driver?? you got that??”

“got cha!” the driver replied as he lowered the arm on the meter,, hit the gas,, and the cab launched away from the curb.. 

***

mrs. dunn paced the kitchen floor.. it was nearly 3am,, and still no buzz.. she wasn’t sure if she should be worried or perturbed.. after all,, he was a grown man,, and a legendary police detective,, she was quite sure he could handle himself out there,, but why couldn’t he at least call and let her know he was spending the evening out?? he had to have known she would be a bundle of nerves..

‘well,’ she consoled herself as she turned off the kitchen light and made her way toward her bedroom, ‘he is either somewhere stinking drunk,, or with that disgusting woman..’

she chuckled quietly to herself as she realized that he evidently knew he would have hell to pay either way,, and that rough, tough, detective was more than likely just afraid to call home,, afraid to call her!!

“men,"“ she said aloud as she slipped her cozy flannel nightgown over her tightly coiled gray hair, “they just never stop acting like naughty little boys!”