Chapter 6 - First Day of School

TUESDAY

Jon awoke early on Tuesday morning. He stared groggily at the ceiling for a moment, regarding the ceiling fan whirring quietly above, trying to remember where he was. Another in the endless parade of hotel rooms that had been his life for two-plus decades.

He stretched and looked around the elegant room, bathed in soft morning light from the French doors leading out to the deck. Georgia. Cop Land. He thought. Where Cate lives. He surprised himself with that thought; but then again he HAD spent the night thinking about her. He had looked up her biography on the Center’s website. Hell, he had even Googled her, with no luck. It hadn’t really surprised Jon that he couldn’t find her on the Web; he figured most cops were pretty careful about guarding their personal information. As a celebrity, he could definitely relate.

Jon looked at the clock – 7:30 a.m. He didn’t have to meet Cate at her office until lunch time, but he didn’t feel like going back to sleep. Jon sat up and swung his feet to the floor. He scrubbed his hands across his stubbled cheeks, then stood and tugged at the waistband of the black boxer briefs that threatened to slide down his trim hips.

Jon padded into the spacious living room and grabbed the TV remote, switching on The Today Show. He watched for a moment, taking in the headline news, then ran his hand through his wild mop of blonde hair and stretched again. He moved to the small kitchen and started a pot of coffee, then called room service for breakfast.

After downing two cups of coffee, dining on ham, eggs, and toast, and reading the newspaper front to back, Jon stood and headed to the bedroom to change into workout clothes. He hit the hotel gym for weight training and a few miles on the treadmill, then returned to his room to shower. When he came back into the room Jon noticed that he had received a new text on his Blackberry. He smiled when he saw it was from Cate:

[10:08 am] Meet at 1200/my office for working lunch. Wear jeans or cargo pants with thick/sturdy leather belt, close-fitting shirt (no v-neck or loose collar), and boots/athletic shoes. Will do firearms safety/fam course and some weapons demo this afternoon. Call if you have ??s. -C

Jon frowned slightly. He had hoped for something a little more personal – at least a “Good Morning,” a “How did you sleep?” or something else equally benign. This was all business. He sighed and shook his head at himself. Why the hell did he care? He knew he was “Mr. Business” most of the time too. This was obviously Cate doing her job.

But Jon couldn’t stop remembering that split-second when he and Cate had met, when he looked into her eyes and felt a stirring in his soul. He was sure she had felt something too—hadn’t she? The fact that she had kept him at arms’ length all day was telling; she obviously had her guard up.

Stop it. Jon shook his head again, more angrily this time. Let it Go. He dropped the Blackberry onto the table and headed into the bathroom to shower.

*****

Jon arrived at the Firearms & Tactics building at quarter of noon. He parked his rental SUV, grabbed the range bag Cate had given him yesterday, and entered the building through the back door. Seeing George in the break room, he said “howdy” and headed to Cate’s office.

He nudged open her office door and saw Cate sitting at her desk, typing rapidly on her computer keyboard as she nodded her head along with the music pulsing from her iPod speakers. Jon knocked on the door, but Cate didn’t hear the knock over the music. Jon grinned and began to bob his head to the beat.

The movement caught Cate’s eye, and she swung her gaze to the door, dropping the beat. Seeing Jon standing there grinning, she quickly reached over and flipped off the power switch on her speakers. “Sorry.” She gave a small smile. “You’re early.”

“Alice Cooper, eh?” Jon asked, still smiling. “You really are a Rocker Girl, aren’t ya?” He moved to the chair in front of Cate’s desk and sat. “ ‘Along Came a Spider,’ isn’t it? Pretty cool album.”

Cate couldn’t help watching Jon’s thighs tighten under the snug denim of his jeans as he lowered his weight into the chair. Realizing what she was doing, she immediately snapped her gaze upward, and met his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m kinda obsessed with it right now. I love concept albums, and this one is just so original—a serial killer who chops off his victims’ legs? An ‘Arachnophobic Psychopath?’ Just freakin’ genius.” Cate smiled a genuine smile this time. “And the guitar is phenomenal. Ya know that’s Slash?”

Jon chuckled, and Cate immediately felt like a complete idiot. She had just asked Jon Fucking Bon Jovi if he knew Slash had played guitar on Alice Cooper’s latest album. Duh—of COURSE he knew. Hell, he had probably TALKED about it with Slash! AND Alice! “Uh, yeah, I’m sure you DO know.” she mumbled, looking down at her desk.

“Actually, I do. I have this record on my iPod, too.” Jon ducked his head a bit to look at Cate’s face. “Hey – don’t be embarrassed. I think it’s cool that you are so into music.” Cate looked up at him sheepishly.

“Sorry. This is still just a bit surreal. I don’t really know you, and you are here to do a job, and here I am going on about trivial crap when I should be doing MY job and telling you about what we will be training today.” Cate’s words came out in a rush. “I apologize for being unprofessional.” She paused and took a breath.

“Cate, listen…..” Jon paused and held her gaze. “I wish you would just relax a little. I’m just a guy who is here to learn. Please don’t treat me like you’re giving me a VIP Tour or worry about following whatever kind of protocol crap you have to do for ‘Special Guests of the Director.’ I don’t even know what the fuck that means.”

Jon smiled again, kindly. “Really, I just want to have a good time, learn all I can, and just…well, just be one of the guys. I never get to do that, except with the band. Could you just talk to me like a normal guy, like one of your friends? After all, we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together for these two weeks.”

“I can try…” Cate answered hesitantly. “But please understand, I do have a job to do, and I am very dedicated to doing it well. I am used to being in charge, and under control, all the time. I am the example for these students, every day. Sometimes it’s hard to turn that persona off.”

She paused. “And I don’t know you, other than what I know about your music.” Okay, that was a little bit of a white lie….I DO know a LOT about you… “Look, it takes me awhile to trust people enough to warm up to them. Call it an occupational hazard of dealing with criminals and lawyers for the past 17 years.” She saw Jon grin at that comment. “The best I can promise you is that I’ll try to…lighten up.” Cate exhaled a deep breath, then smiled at Jon. She raised her right hand. “Scout’s honor.”

“Good enough.” Jon nodded. “Now...” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them palm to palm, “What’s on the agenda? Your text said something about ‘lunch meeting?’ I’m starving!”