Saved By Grace

Chapter 28

Turning the alarm off and forcing herself out of bed she pulled on her fatigues. She missed out on running the past several mornings and she knew she was going to regret it this coming weekend. So today's run was going to be short but in full gear. Halfway through she was glad she decided to lighten her ruck last night. All the being lazy with Grace was making her soft. She really needed to get into a workout routine and stick with it. Resisting Grace was hard, she craved her in every possible way. Taste, touch, sight. Hearing her voice, smelling her skin, all of it was addicting. So instead of turning back toward home she decided to continue on to the station.

"Hey Chief." Doug called out when she walked in.

"How's it going Doug?"

"Good." He answered as he came around the counter to check on her when she bent forward to lean on her knees.

"What are you doing Dawes?" Baxter asked, coming out of their shared office.

"Just checking in, Sheriff." Liza answered with a laugh, "I rested all weekend."

"Don't need you today." Baxter replied.

"I can ride patrol with Doug." When he shook his head no she added, "If I don't find something to do then I'm going to end up doing something to get in trouble with the doctor."

After a moment Baxter said, "Half day but not until tomorrow."

"Deal." Liza grinned. "One more thing?"

"Yes?"

"Can I get a ride home?"

"Did you run all the way here?" Baxter asked. He didn't need her to say anything to know that she had. He shook his head and sighed, "Doug, take her home please."

"Yes Sir." Doug responded.

"Thanks Sheriff." Liza said.

They were almost to the farm when Doug cleared his throat for the third time. "What's on your mind Deputy?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question Chief?"

She turned to look at him, "Depends on how personal it is."

"Oh." He mumbled.

Liza laughed, "Ask it Doug, if it's too personal then I'll tell you so."

"Okay." He said as he pulled in and parked the truck. He cleared his throat again. "Why'd you break up with my sister?"

Liza laughed again, "I thought you were going to ask something hard. We broke up for several reasons. Why?"

"So it wasn't anything specific to Diane then?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged, "She wasn't needy or something like that?"

Liza smiled, "No. Grace was the main reason. I had feelings for Grace and it wasn't fair to your sister to pretend to make things work." She paused for half a minute. "Don't get me wrong Doug. I think I loved her at the time but not in the same way that I love Grace."

He seemed to contemplate her answer for a moment. "So if it weren't for Grace do you think you'd still be with Diane?"

"It's hard to say. Like I said, there were several reasons we broke up. I wanted the Army and she didn't. We just both wanted different things." She turned in her seat to look at him better, "What's this all about Doug?"

"Diane came down this weekend but without Beth. It seems they're having problems."

"All couples have problems Doug." Liza replied.