The
Proposition
“Ms. Reddit, Jessica", began the Sheriff. "I
would like for you to think about something. I would like to ask you if you
might consider staying on here in Lancaster? Regardless of the outcome of this
case, you have shown many admirable qualities essential to good police work. My
days as Sheriff are quickly winding down and the town could really use someone
with your abilities to take over when I’m gone. You seem to have the ambition
and drive needed to do a good job for this town. I know it’s not the ideal job you were hoping for in Cleveland, but it’s a good, honest job that
gives you personal satisfaction in helping others in the community. You don’t have to answer me right
now, but just think about it”.
Jessica is stunned and confused. “Did he just
offer me the job of Sheriff in Lancaster, Wisconsin?”, she asks herself. She looks
at the sheriff, smiles and says,
“Okay Chief, let me think
about it. It’s a lot to take in all at once”.
“That’s okay Jessica.
Take your time. I’m not going anywhere. The offer will still be here tomorrow”,
he jokes. Jessica turns and leaves his office. She exits out the back door and
almost collapses. Her heart is racing, and her cheeks flushed. Dominik sees
her leave the sheriff’s office and follows her outside.
“Is everything okay,
Jessica?” He asks catching up to her. In so doing, he instinctively wraps his large,
muscular arm around her slender waist and gently steadies her. “You’re looking
a bit pale. Do you need some water”?
“No, I’m okay”, says
Jessica. “Just a little overwhelmed at the moment, I guess”. She decides not to
tell him what she and the Sheriff had just discussed. She looks out across the barren
parking lot and into the yellow-green pasturelands beyond. She smiles
broadly and thinks of the old J.C, Penny building only a few yards away and the
money her mother had left in a trust for her when she died. It wasn’t much but,
“I bet it would be just enough for that old building and a few pieces of gym
equipment”, she thinks. She looks at Dominik and, just for a moment, forgets
about her cozy one-bedroom apartment on the lake, her friends, (well most of
them anyway), and the big city life. “Dominik, what did you say the name of that
gym equipment dealership was?”
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