LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT

Dr. Penelope Davis gasped when she approached her Urgent Care Center.

She clutched her sister’s arm. “Liv, the door is open. Someone broke in last night.”

The women stared at each other.

“Penelope, what are we going to do?” 

Penelope’s eyes widened.  Her body tightened, and she took quick breaths. 

“Penelope! Penelope! Don’t go near there.”

Stepping into the doorway, she peeked inside. Penelope glanced back at her sister. “Liv, call 9-1-1.”

  Cautiously, Penelope used her foot to push the door wider.  As her eyes scanned her ransacked clinic, she moaned. 

“I’m going inside, Liv.”

Liv warns, “No. Penelope. Someone could still be inside. The police said they’re on their way. Penelope, no!”

Liv craned her neck, looking up and down the street looking for a police car.  

Lieutenant Brown looked around the 3rd precinct’s vestibule. There were no police officers in sight, only Detective Michael Scott signing out for the day.

“Hey, Scotty. I know you generation Z guys have a hot date every night, but can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, Lieu?”

“Someone broke into the Urgent Care Center over on Adams Street. Can you drive over there and speak to a Doctor Penelope Davis? Make out a complaint report and bring it in tomorrow when you sign in.”

“No problem. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Mike parked the unmarked police car in front of 485 Adams Street. Before he could step out, Liv rushed over and tugged on his arm.

“Hurry, officer. Someone broke into the center last night. Help my sister. She’s inside the center.”

Looking at Liv, Mike shakes his head. “She did what? Goodness, you stay here, Miss.”

He pulled out his gun as he hurried over to the doorway.  Leaning against the doorjamb, Mike snuck a look inside the building. 

“Hold it right there! Who are you, lady?” 

The woman turned around, “I’m Doctor Penelope Davis, owner of this Center.”

Mike relaxed and holstered his gun. Before walking inside, he motioned for Liv to join him. Doctor Davis stood in the middle of the waiting room. As Mike approached, he took a quick survey of her face and body. She had dark, luscious skin, and her hips tapered to long shapely legs. Her bob box braids framed an attractive, irregular face with long eyelashes. 

“Who are you?” Penelope’s lips twisted into a cynical smile. 

“I’m Detective Mike Scott. Are of you, Ms. Davis?”

“Doctor Penelope Davis.” She answered. Looking past Mike, she asked her sister. 

“Liv, did the ‘detective’ show you identification?”

Liv smiled.” Well, I called him a police officer, and he had a gun.”

Penelope raised her eye.

“Here’s my identification, doctor.”

Penelope perused Mike’s identification, then looked up at Mike.

“This is our third break in this month. The New York City Police Department never sent a detective to investigate a break-in.”

Putting away his identification, Mike offered. “Normally, they don’t. But all the uniform officers were on other assignments, so I’m doing my Lieutenant a favor.” Mike smiled before he asked, “Now, may I ask you a question, doctor?”

“Of course.”

“What were you thinking running into a potentially dangerous situation like an uninvestigated crime scene?”

Skin bunched around Penelope’s eyes as she glared at Mike.

“First, detective, I don’t owe you or anyone else an explanation about entering my property. Before I entered the building, I peeked inside.”

“Oh, I see, doctor. You can see the entire office from the doorway, huh?  In medical school, did they teach a course on how to peek around corners?”

“Look, Detective. I did what I thought was necessary to protect my property. 

“Maybe if we had more patrol cars in this area, we wouldn’t have monthly burglaries.”

Liz interrupted. “Listen, you two. I can see both of your points, but I--“

Mike sighed and shook his head. Penelope glared and folded her arms tightly across her chest.

Liz chuckled nervously. “Okay, detective, what’s next?”

Mike handed Liz the Incident Report and explained to her how it should be filled out.

Penelope snatched the form and read it. After Penelope filled out and signed the report, she tossed it on the counter, then coldly said, “Thank you, detective. Have a nice day.”

With that, Penelope turned and strode down the corridor

Mike called after her. “Same to you, doctor.”

Liz accompanied Mike back to his car. 

“You must believe me, detective, I—”

“Mike. Call me, Mike.”

Liz smiled. “Okay, Mike. You must believe me, my sister isn’t that way. But you know how we woman sometimes get when we are nervous and or upset.”

Mike stopped and thought for a moment. 

“I guess you right. This situation could upset anyone.”

“Right, Mike. I. mean, I’m not trying to make excuses for her because I agree with you. She definitely put herself in a dangerous situation.”

Mike nodded, smiled at Liz, and they continued to walk.

“You know it is Mike. Like it must be tough on your wife, you being a detective and all.”

“I’m not married.”

“Well, your special someone must worry.”

Mike gave Liz a twisted smile.

“No, girlfriend. You have a nice day,”

Liz hurried back into the office. Penelope was placing magazines back in the rack. 

“Penelope, wasn’t he handsome?”

“He’s attractive. If you like that type.”

“That type? Well, let’s start with this. He’s one of the few men we know who’s taller than you. You could see his broad shoulders and muscles under that shoot. Oh, and the shadow of his beard made him look so manly.”

“Enough, Olivia. I don’t care what he looks like. Besides, you know I don’t date police officers.”

“Well, technically, he’s a detective. And who said anything about dating him, hmm?”

Penelope rolled her eyes. “Listen, Liv. You know I will never date, or whatever, a law enforcement person. I’m surprised at you. In case you’ve forgotten, Dad was a cop. I’m not going through what mom went through. So just drop it.” 

 The next day, Mike gave the Incident report to the Lieutenant.

“How did it go yesterday, Mike?”

“That Doctor Penelope Davis is a piece of work.”

“A real ball-buster? I’m surprised. She sounded sweet on the phone.”

“Well, she’s not sweet in person. You know what this mad doctor did, Lieu?’

She went into the building before I got there?”

“What? Didn’t she know how dangerous that was?”

“I mentioned that to her. She went ballistic.”

“Oh, no. Am I going to receive a civilian complaint against you, Mike?”

“No. I don’t think it got that far. But I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry to put you in that position, Mike. If the civilian complaint comes, I’ll handle it.”

Penelope stood in a doorway, watching the patients filing in. Receptionist Maria, along with nursing students Sonia, and Kathy were busy pulling files, typing, and answering the phones. Hiring Liz as her physician assistant worked out fine. She loved working with her sister every day. In fact, she loved all her employees. They were hard workers and talented people.

The office was busy, but the staff handled it smoothly. Penelope bought lunch for everyone to show her appreciation. They ordered sandwiches. 

Penelope volunteered. 

“I’ll pick up the sandwiches.  I need a break.” 

While driving to the sandwich shop, Penelope kept thinking about her interaction with Detective Mike Scott. She felt embarrassed that the conversation had deteriorated into a shouting match. Why did he make her so angry? And why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? She pondered. 

“Looking into her rearview mirror and she scolded herself,” This is so unlike you, girl!”

As she turned the corner, she saw Mike standing near The Community Daycare Center. Penelope pulled over and watched him. 

“That’s curious. I wonder, what the detective doing there?” 

She slid down in her seat and watched.

Mike opened the glass doors of the daycare center. In a few moments, he walked out, holding a little girl. He has a daughter, but no girlfriend or wife?”

Penelope watched as Mike played with the little girl. Suddenly, the doors swung open, and a stunning woman walked out and joined Mike and the little girl. 

The woman kissed the girl on the cheek, then looked loving at Mike and gave him a wifelike kiss on the cheek. Penelope’s eyes followed until the little happy family disappeared around the corner.

Penelope was inexplicably jealous as she continued her drive. What was wrong with her? 

Mike drove back to the precinct to finish up paperwork. As he sat behind his desk, he picked up the incident report from the Urgent Care Center. He stared at it and thought about Penelope. Why is such an annoying woman wrapped up in such a beautiful package? A freak of nature, he supposed. 

It wasn’t until Mike went to sign-off on the document he realized he didn’t have his favorite fountain pen. It was a gift from his sister, and he cherished it. He took everything out of his pockets. No pen. He looked through his desk. No pen.

“He, what ya looking for, Mike.”

“My favorite pen, Sam.  Did you borrow it? Did you see anyone by my desk?”

“No. I’ve been in the office all day. No one’s been near your desk since you left. Maybe you dropped it.”

“Yeah, maybe..” 

Standing up, Mike looked around his desk. No pen.  He retraced his steps throughout the precinct, but no pen. Mike stood in front of the desk and searched. No luck. Lieutenant Brown noticed Mike searching the floor around and near his desk. 

Leaning over his desk, the Lieutenant asked, “This may be a bit obvious, but did you lose something, Mike?”

“Yeah,” Mike answered without looking up. “My lucky pen. My sister.”

Mike let out an audible sigh. He realized. He let the doctor use it to sign the Incident Report. 

He looked at the Lieutenant,  “I’ll be right back, Lieu. I know where I left my pen.”

Mike planned to walk into the Urgent care center to retrieve his pen and leave with as brief a conversation as possible. He didn’t count on running into Liv.

“Well, hello, Detective Scott.”

“Hello. Ms. Davis. When I was here earlier, I let your sister use my pen to sign the report. I forgot to get it back from her. Could you speak to her?/”

“No, I can’t. Besides, you lied to me.”

“I what?” 

“You told me you didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend.”

“Not that it’s any concern of you or your sister, but I don’t.”

“I suppose you don’t have a little girl either, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. Penelope saw you and your little girl and your wife outside the Community Daycare Center.”

“She saw-that wasn’t my wife. That was my sister and my niece. My sister Maggie manages the center. Her car broke down, and I was driving them home.”

“Uh, oh.”

“Now what?”

“Penelope found your pen and is taking it to you at the precinct. She said she didn’t want you to have any excuses to come around here again.”

Mike bolted out the door, jumped into his car, and sped to the precinct.

As he ran by the desk, Lieutenant Brown called out, “There’s a young lady upstairs in your office waiting for you.”

Mike ran up the two at a time. When he reached his office, there was a crowd of grinning and laughing detectives standing around his desk. In the center sat Penelope. She looked like a queen holding caught. Someone said, “Here’s Mike.”

Penelope stood up, towering over most of the men in the room.

“May I speak to you in private, Detective Scott?”

Oohs and ah’s sounded in the room.

“Knock it off, you clown,” Mike warned. “This is Doctor Davis from the urgent Care Center.”

One detective called out, “Doctor, I’m sicker than, Mike!” or “I’d like to make an appointment with you, Doctor.”

Mike looked at them and shook his head. 

Mike walked Penelope to the deserted end of the hallway.

“Here’ your pen, detective.”

“Thank you for returning it. It was a gift from my-”

“Yes, I know from your wife. Your daughter is adorable.”

“Listen. As I told your sister, I am not married. Hell, I don’t even have a girlfriend at the moment. The woman you saw me with was my sister, Maggie, and my niece, Taylor. I gave them a ride home.”

Penelope looked at him suspiciously. 

“If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you to meet Maggie right now. But why do you even care?”

“Actually, I don’t. And why did you feel the need to explain to me?””

“I don’t. I hope this is the last we see of each other.” 

They stood facing each other. Both breathing heavy.

Mike shook his head, then exclaimed, “Damn! Why you!”

Mike grabbed Penelope around the waist and pulled her closer to him. She gasped but didn’t resist. At last, they enjoyed a passionate kiss.