This Can't Be Love, Can It?
Chapter 1

Copyright© 2019 by OldSarge69

Romantic Sex Story: Chapter 1 - Crushed by the death of his wife, former Marine military policeman and current Alabama Sheriff "Big Jake" Lewis never thought he would be able to love anyone again, but was love waiting a lot closer than he expected? And will he ever be able to put aside the grief he still feels and start really living - and loving - again?

Caution: This Romantic Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Consensual   Heterosexual   Fiction   Humor   Military   Tear Jerker  

A prolonged “Beep, Beep, Beep,” woke me up from my troubled sleep.

“Now what?” I thought to myself, groaning as I sat up in bed. A quick look at my alarm clock told me it was 2 am, and I had only been asleep a little over an hour!

Looking for the source of the noise which had woken me up, I checked my cell phone, my regular phone, my scanner, then finally realized the beeping was coming from the receiver for the motion sensors I had placed in the yard around my house.

“If it is another damn deer,” I thought to myself, “then I will have venison tonight!”

One of the problems with being the popular sheriff of a small county in the foothills of Alabama, was teenagers would frequently choose my house to “roll”.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it meant kids would buy dozens of rolls of toilet paper, then unroll five or six feet. If they were very careful, they could toss the remainder of the roll high into the air, over a tree or house, and it would unroll itself, draping toilet paper everywhere.

It was something of a bitch to clean up!

And while I usually complained, I also had to admit it was, in some ways, poetic justice as well. When I had been a teenager, I had probably done more than my fair share of “rolling,” as well, so I normally didn’t get too angry. I may not have liked it much, but I am sure the people whose houses I used to roll probably didn’t like what I did back then either.

The last three times my house had been rolled, however, the teenagers, or whoever it was, had done a lot more than just rolling the house.

Instead, three months ago they had soaped my vehicles, and the windows on my house.

At least it was fairly easy to clean off, with a hose and some rags, but was time-consuming.

Two months ago, they added eggs. Once the eggs have dried, they are much harder to clean off and actually damaged the paint finish on the cars, and around the windows.

Last month, someone had “keyed” my vehicles, both personal truck and county car, taking a key or screwdriver and scratching the finish.

Fun is one thing, I thought to himself, but this is now destruction of property.

I was no longer laughing.

And at 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and 245 pounds, when I stopped laughing, people needed to start becoming a little more careful.

My friends called me Big Jake. If you weren’t a friend, you either called me Sheriff, or Sir.

In the last month, I had done two things to try to deter the vandals. First, I added motion sensors completely around the house, tied to an alarm in both my bedroom and kitchen.

The second thing was something I had thought about doing for several years, and just never quite got around to doing. I added an extensive system of underground water sprinklers throughout the nearly two acres of lawn.

For the past several years, my part of Alabama had experienced a prolonged drought, and I had been planning on adding the sprinklers anyway, so this was an opportune time to do so.

In the past month, the motion alarm had gone off twice, but both times it was because of deer wandering from the woods, through my yard.

It was a very dark night outside, with almost no moon, so I picked up a pair of night vision glasses I usually kept in my bedroom, and started looking out the windows.

Despite my size, when I wanted I could move almost silently through the house. I checked the front windows, then moved to the other side of the house.

And that is where I saw them: at least three people, walking in my back yard. All three were holding rolls of toilet paper clenched against their chests.

“Now for a little fun,” I thought.

Again, moving far more quietly than you would expect for a man of my size, I walked from the kitchen into the garage, and finally over to the controls for the sprinkler system.

The sprinkler system was tied into pumps I had placed in the rather large lake on my property.

As I activated the system, I immediately heard screams from outside as the people trying to roll my house received an unexpected soaking. It probably didn’t help that it was a very cool fall night.

I was pretty sure whoever was outside was probably trying to run away as fast as they could.

After letting the sprinklers run for a couple of minutes, I shut the system down, grabbed a flashlight, a night stick, opened the garage door and went outside. I also grabbed a couple pairs of handcuffs, just in case!

Shining the flashlight around, I could see at least a dozen rolls of toilet paper lying on the ground where the kids had dropped them as they were soaked.

I started grinning, and thought Gotcha!

I started walking around the house and then saw a small bag lying on the ground. I knelt down and opened it, and found several screwdrivers, along with a half-dozen cans of spray paint.

I knew I had ambushed my vandals, and it looked like they had gone from soap, to eggs, to “keying” and were now going to start spray painting my house or vehicles.

Then I thought I heard something, like a soft moaning, coming from the corner around the house.

I immediately went into full defensive alert, gripping the night stick tightly and resumed walking around the house.

As I neared an old oak tree, I again heard a soft moaning, and started shining the flashlight around.

My first thought was, Caucasian, female, as I saw a body lying face down on the ground under the tree. Long, long, very well-muscled, shapely legs, and a pair of shorts that barely covered what looked like a firm and beautiful butt.

They say some men are first attracted to a woman’s hair and others to her breasts. I had always been most attracted to long legs, and a firm butt.

But I also noticed the rather short haircut that framed the back of her head. It was hard to tell from the flashlight, but it appeared to be either very dark-brown, or perhaps black.

Cautiously I walked over, in case anyone else was still hanging around.

Finally, convinced we were alone, I knelt beside the “Caucasian, female,” and rolled her over.

Several things stood out.

I could see she was young, and very, very pretty. I mean really beautiful!

There was also a large bruise on her forehead, and looking at the marks in the wet ground it became obvious that she had been running and most likely hit her head on one of the low-lying branches of the tree, knocking herself out.

Her thin shirt and shorts were soaked, and apparently she wasn’t wearing a bra because her nipples, reacting to the wet shirt on a cool night, were erect.

Although it took a little while to sink in, I realized I knew her. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years, not since she enrolled in college. I realized this was Carrie, my chief deputy’s daughter. Actually I think I probably knew immediately who she was, but was trying not to acknowledge it, in hopes that somehow I was wrong.

Things had been ... well, strained ... between us for the past two years.

This very pretty young woman, with the erect nipples and shapely legs, was not the little girl I had known for the past eight years!

Damn, I’m getting old, I thought.

I immediately thought back to the last time I had seen Carrie, which was a few weeks after the funeral for my wife. My wife June had died of cervical cancer two years earlier. Carrie had been at our house numerous times over the years, and June had really loved her.

Carrie always called me Uncle Jake, even though we weren’t actually related, and she called my wife Aunt June.

Carrie moaned again, and I realized she was probably going to be regaining consciousness in a few minutes.

I really wasn’t sure just what to do.

My chief deputy, “Bo” James, and I were more than just colleagues. We were friends.

He had taken me under his wing when I joined the Sheriff’s Department, and encouraged me to run for Sheriff. Without his help and support I don’t think I could have been elected.

Bo was ten years older than I was, and was also taller than me. As I mentioned, I am 6’4”, but Bo was six feet, seven inches. Bo wasn’t his actual name, but a shortened version of his nickname, which was “Bones.”

Bo or Bones claimed he weighed about 180 pounds, but I don’t think he even came close to weighing that much.

His wife Alice, and my wife, before her sickness, were almost inseparable. We were constantly at each other’s houses, and would frequently go to the mountains together.

Of course Carrie was always with her parents.

Carrie was almost like the child my wife and I couldn’t have.

June and I had tried so hard to have children, but as the years went on, we finally went in for tests. That was when we found out June couldn’t have children.

We were actually in the preliminary stages of adopting when June was diagnosed with the cancer that would kill her just a year and a half later.

I was absolutely devastated.

If not for Bo and Alice, I don’t know what I would have done. Their love and support was all that enabled me to go on. I had actually twice typed and signed my resignation letter as County Sheriff, but both times Bo and Alice talked me out of quitting.

All I wanted to do was be with June every day, and try to help her recover from this terrible disease. For a while, the doctors offered a lot of encouragement, but eventually it became obvious she was not responding to the treatment.

During the final year before June’s death, Carrie and Alice had been at my house nearly every day, helping take care of June. And of me. They would cook, clean and make sure I had fresh uniforms to wear. During the school year, Carrie would come in the afternoon, if she didn’t have basketball practice or games, but with school out, she or Alice had been at my house every day.

Carrie had actually been the one to call me that last day.

“Uncle Jake, I think you need to come home – now!” she screamed.

Then she started crying, and said, “Please, Uncle Jake, please, come home now.”

I turned on the blue lights and probably broke every traffic law in the books as I rushed home.

Sometimes there are advantages to having blue lights on your vehicle.

When I pulled into my yard, Carrie ran outside and just threw herself into my arms, and she was crying hysterically.

“Oh God, Uncle Jake, I am so scared,” she cried, “I don’t think Aunt June is going to last much longer.”

I gave her a hug, kissed her on the cheek, and asked Carrie to call Bo and Alice, while I ran inside.

I had only been gone about four hours since this morning, but could not believe how much June had changed in those four hours.

For the past year and a half, we had undergone radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, to no avail. The doctors finally recommended we put her into a hospice, as we waited ... well, waited for her to die.

I could not do that to June, and insisted that we return home ... our home.

I had watched as her hair fell out from the chemo, and as she lost so much weight. June had been about five feet, ten inches tall, and probably weighed about 130 pounds. Very slim and trim, with a very shapely figure.

She had lost at least 30 pounds while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, but had regained some of that weight.

Now, she looked like she had lost 10 pounds just since this morning!

I had never seen anything like it.

Her eyes were closed, and I could barely detect her chest rising and falling as she was breathing, but when I grabbed her hands in mine, she opened her eyes.

“Hello, handsome,” she managed to gasp.

“Hello, beautiful,” I answered. And she was still beautiful, at least to me.

“No, not so beautiful anymore,” she said with a sad smile.

I immediately told her how wrong she was, and told her she was still the most beautiful woman I had ever known.

Trying to hold back my tears was, literally, the most difficult thing I have ever done.

“Jake, don’t lie to me,” June gasped.

“I know I don’t have very much longer, so please don’t lie to me,” she said.

I held her face between both my hands, and rubbed my thumb across her lips.

“Hey, when I look at you, I still see that incredibly beautiful woman I stopped for speeding, all those years ago,” I said. “Do you remember?”

June laughed, but then began coughing.

Once she had managed to regain her breath, she then answered me.

“Of course, I remember,” she said with a smile, “Some damn big hillbilly gives me a speeding ticket, then tries to pick me up!”

“I didn’t have to try too hard,” I answered with my own smile, “and besides it wasn’t an actual speeding ticket, but just a warning!”

I had spent four years in the Marine Corps as a military policeman.

One Friday morning while I was on patrol, I noticed a car going well above the posted 35-mile-per-hour speed limit on base, and pulled the car over. I had actually clocked the car doing over 50.

When I walked up and saw June for the first time, I was almost speechless.

I think she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, with long red hair and incredible green eyes.

I just stared at her for a few minutes. And she was staring back!

“Well, are you going to give me a ticket, or ask for my phone number,” she finally asked, then gave me the most bewitching smile.

“Maybe both,” I answered, with my own smile.

“License and registration please,” I asked.

She looked a little shocked.

I wrote down her vital statistics (name, age, 20 like me, and, of course, address).

I have to confess I was taking as much time as I possibly could to write down this information. I know this will seem a little crude, but damn, I was enjoying the view!

Perhaps you have never stood beside a car, with a beautiful woman driver just literally inches from you. And while this young lady wasn’t wearing a really low-cut blouse, it was low enough from my vantage point almost directly above her, I could definitely see she had nothing to be ashamed of!

In fact, just the opposite. She should be very proud of the genes she had inherited from her Mom!

And she was also wearing a pair of shorts which displayed her legs very well.

And I think she was also checking me out a little!

Before handing her the ticket, I also asked for her phone number.

“Is the phone number part of the ticketing process?” she asked with a smile, then gave me the number.

“Well, sometimes we just want to be sure we can contact you if we need to,” I answered.

I then handed her the ticket, then explained that this was actually just a warning, and strongly advised her to slow down.

“Next time, June Davis, it might not be just a warning ticket!” I semi-threatened, but with a smile.

“I would hate to have to put handcuffs on you and lock you up,” I joked.

“Ohhh, handcuffs!” she purred, “do you threaten all the girls with handcuffs?”

“Only the really beautiful ones,” I joked back.

“And, Miss Davis, just as part of an official inquiry, if a certain military police officer were to call you tonight and invite you to dinner and a movie, just to observe and discuss your driving habits of course, how do you think you would respond?” I asked.

“Well,” she said with a smile, “that would depend on two things.”

“What two things,” I asked, with my own answering smile.

“First,” she answered, “which certain military police officer; and second, how my Daddy would react since he always answers the phone at home.”

“And just who is your Daddy?” I asked.

“Major General Samuel R. Davis, Commanding General of this base,” she answered with a big grin, then put her car in gear and drove off!

Oh, SHIT!

I mean I had noticed that her last name was Davis, but somehow never even conceived that she could be the daughter of the commanding general of the entire freaking base!

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

For the rest of my shift, all I could think about was a set of gorgeous green eyes, and long, long red hair.

And an incredibly beautiful face to go along with it!

And the absolutely heavenly view of the mounds of her breasts!

And her long legs.

And her beautiful smile.

And the twinkle in her eyes.

Oh, God, I was madly in lust!

I spent at least two hours that afternoon, dialing part of the number, then hanging up. Again, dial part of the number, then hang up, Over and over.

What the hell was I going to say to a two-star general in the Marine Corps?

“Sir, this is some piss-ant Corporal who wants to go out with your daughter!”

“Sir, this is some idiot enlisted man who wants to have a carnal relationship with your daughter!”

“Hey Sammy, how’s it hanging, man? Hey, I want to hook up with your daughter!”

Oh God, no matter what I said, I knew I was going to end up in the brig. In my OWN brig!

Then I started thinking.

I mean, hey, this is a major general in the Marine Corps and commanding general of the entire freaking base!

What are the odds he actually answers his own phone at home? I mean he probably has assistants who answer the phone for him!

There is NO WAY that Major General Samuel R. Davis actually answers his own phone at home. That would be unheard of wouldn’t it? I mean what Commanding General actually answers his own phone??

Miss June Davis thought she could fool me, but I am WAY too smart to fall for that.

Emboldened by my flawless logic, I dialed the number.

“Major General Davis,” I heard a deep voice say.

Oh, double SHIT!

What was I to do now?

“Uh, Sir, this is Corporal Lewis, uh, Sir, with the Military Police, Sir, and Sir, I just wanted to make sure your daughter that is June Davis...”

“Yes Corporal, I know who my daughter is,” he interrupted.

Oh God, could it get any worse???

“Uh, Yes Sir, of course you do Sir, and well, Sir, I just wanted to make sure your daughter, June Davis, Sir, well Sir, of course you know that already, Sir, anyway I just wanted to make sure that she, that is June Davis, got home okay, Sir.”

Oh God, did I just hear a general laugh? Do they actually do that, I mean laugh?

I could feel my entire face turn red with embarrassment. I was suddenly very glad no one was with me at that moment!

“Yes, Corporal Lewis, June arrived home safely,” the general said. “In fact, she told me about your giving her a warning ticket, and I really appreciate the fact that you stopped her. I keep telling her she needs to slow down, but even generals only have so much control over their daughters.”

Am I hearing correctly? Is the general actually confiding in me? Have I died and gone to heaven?

“June told me you might call,” the general added.

“Uh, Sir, uh General Sir, I don’t suppose it would be possible, I mean could I actually talk to your daughter, to June Davis, Sir.”

Damn, there I am doing it again, trying to tell him who his own daughter is.

I again heard something that in a normal person I would have said was laughter.

“Corporal Lewis, what is your first name?” the general asked.

“Uh, Jake, Sir, well, actually Jacob, Corporal Jacob or Jake Lewis,” I answered.

“Okay, Jake, hold on,” he said...

Did a general just call me by my first name?

... then I heard him yell out, “June, Jake Lewis is on the phone for you.”

Oh ... my ... God!

That sounded just like back home, when I used to get a phone call and my Dad would answer the phone and then yell out for me.

It sounded ... normal!

“Jake, June will be here in a minute,” the General said.

Damn, he did call me by my first name! A General ... a freaking Major General in the freaking United States Marine Corps just called me by my freaking first name!

“Sir, thank you Sir, I really appreciate your letting me talk to your daughter, June Davis,” I stammered.

There I go again, trying to tell him his own daughter’s name!

Again, I could almost swear I hear something that sounded like laughter.

About then I heard a voice say “Thanks, Daddy,” then I could hear her put the phone up to her ear.

“Hello,” June said.

“Uh, hello, June,” I tried to begin, “this is Corporal Jake Lewis. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I stopped you this morning and gave you a warning ticket... ?”

What is wrong with me? Is this the best I can do?

“Yes, Corporal Jake Lewis ... yes, I usually can remember things that happened even several days ago, much less something that happened this morning,” she replied.

I swear I could hear the laughter in her voice!

“Well, of course you can,” I stammered.

God, she must think I am the biggest idiot in the world!

“Look, June, would you like to go to dinner and watch a movie tonight?” I finally blurted out.

“Well, a movie would be perfect,” she said, and my heart nearly burst out of my chest.

But then she added something completely unexpected.

“However,” she said, “Daddy suggested instead of dinner, maybe you would like to come over and we could cook hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and you and Daddy could get to know each other!”

Oh ... My ... God!

A General ... a Major General ... wants to get to know me?

“Uh, uh, uh,” I began, “uh, what time should I be there?”

June said an hour would be perfect, and hung up. Didn’t even say goodbye, she just hung up! I stood there with the phone still up to my ear for probably at least five minutes.

What the hell was I getting myself into?

And more importantly, what the hell did Generals wear while cooking out?

I knew that I had never seen any general that wasn’t immaculately dressed, in an absolutely perfect uniform, so I spent the next 45 minutes preparing my uniform and spit-shining my shoes.

One hour after talking with June I was knocking on the General’s door wearing the full Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform, with perfectly shined shoes. I have never put as much effort into getting ready for an inspection as I did for this dinner.

Oh, did I mention Major General Samuel R. Davis was the commanding general of Marine Corps Base 29 Palms, which is located in the freaking middle of the freaking Mojave Desert in freaking California? As in hot, freaking hot, dry, hot desert? And the usual temperature in the afternoon is well over 100 degrees and can easily reach 110 or 115 degrees or even more?

And did I mention the Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform is the absolute hottest and most uncomfortable uniform you could possibly wear?

And that the air conditioning in my truck was barely working, so I was already sweating like crazy even before I had arrived at the General’s house?

And just the long walk from my truck to the general’s front door had even more sweat pouring off of me, and my face was already as red as a beet?

And that I was already starting to feel faint? I could actually feel myself starting to sway back and forth.

Then the General opened the door.

Wearing a pair of shorts, and light shirt.

With open toed sandals.

And looking very cool.

The General took one look at me, then said, “Good God, Corporal, come on inside out of the heat before you pass out.”

I tried to salute, but when I began to raise my hand for the salute, I lost my balance and stumbled inside instead and honestly think if the General hadn’t caught me, I would have fallen flat on my face. I heard the General yelling for June to grab some cold wet towels and come running.

This was not exactly the sort of first impression I had been hoping to make.

The next thing I know I am sitting in a chair with a cold wet towel draped over my head and forehead, and June is trying to take off my heavy Dress Blue uniform jacket.

Yes, I will admit that I had entertained thoughts of June and I possibly, at some point – maybe, in fact probably not tonight but at some point – helping each other remove our clothing, but again, this was not exactly how I envisioned it would happen.

Especially with her father, the General, standing right beside her.

“Are you all right, Corporal?” I heard the General ask.

“I don’t know, Sir,” I answered honestly, “have you ever heard of anyone dying from embarrassment?”

The General started laughing, and then said, “Not yet, Corporal, but you might still be the first.”

By now June had gotten the uniform jacket unbuttoned, so I leaned forward so she could slide if off my arms. My t-shirt and short-sleeve uniform shirt were both so wet from sweat you could have wrung water from them. But damn, did it feel good to get the jacket off!

“Jake, what on earth were you trying to prove, wearing this ridiculous uniform on a day like today,” June asked.

As embarrassed as I was, it still felt SO good to hear her call me by my first name!

I had to admit that I had been trying to make a good first impression on the General – and a better second impression on her.

June looked at me and smiled! Just to see that smile directed at me was almost worth every drop of sweat I had lost!

The General of course was still standing there, listening to every word.

“Well, I will admit, Corporal, that it was certainly a memorable impression,” he said, with a laugh. “I don’t think I have ever had to catch anyone your size before.”

I could tell my face was turning bright red again, but this time from embarrassment, not heat stroke!

“Did you bring any other clothes with you?” General Davis asked.

I said I had, and had been planning on changing when June and I went to the movies.

The General sent June out to my truck to get my clothes.

“I am impressed, Corporal, and I know June is as well,” he said, after June left the room.

“Impressed, Sir?” I inquired. To say I was surprised would be an understatement!

“Yes, Corporal, I am. Every so often someone will ask for her phone number and if June likes them, then she will give it to them. But then she always manages to tell them that I am the (using finger quotes) ‘Commanding General’ of the base, and will wait to see if anyone actually is brave enough to call.

“Then she always insists that I have to start answering the phone with my name and full title,” he continued. “You would be amazed how many calls I answer, only to have the caller hang up when they realize a general is actually answering.”

“You mean you normally don’t answer the phone yourself, Sir?” I asked.

“Of course not, Corporal! I have assistants for that, or if they are not here, then my wife or June will usually answer,” he confided.

Then the General leaned in, since we could hear that June was coming back inside and whispered: “But don’t tell her I said that, Jake, or she’ll have my head!”

The General actually winked at me!

Oh ... wait until I get my hands on her!!!

The General had June take me to one of the guest bedrooms and had advised I take a cold shower to continue to recover from the heat stroke.

June actually held my hand as we walked to the bedroom, then squeezed it very tightly before she left so I could take a shower! Yeah!

After the shower, I felt much better and quickly dressed in my other clothes, which was shorts, a thin shirt and jogging shoes.

I found my way out to the backyard where the General was getting the grill ready, and there I met the General’s wife. Wow! It was obvious where June got her looks from.

Mrs. Davis was an older, more mature version of her daughter. Long legs, long red hair, green eyes and a figure to die for!

Mrs. Davis, who told me to call her Jenny, explained she had actually been at the grocery store buying a few last minutes items for the cookout, which June had asked her Mom and Dad do for her.

“Wait,” I asked, “you mean the cookout was June’s idea, and not the General’s idea?”

“That’s right, it was June’s idea to have you over for a cookout,” Jenny replied. “She wanted to see how you would react to having dinner with her father, ‘the Commanding General,’” she said using finger quotes.

By now we both could hear June and her Dad talking and Jenny leaned in and whispered: “But don’t tell her I said that, Jake, or she’ll have my head!”

Then Jenny actually winked at me!

Oh Girl ... You just wait until I get my hands on you!

I actually really enjoyed dinner.

I found out the General was from North Carolina, as I was originally. In fact, he had been born only about 40 miles away from my old hometown.

Mrs. Davis, uh Jenny, was a truly gracious lady, and was from Alabama, where my parents had moved when I was about 10. Jenny was from near the coast of Alabama, while we lived in the foothills of the mountains, but it was still the same state.

As we were talking, the General asked if I was planning on making a career out of the Marine Corps.

“Well, Sir, I love the Marine Corps, and I love being a Marine,” I answered, “but no, I’m not.”

I then explained I had enrolled in a nearby college, and was taking classes at night and on the weekends. I planned on getting a degree in criminal justice, then entering law enforcement after my discharge.

My father had been shot and killed in an attempted robbery of the grocery store he managed, and that was why I was interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement. My mother had died a few years earlier in a traffic accident.

That was when I found out June was actually enrolled in the same college, but attended classes during the day. She was pursuing a degree in education, and wanted to become a school teacher.

The entire time we had been eating, June and I sat side-by-side, sharing a long bench-type chair and she usually kept her thigh pressed against mine.

I loved looking at her beautiful legs, and since she was wearing a very short pair of shorts they made a breath-taking display.

She would frequently lean over towards me until her shoulder would touch mine, then look up at me and give me a mischievous smile.

I could tell she was really enjoying herself, seeing how I was reacting to eating with her father – “Commanding General”!

Girl, you just wait until I get you alone!

After we had finished eating, June and Jenny were cleaning up the dirty dishes and the General invited me into his study so we could talk a little.

I was still amazed the General seemed so ... I don’t know ... normal!

After we had sat down in the General’s study, he poured us both a scotch, and then started talking.

“Jake, I am sorry you aren’t going to stay with the Marines,” he began, “since we can always use good men, but I have to admit I am also somewhat relieved.”

Very surprised, I asked why.

“Unfortunately, there are always a few people who seem to feel if they somehow attach themselves to a General’s star, then they will be pulled along as he rises in rank,” the General explained.

He went on to say as soon as he earned his first star, some men thought they could use June as a way of becoming closer to him.

“Then they thought they could use their relationship with June, as a way of advancing their own career,” he continued.

“June was engaged to be married, when she was only 18,” he said. “I was opposed, but June was so in love with this young man, and thought he loved her as well.”

“Then one day she accidentally saw an e-mail he had sent to a friend, where he admitted that since he was now sleeping with, and was engaged to be married to, a general’s daughter, that his own career was assured. He even admitted in the e-mail that he really didn’t love her, but was only using her,” the General said.

“June was devastated.”

I could feel my own anger rising.

“Sir, if you tell me the name of that son-of-a-bitch, then I will personally take care of him,” I declared!

“That situation has already been taken care of, Jake,” the General admitted.

“I am not proud of what I did, but I did the only thing I knew how to do, to protect someone I love, and that – as you said – that son-of-a-bitch is no longer in the Marine Corps,” he added.

The General said that for over a year June would not date anyone, for fear of something like that happening again.

“In the past year, June has had a couple of dates – if they were brave enough to call and talk to the ‘commanding officer’ as she always stresses – but to be honest I haven’t seen her as excited about anyone as much as I have seen her excited about you,” he said.

“But if you hurt her Jake, or if you are only using her...” he trailed off.

“General,” I began, “at this point June and I haven’t even had our first date yet, but I want you to know that I will never, NEVER, do anything that knowingly will hurt June.

“Will I do something stupid? Like wearing a Dress Blue Uniform when it is 112 degrees outside, well, the answer may be yes, but I will never knowingly hurt her,” I declared.

The General started laughing.

“That may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen,” he said, “when I opened the door and saw you standing there. Your face was as red as a tomato, and sweat was pouring off your face.”

I could feel my own face turning red again, remembering.

“Your eyes were already turning glassy, and you were swaying back and forth. I could tell you were about to pass out,” he said.

“I think I knew as soon as I saw you that if anyone would go to that length to impress me and June, and they weren’t planning on staying in the Marine Corps, well ... maybe they were only trying to impress June and the hell with the old man,” he said with a laugh!

“Jake, I am a pretty good judge of character, and if I wasn’t already pretty sure what kind of man you are, then we would not be having this conversation right now.

“It is not easy for a father to admit that he knows his only daughter has slept with anyone,” the General said, “but I wanted you to know June is still very vulnerable, and still can be hurt.

“I can already tell how much June likes you ... and know how much Jenny likes you as well ... and how much I like you already,” he added. “Just don’t hurt her, Jake, that is all I ask ... just don’t hurt her!”

Before I could say anything else, we heard a soft knock on the door and Jenny and June walked into the study.

Much to my surprise, June walked over and sat down on my lap, and leaned over and put her head on my shoulder.

“What are the two of you talking about?” June inquired.

I looked at June, and immediately lost myself in her incredible green eyes.

“Oh, we were just talking about crazy people who wear Dress Blue Uniforms when it is 112 degrees outside,” I said with a smile.

Everyone laughed.

Then adding even more to my surprise, June actually leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, right in front of her parents!

“Well I thought it was really cute!” she said, then smiled her biggest smile yet as she was looking at me eye-to-eye: “Really stupid, I mean incredibly stupid, dumb, idiotic, foolish, crazy, obtuse, imprudent, silly, inane, reckless, absurd, ill-advised, asinine and ridiculous ... but really cute!”

Then she leaned over and kissed me again – but this time on the lips!

I could tell my face was turning red again! I mean, jezz, the commanding general of the entire freaking base was sitting there watching! Along with his wife!

Then June explained that she wanted to be an English teacher, and they had been reviewing synonyms that week!

“Well ... I think we need to go watch a movie,” I said, and put one arm around her back and the other under her legs and stood up, carrying June in my arms.

“Are you planning on carrying me to your truck?” June inquired with a big grin.

“Honey,” I answered with my own grin, “I may never let you out of my arms again. Besides, you aren’t very heavy!”

I finally did put June down though, since the General reminded me that it was just a couple of hours ago that I had nearly passed out from heat stroke, and I really should not take any chances.

As we were leaving, Jenny hugged me – she actually had tears in her eyes.

The General shook my hand – if he had not been a General I would almost have sworn that HE had tears in his eyes. But Generals don’t cry, do they?

Then the General hugged June, and June hugged Jenny, and I could see her whisper something in Jenny’s ear. Jenny suddenly had a huge grin on her face.

As we were walking to the car, hand-in-hand, I asked June about that, about what she had said to her Mom.

June stopped, looked at me and said, “I told her to not wait up on me! That I probably wasn’t coming home tonight.”

Then she put her arms around my neck and pulled my face down until she could kiss me on the lips again. But unlike inside, this wasn’t a simple chaste kiss, but a mind-bending, toe-curling tongue-on-tongue kiss!

What more is there to tell?

Since the college is over an hour’s drive from the base ... hell, EVERYTHING is at least an hour’s drive from 29 Palms, June had a small apartment near the school, so she wouldn’t have to drive back and forth every day.

We used to joke that Marine Corps Base 29 Palms was so far away from ANYTHING, you had to drive for at least an hour to change your mind!

After the movie, her apartment is where we ended up.

Six months later, we were married.

By the time my enlistment was up, we had both earned our degrees. We were both 22, and the world was ours! We were young, we were in love, and anything was possible.

I moved back to my adopted town in Alabama, where I joined the Sheriff’s Department, and Bo became my mentor, showing me the ropes.

I also met Bo’s wife Alice, and their then 12-year-old daughter, Carrie.

A few years later, the then Sheriff announced his retirement. I had expected Bo to run, and was ready to support him when he said he could not get elected, since he actually had a lot of baggage from the past that people could not forget.

Bo was one of the easiest going people I had ever known, but as he told me one day he also had a really bad temper. He didn’t lose that temper very often, but when he did, it wasn’t pretty.

And he had lost that temper several times around the wrong people – the kind of people who didn’t forget, and would make sure he never got elected.

With Bo’s help and encouragement I became the youngest Sheriff in Alabama.

June had started teaching school when we moved, and quickly moved up the ranks until she was principal of an elementary school.

Other than our struggles to have children of our own, it was almost an idyllic life.

Until June was diagnosed with cancer.

And my world began falling apart.


I heard another moan, and quickly looked down and realized that Carrie was slowly beginning to regain consciousness.

Hating myself for a minute, at what I was about to do, I grabbed a pair of handcuffs and put them on Carrie. But unlike what I would usually do, I didn’t handcuff her hands behind her back, but left them in front.

No matter what Carrie had done, I couldn’t do that to her.

She had been there with me, as June breathed her last.

I owed her that much – at least.


I again remembered the last few minutes, of that last day with June. I could feel the tears streaming down my face.

I could again hear June’s voice, so clearly:

“Of course, I remember,” she said with a smile, “Some damn big hillbilly gives me a speeding ticket, then tries to pick me up!”

“I didn’t have to try too hard,” I answered with my own smile, “and besides it wasn’t an actual speeding ticket, but just a warning!”

“And then you lied so much to me about how your father, ‘the commanding officer’ always answered the phone at home, and when I finally got the nerve to call, you again lied about how your father wanted me to come over for a cookout when it was actually your idea,” I said very gently.

“You knew about that? You knew I made both of those up and never told me?” June asked, wide-eyed.

“Your Dad and Mom both told me that afternoon, but then warned me to never let you know because you would ‘have their heads,’ if I told you,” I said.

June started to laugh, then was convulsed with coughing. I grabbed her oxygen mask and turned it on and put it on her face until she could regain her breathing.

“Oh God, the only regret I have ever had since the day I met you was those two lies I told you, and now I found out you knew about them all along,” June said. “I can’t believe you never told me.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, at first I was a little upset,” I explained, “but then after we ate, the General told me about your prior engagement, and how that scumbag was just using you to try to get close to your father.

“I suddenly understood how you might have felt, wondering if I was going to do the same, so I never mentioned it. Besides, I figured the General and Jenny really needed their heads,” I said with a big smile.

“Jake, I love you so much,” June said as she began to softly cry.

Again it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, not start crying myself.

“Jake, I just said I only regret one thing, since the day I met you, but that is not true,” June added. “My biggest regret is that I could never give you children.”

“June, I’ve told you a thousand times...” I started to say, but she finished my sentence.

“That you don’t care about children, as long as you have me,” June said, with a very sad smile, “but soon, Jake, you won’t have me, and you need to start thinking about the future.

“Jake, you have to promise me one thing,” she said.

“What’s that, Honey?” I asked.

“Promise me, promise me, if you really love me, then promise me that you will get married again,” she said. “And don’t wait too long!”

Suddenly I could no longer hold back the tears.

“Okay, Honey,” I answered, rather woodenly, as the tears streamed down my face.

“Don’t ‘Okay Honey’ me,” June said. “Promise me, Jake, promise me right now that you will get married again.

“You need to get married again – soon – otherwise you might do something as stupid as wearing your Dress Blue uniform when it is 125 degrees outside!” June said.

I couldn’t help myself, as June knew I would, I actually managed a laugh.

For the past 10 years, every time June told that story, the temperature climbed a degree or two. What had started out as a real temperature of maybe 110 or 112, was now 125.

“Okay, June, on my honor as a Marine, and Sheriff, I promise I will get married again, that at least I will start looking. Does that satisfy you?” I asked with a smile. That was the most difficult smile I think I have ever had to make.

“For now, yes,” she said, returning my smile.

“But Jake, you don’t have to start looking too hard,” June continued. “There is someone who would probably marry you now if you were to ask. I already know she is in love with you, and has been for several years.”

I think my mouth dropped open in shock!

“Honey, what in the name of all that’s holy are you talking about?” I asked, totally shocked.

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you, when she thinks I am not watching, I have heard how she talks about you, and I have listened for the past year-and-a-half whenever she questions me about you,” June said.

“I am talking about Carrie,” June continued.

I was almost speechless.

“Honey, the medicine is confusing you. Carrie loves both of us, and I know we both love her. But only as friends, as someone who is almost a daughter to us both,” I tried to insist. “Besides, she is just a kid!”

“Jake, yes Carrie loves me and you,” June said. “But she is in love WITH you.”

“And not as a daughter loves an almost parent, or big brother, but IN LOVE as a woman loves a man,” June declared. “Carrie is no longer a kid, Jake. Maybe you haven’t been looking lately, but she is a woman now and not a kid.

“A woman knows, Jake, a woman knows when another woman is in love with her husband,” June continued, “and it has never bothered me because I knew you would never take advantage of Carrie. And I also felt like there would be someone to take care of you if I didn’t ... didn’t make it.

“Jake, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I have had the love of the most wonderful man in the world for the past ten years, and now I know there is someone who will continue to take care of that man once I am gone,” June declared.

“And Carrie can give you kids, Jake,” June managed to say, before another prolonged bout of coughing had me giving her oxygen again.

Once June started breathing easier, she asked me to go get Carrie.

I just turned my head and yelled for her.

Perhaps if I had not been concentrating so hard on June I might have realized it only took a second or two before Carrie was beside the bed.

And perhaps I would have realized that would only have been possible if she had been standing right outside the door.

And finally, perhaps I would have asked just how much of our conversation Carrie had heard.

But I wasn’t thinking about any of those things, since I was only thinking about my wife.

June held out both her hands, and Carrie and I each took one.

“I love you, Carrie,” June said. And Carrie told June how much she loved her as well. When I saw Carrie’s very pale face and eyes filled with tears, I really didn’t think much about it, since I was also crying as well.

“Big Jake, oh God, Big Jake, I love you so much,” she told me.

“Take care...”

And she was gone. The only woman I had ever loved was gone.

I don’t remember much about the rest of the day.

The only woman I had ever loved ... the only woman I had ever, ever loved was gone.

Soon Bo and Alice were there, and they took Carrie into the living room so I could be alone with my wife.

All too soon, an ambulance arrived and took June away from me for the final time.

At some point that afternoon I knew I had to make the most difficult phone call of my life.

Lieutenant General Samuel R. Davis and Jenny had retired a few years earlier.

LtGen Davis had not wanted to retire, but during his yearly physical they had detected a problem with his heart, so that ended a 32-year Marine Corps career.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years he had asked me to call him “Sam,” but I could not. To me he was, is and will always be The General.

The General and Jenny had retired to Hawaii, but when June was diagnosed with cancer they started spending almost as much time at my house with June as they did in Hawaii.

They would fly over, spend a month, then fly back to Hawaii for a month or two. Then they would fly back to Alabama and stay another month, before returning to Hawaii.

June was their only child, and after she was born they discovered Jenny could not have any more children. Apparently, conceiving children was a problem that ran in the family.

It had only been two weeks since they left, and when they left June seemed to be doing better than she had in over six months.

Bo and Alice had both gotten to know General Davis and Jenny well in the past year-and-a-half, and they offered to make the phone call, but I couldn’t let that happen. This was a phone call I had to make. I owed that to June, The General and Jenny.

Once the phone rang in Hawaii, and I heard The General pick up the phone and answer “Davis residence,” that became the first and only time in my life I called The General anything other than General.

“Sam, this is Jake. Sam, she’s gone ... Sam, she’s gone!” was all I could say before I dissolved into tears.

Alice had to grab the phone and continue the conversation with Sam and Jenny.

They were, literally, on the first plane from Hawaii.

I can’t tell you much about the next three weeks.

I was pretty much a basket case.

They tell me it may have been the largest funeral procession ever held in the state of Alabama.

I had served as president of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association, which is comprised of sheriffs from each of the 67 counties in the state. I had visited each of those 67 counties at least once, and most several times.

I was told each county in the state sent at least one patrol car, and many sent more than one. Some sent a lot more than one. Many of the city police departments in the state also sent patrol cars, and the Alabama State Patrol was also present, along with fire departments from throughout the state.

June had been a very popular teacher and principal and had been very involved with the state department of education in the capital, Montgomery, so there were many visitors from different schools around the state attending to pay their respects as well.

I heard the funeral procession itself stretched several miles long.

I really wouldn’t know. I was so overcome with grief I paid little attention to anything happening around me.

Carrie had to leave for college just a few weeks later, and I vaguely remember her coming by to say good-bye. When she came into the room and saw me, she started crying and her face turned pale, but again I really didn’t think much about it, because I knew she loved June so much. We hugged, and she kissed me on the cheek, but that is about all I remember.

I do know she said she would be back for fall break, but since she was attending the University of Alabama on a full basketball scholarship, her break would be shorter since they also already had games scheduled.

The General and Jenny had stayed for three weeks, but they also had to head back to Hawaii.

The General and I had talked long into the night before they left.

“Jake, do you know when I first knew that you were the one for June?” he asked.

I told him that no, I did not know.

“That very first day when we met,” The General said. “We were sitting in my study and June came in and sat down on your lap and gave you a kiss ... first on the cheek and then on the lips.

“June never did anything like that before with anyone, not even her fiancé, and then when I saw you blush ... well then I knew that my little girl was no longer just my little girl, but she now belonged to someone else. I nearly cried when the two of you left.

“It was such a strange feeling. Even when June had gotten engaged before, somehow I knew it wouldn’t last ... that my little girl was STILL my little girl,” he continued.

“But when I saw her kiss you ... I felt both so sad and yet so happy. Sad for myself and happy for June. Seeing the two of you ... it just looked and felt so right.

“After the two of you left ... well, Jenny and I went back to my study, and Jenny sat down on my lap and kissed me on the cheek, then kissed me on the lips and told me what June had said, about how she was not coming back home that night.

“I knew I should have been upset she would spend the night with someone she had, literally, only met a few hours earlier ... but I wasn’t upset,” he confided. “Not after seeing the two of you together.”

“Jenny and I both cried some that night,” he confided.

“You see, Jake, the first time Jenny ever kissed me ... she kissed me first on the cheek, and then on the lips. I was some shave-tail second lieutenant and the most beautiful woman I had ever met kissed me ... and I blushed, too.”

The General and I sat there for quite a while, lost in our memories. And yes, we both cried some that night.

Sometime later Jenny came in and sat down by the General.

Soon Jenny had all three of us laughing, remembering some of the wonderful times we had shared together as an extended family.

“Do you remember the orange juice?” asked Jenny, “June nearly killed you about moving the orange juice.”

I started laughing.

“Of course I remember, Jenny,” I answered, “I don’t think I have ever seen June as mad about ANYTHING as she was that morning. I think if she could have found a gun, I would not be here now.”

What happened was this: I had been off one day, about a year before being elected Sheriff, and decided to clean out the refrigerator as a favor to June.

After taking everything out of the refrigerator, I had cleaned the insides, then put everything back. Unfortunately, there was one thing I put in the wrong place.

First, you have to understand June was NOT a morning person. I used to joke with her the sun was afraid to come out and the birds were afraid to start singing until after she had her morning coffee.

June always kept a half-gallon of milk, a half-gallon of orange juice and a quart of liquid coffee creamer on a shelf in the refrigerator door. And it was always in that order, milk, orange juice and creamer.

Only when I put everything back, I reversed the order of the last two, so it was now milk, coffee creamer and orange juice.

It shouldn’t have been any problem. The milk was a half-gallon plastic jug with the lid on top, the orange juice was a half-gallon plastic jug with the lid on top, while the creamer was a quart paper container with the lid on the side.

No one could EVER get them confused!

But June did – she put orange juice in her coffee, and, still half asleep, didn’t realize it until she had taken a big sip!

If I had been home that morning, I would have been dead meat. As it was, she called me on the phone and that was one of the few times I have ever heard June cuss. Not only cuss, but I think she taught me some new words.

That became a running joke between June and me, and of course The General and Jenny would also tease her about it.

“Did June tell you what I said, the last time we were on vacation in Florida?” I asked Jenny.

Jenny shook her head, so I explained.

“It was our last day in Florida, and we were eating breakfast. I asked June if – since it was our last day in Florida – I should ask the waiter to put orange juice in her coffee.

“If looks could kill, I wouldn’t be here now,” I joked.

We all laughed, then told a few more funny stories.

Then The General got serious again.

“Do you remember our conversation that first day, Jake, when I asked you to not hurt June?”

I told him of course I did, that I had promised I would NEVER knowingly hurt her.

“If June were still here, Jake, then I think she would be the first one to tell you that you are hurting her, hurting the memory of her.”

The General and Jenny both told me I had to get back to work, and stop feeling sorry for myself.

“Yes, you lost a wife,” I remember him saying, “but don’t forget we lost our only child.

“Is this what June would want you to be doing? Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself?” he said.

He and Jenny were right – of course. He was The General and The General was always right.

The day after they left, I got up and put my uniform on for the first time in weeks and returned to work. During the day, it wasn’t so bad. I had plenty to do to keep my mind off things.

Nights? Nights were a different story.

A month or so passed before I really started thinking about June’s final words: “Take care...”

Were those really supposed to be her final words, just “Take care,” or had she intended to add something else?

Had she meant to say, “Take care of yourself,” to me and Carrie?

Or had she meant to say, “Take care of each other.” I knew I would never really know.

When Bo told me that Carrie was coming home for a few days for fall break and wanted to talk to me, I told him I had forgotten that I was going on vacation, and would be gone for at least a week. I left that afternoon! Had no idea where I was going, but I ran away for a week rather than face Carrie.

I also had been thinking a lot about our final conversation, when June told me NOT that Carrie just loved me. I could understand and accept that because I loved Carrie also, but could not accept Carrie being “in love with” me.

That one little word “with” changed everything.

Making it doubly difficult for me was I was now questioning myself.

Yes, I admit I loved Carrie – but as I told June, as someone who was like a daughter to both of us.

Now I was wondering if I was to blame for the way – if June was right – Carrie felt about me.

Looking back over the final six months of June’s life, Carrie and me would play basketball nearly every day. For as long as she could, June would sit in a chair in the shade and watch Carrie and I play ball. First she would cheer me on, if I had the ball, then she would cheer Carrie on when she had the ball.

In fact, June not only encouraged us to play, but insisted on it! She often told me I was driving her crazy, the way I would constantly hover around her when I was at home, trying to fulfill her every need.

As I was reflecting on those final months of June’s life, it was something of a shock to realize our daily basketball games were often the highlight of my day! For 20 or 30 or 40 minutes I could get away from my duties as a Sheriff.

And, as horrible as it may sound, at least for a little while forget my wife was dying.

After every game, Carrie and I would hug, and I would kiss her on the cheek and she would kiss me on the cheek.

To me, back then, it was completely innocent.

Now – well, I didn’t know. Was I guilty of somehow doing something that contributed to making Carrie fall in love with me? If she were, as June said, “in love with” me.

I knew I could not see Carrie as long as those words, “in love with” me were hanging over my head and I was questioning my guilt in making her feel that way as well. And especially not as long as I loved June so much it still hurt my soul to wake up every morning and realize I would never see her again.

It never occurred to me – in my selfishness – Carrie had also suffered a great loss and was also grieving over the death of someone she had loved as both a second mother and older sister.

And I never even conceived of the possibility Carrie had actually heard the last conversation I had with June, when June told me she knew Carrie was in love with me.

And how those words had been eating away at her.

When she finally got up the courage to want to talk about those final words ... well, then I proved what a total jerk and asshole I was.

It had to have been quickly obvious that I was both avoiding and rejecting Carrie. If it were only true, as I told June, that while Carrie loved me, it was only the love for a friend, a father-figure, or a big brother, then the effects of my rejecting Carrie would have been bad enough.

Yes, those final words of June’s had been eating away at Carrie until she knew she had to do something.

And the lengths she would go through, because of MY stupidity, MY selfishness, MY turning my back on her, to disprove those words, those thoughts, those feelings.

Perhaps, if I hadn’t been so selfish Carrie and I could have sat down and talked, and she would not have gone through nearly two years of hell.

When Carrie came home for Christmas and Bo again told me she wanted to talk to me, I remembered I had to go out of state for a conference.

When she came home for spring break, I remembered I had promised The General and Jenny I would spend some time with them in Hawaii.

And Carrie didn’t come home for summer vacation after her freshman year. She told Bo she wanted to stay in Tuscaloosa and earn some extra college credits during the summer, and also had a part-time job so she could earn some extra spending money.

I really didn’t think about it – I was actually relieved.

For fall break during her second year of school, I again took vacation, and the same during Christmas. For spring break earlier this year, I actually did have a conference sponsored by the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.

Carrie again stayed in Tuscaloosa for most of this summer, but a couple of times when she did come home we both managed to avoid each other.


Now, on this cool, crisp fall morning I was looking at Carrie lying on the ground at my feet, wearing a pair of my handcuffs.

She moaned again, then tried to move her hand up to her face. Of course her hands were shackled together.

I had run back inside long enough to turn on the exterior lights, so I no longer needed my flashlight.

Carrie rubbed her forehead where she had hit the tree, and groaned again as she sat up.

Then she saw me standing a few feet away.

“Uncle Jake, what happened?” she asked, then as she realized she was wearing handcuffs, “and why am I wearing these?”

I tried to put as much contempt into my voice as I possibly could.

“You managed to run into a tree limb and knock yourself out while you and your friends were trying to roll my house and destroy my property,” I stated, as coldly as possible.

I could see her flinch at the tone of my voice.

“And as far as the handcuffs are concerned, Miss James, you are under arrest for vandalism and destruction of property!”

“Uncle Jake,” she began, but I immediately interrupted.

“Don’t call me ‘Uncle Jake,’” I almost snarled. “You can do like the other criminals do – call me Sheriff or call me Sir!”

She again flinched at the tone of my voice, and her face turned pale.

“Uncle Jake,” she started, but I again stopped her and told her to never call me that again, either call me Sheriff or Sir.

“Sheriff, please,” she started, “can we please go inside where it is warm? I am freezing out here.”

I could actually tell that she was cold, since she was shivering, and her nipples were getting even harder.

I reached down with my hand, and she used it to pull herself up, stumbling for a minute, then her hand went back up to her head.

She was still bent over a little, then started straightening up ... and up ... and up!

My God, she was nearly as tall as I was!

What had happened to that little girl I used to give piggy-back rides to?

The one who I used to spend hours with, playing basketball? The same one who by the time she was 15 could beat me five games out of 10! And by the time she was 17, could beat me seven games out of ten. In those final months of June’s life, when Carrie was an 18-year-old senior, she could beat me eight games out of ten. God, we used to laugh so much back then.

The little girl I used to love like the daughter June and I could never have?

I know that Bo had mentioned she had grown some more while in college, but Carrie had to be at least 6 feet, three inches tall, possibly a little more.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. As I have mentioned, Bo was 6’ 7”, and Alice was just a little over six feet tall, but I was still shocked to realize that Cassie could now look at me virtually eye to eye.

The last time I had seen Carrie, she was an even six feet tall, and could not have weighed more than 120 pounds. She had been painfully thin, string-bean thin, but I now realized that she had to have gained at least 30 or 40 pounds!

It looked like most of that weight was now in her legs, which were incredibly long, and were extremely well muscled, but also very shapely. Her arms also rippled with added muscle. But I could tell that some of that weight had also settled in her wide hips and firm butt, and especially her chest.

Not huge up top, but still – compared to what she used to look like – awfully pleasant to see.

I also realized, with a shock, that Carrie was now really beautiful. I mean she had always been pretty, but now she was drop-dead beautiful!

She was looking at me, checking out her body, and she gave a little half-smile and started to talk again.

“Please, Jake ... Sheriff ... can we go inside? I am freezing,” she asked.

Trying to force myself NOT to think about her body, I again almost snarled my answer at her.

“Well, you should have put more clothes on before you decided to spray-paint someone’s house,” I almost yelled.

Again, she flinched at the anger in my voice, but it was also obvious she was also shocked by the words themselves.

“Jake, I swear we were just going to roll your house! I swear,” she said.

One thing any lawman has to develop is a sixth sense of when people are telling the truth. I am not saying I have never been fooled, or I couldn’t be fooled, but I could tell from her expression and body language that she was being honest.

I had been carrying the bag I found, so I opened it up and showed her the half-dozen cans of spray paint.

“Well, your friends apparently had other ideas. And last time they keyed my personal vehicle and county vehicle. The time before that they egged my house and vehicles. And the time before that they also soaped my windows,” I said.

I ordered Carrie to head towards my garage. As she started walking in front of me, I simply could not stop myself from watching her walk, watching the sway of her butt. She walked like a panther, so easy and graceful, but you could sense the immense power in her legs.

A couple of times she glanced back over her shoulder, and knew I was watching her legs and backside, and I could see her start to smile a little. Each time, however, I would look up and glare at her so she just continued walking.

It is very difficult for me to admit this, but I was actually becoming aroused just watching this beautiful young lady walk – and that was making me even more angry than I might otherwise have been.

I had not been with a woman in over three years. The last year of June’s life, with her cancer, that was simply not possible. While I had had opportunities during the past two years, I simply could not do that. I had felt like I would be betraying June’s memory.

I had pretty much forgotten my last promise to June.

I opened my garage door and grabbed a couple of blankets I keep there for whenever I decide to go camping.

I threw the blankets at Carrie, and added, “I’m not going to take you inside my house, because I don’t want you claiming I forced you to do something.”

She again flinched at both my tone and words, and I could see she was on the verge of tears, but she did wrap the blankets around herself.

That made it a little easier for me to talk to her, since I was not so conscious of the lushness of her hard young body.

“All right, Carrie,” I said in a little nicer tone of voice, “Tell me what the hell is going on.”

Carrie began explaining that at the end of her sophomore year, she had again decided to stay at college and take some courses during the summer.

“In June I called home, and Mom was crying. That was when I found out you had suspended Daddy for a month without pay,” she said. “I couldn’t believe you would do that and I was so incredibly mad at you.”

That, at least, I could understand. I had mentioned before that Bo was usually so easy going, but he also had a bad temper at times.

He had actually beaten up – really beaten up – a handcuffed prisoner. Most people had been calling not only for me to fire Bo but to arrest him as well.

I had received an extraordinary amount of bad publicity over my decision to not only not charge Bo with any crime, but to also only suspend him without pay and not fire him. But once Bo explained why he had reacted as he had, I felt I had no choice but to stand by my friend.

It seems the handcuffed prisoner, once he found out Bo’s last name, started laughing at him and claiming he had slept with his daughter.

And started getting very graphic with what he did to Carrie – and what she did to him!

“At the time, I didn’t know any of the details, but just knew you had suspended Daddy,” she said. “So I did something incredibly stupid and juvenile.”

Without even telling her parents she was on the way, she had driven back home, where she called a couple of guys -- two brothers – she had gone to school with, and they agreed to help roll my house.

“But that is all we did, Jake, I swear it. Well, that is all I did. They had insisted we drive separate cars, and told me to leave first, but all I did was roll your house,” Carrie said.

Once they had finished rolling my house, Carrie drove back to Tuscaloosa, without even stopping at her parents’.

The next month she did come home for a few days visit, and that is when she found out what had actually happened, and that I not only did not charge Bo with anything, but had actually refused to fire him and refused his letter of resignation.

“God, I felt so stupid! And I was on my way to your house to tell you what I had done, when my cell phone rang,” she added.

She said the same guys had heard she was back in town, and wanted her to help roll my house again.

“I refused, but then they said they had taken pictures of me – your chief deputy’s daughter – rolling your house and if I didn’t help, they would start sending the pictures to you, to Daddy, and to the newspapers.

“I was afraid that if they did send those pictures, even you couldn’t protect Daddy this time,” she explained.

“But I haven’t been back home until yesterday, or to your house, until tonight,” Carrie said.

“Last night, they called again, and again threatened to send the pictures unless I helped,” she said. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I agreed.”

At my insistence Carrie told me the names of her “fellow co-conspirators,” and I immediately recognized both of those names. They had been in and out of trouble with the law over a variety of misdemeanors for several years.

I didn’t tell Carrie, but I knew that within the past month their names had also started coming up as suspected drug dealers.

I will admit that I was being very hard on Carrie.

I was, however, trying to impress on her the seriousness of her actions, and that actions have consequences.

I was also very, angry at what I felt like was her betrayal of our previous friendship.

I was really upset that she would roll MY house, without knowing any of the facts.

And not just my house, but June’s house.

The house that Carrie had been in so many times.

The house that June had died in!

As I began to think about that – that Carrie would vandalize the house June died in – I admit I started getting even angrier. Which is something no law enforcement officer should do. Especially the chief law enforcement officer of a county.

And it certainly wasn’t helping that I knew I was aroused with Carrie’s closeness, with the incredible, well-muscled legs, tight butt and erect nipples.

So when Carrie asked, “Now what?” I started to lose it.

I told her that I guessed I would have to call a patrol car to pick her up and take her to jail – in as cold a voice as I could muster.

When she started to protest and started asking, “Uncle Jake ... Sheriff ... you don’t really have to do that, do you? Can’t we work something out?” I cut her off completely.

I don’t know if she was going to offer to testify against the brothers, or volunteer to do community service or what.

I might have overreacted.

Which is like saying that Niagara Falls is a pretty good trickle of water.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed the keys to the handcuffs and unlocked them.

Carrie began rubbing her wrists, and, I think, was about to thank me.

Again, I cut her off before she could say more than a word.

I don’t know exactly what she had been planning on saying when she asked “Can’t we work something out?” but I chose to interpret that in the worse possible way.

“Miss James, I am letting you go for two reasons. The first is because your father is a friend of mine, and I don’t want to cause him any embarrassment for having someone like you for a daughter.

“And the second is because June loved you – but then she didn’t know what kind of person you really are!”

Carrie turned white as a sheet.

“Based on your last comment, Miss James, I think I could easily also charge you with solicitation,” I said. I knew as the daughter of a law enforcement officer she was probably familiar with that term. But just in case she wasn’t, I left little doubt.

“If you want to prostitute yourself to avoid the consequences of your actions, then go prostitute yourself somewhere else! At least you are wearing the right clothes for it!

“Now take your pretty tits and tight little ass out of here. Get the hell off my property before I change my mind,” I yelled. If that were not bad enough, I had to add something that was even pettier: “And leave the fucking blankets!”

Carrie burst into tears. And not just tears, but body-racking sobs.

It was all I could do to not take her into my arms and tell her how sorry I was.

Instead, I turned my back on her, and again ordered her off my property before I put her in jail where she deserved to be.

After a minute or two, I heard her drop the blankets, then stumble out of the garage and across the lawn, crying and sobbing the entire time.

And I continued to hear her crying and sobbing even after I knew she was long, long gone.

I tried to tell myself I had done the right thing in giving her a lesson she would never forget.

I tried to tell myself that the next time she would think about her actions before doing something stupid.

I tried to tell myself I had no other choice!

So why do I feel like the lowest form of life on this planet?

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