My wife had been trying to get her driver's license for two years and still hadn't passed.
I was afraid she'd feel discouraged, so I loved her twice as hard.
Then one day, ten minutes before my shift started, my clingy little wife sent me a message saying she was heading to driving school to practice and would need to focus—no phone for two hours.
I never expected that while out on patrol, I'd come across an illegally parked car. I switched on my body camera and approached to investigate.
Just as I was about to knock on the window, the car began to rock. A woman's hand pressed flat against the glass.
I recognized the engraving on that ring instantly. I'd designed it myself—her name, in a custom script made just for her.
……
In that moment, my brain stopped working. I pulled out my phone and called her.
It rang and rang. She didn't pick up.
My eyes never left that shuddering car. When I saw the tangled silhouettes of a man and woman inside, my hand clenched into a fist before I even realized it.
The woman in that car was wearing an expression I'd never seen on her—seductive, uninhibited—the polar opposite of the sweet, innocent wife I thought I knew.
Eventually, the endless ringing must have killed the mood. The driving instructor reached for her phone to turn it off, but Carmen Harding snatched it away.
"Don't! I can't ignore my husband's calls. He'll worry something happened to me."
"Just stay quiet. I'll say a few words and hang up."
The instructor cursed under his breath, face twisted with irritation. "Goddamn pushover, always killing the vibe."
Carmen clamped a hand over his mouth and answered the call.
"Hello! Babe, we've only been apart two hours and you miss me already?"
Her familiar voice drifted through the half-open window. My breathing turned ragged. Every muscle in my body strained to keep me in check.
I steadied myself, then spoke.
"Honey, why'd it take you so long to pick up?"
"Because I was practicing driving! I couldn't answer!"
"Okay, babe, I gotta go—if I stay on the phone any longer, the instructor's going to yell at me again. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
Before I could say a word, she chirped, "Love you, babe!" and hung up.
I didn't know what emotion could possibly describe what I was feeling.
I didn't have the courage to walk up and catch them in the act. Carmen and I—our journey together hadn't been easy.
And I couldn't bear to watch the girl I'd kept sacred in my heart shatter that image with my own eyes.
My eyes were burning, nearly rimmed red, when my partner arrived.
"Clarence, you okay?"
Clarence Dickerson forced a bitter smile and shook his head. "I'm fine. Just got some sand in my eye."
"If you say so. Come on, let's go."
Sebastian Fox nodded toward the road ahead. "That car up there is parked illegally. Rocking like that—whoever's inside is definitely up to no good."
"But duty calls. We've got to cite the violation."
Sebastian finished speaking, then cracked a grin, eyes gleaming with amusement.
"Let's see who's bold enough to pull this in broad daylight."
He was already walking over. I followed close behind.
As we neared the car, that familiar coquettish whine slipped through the cracked window again.
My fists clenched so hard my knuckles went white. I was a heartbeat from losing it when Sebastian rapped on the window.
"Ahh!"
"Who the hell—! Have some goddamn manners!"
The couple inside scrambled apart. The instructor cursed as he grabbed his jacket and threw it over Carmen's body.
The second they saw traffic police uniforms through the glass, they fumbled the door open, and the profanity died on the instructor's lips.
Carmen didn't dare look up. She stayed hidden behind the instructor's back.
"Sir, your vehicle is parked illegally," Sebastian said, all business.
"You're within fifty meters of an intersection—no stopping allowed. On top of the points on your license, you're looking at a fine..."
