Every Second Counts

Even though Kris was only gone for five days, it felt like he was gone for five years. I couldn’t wait for him to get back just so we could spend the day together. I had been working so much overtime in the past few days, but I had made it clear to everyone that I wasn’t working tomorrow, since Kris was coming home. Fiona had already assured me that she would work for me, and I didn’t need to worry about it.

I stared at the fiber from our latest case underneath the microscope, trying to determine what sort of material it had come from. “Burlap,” I announced, finally figuring out what it was. Logan turned around in his seat to look at me before standing up and making his way over to me. “It’s burlap,” I repeated.

“Why would a rich woman who cares about her appearance have burlap on her?” Logan questioned.

“I’d say it’s from her killer. Like you said, this woman cared about her appearance, and she was wearing an evening gown. There’s no way the burlap came from her. But, this could have come from anything. A bag, a t-shirt, carpet,” I began naming off all the sources of burlap.

“Carpet,” Logan stated, and I stopped talking, wondering what he was thinking. “That’s it, Mara, it’s from the carpet. Well, a rug, really. There was a burlap rug in Jude’s apartment,” he recalled, referring to one of our prime suspects in the case, who happened to work for the victim. “I’ve got to go back to her apartment and see if I can find anything else. Call Gillies and tell him what’s up and have him meet me there with a warrant,” he said, referring to Detective Gillies, who had been working this case with us.

“You mean us. Have him meet us there, right?” I asked. “I’m coming with you,” I told him, grabbing my cell phone, dialing Gillies’ number, explaining what was going on.

A couple of hours later, we had enough to put our suspect away, and Gillies was working on getting a confession out of her. “Mara, why are you still here?” Fiona asked when she saw me filling out some paperwork on the case. “Get out of here! Your boyfriend’s going to be home in three hours,” she told me.

“Yeah, which means I have three hours to fill out this paperwork and tie up some loose ends,” I retorted.

“Okay, first of all,” Fiona began, grabbing the pen that I was currently using out of my hand. “You’re only going to be gone one day. All of this can wait until you get back. And, second of all, you need these three hours to get some sleep. Because I know you and Kris aren’t planning on sleeping all day tomorrow,” she said with a knowing smile. “Go,” she repeated.

“Fi, just let me finish filling this out,” I argued, sticking my hand out for the pen, but she shook her head, not giving me the pen back.

“Nope, you can finish it when you get back Friday. I promise, Davis isn’t going to care,” she told me, and I knew she was right. I rolled my eyes, knowing I wasn’t going to win this battle, and I pushed my chair backwards, standing up and walking towards the locker room, telling Fiona and Logan bye.

Taking Fiona’s advice, I went back to my apartment, quickly setting the alarm on my phone so it would go off in two hours before I collapsed on my bed, trying to get a few hours of sleep before Kris came home.

What felt like moments later, I rolled over, hitting random buttons on my phone, trying to get it to shut up as the alarm started going off. I winced to see what time it was before quickly taking a shower and blow drying my hair.

I heard my phone beep as I finished brushing my hair, indicating I had a text message. I bounced over to my phone to see it was from Kris, telling me the plane had just landed and he was on his way home. I smiled to myself before quickly texting him back.

I walked over to my closet, trying to figure out what to wear. I already had on matching lingerie, and I just needed to figure out what to wear over it for my walk up the stairs to Kris’s apartment. Twenty minutes later, I was all dressed and ready to go, just waiting on a text from Kris telling me he was home.

He finally texted, and I slowly made my way up to his place. I knocked on his door, and he opened it moments later. “Wow,” he whispered, taking in my appearance, which consisted of me in my lingerie with my pea coat over it and a pair of high heels.

“You like?” I asked him as I walked around him, unbuttoning my coat.

“Wow,” he repeated, his eyes staying on me, watching as I took my coat off and threw it onto the back of the couch.

“I figured I needed to make it up to you for missing dinner before you left and for forgetting you were leaving altogether,” I told him.

“You know, I would have been happy with you making me breakfast in the morning,” he told me, and I took a step backwards from him. “But, this is much, much better,” he assured me, walking towards me and wrapping his arms around me, carrying me back to his bedroom.

***

I woke up the next morning feeling completely exhausted, which wasn’t a surprise since Kris and I hadn’t fallen asleep until nearly five in the morning, and it was now nine. I got out of bed, trying to find some clothes to wear, finally settling on one of Kris’s shirts that was in the top drawer of his dresser.

“Where are you going?” I heard Kris mumble, and I turned my head around to see him squinting at me, the light from the window obstructing his vision.

I buttoned up his shirt before fully turning around. “I’m making breakfast,” I told him. “I don’t know about you, but all that exercise last night has left me starving,” I winked at him, making my way out to the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, Kris walked into the kitchen, wearing a pair of sweats, as he sat down at the table. I could feel his eyes on me, and I flipped my head around, giving him a smile. “Damn, last night, plus I get breakfast?” he asked. “I’m living the life right now,” he said.

I laughed at him before saying, “Don’t get too used to it. I’m just making up for missing dinner before you left.” I set the bacon and pancakes I had just finished making on the table before heading to his refrigerator to get the orange juice out of it. “I wouldn’t count on this to happen again for a long, long time,” I added with a laugh.

“Mara, I already told you not to worry about not having dinner with me before I left. I know that your job is hectic right now, but I also know it means the world to you. I’m not upset that you missed dinner,” he said as I poured the orange juice into the glasses that set on the table.

“Thank you,” I told him sincerely. “I’m glad you understand how important my job is.”

“Of course I do. Just like you understand how important hockey is to me,” he said before digging into his breakfast. Twenty minutes later, we were both finished, and Kris started to get up to go get into the shower.

“Hurry up. I’d like to get in there before you use up all the hot water,” I told him jokingly.

“You know, you could always get in there with me,” he told me with a smirk.

“Yeah, because that way we’ll both get clean,” I said sarcastically.

“Or, you could go down to your apartment and take a shower,” he pointed out.

“Shut up,” I told him, pushing him into the bathroom as I made my way back to the kitchen to clean up our dirty dishes from breakfast. I heard the doorbell ring, and I walked out into the hallway, waiting to see if Kris was going to come get the door.

“Hey, can you get that?” Kris asked me, sticking his head out of the bathroom door, obviously already naked.

“Kris! Look at what I’m wearing!” I exclaimed, motioning down to his shirt that barely covered my ass, as I hadn’t even bothered to put underwear on this morning, a decision that I was greatly regretting at this moment.

“Just open the door a little bit, stick your head out, and get rid of them,” he told me as the doorbell rang once again.

“You so owe me,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Yeah, I do. I’ll make it up to you tonight,” he called out as I made my way to the front door, pulling Kris’s shirt further down, trying to cover some more of my legs. I cracked the door open, seeing a middle-aged woman standing there.

“Hi, I’m looking for Kris Versteeg, but I must have gotten the wrong door,” the woman said, beginning to turn around and look for a different condominium.

“No,” I said suddenly, opening the door further, something I immediately regretted when I remembered what I was wearing. The woman stared at me, disgust written all over her face when she saw me standing there in just a men’s dress shirt. “This is Kris Versteeg’s place,” I told her. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“Who are you?” she questioned, looking me up and down, making me feel extremely uncomfortable.

I opened my mouth to say something when I heard Kris’s voice come from behind me. “Mom?” he asked, and I spun around, my eyes going wide. He walked over to the doorway, enveloping the woman who was standing there. “Mom, what are you doing here?” he asked, ushering her inside, as I just stood there, frozen in my spot, still in shock that the first time I had met Kris’s mother, I was simply wearing one of his shirts, my hair still a mess from the night before.

“Well, I’m here to see you, obviously,” his mother smiled, her mood instantly lightening when she saw her son, who was guiding her over to the couch, motioning for her to have a seat. “I told you I was coming to town for Christmas,” she told him.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d be here this early,” he said, looking up at me, who was still standing next to the door.

“And, who is this woman that’s answering your door in nothing but a shirt?” his mother questioned, causing me to squirm where I stood, realizing I hadn’t made the best first impression, and she already hated me.

“Mom, that’s my girlfriend, Mara,” he said, waving me over. “Mara, this is my mother, Marilyn,” he introduced the two of us.

“Your girlfriend?” Marilyn questioned, looking at Kris. “This is your girlfriend?” she asked, glancing at me.

Kris nodded his head. “Yeah, remember I’ve told you all about her,” he reminded her.

“Yeah, I just didn’t expect her to be…like this,” she said motioning at me.

I bit my lip, not knowing how to reply to what she had said. “If you’ll excuse me,” I began, walking backwards towards the bedroom. “I’ve got to…excuse me,” I said, rushing back to Kris’s bedroom, trying to figure out how I was going to get on his mother’s good side when it was obvious that she already hated me.