Free Pulled Over by Tory Richards

Chapter 1
     
     
    Oh, crap! Sunny glanced in her review
mirror to see a cop car pull up behind her old Chevy truck. Her
gaze darted back to the red light above her. It had to be the
longest light on Main Street, and she began to get nervous. She
chanced another glance in her mirror, thankful for the oversized
shades shielding her eyes. At least he wouldn’t notice she kept
looking at him.
    Dudley only had three cops in their piss-ant,
small country town, and word was out that a new one had just been
hired. It had to be the cop behind her because she didn’t recognize
him as Joe, Stan or Mark, two of which she’d gone to high school
with. Joe, the oldest, had been a cop for as long as Sunny could
remember.
    Was the damn light stuck? She began to feel
sweat gather between her breasts, and took a few deliberate breaths
to calm her racing heart. If he didn’t notice her expired tag it
would be a miracle, and Sunny suspected it was standard procedure
when a cop pulled up behind someone at a light that they
automatically checked the tag. Maybe the new guy would forget to
check.
    She glanced at the cop again. From what Sunny
could see, the man was big and hunky in a Tatum Channing way and
even had the same color hair and style. She wondered what color his
eyes were, behind the aviator style sunglasses he was wearing. His
square boned jaw looked hard, until his lips turned up in a slow
smile telling Sunny that he knew she was watching him. She quickly
looked down as if he could see her eyes. Crap!
    The light finally changed and Sunny
accelerated. She didn’t dare glance behind her again, but she was
aware the cop was right on her ass. Had he noticed her tag? Lord,
she hoped not. She couldn’t afford a ticket. At least there wasn’t
another light to worry about, as she headed in the direction that
would take her out of town. She was careful to watch her speed,
praying when they came up to the small police station that he’d
pull into the designated parking spot. Only he didn’t.
    Damn it! Why is he still behind me? Sunny was forced to stop when she came up to a cross walk, and she
saw Mrs. Hammond step off the curb. Of all people! It had to be
sixty-six year old, three-hundred pound Margaret Hammond who moved
with all the speed of a snail. Sunny shut her eyes with
frustration, and began to count. She might as well just go up to
the cop behind her and tell him about the tag.
    “Hello, dear!”
    Sunny opened her eyes, and smiled. “Hi Mrs.
Hammond, I see you’re out getting your daily exercise. How are you
doing?”
    “Fine, dear, just fine.” She kept on
shuffling, barely picking up her feet.
    As soon as Mrs. Hammond was clear of Sunny’s
truck, Sunny put her foot down on the gas, jerked forward, and came
to a halt. Oh. My. God. Can it get any worse? A glance in
her review mirror revealed the handsome cop behind her was
laughing. Sunny clenched her teeth and turned the key, swearing
beneath her breath at her traitor truck.
    The engine roared to life but by now there
were two other people in the crosswalk and she could do nothing but
wait. She grabbed the material of her blouse and fluffed, feeling
some relief, wishing her air conditioner worked. It wasn’t as if
she couldn’t afford a new vehicle, but old blue had been handed
down from one sibling to another in her family, until it was
finally hers. It had sentimental value.
    At last she was moving again. Main Street
ended, and Sunny was traveling the two-lane country road home. It
was quiet, and not as busy as it used to be before the new highway
went in a couple years ago. The countryside was dotted with old,
northern homes, and fenced in pastures. Most empty now, but when
she’d been growing up the fields had been filled with dairy cows,
and corn. The old ways had been replaced with progress, and most of
the country-folk worked in the surrounding towns.
    Sunny had tried city-life but she’d hated it.
She was a country girl at heart, and she liked her small town