Straight and True

So who is this guy? Mara asked.

“Callum Byrne. Look him up on social media.” Darlene advised

Mara opened up Facebook on her phone and entered the name, Callum Byrne. Mara wasn't surprised; the name was reasonably common, and it brought up quite a lot of hits. She scrolled through the profiles until she found one for a local guy. She opened his profile and saw he was a cute white guy with copper-coloured hair, looking to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Then one picture caught her eye more than the others: he was wearing a cassock.

“Darlene. I can't help but notice he's wearing a cassock.” Mara pointed out.

“Yeah, he's my hunk of monk.” Darlene replied as if it were perfectly normal.

“You're sleeping with a guy who is going to the priesthood?” Mara asked.

“We met when I was doing some volunteer work. He was thinking about going into seminary. He's cute, fun and does a lot of work for good causes.” Darlene explained.

“I really hope the good cause isn't going down on you.” Mara snarked.

Darlene laughed at the response. “He volunteers at soup kitchens around the city. He does stuff with animal rescues as well. He's not devoted himself to the big man just yet.”

“I'm kind of relieved you haven't entirely corrupted a man of the cloth. He looks cute though.” Mara commented.

“He's like the polar opposite of my brother. He's actually nice to people. You should call him,” Darlene insisted.

Mara sighed, knowing she was about to cave and get his number from Darlene.

“Give me his number”, she said, sounding exasperated.

Darlene grabbed Mara's phone and entered Callum's number as a contact. Before Mara could stop her, she started calling him. It took a moment before Callum answered, which was either due to the call from an unknown number or because he was busy with something.

“Hello, who is this?” A male voice asked with a hint of Irish brogue to it.

“Hi, this is Callum. This is Darlene. I hope you're good.” Darlene replied.

“Hey Darlene. I didn't realise you were back in town. Did you get a new number?” Callum asked.

“I'm not calling off my phone. I'm kind of calling for a favour.” Darlene told him.

“Darlene, you know I'll always do anything for you,” Callum replied.

“So I've got this female friend who needs some cheering up, and something to take her mind off her problems. I'm going to pass her phone back to her.” Darlene explained.

She handed Mara her phone back, and she realised she was now being expected to talk to Callum and kind of found herself slightly embarrassed. She took a moment to find her voice.

“Hi, is this Callum?. It's nice to meet you,” Mara asked.

“It's good to get to know a friend of Darlene's as well. I find myself at a disadvantage, though.” Callum answered.

“Sorry, I should introduce myself as well. I'm Mara. So Darlene says you do a lot of volunteer work?”

“I'm actually doing so right now. I'm helping out at the soup kitchen in Calhoun. I was in the middle of things. I can give you a call back later when I'm less busy.” Callum advised.

Mara felt a little disappointed at Callum ending the call so quickly but also respected the reasons he was doing so.

“Yeah, I'd like that. Honestly, I've just been stuffing my face with ice cream and drowning my sorrows in Merlot, so that would be nice.” Mara replied.

“I'll call you later then,” Callum said to her before ending the call.

Mara put her phone down, aware that Darlene was looking at her expectantly.

“So?” Darlene probed.

“He's in the middle of volunteering at a soup kitchen. He's going to call me back in a few hours.” Mara advised.

Mara saw that there was a devilish look on Darlene's face. She knew where this was going and what was about to be suggested.

“Or.”

“I should just get up and get changed now and head down there, as otherwise you'll just nag me all night until I do so.”

Darlene laughed. “Technically, I never actually suggested it you made that decision on your own.”

“But you were going to.”

Mara got up and went into her bedroom. She changed into a pair of jeans, a clean T-shirt, and a cardigan to wear over the top of it. She found some trainers to go with it. She was heading down to a soup kitchen. While she was attempting to make an impression on Callum, she was also not going to be overdressed. She stepped back out into the living room.

“You look good. A good pick for volunteering, at least.” Darlene complimented her.

“Well, it's not a date. So I'm not going to put on a little black dress. Are you okay here by yourself?”

“Girl. I have six months of Netflix to binge I'll be fine.”

Mara headed downstairs to the parking lot. She vaguely knew where the soup kitchen was that Callum had mentioned. She started driving and, while doing so did consider what she was doing was a little ridiculous that she was driving to a soup kitchen to meet a would be monk that Darlene was trying to hook her up with.

She knew she was considerably over the limit. She had spent most of the evening drinking Merlot and drowning her sorrows and then had been encouraged by Darlene topping up her glass several times. She decided she would drive carefully, it was on a few blocks over, so she could get there without any problems.

On her own and with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company, Mara ended up replaying her argument with Hugh in her mind. She wasn't aware that she had been driving erratically and went through one red light without even knowing she had not stopped. She cursed out loud when she heard the siren behind her. Looking in the rearview mirror it wasn't a police cruiser it was an unmarked car.

'You couldn't even give me the courtesy to let me know you are police? ' Mara thought to herself.

She pulled over and killed the engine. She watched the plain clothes police approaching her car. He was tall, around six feet, with combed-back light brown hair and a beard and moustache that blended into each other. Mara found herself thinking that under a different circumstance she would have found him quite handsome. He stopped next to the window and rapped on it gently. She considered ignoring him but knew that would just make it worse. This was also really embarrassing Mara had never even managed to get as much as a parking ticket before. She wound down the window while feeling red-faced with shame.

“Ma'am, do you know how fast you were going?”

“I'm sorry, Officer?

“Underwood.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Officer. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention to what speed I was doing.”

“You're considerably over the limit, went through at least one red light, and I suspect you are under the influence, ma'am. Can I see your licence and registration?”

“I'm not sure I have them on me. I didn't intend on going out tonight. It was a sort of last-minute decision.”

“Look, Ma'am. I would appreciate it if we could wrap this up quickly. I'm not even on duty I'm trying to get home to my wife, and it's date night.”

“I'm sorry to disturb your evening, Officer. I really am sorry. I was distracted, and this isn't really like me.”

“Have you got some identification, Ma'am?

Mara reached for her wallet slowly. Although the Officer seemed reasonable if a bit flustered. She pulled her wallet out of her jeans pocket and passed it to the policeman. He flicked through it and took out what appeared to be her library card.

“Mara, is it?”

She thought if she turned on the charm, maybe, just maybe, she'd get out of this with a caution at least. She batted her eyelashes at him and tried to sound as sultry as possible.

“Yes, officer.” She deliberately emphasised officer.

“Where were you heading to at this time of night, Mara?”

“I was heading to the soup kitchen a block over. I was going to pick a friend up” She wasn't exactly lying, but hopefully the story sounded plausible.

“I see. Well Mara. You were speeding and appear to be under the influence. I will need you to take a breathalyser test. If you could step out of the vehicle.”

Mara pocketed her keys and stepped out of the vehicle.

“I'm really sorry about this, officer. I never normally do something like this and it was just a series of bad decisions. If you'd be willing to forget this, I promise I have learned my lesson.”

Yeah, next time I'll not run out of the door when my ex-boyfriend's sister tells me to go and hook up with a man of the cloth.

As Mara turned that thought over in her head, she couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

“I'm just doing my job, Mara. This will be over quicker if you don't resist.”

“Oh, I would never dream of resisting, officer.” Mara said, trying to sound suggestive.

They stopped next to Officer Underwood's vehicle. He opened the back-seat for her, and she sat down but with her feet still on the pavement. He left her there for a moment while he retrieved something from the trunk, which Mara guessed might have been the breathalyser. He then proceeded to sit down in the driver's seat and call through to Dispatch. Mara couldn't hear the voice of the person on the over end of the phone clearly.

“Hi Dispatch. This is Underwood Badge 07426. Can I get a record check for a Mara Walker?”

Mara heard the indistinct reply of the Dispatch worker after a few minutes.

“Thank you, Dispatch. Yeah, I know I'm not on duty. I'm going to bring her down for processing, then get home to Ella.”

Officer Underwood got up from the driver's seat and stood next to Mara again. He held up the breathalyser in front of Mara.

“Okay, Mara. You have no priors, but I still need you to breathe into this tube. Just take a deep breath and then inhale into this.”

Mara did as requested. She inhaled sharply and then breathed into the tube. It took a moment, and then it showed the results. As Mara suspected, she was over the limit but just barely.

“As I suspected Mara you over the limit. I'll need you to come down to the station with me.”

“Are you sure, Officer Underwood? You look awfully stressed. I hate to have ruined your night. You know that isn't the only tube I could put in my mouth. Is there any way we could work something out?”