"So, what do you do for a living?" Ben asked and then instantly regretted his words seeing as Caroline is about to kill herself. But to his surprise, she laughed.
"I worked as a nurse in a local nursing home. What about you?"
"I'm a cop."
"Shouldn't cops be trying to keep people from killing themselves?" Caroline asked.
"Only when we are on duty," he shrugs, and when he looks over at Caroline, he smiles because her jaw is hanging open at how serious he is.
"Close your mouth, babe, your catching flies" he moves his hand to her jaw and closes her mouth, making them both laugh. Without even realizing it, Ben made Caroline blush by calling her babe. He didn't do it on purpose or to hit on her. He just did.
"Why did you become a nurse?"
"I don't know, I wanted to do something in medicine to help people, but I didn't want to be a doctor," she says, looking out the window at the other cars on the highway.
"It's kind of hard to help people when you're dead but ok," Ben shrugs.
"Why did you become a cop," she asks, ignoring his last statement.
"My father and grandfather were cops. I always admired my father for it," Ben replies casually.
"Is your dad still a cop?"
"No, he passed away about a year ago," he says, recalling the hard time he and his family went through because of it.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that must have been hard."
"Uh, yeah, it was," Ben says in a tone that Caroline can tell means he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.
word count: 273
YOU ARE READING
Over, Gone, and Lost
Historia Corta"Whatcha doing?" "I'm about to kill myself so don't try to stop me" "I wasn't going to, but can I make a suggestion" "What" "You should do it on the bridge over Jefferson Lake, it's higher and the water is colder so if you don't die on impact you...
