Double Dare by Rhonda Nelson

same.”
    Lou’s eyes widened. Shock treatments?
    “ I’ve done everything that
the doctor’s suggested, but she still has a horrible habit of,
of…Well, you saw.”
    The officer shot him a skeptical glance and
leaned down to peer into the car at Lou. Lou attempted to pin a
slightly deranged look on her face, then with a burst of
inspiration, picked up the road atlas Sam had been using to
navigate and bit a hunk off the cover.
    The officer gazed at her as though she’d lost
her mind.
    Sam tsked under his breath and gave the cop a
see-what-I-have-to-deal-with look. “She meant no harm. It’s part of
the…mental illness. She’s unstable and suffers from Tourette’s
syndrome, and ah, a few other things.” Sam sighed and his gaze
turned inward. “She wasn’t always like this. When the boys were
babies, she’d been fine. Just as sane as any healthy young mother.”
He scowled, seemingly at an unsavory memory. “It wasn’t until after
the attack that she lost her mind. Again, I’m truly sorry.”
    “ I could haul you both in,”
he told Sam.
    “ I know, sir,” Sam replied
mournfully. “Again, I’m sorry. I’m used to dealing with her bizarre
tendencies and it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world
isn’t. I’d just ask that you show a little mercy. The kids are
waiting on us at home, and this is the first time she’s been out of
the hospital in quite a while.”
    The officer gazed at Sam with pity and the
look her gave Lou told her that he’d feel considerably safer if she
were still locked away in the mental hospital. “Okay,” he said at
last. “I’ll let you go.” He scratched his head and started back
toward his car. “And I thought my old lady was trouble,” he mumbled
to himself.
    When the officer pulled from behind them and
driven away, Lou turned to Sam. “Mentally unstable? That’s the best
you could come up with?”
    “ Not the best,” Sam told her
with an unrepentant grin. “That’s the tactic I
preferred.”
    Lou snorted. “Why? So that you could make me
out to be some mentally deranged mother on leave from the loony bin
to see her sons?”
    “ The sons were a nice touch,
don’t you think?”
    Lou smiled in spite of herself. “Personally,
I liked the Tourette’s syndrome bit. I would have spit out a few
curse words,” she point out magnanimously, “but you forbade me to
speak.”
    Sam shrugged. “You improvised well. Eating
the atlas paper had the same effect.”
    “ Speaking of which…” Lou
grabbed her soda from the hold and took a big drink.
    Smiling, Sam shook his head. “I can’t believe
he bought it.”
    "Well, I can. You were very convincing.” She
chuckled. “You almost had me convinced I was crazy.”
    Sam snorted. “That’s because you are.”
    Lou lolled back against the headrest.
“Yeah…but I’m fun.”
    “ Fun, crazy.” Sam shrugged.
“Same difference.”
    “ Not hardly. Come on, admit
it. That was fun.”
    A corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “It
was…more entertaining than I thought it would be.”
    “ See!” Lou seized on his
words. “That’s exactly wha-t-“
    “ But it doesn’t mean that I
want you to do it again. Understood? I can’t have you flipping off
every officer from here to Key West. We might not be so lucky the
next time.”
    “ Humph. Luck didn’t save us.
You think fast on your feet.” Lou grinned and gave him a sly look.
“I’m anxious to see what tale you fabricate next time.”
    “ Next time? Oh, no,” Sam
told her, shaking his head. “Don’t even think about it.
I—”
    Lou chuckled. “I’m only kidding. Lighten
up.”
    “ Yeah,” Sam snorted. “I’ve
heard that before. And the next morning I saw my photo on a tabloid
magazine with a story that I was the ringleader of a sex
cult.”
    “ Don’t forget your multiple
wives and children. And your um, enormous member,” Lou teased.
“Just think, someday you’ll look back on this and
laugh.”
    His metallic gaze cut to hers. “So