Read The Rocky Road to Romance for Free Online

broadcast sooner.
    Suddenly the scanner came alive again with shouting. The gunman was coming out with the hostage. They were in the doorway of the house. They were on the steps.
    Daisy turned the car down the cross street. She didn’t want to miss seeing the gunman. She took the corner and found at least half the road clogged with police cars. They’d kept a lane open for emergency vehicles, and Daisy told herself this was an emergency. She was relieved that she was driving a compact and could squeeze through the narrow corridor of empty roadway. A man darted from between two parked cars. Daisy slammed on the brakes the moment she saw him, but it was too late. She would never forget the look of astonishment on his face just before impact—just before he was deflected off her right front fender.
    An instant later the area was swarming with police. Daisy’s car door was opened and she was helped out. The minicam appeared. Medics and police surrounded the man Daisy had hit.
    Daisy tried to go to the man, but she was restrained by a cop.
    â€œIs he all right?” she asked. “This is terrible!” She felt the tears gathering behind her eyes.
    The man was on his feet, swearing at Daisy. “I’m gonna get you!” he said. “You’re a marked woman. Your life is gone, sister.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Daisy said. “I didn’t see you…”
    â€œIt wasn’t your fault,” the cop told Daisy. “You were going real slow, and there was no way you could have seen him. He ran right into the side of your car. Besides, you’re a hero. He let the little girl go and made a run for it, but we couldn’t get near him what with all these bystanders. We might have lost him if you hadn’t knocked him on his keister.”
    â€œOh no,” Daisy said. “Are you telling me that man was the gunman?”
    The minicam zoomed in on Daisy.
    â€œHow does it feel to have captured Barry LeRoy, the Roach?” a woman asked.
    â€œWell, I didn’t exactly capture him,” Daisy said. “I sort of inadvertently ran into him.”
    The minicam swung around to record the Roach, handcuffed now, being led to the paddy wagon.
    The woman continued the interview. “Are you a police officer?” she asked Daisy, noting the antennae sticking out of her car like porcupine quills.
    â€œ No! Goodness. I’m the WZZZ traffic reporter. I was hoping for an interview. I suppose it’s too late for that,” Daisy said, watching the doors clang closed on the police van.
    Â 
    Steve Crow was on his way to the pound to get a dog when he heard the bulletin come over the radio. The Dog Lady of Snore had just run down the Roach, a major dope dealer. Steve made a U-turn and put in a call to the station.
    â€œWho the devil sent her out on an interview?” Steve yelled into his phone.
    â€œI did,” the editor said. “I thought that’s what she was supposed to do. We always use the traffic cars as mobile units.”
    â€œShe bakes dog biscuits!” Steve shouted.“For crying out loud, she gives fashion reports on accident victims.”
    â€œIt’s the human interest angle,” the editor said. “People seem to like it.”
    Steve slammed the phone into its cradle. He knew people liked it. In fact, he, too, found it pleasant to have the traffic report humanized. What he’d actually been thinking, but didn’t dare say, was that Daisy Adams, despite her cheerful busyness and obvious competency, seemed fragile and vulnerable to him. He wanted to care for her, protect her. He definitely did not want her running around in bad neighborhoods and bagging dope dealers.
    He dialed her car phone number and clenched his teeth while he waited. One ring, two rings. “Come on, come on,” he said. When she answered he didn’t bother with hello. “Are you all right?” he asked.
    â€œYup. I’m