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After dinner, she could barely keep her eyes open, but for the sake of her job, she had to pull it together, so she got busy cleaning the kitchen, although it seemed like it had become a group effort, and no one left her in there alone until the last dish was put away.
“Call it a night, Geri,” Charlie said. “I’m headed home, so the office is yours.”
“Okay, Chief Charlie,” she said, slightly slurring her words she was so tired. He looked at her to see if she was okay and didn’t correct her formal greeting.
“Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you don’t have any calls.”
She nodded, longing to get into a hot shower before the alarms went off again. Just as she pulled the sheets back to get into the cot, her phone beeped.
Are you awake?It was Jake.I’m outside your door.
Hesitating, the office was not an ideal place to spend the night with a new boyfriend, but after the past two days they’d had, she wanted to be with him so badly. Opening the door, she peeked around his back but didn’t see anyone, just the shiny engines and trucks side by side and in tandem.
“Everyone’s upstairs,” he said.
Reaching for his T-shirt, she pulled him into the room and then shut the door. Without missing a beat, they were in each other’s arms.
They worked a skeleton crew on Thanksgiving Day with everyone on call, but it was quiet, thankfully. Winking at her, Jake mouthedScrabble?Giggling, Geri nodded. After they washed and scrubbed and polished the rigs and equipment again, she ran out to her car to get the trusty Scrabble game and dictionaries.
“Oh no. You really play this with her?” Leon asked, grimacing. “I’m afraid to let her see how stupid I am.”
“Ha! She lets you use a dictionary,” Jake replied.
“I wouldn’t know how to find awerd,” Devon added, laughing.
“You guys, just try, okay? It’s fun.”
“She might let you win,” Jake said, shaking the letters in their little velvet bag.
Everyone reached in for their letters and spent the next minutes setting them up. The rest of the crew came over to watch, and soon each player was part of a team with their cohort sitting behind them, whispering ideas as they looked over their shoulder.
Someone got up to make popcorn. They played four games, and finally, at ten, Geri yawned.
“I’m a party pooper,” she said, pushing back from the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed.”
They said goodnight, and later, when Jake sent her a text, she didn’t hear it.
Friday morning after another quiet night, before the next shift came in, Geri changed the sheets on Charlie’s cot and cleaned the bathroom. Taking a final look around, there wasn’t any trace of her.
“Knock, knock.”
“Hey, Jake,” she said, smiling and rubbing her arms. His presence just gave her the chills.
Sitting next to him the night before, she’d wanted to touch him in the worst way, and all the other men sitting there made it impossible. It was a good thing.
“Can I see you today?”
“Of course, Jake. I’ll invite you to be bored to death. My family has a Black Friday tradition. We eat leftovers for dinner, and then if it’s not raining, we sit around the firepit and do the corny, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores thing.”
“It’ll bemeet the parents day, then.”
“Ha! Right. Are you up to it?”
“Anything I have to do to make sure you’re mine, I’ll do,” he whispered, looking over his shoulder.
When he was certain no one was around, he reached for her, pulling her close. With her hair still wet, he figured she’d just taken a shower, and that sent a zinger that landed in his groin. Her body against his stirred every feeling, from desire to wanting to protect her, to possession, which he knew she wouldn’t like.
“You smell good,” he said, rubbing her back.
