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“Then how will he feel to know you’re waiting for him to finish his ‘conversation’?” Luna pointed out.
“Crap.” Kevin crammed a chip into his mouth.
“Hot tub?” Theo suggested. There was the sound of a door opening down the hallway near the master bedroom, and the three of them hoofed it outside.
Chapter 8
An hour and at least two beers later, the team from Firehouse 15 was considerably more relaxed after time in the hot tub.
Erin and Theo called everyone back to the tables. Noah, his composure much recovered, sat off to the side behind Erin, in a new semi-matching shirt to hers.
“Welcome to the awards portion of the night. The honorable Mrs. Hudgens-Baker and I have taken it upon ourselves to bestow end of the year awards. Even for those of you we barely know, because if there’s anything Firehouse 15 A shift stands for, it’s awards and making each other miserable. We call this love,” Theo announced.
“Before we start, I want to take a moment to remember those who could not join us tonight, particularly Captain Soto, who made the ultimate sacrifice,” Erin said, which quieted the crowd considerably. “We’ll miss him greatly, and he won’t be forgotten.”
“We also have it on good authority he’d have done almost anything to avoid another get-together like we had at Thanksgiving, especially since this one had a fistfight,” Theo added.
“May his memory and spirit live on in us as we carry the proud and possibly crazy legacy of Firehouse 15 onward,” Erin said, and the entire group bowed their heads.
“On the topic of others absent, we acknowledge our dear departed Jacob Carver. He’s gone to the greener pastures of Rescue Alpha to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor-firefighter-paramedic.” Theo fake intoned. “They assured me they have a tinfoil hat to keep him from hearing any extra voices to change his career again.”
“And thus finishes our departing member roll call.” Erin shrugged. “This is what you get when you’re so short staffed the Fire Chief has to captain you for a few weeks.”
“Our first award goes to Mrs. Noah Baker or Ms. Erin Hudgens, who single-handedly tried to bring down the fire department. I don’t think this shirt needs any more explanation.” Theo handed her a shirt reading ‘Dibs on the fire chief.’
“Right back at you. Theo Jefferson, you win a special prize for being the Hufflepuff of Firehouse 15, the ultimate secret keeper, even to the point you helped me steal an ambulance.” Erin passed him his own ‘Firefighting. Loyalty.’ T-shirt.
“Giving awards to yourself isn’t the same,” Vanessa protested from her seat near Aiden.
“Wait your turn,” Theo said. “Speaking of, as beauty is never tarnished, you finally got to do some lieutenant-ing and proved you can kick ass and be pretty at the same time. You didn’t break a nail before winning for Team Flour before the captain got disqualified.”
“Which was never in doubt.” Vanessa smiled at her ‘Beautiful Badass’ shirt, still sitting too close to Aiden for Erin’s preferences.
“Too impatient. I had planned on giving out to our newbies before you. Glenn, Solari, Timmons, and, Lincoln, come up here,” Erin said.
Their four newcomers obediently lined up, Solari and Timmons squeezing between Vanessa and Aiden.
“In one of the great moments of the year, Solari and Timmons saved an entire city via snowplow without risking their lives or limb. You’ve been with us every step of the way, doing what was asked quietly without failing. So, in recognition…” Theo displayed with a flourish two different shirts bearing snowplows. ‘I make my own lane’ was claimed by Solari, and Timmons took ‘I plowed your mom.’
“Mr. Glenn, we recognize you’ve barely finished your rookie year, but Fabian Santos from Firehouse 5 sent you over with a warning label.” Erin pretended to read off a card. “Pretty good at basketball, needs to work on his free throws, not dropping a roof on his lieutenant, and his smoothness with the ladies. I’m adding ‘learning the names of your teammates’ to the list.”
Glenn shrugged, undeterred, and accepted his ‘Where’s my hose’ shirt.
“Specifically, no hitting on the ladies here, especially other people’s girlfriends or our rookie, who is older than you,” Theo warned him, then turned to Bianca. “Ms. Bianca Lincoln, welcome.”
“May you be the heir to our strengths and none of our failures—namely dating other firefighters or fire chiefs. Your deeds in the ambulance during the tornado are already legendary.” Erin gave the blushing Bianca her ‘Scalpel Jockey’ shirt. “But please don’t mention MetroGen every other minute.”
“Really, welcome to the team, you four. We’re happy to have you, and count yourselves lucky Bianca meets a needed demographic for the fake fire chief wedding celebration,” Theo said. “I mean wonderful, blessed event.”
“Back to the old-timers, except you, Vanessa, who couldn’t wait. Kevin Jones, get your butt up here,” Erin said.
Kevin traded off with the newbies, also pushing Aiden and Vanessa apart. He hesitated, his eyes darting back to Nikki. “Remember, I’m a taken man now.”
“Me too.” Erin winked. “I’ll trust you this time.”
Theo passed him a ‘Trust me, I’m a firefighter’ T-shirt.
They’d had a long strategy session on how to balance the new girlfriend with Kevin’s horndog tendencies. Today was the first day they’d met Nikki, so they’d resorted to one of Kevin’s most time-honored pickup techniques on the T-shirt and skimped on roasting him for his past behaviors.
