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“Yes, please.” The lieutenants, Kevin, and his date hot-footed away from the grill.
Rather than follow them, Theo checked in with Erin. “Everything ready for dinner?”
“I’ve got a set of turkey burgers ready to go. Where are the veggie burgers for Kevin?” Noah turned away to get back to the grill.
“Veggie burgers are in the kitchen.” Erin wagged her head, desperation on her features, and each sentence became more stilted. “Come inside and help me, Theo. Inside. With me.”
When they walked back into the house, Theo said, “Honestly, this place is really nice. And really, really clean. Why is it so clean?”
“Because I keep cleaning. Forget about that. Theo, we’re crashing and burning. Glen didn’t know Solari and Timmons’ names. Bianca froze, and the rest of the bunch is killing me.” Erin was starting to spin. “I feel like we’re being judged. I’m too affectionate, and he’s not affectionate enough. I’m too young, and he’s too old. Should we try to get everyone drunk? That’ll stop any suggestion I’m pregnant. No, then they’ll worry they got drunk in front of the chief. Kevin could barely say ‘keg’ in front of him.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Theo asked.
“Maybe we pretend the house is on fire and evacuate to a different county. Or star system. Or galaxy.”
“Even though we’re firefighters? Come on, Erin. No panicking. We can do this,” Theo said. “We need to let everybody eat a little bit and have a couple of beers. Then we engage in some friendly competition.”
“Noah didn’t like the friendly competition of holding our breath in the fish-tank last time.”
“That’s because you two had the unresolved sexual tension problem back then.” Theo scanned the immaculate countertops. “Do you still have those empty detergent bottles in your Jeep from letting the day camp kids wash the firetruck?”
“Yeah, I haven’t had time to recycle them yet after I cleaned out the garage.”
Theo opened up her cupboards and started looking. “Got some brown paper bags, too. Yep, he’s old school. Does he take his lunch in this?”
“No. I bought him an insulated bag so he stops eating protein bars for a food group.”
“Wow, you have a total nesting bug. Sure you aren’t pregnant?” Theo’s joke earned him a whack on the hand.
“No. It sounds dumb, but I want... we don’t see each other as much as I want, with our different schedules. And when we’re here together, I don’t want to waste our time on household stuff. I want to be good for him.” Erin took the bags.
“Pity you couldn’t make officer this year.” Theo stopped talking before he got in trouble, too. Erin had willingly forgone a promotion to lieutenant when her relationship went public. “I mean, so, why does he have these paper bags?”
She said, “I don’t know why he has them. Would a non-pregnant dutiful wife have interviewed him about his purchases for the last four years?”
“Maybe he has a secret hand-puppet fetish. I’m talking too long about bags, aren’t I?” Theo said and saw the steam coming out of her ears. “I’ll shut up and tell you my plan instead.”
Chapter 5
After a solid thirty minutes of the Firehouse 15 team eating in relative silence and the occasional murmur of stilted small talk, Erin called out, “Everyone pretty much done? Excellent!”
“Great news. In the tradition of our long-standing Firehouse 15 trainings, we’re going to have a small team event. Losers will get to scrub the toilets for a week and will be in charge of mopping the barn floor,” Theo said.
“Winners get to go first in the hot tub.” Erin pointed to the hot tub under its trellis. No one moved. “It seats six.”
“And extra beer.” Theo waved his hand at the table where he and Erin had poured about a dozen cups of beer.
Erin grabbed a beer and took a big swig out of it, listening for the gasps from the audience.
She ignored it and focused on the next part.
“Okay, here’s the game. Flour versus water. One team has flour; the other has water. You have to cross the yard without getting hit by the other team,” Erin said. “Every person who makes it across gets a point. The game continues until all members on one team is out.”
Theo uncovered a nearby cart with the ammunition on it. “Here are our six bags of flour and six spray bottles of water. Everyone brought their bathing suits, so we’ve got the garden hose here to clean up.”
Luna raised her hand. “We have thirteen people.”
“Yeah, if Nikki is willing to play, then we can have the Chief referee,” Erin said. She and Theo had agreed it would be best if Noah wasn’t on anyone’s team.
