71. Teamwork
SEVENTY-ONE
Teamwork
STEVE
Five months later
The bell jingled when Steve Cook walked in the front door of Between the Lines bookshop. “Hi, Helen.”
“Oh, hi, Steve,” Helen Bailey responded with a wave. “How are you, honey?”
“Real good, thanks.” He placed an envelope on the counter. “That’s for June.”
“Thank you.” Helen wrote a quick note on the outside and tucked it inside the register till. “Ken’s in the back if you want to say hello. Oh, wait.” She reached below the counter and grabbed a bag. She handed it to Steve. “This is for Nick. He left it here by accident but said he was going to have dinner with you tonight?”
In the months since Tara returned to Chicago, Steve hadn’t spent much time in the shop except to drop off his rent money or check in on his brother, who was doing quite well, all things considered.
From the bits and pieces he’d collected, Tara was back in her old job, doing great things with small businesses in need of her help. Steve was sure she was making progress on transitioning the shop from her parents to her, but they never really brought it up. He never asked.
It still hurt that she left early and without saying goodbye, but it was too late to do anything about that now. It’s not as if they were planning to continue anything long-distance. With a six-hour drive time separating them, it’s not like they could be spontaneous, anyway. Steve hadn’t bothered seeing anyone new since he wanted to spend most of his time with his brother, who still had a long road ahead of him in his own healing.
Despite not being together, it still hit him in the gut when Steve overheard a conversation about how Tara had been set up on a blind date in Chicago.
They didn’t plan for a long-distance relationship, so he still held out hope she would wait until she could move back to Grant’s Crossing and maybe get back together.
His love for her hadn’t faded. The worst part was that he never got to tell her.
“Thanks.” Steve took the bag just as Ken emerged from the office.
Ken still occasionally walked with a cane after his car accident the previous summer, though he didn’t need it nearly as much as he used to. He spoke to Steve for a few minutes until Steve waved a quick goodbye.
Steve started for the door when Helen’s words stopped him short.
“It looks like Tara’s coming home to take over the shop soon. Things are falling into place. Perhaps she’ll take over by the fall.”
Steve turned back to give them his full attention.
“Hopefully,” Ken added. “I already spend more time editing, and Helen’s ready to work with the library, where she can still talk about books and work with children without having to split her time to keep this place open.”
Steve nodded.
“She misses you, you know,” Helen said.
Steve shook his head slowly, despite the butterflies that still danced at the mere mention of Tara. He forced a smile. “Uh, thanks, Helen, but she’s back at her old job. I even heard she was dating someone. She’s happy. It’s okay.” He held up the bag. “Thanks for the book.”
He started toward the door when she spoke up.
“She’s not dating anyone.”
Still facing the door, he froze. “What?”
“Yeah. She got talked into being part of a double date. The guy wasn’t for her,” Helen continued nonchalantly. “He even chose the restaurant because his ex-girlfriend worked there.” Helen laughed. “Guess they got back together on the spot.” She shuffled papers around, then grabbed a couple of books to re-shelve. “At least he paid for her Uber home.” She waved her hand in the air. “Not like anyone there is going to make her happy like you did. We all saw that coming from a mile away.”
Steve still hadn’t moved.
“Anyway, she’s finally taking her trip to Mackinac Island. In fact, she’ll be there this weekend. Checks in on…” Helen trailed off.
“Saturday, I believe,” Ken said to help.
“Yes. That’s right.” Helen kissed Ken on the cheek. “Thank you, Ken. Saturday.”
“Where?” Steve finally turned back toward Helen.
Helen walked around the counter with a handful of books that she placed on various tables and shelves as she spoke, seemingly to no one at all, but Steve was hanging on every word.
“Mackinac Island. She’s finally going to stay at the Grand Hotel up there. It’s only been her dream since she first saw that movie. Shoot. What was it called?” She snapped her fingers a couple of times to think.
“ Somewhere in Time ,” Ken threw out from behind the counter.
She pointed toward Steve. “ Somewhere in Time . Yes. That’s it. Thank you, Ken.” Returning to her books, she sighed. “She’ll deny it to her dying day, but she’s a romantic at heart.” She winked at Steve. “I think she said something about staying the whole week.”
“Good thing,” Ken said, “since Tristan, Tiffany, and even Theo all pitched in to make it happen. I don’t know. It’s like she needed to unwind or something.”
“Ha. I can relate to that.” Helen shelved a few more books. “Reminds me of the time Ken and I first…”
Steve didn’t stay to hear Helen’s story. He was already heading toward the fire station to talk to Chief Travis. When he arrived, he opened the door so fast it caused the chief to shoot up to his feet behind his desk. He was in civilian clothes since he wasn’t officially on duty that day.
“Come on in, Steve.” He gestured toward a chair. “Take a seat. I was just doing some paperwork, but I’m guessing you need to talk?”
“Uh… yeah. Sorry about that.” Steve closed the door and inspected the wall before sitting down while the chief continued standing. “I have a family emergency.”
Chief Travis cocked a brow. “A family emergency, huh?”
“Yeah. Uh… I need to take next week off.” Steve rubbed his hands together and swore under his breath. “I mean, I might not need the whole week, but I’ll need to–”
“Take a breath, Steve.” The chief grabbed a binder from atop a filing cabinet in the corner of his office. He started leafing through pages as he spoke. “Helen already called.”
“What?”
“Yeah. She used to babysit me when I was little. I was surprised to hear from her yesterday–”
Steve sat up straight. “Yesterday?”
Chief Travis raised a brow at the interruption.
Steve leaned back against his seat.
“Yes. She called and threatened to make posters out of some of my childhood pictures and post them all over town, complete with their accompanying stories if I didn’t do what she said. She promised lots of details and said she wouldn’t hold back.” He winced and slapped his desk. “I knew that someday she’d use that knowledge against me.”
“What stories are those, Chief?”
Chief Travis met Steve’s gaze. “Ask me again, and you’ll be relegated to bathroom duty on Emerson’s chili night.”
Steve swallowed hard. Emerson’s chili was the best, but the thought of what all those beans could do dampened his own curiosity. “Yes, Chief.”
“Now. About this so-called family emergency,” The chief rifled through some more of his papers until he found a handwritten note. He wrote something on it and placed it inside a manila folder, which he stuck inside the binder. He folded his hands together and rested them on his desk.
Leaning forward, he looked Steve in the eye. “Are you planning to knock her over the head and drag her by the hair all the way back here to Grant’s Crossing? Or are you planning to propose?”
“Uh…I… uh…”
The door opened. Kiro and Derek appeared in the doorway holding coffee and a bag of something that emitted the delicious scent of some kind ofpie. “Chief, we have to talk to you,” Kiro blurted out. “We talked to Tank. He said Schaffer or Tidwell should be able to cover for Steve next week…”
One look at a panic-stricken Steve, and they stopped just shy of a slapstick collision that even Donald O’Connor would have appreciated back in the day. “Oh. Shit.”
Derek tried to usher Kiro out of the room. “Uh, we’ll just leave you both to it then…”
“Mitchell! Marinov!”
“Yes, Chief.” They both uttered in unison, stopping mid-step and slowly turning back to face the Chief.
“Stop right there.”
“Yep.” Kiro took a not-so-subtle oversized step toward the Chief’s desk and tapped a folder back from the edge to create a spot for the cup of coffee. “This is from Celeste. Depth charge. Uh… said it was your favorite.”
The Chief just stared at both men as they showered him with gifts.
Equally sheepish, Derek dropped the bag containing a box inside. “This is from Jenna’s.”
“Hmm… apple or cherry?”
“Both, Chief.”
Chief Travis nodded with a grunt.
“Am I too late?” Emerson arrived, out of breath. “Uh, this is for you, Chief.” He set a purple hand knit hat on the chief’s desk. “Aimee helped me finish it; said it would keep you warm at football games next winter.” Emerson turned to Derek. “Did he get his time off?”
“Shh!” Derek shushed him.
Steve looked over at him. “What?”
The chief picked up the hat and inspected it. “You’re getting better at this, Emerson.” He placed it on his head and folded his hands again. “You know… I once bought a hat for my leg.”
“Oh, yeah?” Kiro asked, taking a step forward.
Steve slowly closed his eyes and shook his head. Derek and Emerson’s shoulders slumped a bit, too.
“Yep.” The chief smiled at Kiro’s interest. “It was a kneecap.”
Kiro cracked up, the only one enjoying the chief’s sense of humor. He quickly stopped laughing the moment he noticed all the glares. “Ahem.”
Shek was next to appear, setting a glass container filled with something that smelled as delicious as the pieces of pie Derek brought. “My wife’s samosas. They’re even better than my mother’s.” His eyes went wide as if expecting his mom to have heard him claim his wife’s samosas were better than hers.
Derek leaned over. “Your mom’s not here, Shek. Coast is clear.”
He closed his eyes and huffed out a sigh of relief. “Thank the goddess!” Then his eyes popped open. “And I’ll need that dish back when you’re done, please, Chief.”
Kiro backhanded Shek in the arm. “Really?”
Shek proceeded to go off on a tirade about how his wife maintained a strict inventory of all the dishes they handed out. “I didn’t get a dish back from my cousin once and had to mow his lawn for a month just to get it back from his wife because she liked it so much.” He held up his finger in admonishment. “You do not mess with my wife’s cookware!” He calmed his voice and leaned closer to Emerson. “Did it work yet?”
Tank was next, offering up a large container of empanadas. “Araceli was making these today and wanted you to have some, Chief. Carne picante y Verdura. ”
“Carne what?” Emerson asked.
“Spicy meat and spinach in a white sauce,” Tank explained.
The chief patted his stomach. “My daughter loves those. And those cheesy ones, too.”
“ Cuatro Quesos ,” Tank said. “They’re in there, too.”
Derek showed some interest. “Think your wife would share her recipe?”
“ Claro que si . Of course! She pushed me out long enough to make sure Steve could go to Mackinac.”
“What the…?” Steve asked Tank, who ignored him completely to continue his conversation with Derek.
“She’ll be making them all day today,” Tank continued. “Come back with me and join us. She’ll put us both to work as soon as we’re done here. Trust me, she’ll appreciate an extra set of hands. Most of our kids are still too young to help.”
Derek smiled. “You’re on! Thanks.”
Tim was the last to enter while wiping his hands with a towel. “Your oil change is done, Chief.”
“Ah. Thanks, Tim,” the amused chief responded.
Tim elbowed Tank and spoke in a whisper that wasn’t as quiet as he probably thought. “Did it work?”
“Shh!” Tank turned his head without taking his eyes off the Chief’s desk, full of gifts from the B-Shift firefighter team. “Don’t know yet.”
The chief stood up. He met the eyes of each of his paramedic firefighters standing before him. “If nothing else, a firefighting team always needs to have each other’s back.” He turned his attention to Steve with a smirk. “Even if it is for some cockamamie grand gesture to help a guy get the girl.”
“Cockamamie grand what?” A crease formed on Steve’s brow. “Wait. Why are all of you here? I just want some time off.”
Chief Travis’s smile turned into a hearty laugh. “Go, Steve. Take off the time you need. Schaffer and Tidwell have already agreed to cover your shift next Tuesday and Friday respectively; and the Delaware Fire Department is sending over someone for this Saturday.”
Tim moaned. “I hope it’s not Taggart again.”
All the men moaned at the thought of Taggart, an especially obnoxious floater who covered for sick or vacationing firefighters.
Steve stood up. “Wait. What?”
“For a Marine, you’re not too bright,” Tank said with a grin, elbowing Derek, who snickered in agreement.
“Very funny, Ranger,” Steve said, his snarkiness returning to the surface.
“Oh, good.” Shek stepped forward and reached for his dish of samosas. “Then I can go ahead and take this back to my wi–”
“Not unless you want bathroom duty for the next month,” Chief Travis warned.
He clasped his hands together and wore an overly generous smile on his face. “My wife and I hope you love them, Chief.”
“Why thank you, Shek!” The grinning Chief pulled out a reusable grocery bag and started packing up all the goodies given to him. He paused long enough to take a sip of the coffee Kiro brought him. Closing his eyes, he sighed in contentment.
“Celeste sure does make the best coffee.”
Now, it was Kiro’s turn to nervously check behind him for a possibly hidden mother. “Just don’t let my mom hear you say that, Chief.”
This time, Chief Travis raised up on his toes to double-check behind where his men were standing. “Oh, you’re right. I would never want to get on Anna Marinova’s wrong side.”
Truer words were never spoken,, as every man in the room shook his head and spoke in unison. “No.” “Nope.” “Hell, no.” “Never” “Nuh…uh” were among the comments spoken aloud.
Steve didn’t understand what had just conspired before him, but he knew two things: One - they were all smart enough to know they should never cross Kiro’s mom, and two - he was heading to Mackinac Island this weekend.