28. Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Brandy
I arrived at the fire station at eight thirty sharp in my work jeans and a Denture T-shirt I'd found around the office. I brought my thickest clipboard. The three-ring binder under my arm was color-coded by category. I had a plan, a system, and absolutely zero mercy.
Cap met me at the bay door.
"Good morning, gorgeous," I scratched his ears. "Where's your dad?"
Cap turned and led me through the bay toward the kitchen. Nick was at the coffee maker pouring his first cup when I walked in. He turned when he heard us and smiled.
"Morning," he said.
"Morning." I set my clipboard on the table and went to stand next to him.
"Did you get some sleep?” Nick asked, eyeing the door.
“I did, actually. I went straight to bed." I reached past him for a coffee mug. "You?"
"Yeah, I slept well." He handed me the coffee pot without being asked.
Another point for Nick.
"I'd stay and chat," I said, filling my mug, "but I'm on a mission of punishment and I'd like to get started. Do you know where I would find the condemned?"
The corner of his mouth moved upward. "By all means." He set his coffee down and reached for the intercom on the wall. "Scott, Thompson, could I see you in the bay, please."
We heard the acknowledgment from somewhere in the building. Nick picked his coffee back up and the two of us, plus Cap, walked to the bay. I positioned myself in the center of it with my clipboard and my binder and my most neutral expression.
Thompson appeared first, then Scott. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw me standing there.
Scott's face contorted into a grimace-sort-of look.
Thompson immediately looked at his shoes.
"Gentlemen," Nick said pleasantly. He looked at me, then back at them. "Due to your recent transgressions, today you belong to Brandy." A pause. "Good luck." He turned and walked back toward the kitchen door. “Have fun.”
Scott audibly sucked in a breath.
Thompson's head shot up. "Chief—"
The kitchen door closed.
"WOOF." Cap sat down next to me with the settled authority of a dog who had been assigned to supervision duty and was taking it very seriously.
Thompson and Scott looked at each other. Then they looked at me. Then they looked at Cap.
I looked back at them.
"We're really sorry," Scott said. "Like genuinely, truly—"
"Deeply," Thompson added.
"Deeply sorry. We had no idea it would—"
"Spread like that," Thompson finished.
"It was wrong, we were wrong," Scott said. "Really wrong."
"So very wrong," Thompson confirmed.
I let the silence sit for a moment. Cap's tail thumped once on the floor.
"Today," I said, inwardly loving that they both flinched when I spoke, opening the binder to the first tabbed section, "we're getting everything ready for Summerween.
We'll be going through every single box in that storage room.
We're organizing the decorations by category, size, and color.
" I looked at them over the top of my clipboard. "And then we're doing the candy."
Scott made a small involuntary sound.
“Every box?” Thompson asked.
"Every single one," I confirmed.
"Yes, ma'am," they said together. They actually snapped to attention. Shoulders back. Eyes forward.
Good.
"Follow me."
We worked for hours straight.
I have to say, and I would never say it out loud to either of them, Thompson and Scott were excellent workers when properly motivated. Which apparently required either the threat of toothbrush truck washing or being handed over to the community ambassador like prisoners of war.
We got all five pallets sorted. Decorations by category. We had piles of bats, skeletons, ghosts, garland, lights, palm trees, and props lined up along the walls and in the hallway. The candy was organized by type, counted, and documented on my spreadsheet.
“We’re going to have to make sure we keep things organized in this room.” I pointed around. “We don’t want the kids that are here for Safety Week to get into it.”
"This is actually a lot of really cool stuff," Scott said, holding up a six-foot inflatable black cat with neon green eyes.
"Put it in the props section," I said.
"Yes, ma'am."
Thompson had found his rhythm somewhere around the second pallet and was now labeling boxes like a man who had made peace with his situation. Cap had stationed himself in the doorway, moving only to let us pass with loaded carts.
After a lunch break that involved the two of them getting some sitting time and me running back to my office, we met back in the storage room.
"Okay," Scott said, stretching his arms above his head. "Brandy, when do we actually get to decorate?"
"Great question." I looked at my binder. "I need to nail down the timeline with Chief Carson." I tucked my clipboard under my arm. "I guess there’s no time like the present. Keep sorting the remaining candy boxes. I'll be right back."
Cap fell into step beside me as I walked down the hallway toward Nick's office. His door was open and I could hear voices as I approached.
Hank's laugh first. Then Nick's voice.
I was about to knock when I heard my name. I stopped.
Cap continued forward into the office.
"Brandy’s good," Nick said. "Like really good."
I stood very still. I know I shouldn’t have been listening, but I was curious.
"With her sass, I wouldn't expect less." Hank chuckled. "So it was worth it then?"
"What do you think?" Nick said.
Are they....
"I'm so proud of you," Hank said. "Tell me, did she take charge?"
"Hell yeah, it was great." Nick had an air of bragging in his tone.
"FUCK yeah." Hank laughed. "I love it when a woman takes charge."
"Oh, she definitely did," Nick said.
"Perfect. Yeah, Sam said he saw you two last night," Hank said.
I took one step back from the door.
Then another.
They are... about us?
I turned around and walked back down the hallway.
I should have known it was too good to be true.
I wiped away a tear. Why did I trust him? With everything that’s gone on.
It wasn’t a date, it was a bet, a conquest, a damn competition. The whole time. Hank asking me out first. Nick deciding he wanted in. Sam reporting back. All of them comparing notes like I was a box score.
Well done, ol' man, you bedded her, you win! Bastards.
She's good, like really good. Did she take charge?
Hell yeah.
I walked back into the bay. Thompson and Scott looked up from the candy boxes.
“You alright?” Thompson asked.
"Yeah, fine. Change of plans," I said. I took a breath and forced my voice to come out completely even. "I have everything I need for now. You two are done for today." I closed the binder. "Good work."
"Oh." Scott looked surprised. "Sure. Are you—"
"I need to go back to my office." I picked up my stuff. "Thank you both."
I walked out of the bay door into the June sunshine and got to my car and sat in it for a moment without starting it.
Those words came out of Nick’s mouth. He said them.
HE told Hank what we did.
Why are men like this? I don’t get it.
“I can’t, I just can’t.”
I pulled out of the parking lot, sweat rolling down my face. I turned my air conditioning on full blast.
“Just what I need, a damn hot flash.”