22. Travis
twenty-two
Travis
I t had been a crazy day already, and I was still only halfway through my shift. Despite that, I hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off my face.
We’d started with an education session at the local elementary school but had been called away to a fire at an abandoned warehouse. It had taken most of the day to put it out, and given the asbestos-laden walls and toxic chemicals formerly manufactured on the site, it was critical that it be contained quickly. Wind was on our side and no one was injured so, overall, it was a success.
But now I was starving. My stomach was rumbling as if it were going to eat itself. I went in search of the pizza menus so we could order delivery. Usually we took turns cooking, but it was my turn, and I was beat.
“Yo, Travis,” the chief called. “You have a visitor.”
I groaned. If it was Billy again, I was going to have to have words to him. I didn’t want it to be here, but I absolutely wasn’t going to ask him to meet up somewhere with me. I had a feeling the man would only hear what he wanted to, and I wasn’t risking him getting the wrong idea.
I took the menu with me and headed into the reception area.
Then I stopped in my tracks.
It definitely wasn’t Billy.
My chest went fluttery and warm, and my belly flip-flopped. I couldn’t stop my smile even if I’d tried. It was embarrassing, really, how big it was. My cheeks heated, too, and I laughed self-consciously. I was a grown man, and yet, seeing the three people who meant the most to me in the world was like the rush I got riding on a rollercoaster.
“Best surprise ever. What are y’all doing here?” I asked.
Carina turned around and sent me a dazzling smile. It took everything in me not to throw my arms around her and kiss her stupid, but I resisted.
Barely.
Jacques and Rusty shot me secretive smiles before leaning in for fist bumps.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a wince, ringing her hands. “I turned the morning news on so I could check the weather, and they were talking about a factory fire. Then Jacques said it was in your area, and I freaked out, knowing you could get hurt. I started cooking and didn’t stop until they announced the fire was out and there were no injuries.”
I chuckled and gave up resisting the urge to hug her. I wrapped her in my arms and held her tight, breathing in her floral scent. This woman. She was wonderful and had a heart of gold.
“That was literally all day. You must be exhausted.”
“What about you?” she cried, patting my chest and arms as if she was checking me over. “Are you okay?”
“Absolutely. Tired, but good.”
“We couldn’t fit all the food in the refrigerator,” Rusty gestured to the coolers sitting on the floor and smirked. “Hope you’re hungry.”
“Are you guys hungry? Have you eaten?” Carina asked. She didn’t wait for a response before adding, “If you have, I can put it in the fridge here for later. It’ll keep for a few days.”
“We haven’t eaten,” I replied showing her the pizza menu. “This was going to be supper.”
“No, absolutely not,” she chastised with a frown. “After a full day’s hard work, you are not eating pizza. Give me five minutes to get set up, and then call everyone in. Where am I heading?” She was all business, brooking no argument. Not that she would have any. Everyone in the firehouse would jump at the opportunity for a homemade meal over pizza.
I chuckled and shook my head before gesturing to my guys. “Jacques and Rusty know the way. They’ve been here before.”
They each picked up a cooler, and I went to the chief’s office. I knocked and poked my head in when he told me to enter. He was drowning in paperwork, no doubt some of it the beginning of reports from today’s fire.
“Sir, my friends have bought dinner in. Can you announce it over the speaker in a few minutes?”
“Of course. Please tell them thank you.”
“I will, sir.”
When I walked into the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks for the second time that day. Carina had already spread out a feast, and Jacques and Rusty were placing more tubs on the countertop.
At the sound of the announcement, I kicked into gear, pulling out plates and cutlery.
Carina waited until the room was full of firefighters, then smiled and said loud enough that everyone could hear, “I hope you like all this. All the recipes are typical Aussie food. The only thing that’s missing is the Bunnings snag.”
Before I could figure out what that meant, she gestured to the dishes behind her and, pointing to each one, described what they were, “Chunky beef and gravy meat pies, sausage rolls, chicken parmi—parmigiana—roasted leg of lamb and veg, plain cheeseburger sliders, sliders with beetroot and egg, bacon and garlic potato bake, damper, and for dessert, I have ANZAC biscuits and scones with jam and cream.”
“On behalf of everyone here, thank you,” Chief Cabello said. “It all looks delicious and smells even better.”
“My pleasure.” She smiled and flicked her gaze to me, her smile softening. Then she clapped her hands together and added, “Dig in, everyone.”
I’d never seen a group of men and women line up so quickly. My station mates filled their plates, and with every serving taken, Carina smiled wider. She insisted on Jacques, Rusty, and me sitting down to eat while she floated around the room, refilling plates and giggling at jokes. It was loud and happy, and warmth filled my chest.
And y’all, it was not from the hideous abomination that was canned beetroot on a burger giving me indigestion. What the fuck were those Aussies thinking? I’d often seen Carina opening a can and taking a piece, staining her fingers pink along with her lips and tongue, but I’d never tasted it. I was going to go back to never tasting it again.
It was God-fucking-awful.
I watched as Jacques laughed with my station mates, talking like the old friends they were. Rusty was as quiet as I was, watching everyone and flicking his gaze away as soon as he made eye contact with someone. He’d come a long way in the years I’d known him, but this was too big a crowd for him to be comfortable with, despite ours being one of the smaller stations around.
Every time I stood up, Carina rushed over, asking what I wanted so she could refill it. She hadn’t sat down for a moment, but she was eating, picking at a sausage roll and a buttered piece of damper. It wasn’t enough, but I’d noticed that of late, she often snacked on smaller amounts throughout the day rather than three square meals. Where she used to eat cherry tomatoes like candy, she’d stopped, swapping basically everything acidic with dry crackers. Something was off, but she’d waved away our concerns saying that it was the change in foods she was eating that was giving her heartburn.
As the evening wore on and an hour turned into two, I could see her flagging. The food was almost all gone, demolished by hungry firefighters. But no one was moving, waiting on dessert.
“Sit. Down,” I ordered when I saw her stifle a yawn after offering a top up of the potato bake.
“It’s all good.” She waved me off, put down the tray, and I caught her wrists.
“No, it ain’t,” I retorted. I gestured with a tilt of my head. “Sit in my seat and let me make you a cup of tea. Jacques, Rusty, where’s dessert?”
Jacques reached into a cooler and pulled out the biggest containers yet, and Rusty took out jars of jelly and a covered bowl of whipped cream. They took off the lids, and the smell of warm cookies and sugar filled the room. I hummed. Dayum. I needed to try those.
Carina took the lids before I could stop her and said, “Those are ANZAC biscuits. They’re the soft version, but I can cook crunchy ones too if that’s what you like. The wives of our diggers sent these bickies to them overseas during World War I.”
The rookie reached for one and bit into it. “That’s a good cookie.”
“Nope.” Carina shook her head. “They’re biscuits. Yes, they’re known here as cookies, but by law they need to be called ANZAC biscuits. Long story, but you can’t sell ANZAC cookies, only biscuits.”
“Huh.” Chief nodded and pointed to what looked like biscuits. “What were those?”
“They’re scones. Kind of like a sweet version of your biscuits. You eat them with jam—jelly—and whipped cream.”
Carina reached in and took a half of one out, then taught us all how strawberry jelly was the best with it and it needed to go on first. Then she added a dollop of cream twice the size of what I would have thought to put on the biscuit—scone.
“It’s really important you have lots of cream.” She gestured to the bowl. “I don’t want to have to eat all of that later.”
I passed her the cup of tea made just how she liked it. Except for the milk—we only had half and half.
Jacques sat down and tapped his lap. Carina waved him off, but Jacques insisted, his voice quiet but firm. “Get over here so Travis can sit down again.”
“Oh shit, sorry, Trav.” She stood up and looked for an empty chair, but Jacques pulled her straight onto his lap. No one was watching our exchange, everyone already having dug into the scones and cookies, but Carina’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink.
Carina took a sip of her tea and sighed happily. “Thank you, it’s perfect even if half and half is nasty.”
Jacques ran his fingers through her hair, and she bit back a yawn.
“You’re tired,” Rusty stated. “We should get you home so you can put your feet up.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “My ankles are all swollen too.” She stretched out her foot, pointing her toes, and sure enough, her ankles were swollen. She’d spent far too long on her feet today.
“Go home and put your feet up,” I instructed. “And don’t get back up.”
“I need to clean this up.”
“No, you don’t, ma’am,” the rookie said, interrupting our conversation. I hadn’t realized he was listening. “That’s my job.”
Carina yawned again and shook her head, trying to wake herself up.
“Go,” I said softly, squeezing her hand under the table.
“Come on, beautiful,” Jacques said. He flicked his gaze to Rusty and smiled when he saw he was already on his feet.
After a round of extended goodbyes and thank yous, I walked them out. I rested my hand low on Rusty’s back as soon as we were in the privacy of the corridor, and he leaned into my touch. I led them outside and around to the parking lot, and when we were in the privacy of the gap between Jacques’s SUV and another truck, I wrapped my arms around Rusty. He sank into my embrace and breathed, “Fuck, I needed that.” He squeezed me tighter.
I never wanted to let him go. I’d loved seeing them with my station mates, but I hated not being able to express how I felt in front of any of them. I wanted to hold my partners’ hands and kiss them. It struck me that we’d never even sat down for a meal with my station mates. There was a lot we did as friends and roommates, but if it looked like a date, we didn’t do it.
“Maybe you and I should come out,” I murmured, thinking out loud for the first time. He stiffened in my arms and pulled back enough to look at me.
“As a couple? For real?”
“Yeah, what do you think?” I shrugged, trying to play my comment off as casual despite my heart beating a million times a minute. I sucked in a breath and held it, waiting on his response.
“I haven’t told anyone about us because of Jacques and you not wanting his parents to know. They’re the only reasons.”
His reminder burst my bubble. I sighed and took a step back, leaning against Jacques’s SUV. I nodded. “Yeah, it’d sure be nice though.”
Rusty looked toward Carina, and then he slipped his hand into mine and squeezed.
“Don’t be afraid of losing Sophia and Pierre, Trav,” Carina said reaching for my waist and squeezing gently. She was confident, not a shred of doubt in her voice. “I’ve known them forever, and I know they’ll welcome you. It’s different with me—I betrayed them—but they’ll be ecstatic for you whether you say it’s just you and Linc or all three of you.”
Jacques reached over Carina and tangled his fingers in my hair. We brought our heads closer, not quite touching, but close enough, and I breathed them in, absorbing their support. I don’t know why I needed it. I was happy. I had everything I could have asked for. But I wanted more.
Rusty murmured, “I know you’re scared. I’ll never push you, so if you want to come out, I want that too. If not, then that’s okay too.”
I nodded and leaned in to kiss him, consequences be damned. I needed him. I needed the reminder of why I’d hidden how I’d felt for these men for so long. I needed the strength to keep doing it rather than shouting from the rooftops that I was in love with all three of them, Carina included.
My lips touched Rusty’s, and every emotion I’d been holding back the whole night overwhelmed me, flowing like the water after the levy on a dam breaks. I tugged him closer and grasped his nape before licking into his mouth. We stood there under the streetlight in the parking lot, kissing gently. It wasn’t going anywhere. We weren’t on a mission to get off. But it was reconnecting. It was comfort and love.