Chapter 45 #2
“Just last week, you used her name and status in this town to sell tickets to this damn event!” She roared, “And now you want to cast her aside? Why? Explain to everyone what changed?”
“The public deserves to know that its money is being spent in honorable—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, or I’ll curse every moment of your existence from here on out!
” She cried. “There is no single person in this town more honorable than Rhea! In the face of all this, she has remained composed and graceful, even though she deserved to rage and tear down everyone in her wake!”
“Like you’re doing?” The chief asked pointedly, and red tinged my vision.
“Enough!” I cut through the crowd as everyone started talking at once, the sound of disbelief and barely contained anger pulsating through the air.
There were enough bystanders lingering still that I refused to give into the bait he was throwing out for me.
Because even with as much rage and anger burning through my body, I saw him for what he was.
Toxic.
“It’s fine.” I said firmly, holding my head up high as I turned back around to face him. “You don’t want me to play, I won’t. You don’t want me to serve in the department, I won’t. You win. I concede.”
“Bullshit,” Travis said with finality in his voice.
Elliot’s husband was just like Tanner and Lucas, a man who didn’t bother himself with many words, but when he spoke, damn, he was worth listening to.
“Charity isn’t about optics or illusions.
It’s about the community. And Rhea, Goldie and Tanner couldn’t get more centered in this town if they tried.
” He looked the chief up and down, “And you hate that for some reason.”
“Oh God, yes,” Jasper whispered, arms still firmly wrapped around Goldie like he was afraid she’d launch herself at the man who led three of us into danger every single day. “A rebellion. This town has been too boring lately; it’s time for a good revolution against the man.”
“If Rhea isn’t allowed to play,” Tanner stared down at me. “Then I’m not taking part either.”
“Me neither.” Goldie shook Jasper off, coming back to my side. “Honey & Hearth will no longer be sponsoring or catering the event.”
“I’m out.” Thomas said, always the reserved one, but I felt the level of commitment in my bones from those two words alone.
“Same.” Elliot said, crossing his arms as his son Toby looked up at him and then mirrored his stance, deep scowl and all. “That leaves the fire department three players short of a full team.”
“Guess that means the game is off.” Travis added.
Chief Tolbert clenched his teeth as he looked around our group. “It’s for a children’s charity, for crying out loud! You’re not hurting anyone but the children of this town that you say you’re so hell-bent on protecting.”
“Ooh,” Jasper winced, “He’s got you all there.” With a huff, he added, “I’d offer to play in one of your spots, but I always preferred to watch the boys in the aquarium over being in the aquarium. I’d make a terrible Shamu.”
“You can’t pull out of the tournament.” I said with a sigh, looking up at Tanner.
“Tolbert’s right, that just hurts our people.
Not him. Or the stupid system set to make my life hard.
” I took a deep breath, why was being the bigger person so freaking hard?
“You still have to play, even without me. I’ll help Goldie with the catering. It will be fine.”
“We will play,” Thomas said, taking his eyes off Jasper, who turned in his direction abruptly.
“But we will form our own team. Cuffs and hoses can join into a full-size team, and we’ll go against them.
Underdogs versus the man or whatever.” He grinned a little at the end, and I swear Jasper had hearts beating in his eyeballs as he looked up at the guy I had worked with every day for years now.
Damn. I really was wrong all along.
“You don’t have enough players,” Tolbert said, dismissing the idea completely. “Five players isn’t enough to man the ice. And you’re one goalie short of a chance.”
“No, they’re not.” A tiny voice piped up, and we all looked down at Emmie. The little ten-year-old who had more balls than any man in the group. “I’m the best goalie that ice rink has ever seen.” She chanced a glance at her dad, Travis, with a hopeful little grin on her face. “My dad said so.”
“Oh, my hormones.” Jasper cried.
“This is a waste of my time.” Tolbert threw his hands up. “Fire and Police will join into one team, show up with a full team or don’t show up at all. Either way, none of you will play for the department as planned.”
With that, the old man walked away, ridged spine and stick firmly still held up his ass. How had I not seen him for the vile snake he was before now?
“So,” Emmie waved her hand, making us all look at her. “Are we going to do this shit or what?”
Goldie giggled, “I like her.”
“No,” Elliot groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “You can’t play in goal against grown-ass men.”
“Why not?” Emmie gasped, fully offended by his lack of trust in her. “I stop your shots nine out of ten times. And you’re better than any of those old, smelly, donut-fed porkers!”
Tanner scoffed, and Elliot winced at what clearly were his own insults flying out of his daughter’s mouth. “Because your mom would kill him.” I said with a little shrug. “And we both know it.”
“Yeah,” Travis sighed, “She’d probably make us wish we were dead first. We can’t risk it. Sorry, kiddo.” Turning to Elliot, he snapped his fingers, “Maybe we can ask Trace to do it.”
They both played on the beer league team at the rink a few nights a week, and their team was pretty good. Maybe there would be some good use of their teammates for the endeavor.
“Are you shitting me?” Emmie cried out in outrage, hands on her hips as she faced off against the monster of a man she called dad.
“Emmie, the language.” Elliot sighed but it fell on deaf ears. Besides, she no doubt learned it from him.
“Trace the tramp? Over me!” She huffed, “No way. Not happening. You’re going to let me into that goal or I’m going to tell mom all about that time you let me run the ice auger and how I spent the rest of the day we were supposed to be ice fishing in the ER while she was out of town at the building trade show!
” Squinting firmly in his direction, she laid out her last threat.
“I’ll even show her my scar that I’ve hidden to protect you from her wrath! ”
“God damnit,” Travis’s eyes widened as he glanced around to see who might have overheard her tale. “Are you trying to get me gutted, kid?”
“Let her play!” Goldie cheered with a wide smile on her face. “In fact, I’ll double my sponsorship contribution in her name just to watch her kick Tolbert’s ass on that ice.”
The guys went off, all talking at once about logistics and game plans, silently agreeing to let Emmie play almost as if they didn’t openly say the word yes, then they couldn’t be blamed.
A tug on my sleeve pulled my attention away from where Tanner tried to take my spot as forward from the new lineup, and I found the brave, bright, and outspoken little girl at my side.
She was wearing an oversized sweater with her dad’s team logo on it, and her slicked-back hair looked as if she’d come straight from hockey practice to my hearing.
Over the years, she had spent a fair amount of time at the station with her dad, Elliot, and I’d always admired her spunk.
And now, her chin tipped up in that stubborn, thoughtful way she had when she was working something out in her head.
“Can I talk to you,” she asked all seriously.
I crouched down so we were at eye level, “Always.”
She looked at her dads, their heightened awareness palpable as they studied her from the crowd, before turning back to me with the hesitant air of someone about to reveal a secret.
“Everyone always tells me that there’s nothing wrong with me,” she said. “That I can be tough at school and on the ice and still be a girl and stuff.”
Travis folded his arms with a small, proud smile as Elliot leaned against him, as if he’d seen this coming. The rest of the group stopped talking and listened to whatever she was about to say.
Emmie continued. “They say I can be confident, and that I should never shrink myself to fit other people’s expectations of me.
” She pulled a folded newspaper clipping from her pocket.
It was crinkled and soft from being opened too many times.
“I didn’t really get it at first,” she admitted.
“Like… I thought they just meant don’t cry when anyone was watching. ”
Goldie made a soft noise beside me, and I tried really freaking hard not to melt before the little girl.
Emmie took a deep breath and looked at me with bright, unwavering eyes.
“But then I read this.” She opened up the clipping, and my heart stopped beating completely when I saw myself in the black-and-white picture, the story about the fire rescue written out beneath it.
“They say you could have left your friend in that fire. But that you stayed, and you carried him out.”
My chest tightened and the urge to tell her I was simply just ‘doing my job’ was at the end of my tongue. The urge to minimize what I did and to lessen myself, to not boast about what I accomplished was so ingrained in me, I almost did it without thinking.
But I didn’t this time.
“They say you’re intense, and loud, and bossy, and that’s why you’re good at your job.” Her nose wrinkled, and Elliot chuckled. “But I think they didn’t mean any of that in a nice way.”
I almost laughed, “No, probably not.”