15. Tucker
Tucker
I can’t help the smile on my face as I walk into the station. Before greeting the outgoing crew for report, I head directly to my locker to put my things inside. I’m still grinning like a fool when I see Hunter on my way out of the locker room.
“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Hunter sips his coffee.
“Nothing.” I try to play it cool. “You just getting here?” Probies are usually here earlier than us.
“Been here an hour. No fucking way I’ll be late. I got coffee for the captain, per his request and got one for myself.” He holds his up. “So, back to my original question: Your good mood has nothing to do with your new roommate?” He eyes me and bumps my shoulder.
I stay silent as I keep walking toward the guys. I don’t need to have this conversation with him and risk someone overhearing us. Even though I don’t care if my friendship with Rios is over, I don’t need to risk further animosity in the firehouse right now.
Hunter calls out before heading into the locker room, “Don’t think this conversation is over! ”
“I didn’t think it was,” I call over my shoulder.
I hear him laugh and push through the double doors into the apparatus bay, finding most of last night’s crew gathered. I greet one of the guys from the previous shift, ready to get any updates from their shift.
It seems not much happened last night, so he doesn’t have much to tell me. Luckily, aside from a few residential calls and a fire down the road that was easily put out, it was a pretty quiet night. Shifts like those are blessings and they seem to have had a good twenty-four hours overall.
Once I go through the details with him, I begin inspecting my personal protective equipment. Soon, River, Clay, and Hunter join me, checking their own PPE and getting their own updates from the previous shift on their way out.
We flow through our tasks easily, with Hunter mixing into our fire family as if he’s been here all along.
Rios, even with all the issues recently with Clay and myself, still works seamlessly in the mix, which is a relief.
The minute we get to the station, we put aside our differences, a good thing in a position like ours.
We need to have each other’s backs, our ability to work together can be a matter of life and death very quickly.
The hours pass without a call, and soon we’re famished.
Hunter starts to prep lunch. Sandwiches seem to be the easiest thing to prep and one of our other guys lends a hand as well.
I join in to help speed up the process and get the food finished up.
Our captain is sitting in his favorite recliner, while some of the guys are watching a game on the television.
Something seems off and it’s only then I realize it’s too quiet. I turn to Clay and ask, “Where’s your brother?”
He looks around and shrugs. “Probably talking to Kennedy. Don’t ruin it. It’s quiet in here,” he answers. Our captain scoffs to himself.
I must’ve jinxed it right then, because not thirty seconds later River makes his way into the dining room .
“What the actual fuck is that shirt, Riv?” I hear Clay say behind me.
The whole room turns to look over immediately.
“What do you think?” River asks.
“What in the world does it mean, man?” I can’t help but ask.
“UILF?” Hunter questions, completely lost.
“UILF!” River exclaims, as if repeating the acronym will help it makes complete sense.
We stand in silence, staring at him. His brother sits on the stool, waiting for the punchline as if this is a norm he expects from his twin.
“Out with it already, Nichols!” That comes from our captain.
“‘Uncle I’d Like to Fuck’, obviously,” River says, with a shit-eating grin.
“Jesus Christ.” I lean back against the counter with my arms crossed over my chest, and drop my head.
Clay stands and yells, “Are you fucking serious? I’m telling Mom!”
The rest of the guys start laughing, and it’s absolute madness. I look up to see the guys taking photos, as if River is on a red carpet. I see him posing, flexing his muscles, acting like this is the moment he’s been waiting for his whole life.
“Are you kidding, bro? I mean, dude, I was made for this role. This shirt is perfect. Come on! It’s epic!” River starts.
“Dude! First off, that’s just weird. Second, you’re getting married! Did you forget that?” His brother throws his arms in the air.
“Kennedy doesn’t care!” River responds.
Right then I pull my phone out and snap a photo and pull up my book club thread.
Your fiancé is a stud, Kenny!
Kenny
First off, I hate that nickname. Hard pass. Two, are you fucking kidding me?
Abs
What’s an UILF?
I’ll give you a second to put two and two together on this because it’s coming from River…
Abs
I still don’t get it #mombrain
Kenny
Uncle I’d Like to Fuck. Can we swap, Abby?
Abs
HARD PASS
Clay’s face is bright red. He’s so mad. He said he’s calling their mom. I can’t stop laughing. BEST DAY EVER.
Kenny
Malloy, I’ll take care of it.
Kenny
Also, Malloy, change my name on your phone because I know you have me as Kenny.
Hard Pass
Kenny
I close out my phone and watch as the Nichols twins continue to verbally spar while finishing with the sandwiches.
“Does this happen a lot?” Hunter asks as he moves along in the kitchen.
“You mean, does River often make shirts with inappropriate sayings on them? No.” I shake my head.
“No. Do they bicker like this often?” he asks.
“Not really. I mean, they’re brothers. They usually bet on things. This is a new element to the relationship. I’m here for it, though.” I laugh.
Hunter looks at them and back at me, laughing, but I can tell he thinks it’s all a bit strange. I grab him by the shoulder and pull him in. “Welcome to the family, Bro.”
He looks over and it's clear his smile is genuine.
Soon, I hear River’s ringtone and he pulls his phone out of his pocket.
I expect it to be Kennedy calling him to ream him out for the shirt, but I’m surprised to hear him pick up and say, “Hey, Ma! What? No, I mean no disrespect… of course I love Kennedy. Ella is the light of my life. Yes, she’s my everything.
Of course I’m still getting married. I do respect women. Of course, Ma!”
She must say something to him and he hangs his head and rubs the back of his neck. Then he pulls his shirt off and throws it at Clay. The triumph on Clay’s face says it all. We laugh at the look of defeat River gives us. He flips us off as he walks away toward the lockers.
The last we hear is a simple, “I’m sorry, Ma. I love you…Yes, of course, I would never do anything to disrespect you, Kennedy, Ella or Lola. You’re my girls. Love you too. See you Sunday.”
River doesn’t get far before he runs back. “Snitches get stitches, you fuckers! I can’t believe someone ran to Mommy on this one.”
That only gets us to roar with laughter. Even our captain is laughing, trying to cover his face as best he can, but failing miserably.
I’m putting some equipment away from our last call when Hunter meets me out in the bay. We had a string of back-to-back calls. Some of the guys are inside, while some are checking equipment on one of the other trucks.
“Hey, man. Need some help?” Hunter asks.
“Sure, thanks.” I hand him some equipment.
He’s been doing tasks all throughout the firehouse. I don’t know if it’s his military background, but he’s efficient. When I was at the station in Dover, our probie was always trying to take breaks. Hunter is the complete opposite.
“Okay,” he looks over his shoulder, “spill.”
I’d usually keep this to myself, but I feel a friendship with Hunter beyond the firehouse.
“I’m taking her out on a date.” I smile.
“Nice. I’m happy for you man.” He smiles. “I hate to bring this up, but what about Rios?” He looks over and finds Rios talking to some of the guys at the truck on the other end of the station.
“Our friendship is pretty much non-existent at this point. He made that clear when I took her in to live with me. I hate to say it, but I choose Baylee, even though it should never have come to that. He knows it could’ve been both our friendship and his sister.
He’s just too stubborn to realize both can exist.” I grab a few things from the truck to check them off the list.
“I don’t know him well, but I see what you mean.” He nods.
“I tried, I really did, to keep myself away from her. But my life, doesn’t make sense without her,” I admit to him.
He stops what he’s doing and looks over at me. “I completely get that.”
“Yeah? You ever have someone like that in your life?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “I didn’t have to make a choice like you did between friendship and love.
But I’ve had nights when I was away and dreamed of coming home and finding it.
And I guess I’ve held hope that one day I’ll still find it.
I’ve had stirrings of love in the past, but nothing lasting.
If I ever do get that type of love within my grasp, I wouldn’t run from it. So, yeah man, don’t let it go.”
I’m about to press him further, but then we’re interrupted by River, “Hey, Malloy, it was you, wasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I come off as clueless as possible.
Since his mom called, he’s been asking everyone who ratted him out to her about his shirt and it’s been fun throwing him off the scent. We love watching him squirm.
“Who the fuck had my mom call me? I felt like a fucking teenager again on that call. She was fucking pissed! She threatened to take my dog!” He looks horrified. I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“Oh, no,” Hunter finally says.
“I know, right? Pure evil from that little lady.” He shakes his head. “My Lola!” He looks gutted. “Who would do such a thing?” He walks off, still baffled by the whole thing.
I look over at Hunter and chuckle quietly.
“He must really love that dog,” he whispers.
“Oh, Lola is the fucking shit!” I tell him, all jokes aside. “I choose Lola over River every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”