Chapter 16
Dane
I may have overdone it at the hockey game yesterday.
Not that I would ever admit it to a living soul, but all the noise and bright lights had given my battered brain a real workout.
I’d woken next to Chip today with a headache the size of the Copperheads Zamboni.
He’d told me he loved me six times, then six more, followed by six more before falling asleep.
I’d kissed him each time, then whispered my feelings back to him.
Not that I needed to, but simply because I’d wanted to.
I left him to sleep in, set about making coffee, swallowed some acetaminophen tablets, and chilled at the kitchen table until he came down to join me.
Sable trotted over to give me a sniff, followed by a small lick of the back of my hand.
We’d made some eggs, sipped our coffee, and then he had to roll for morning skate.
Since it seemed some people *cough* my mother *cough* had determined that I shouldn’t be alone because she was a mom, she arrived just as Chip was leaving for the rink.
She was bundled up in a thick sweater with fleece leggings, carrying a tote bag.
“How are you feeling today?” she asked as she began clearing the kitchen table for some reason.
“Okay. The game was a little much. I woke up with a headache,” I confessed as I scrolled through the local news webpage for any information about those plumbers above us at the explosion.
Those two men worried me unreasonably. Surely they were fine.
There’d been no casualties reported, but still… they were right there. “Hey!”
She plucked my phone from my hand. “Limited screen time. I’m surprised Chip let you sit here with this glaring in your face. Should you be having headaches still? Maybe we should call the neurosurgeon that workers comp set up that appointment on Thursday with.”
“Headaches are normal. The hockey game was just too loud. It’s fine. Also, in defense of Chip, I only took this out after he left because when he was here, we were kissing.”
“Well, that sounds like you two. Fine. No more screens for the rest of the morning. I brought over some jigsaw puzzles for the three of us to work on.” She then dumped four puzzle boxes on the table.
“They’re all small. Just three hundred pieces, but they say doing puzzles is good for the brain when it’s healing.
So, do we want to do the farm critters, the dog in a bonnet, the old truck parked by a lake, or a man and grandson fishing? ”
“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head too? There are only two of us here, Mom.”
The doorbell rang. “There’s our third!” Mom popped out to open the door.
Eli’s voice rang through the house in a cheery greeting.
My neighbor had been keeping Chip and me well fed during my convalescence with dishes of homemade meals that I was sure would find me five pounds heavier once I was cleared for a return to duty.
“Eli brought some donuts!” she announced as she hustled back into the kitchen with the good rabbi following.
Make that ten pounds I’d have to work off.
“They’re nothing too special, not like sufganiyot, but they’re filled with some of that jam that Mrs. Milcher gave me last summer.
Raspberry. Very tasty but very seedy. Did you and Chip like the chicken and dumplings that I brought over yesterday?
” he asked while removing his thick sweater and draping it over the back of a chair.
His yarmulke for the day was a pink one with blue peace signs on it.
“We did. It was delicious.”
Eli beamed as he sat across from me. Mom poured us all coffee to go with our donuts before sitting on Eli’s left.
Eli smiled at her as if she hung the moon.
She gave him a shy little smile that could have been seen as a little come hither.
Huh. Wouldn’t that be something? She couldn’t find a nicer man to go out with if you asked me.
“Good. Good. Nothing makes a body heal better than food made with love,” Eli replied as he gazed at my mother.
She blushed. Wow. I’d not seen color on her cheeks for years.
Good for her. She’d been alone far too long.
Her boys were grown; her house was empty.
It was time for her to find a gentleman friend.
“So.” Eli clapped. I winced slightly. “Oh, sorry. Your head is still touchy, I see. That’s to be expected. When I fell from a tree to free a kite, I gave myself a nice goose egg and a concussed brain, so I know the pain lingers.”
“You were a child, though. Young kids heal quicker,” Mom said after picking the grandpa and the boy fishing for us to work on. Guess she was antsy to get puzzling.
“I wish I could blame youth on that misadventure. No, this was about eight years ago.” We both gaped at him.
Eli laughed. “Yes, I know. A man my age should know better than to shimmy up trees, but it was my favorite kite. A sleek red one with a shark on it. The tree wasn’t too tall.
Just a young elm, so I did my best impression of a squirrel and up I went.
I grabbed the kite then down I went. The trip down was much faster than the trip up. ”
My phone rang. Mom gave me a look when I held out my hand. She passed it over with a whispered warning about rest being my priority today. Seeing that it was Sully, I rose to take it in private while Mom dumped the puzzle out.
Slipping into the living room, I tapped the green button and held the phone to my ear. The ringing had eased up now, so yay for small things.
“Hi,” I said to open things up.
“Dane, how are you feeling?”
“Good. I have a checkup with a neurosurgeon on Thursday, and I’m hoping they clear me to return to duty.” I sat on the sofa and toed a tennis ball across the room. Sable did love to fetch balls for Chip, and I kind of wish she were here right now.
“Excellent. Don’t push yourself. We want you back, but only if you’re a hundred percent.”
“No worries, my mother won’t let me go play without a doctor’s note,” I said with just enough volume to be sure she heard it.
“I heard that,” Mom called from the kitchen.
“So, other than checking up, I wanted to call to let you know that I just heard from IA and they’re going to be calling you and Chip in tomorrow morning at nine to give your testimony relating to any possible misconduct.”
“Shit.” I knew they’d investigate it. They had to, and I was fine with that, truly.
Everyone in a position of power needed oversight.
I had just been hoping they wouldn’t summon Chip because it was going to be stressful for him, I was sure.
“Do we know who’s sitting on the panel hearing the testimony? ”
“Ralph Biggens, a member of the city human resources committee, and Tyler Kirk.”
Two of the highest-ranking firefighters in our town. Ralph was the fire chief of Rochester. Kirk was one of the deputy chiefs. I knew them both. Good men. Honest. Fair.
“Okay, they’re open-minded.”
“They are. I don’t think you’ll run into any homophobic problems with them.
They’re both sound allies for the LGBTQ community in our city.
The HR person is a wild card, but I’ll be coming in to give my character testimony after you and Chip speak to them.
I’ll make sure they know what an asset you are to this station as well as a respectable man in general. ”
“Thanks, Sully. I did my best to ensure that our relationship was—”
“I know. You don’t have to convince me. I’ve known you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper. You should be getting an official email soon with times and directions like we don’t know where the RFD main office downtown is located.”
“Well, they want to make sure we can’t say we didn’t know. Thanks, Sully. I appreciate the heads up as well as your support in this. I know it’s a headache you don’t need.”
“It’s fine. Go rest now. We want you back on the job. Morgan’s cooking is terrible.”
“Good to be wanted,” I quipped and ended the call.
Sitting on the sofa, I took a deep breath then blew it out.
Worry began to creep in as I stared at the tennis ball lying beside a pair of Chip’s sneakers.
Had I done enough to keep things professional?
Should I have pushed back harder against my feelings?
Would my actions find me guilty of unprofessional conduct?
What would my father think of his eldest son being suspended or worse for an ethics breach?
“Dane, honey, everything okay?” Mom called. Shaking off the monkey of trepidation hanging off my neck, I stood.
“Yep, it’s all good, Mom.”
Whether it would be or not was something out of my control for now, so I did my best to quash it as Rabbi Eli would surely advise. Chip and I would face things tomorrow together. Just as I hoped we would for the rest of our lives.
We were twenty minutes early for our hearing.
Chip was edgy already. His eyes locked on Sable as she leaned into his vibrating leg. Seating outside the city council chambers consisted of two long wooden benches.
“There are forty-five steps we climbed.” His hand rested on Sable. “Forty-five steps from the ground floor. Forty-five steps up. Then forty-five down. Marble. All marble. Forty-five marble steps.”
“That’s a lot of steps,” I replied. My nerves were showing now despite my best attempts to keep them in check. Not just for me but for Chip. He’d pick up on that I was worried, which would only make him more upset. “We can take the elevator down if you want.”
“No, I would rather count the steps going down. This building is old. Old buildings are interesting. There’s a preservation society here in town that has an annex filled with photographs of old buildings in the area.
A woman there once took me on a tour. She explained that historic buildings serve as reminders of a city’s culture.
They show off the town’s complexity. From the most recognizable landmarks to unknown gems, the history and heart of a city can be—”
The large wooden door across from us opened. Sully exited. He looked calm, which helped ease my growing anxiety a little.
“They asked me to send Dane in next,” Sully said, his suit and tie still tidy. I wished mine were, too. I’d been unable to stop fussing with the tie bar that bore my engine company number since I’d arrived here.
“Not me as well?” Chip’s green eyes rounded and he glanced at me. “We’re not going to go in together?”
“Guess not. It’s fine, though, babe. Just a few questions, then we’re out of here. We’re going to stop for stromboli at that place across from the arena.”
“I’ll stay with Dane while we wait. Maybe we can go find the coffee shop. I smelled it when I came in.” Sully smiled down at Chip.
“That sounds great. See if you can help the chief find some coffee and a tart. Cherry, please,” I joked.
Chip was not impressed, but he did rise and join Sully.
I could hear him telling Sully how many stairs there were.
I exhaled, ran my hands over my hair, and pushed into the chamber.
The walls were dark wood. Three people were seated at a long table.
Two I knew, one I had never seen before.
“Firefighter Rourke, please have a seat. We’ll make this as quick as we can.
Just a few questions for you to answer, then Mr. Cornish will give his testimony,” Deputy Chief Kirk said, his smile not lessening my growing anxiety.
The woman from HR was giving off some very complex vibes.
Still, I sat at the end of the table to face them.
“Before we start, I’d like to extend the thanks of the RFD for your quick thinking during that call when you were injured.
Your shout saved several of our best firefighters as well as a duo of plumbers working on a leaky sink in a print shop.
They relayed that your bellow gave them enough time to jump back inside and hit the floor.
You’re a hero in my eyes, Firefighter Rourke,” Kirk said.
Relief over the safety of the plumbers washed over me. “Thank you, Deputy Chief. Just doing my job to the best of my ability. Any other man or woman at the scene would have done the same.”
Fire Chief Biggens nodded silently as did the woman from HR, so yay.
“So, if you’d like to get started?” Kirk asked. I nodded gently. “If you could, would you please relate to us the exact incidents of the call for a structure fire at Cornish Iron and how your first interaction with the owner, Russell Cornish, transpired?”
So, I replied to the best of my ability to recall every little fact of that day.
And the days that followed. The panel was polite, distant, but professional.
None of the three attacked me or made me feel out of place for being gay.
The questions were centered around Chip and my actions about him.
When we were nearing what I hoped was the end, the woman from HR, Meghan Wyzinski, according to her name placard, hit me with a doozy.
“Do you feel that you have acted in accordance with the fire department’s policies regarding interpersonal relationships with civilians who have been traumatized?” Her voice was nasally but precise.
“I do, ma’am.” I found that I could reply earnestly. Finally.
“Very well. Thank you, Firefighter Rourke. Would you please send in Mr. Cornish?” she asked with cool indifference. I nodded, rose, and exited the stuffy chamber. Chip shot to his feet, Sable tight to his side.
“You’re next,” I whispered after letting the door close. Several people hustled past chatting to themselves. Sully had some coffee in a tan takeout cup, and Chip held Sable’s lead. “They’re nice. Just answer honestly. I love you.”
“You’ve said that a dozen times this morning.”
“Then that was a baker’s dozen,” I softly replied.
“Okay. Thirteen is a lucky number for me.”
He entered the chamber with his chin up and his dog at his side.
I turned to Sully watching us. He offered me a second cup that was sitting beside him on the bench.
I gladly took it. Not that I needed a jolt of caffeine.
I was already wired. I just needed something to do with my hands while Chip was giving his testimony.
“It’ll be fine,” Sully offered.
I wished I were as confident as he was.