"It's nice to meet you, Will. Glad to have you on board. It'll be a big help, let me tell you."
Terry was intrigued by the slight flush that filled Will's cheeks. The guy had to be old enough or he never would have been hired, but there was something almost innocent about him. He kind of reminded Terry of Jonny when he'd first started.
"Well, come on, I want to get this thing dropped off." Terry gestured to the ambulance. "I have a bed calling my name."
Terry waved to Jamie and Jonny then walked around to the front of the vehicle. Will was climbing into the passenger seat when he opened the door. Terry sent him a quick smile then started the vehicle up and drove it out of the ambulance bay.
"So, how do you like Cade Creek so far?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.
"It's not really what I expected."
Terry glanced at Will. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Good, I think." Will gave a nervous-sounding laugh. "I'm from back east, the Boston area, and I have to tell you, I have never run into a town quite like Cade Creek."
"That's because there are no towns like Cade Creek, and there probably never will be. Cade Creek is unique. The people here truly care about one another, and who you love isn't nearly as important as how you love them."
"That's true," Will replied. "I think I've seen more same sex couples than I have straight couples."
Terry thought about all of the couples he knew before replying. "I'd say there's about a sixty-forty mix."
"For a town this size, that's amazing."
Terry kind of thought it was amazing for a town of any size, but he didn't say that.
"Would it be impolite to ask what side you fall on?"
Terry hoped his surprise didn't show on his face when he turned to look at Will. "I'm gay."
"Oh, okay, good." Will grinned at him. "Me, too."
Terry stared at Will for another moment before looking back out the front window. Will was practically bouncing in his seat.
Weird.
"Okay, here we are." Terry pulled over to the side of the road across the street from Kapheri's Koffee Korner.
"I don't suppose you'd like to go out for a beer sometime."
"Sure." Terry could always use more friends, especially ones who understood what working in the paramedic field was like. It would be fun. He could take Dan, too. It would give Will another gay man to know. Terry was pretty sure Dan would be as amused by Will’s eagerness as he was.
"Really?" Will sounded so surprised.
"Yeah, let me know when. It just can't be one of the nights when we're working."
Alcohol and emergency medical response did not mix.
"Oh, no, I know that." He sounded so damn eager. "I'll call you."
Terry nodded. "I'll be waiting."
Before Terry even knew what was happening, Will leaned across the seat and kissed him. Terry was so stunned, Will was out of the cab of the ambulance and running across the street toward a small blue compact before he could stop him.
"Oh shit," Terry whispered. Will had totally gotten the wrong idea. Or maybe he had. Terry wasn't sure, but one of them had. Terry thought Will was asking him out for a beer as a friend, and Will obviously thought it was a date.
Terry sighed as he realized he was going to have to break the poor kid's heart. He was already dating someone. Kind of. Sort of. And even if he wasn't, Will wouldn't be the type to get him interested. Terry definitely preferred the bad boys, and Dan was a bad boy right down to the bone.
Damn, Dan. He didn't want to have to explain Will to Dan. Maybe he wouldn't have to. Maybe he could just explain things to Will, and that would be the end of it. It had been an honest mistake. Anyone could have made it.
Yeah, that's what he'd do. He'd simply explain things to Will, and that would be the end of it.
He hoped.
