“Claire can only be so lucky,” he boasted. “Come on, I’ll come over and rock the kid myself.”
“Settle down, boys,” Leo said as he entered the room. “You two fight like kids. Patch, you’ve convinced everyone to trade cooking duties with you for the last six weeks. You’re taking the hit on this one. Cole Martin will arrive any minute. I want those burgers done when we finish the meeting. Then, we’ll invite him for lunch and have a more casual conversation with him. No more getting out of kitchen duty, or I’ll stick your ass on latrine duty for the next month.”
Patch sighed, reluctantly.
Knight punched him in the arm. “Suck it up, buttercup. Maybe tonight, I’ll do my rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.”
“Shoot me now,” Patch muttered as he put the rest of the items away and patted out the burger patties.
Leo’s phone rang and he picked it up. “The new guy’s here. Let’s try to give him a good impression.”
“How can we when you go around calling us Team Asshole?” Patch asked. “By the way, you owe Melody another twenty bucks. Don’t think I didn’t hear you tell her you ran out of money and you need what you have in your wallet to buy a birthday present for her.”
“I’m in the mind to give you latrine duty anyway. Make it two months,” Leo said as he strode toward the hallway to greet Cole.
Leo opened the door, shook Cole’s hand, and greeted Brody. “It’s nice to meet you in person. We’ll start the interview process once all the team members arrive. You won’t meet Doc today.He’s on duty at the hospital and coordinating how to pick up the tiny circus he keeps adding to, called children.”
Cole chuckled. “He’s the one with twins, right?”
“Chase and Kassie have five kids at the moment. They’re watching Sara while José completes basic training,” Leo informed him as they walked toward the kitchen together. As they entered, he motioned toward the table. “Have a seat. Everyone will join us in a minute. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water will be fine, sir. May I get some for Brody, too?” Cole asked, taking out his traveling bowl for the dog.
“Sure. How does your dog get along with others? Whiskey has a service dog named Hope. Sparky has a dog named Ice. Will it be a problem?” Leo asked.
“No, sir. Brody’s well-behaved and won’t move until I give a command,” Cole said, hoping his friend didn’t let him down.
As if he knew they were speaking about him, Brody sat taller and stared at Cole, waiting for another directive.
“Does he use hand signals?” Patch asked as he put the meat in the fridge.
“Yes, he’s one of the best,” Cole boasted.
Brody gave a broad smile as if proud of his own abilities. To the rest of the men, the dog appeared well-trained. Yet Cole knew when Brody used that expression, he plotted something. Silently signaling the dog to lie down, Cole sighed in relief as the four-legged mischief maker obeyed.
The men from the team filed in one by one. Whiskey, whom Cole met during the interview process, appeared harassed as he sat at the table.
“What’s the matter?” Leo asked, noticing the team member’s distress.
“We have another problem with the shipments. I must’ve put the wrong number down when I placed the order,” Whiskey said,scratching his head in confusion and pulling out a small laptop from his bag.
Leo glanced up at the ceiling, murmuring a prayer. “What did we purchase in bulk this time? Please tell me you didn’t order more baby stuff.”
“No. Remember when you placed the order for the community center sponsorship?” Whiskey asked as he scanned the records.
“Yeah,” Leo said, sipping his coffee.
“You got distracted when Derrick grabbed something from your desk. If I recall, you and Kassie were discussing how much you planned to give to the community center’s sponsorship. You told her to put you down for five thousand dollars.”
“I know what I sponsored. What’s the problem?” he asked.
“You must’ve started working on the inventory, and you placed an order for socks,” Whiskey said slowly. “Five thousand pairs, in fact.”
Leo groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. If I don’t find a supply clerk soon, I’ll beat on Patch for a good two hours to knock the whining out of his ass. He’s gotten worse than the kids when they’re tired.”
“I can hear you, ya know. Subtle much? What happened to making a good impression? Did your order only apply to me?” Patch needled him.
Cole chuckled behind his hand. Despite the arguing, he saw the connection between the men and realized what he lost along the way… camaraderie and brothers-in-arms.
