Lucy
We were cleaningup after dinner, the easy rhythm of life we'd fallen into over the past weeks. Then Cal said something stupid, and I laughed before I could stop myself. In the corner of my eye, I could see Gabrielle in her bouncer, watching us with that serious expression she got sometimes, like she was taking notes on how adults behave..
"That's the worst joke I've ever heard," My words came out tangled with laughter. "Truly terrible."
"Mateo would have laughed."
"Mateo had terrible taste in jokes."
"He really did." Cal grinned, pleased with himself. "He had this whole notebook of them. Said the groans were better than the laughs."
"He told me it was research."
"Research for what?"
"He never said. I think he just liked making people suffer."
Cal shook his head, smiling at the memory. "Heused to test them on the crew. In the middle of a shift, completely random, he'd just launch into one. Owen would walk away. Liam would throw things at him. I'd just sit there and take it."
"Because you're a good friend."
"Because I was his captain and I couldn't assault him in front of the probies." He picked up a dish towel, started drying the pot I'd just washed. "He had this one about a firefighter and a dalmatian that went on for ten minutes. Ten minutes, Lucy. There wasn't even a punchline. He just kept adding details until everyone was begging him to stop."
I could picture it perfectly. Mateo sprawled in a chair at the station, grinning while the crew groaned, dragging out the joke just to watch them suffer. He'd done the same thing to me a hundred times.
"He told me that one," I said. "On our third date. I almost didn't go on a fourth."
"But you did."
"I did." I smiled, the memory bittersweet but not sharp. Not anymore. "He wore me down eventually."
Cal was quiet for a moment, his hands still moving over the pot. "He was good at that. Wearing people down. Making them let him in."
"He was."
Something shifted in Cal's expression. It was a soft, faraway look. "I wasn't going to like him, you know. When he first joined the crew. He was too loud, too friendly, too much. I thought he was going to be a problem."
"What changed?"
"He saved my life," Cal said it simply, like it wasn't a big deal. "Three months in. Roof collapsed, I got pinned, and he came back for me when everyone else was evacuating. Didn't even hesitate." He set the pot down, lost in thought for a beat. "After that, I couldn't get rid of him. He just decided we were brothers, and that was it."
I hadn't known that story. Mateo had never told me.
"He talked about you all the time," My voice sounded quiet. "How much he respected you. How much he learned from you."
Cal went still, his hands pausing on the pot.
"I'm glad you were there," I continued. "At the end. I'm glad he wasn't alone."
I let the words sit there, giving him space to do with them what he needed. It was the same grace he always extended to me, but it didn't need to be said, not now, when it wasn't about me. Cal turned to look at me, and there was something raw in his eyes, something I hadn't seen before.
"Lucy—"
"I mean it. I know it must have been awful. But I'm grateful it was you."
He held my gaze for a long moment. Then he nodded, once, and looked away.
We finished the dishes in silence. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt like something had settled between us, some old wound that had finally started to close.
