I smiled in return. “I don’t mind it.”
I didn’t add that it felt quite nice to have them ribbing each other like this over me. I could watch the mostly friendly competition all day.
“Come on,” Beck took the basket from me and I hooked my arm into his. “Let’s go somewhere we won’t have an audience.”
Ash scoffed, and Calder raised an eyebrow, but they didn’t follow when Beck began to lead me away. We walked to the far end of the engine bay, where there was a medical rig standing in the corner. It was as out of view of the rest of the station as we could get, but I wondered why we hadn’t left entirely. I had been hoping to take Beck out to a park or even to my backyard, somewhere relaxing.
“Unfortunately,” Beck sighed dramatically, “I’m still on call, so… If something happens, I have to be here.”
He made puppy eyes at me and pouted. “But I really, really want to try this picnic
you’ve brought. I have an idea.”
“Oh?” I asked, adding a flirtatious tone to my question. The two previous dates had really skyrocketed my confidence, and in the summer dress I was wearing now, I felt beyond pretty. Plus, Jackie’s advice to just go with it had worked for me so far. Not being completely worried about everything I did was making it so much more fun.
“You ever have a picnic in an ambulance?” Beck said, walking toward the back of the medical rig.
“You’re allowed to do that?” I asked as I followed him and watched him expertly open one of the doors with a single hand.
He shrugged and grinned at me with a typical naughty boy expression. “I haven’t seen anything about picnics in any of the guidebooks. But I would suggest that we keep our voices down and try not to get caught, just in case.”
I giggled, feeling like I’d just snuck out of my parents’ house in the middle of the night. Immediately, my heart was beating a bit faster and the tension in the atmosphere flared. I hadn’t done anything sneaky like this in a long time, and I’d definitely never had a date in an ambulance. It didn’t seem like the ideal venue, but with Beck there, I was sure that I’d at least be having fun.
He got into the ambulance with the basket before hopping out to help me in. It was higher than I expected, and I almost fell backwards. Beck steadied me with one hand against my back, and I instantly felt goosebumps rushing over my body.
“Thank you,” I said, pushing a strand of loose hair behind my ear and stepping forward so that Beck could get in behind me. He shut the doors and all of the noise of the world outsidedisappeared, leaving us alone with a picnic basket and an array of medical equipment.
“Let me see if I can make a bit of space for us,” Beck said as if he were hosting me in his living room. “Unfortunately, the mansion-sized ambulance is in the shop right now.”
That made me laugh and eased my nerves instantly. Beck seemed so much more relaxed than either of the others; every move he made was as if he didn’t have a care in the world. That was weird for a firefighter. I’d always assumed most of them were serious and deeply scarred emotionally. Maybe Beck was, too, and he just hid it better than anyone else, but I simply couldn’t tell.
He managed to fold the stretcher and put it up against one of the walls, and moved most of the rest of the medical equipment into the various corners. His efforts cleared a small space in the middle of the ambulance, where he proudly placed the basket on the floor.
“Ta-da!” he said, holding his arms wide. “Isn’t that just perfect? We have all the space in the world now.”
“We could have a whole party in here,” I agreed with a smile, before I sat down beside the basket. Beck took a seat across from me, grinning ear-to-ear at his own achievement. I had to admit that, while this was definitely an odd location for a picnic, it had a certain charm to it. It was a unique experience, at the very least, one that I could never have imagined having.
I reached for the picnic basket, opening the top to reveal the content. “I wasn’t sure what your favorite food is, so I just brought whatever I could think of.”
“I’m just grateful I’m getting fed,” Beck joked, peering into the basket. “Oh, hey, you brought grape juice instead of champagne. That’s smart.”
“I was worried you couldn’t drink because, you know, drunk firefighters aren’t a good thing,” I answered, taking the bottle of juice out along with the pair of plastic glasses that I’d packed. “And, well, I didn’t want to break my brand-new tumblers, so I brought these.”
“Smart, I’m a clumsy fellow,” Beck chuckled, taking the bottle from me to open it. “Honestly, sometimes I wonder how I manage to do my job at all. Calder always tells me I have no grace or elegance.”
The way he said it made me imagine him dancing around with a hose like a ballerina, and I found myself laughing again. I had a feeling Beck’s humor would have me rolling on the floor by the end of the date. It was like almost everything he said was funny in one way or another. Maybe it was because of the butterflies in my stomach, or just my nerves, but I didn’t care. I was already having fun.
“Oh, crackers!” Beck’s excitement pulled me out of my thoughts. He’d already filled both our glasses and was now exploring the rest of the basket. “And cheese? How’d you know I love cheese?”
“Most people do,” I pointed out, but Beck peered at me secretively.
“Not Ash,” he said in a near-whisper. “He’s lactose intolerant. Don’t tell him I said anything.”
“Noted,” I smiled, filing the information away in my mind. “No cheese for Ash.”
Beck grabbed one of the crackers and a slice of cheese, and chomped away. He made it look like it was the best thing he’d ever had in his life. And his excitement, his pure zest for life, was contagious. I could feel it building in my own heart, so much so that I felt like going on an adventure right there and then.
“I also have whipped cream and chocolate mousse,” I said conspiratorially, and Beck’s eyes widened. “I did bring bowls for that.”
