“Fire-man!” she squealed happily, and that made me laugh. Maybe Rhea was right. I was doing pretty well so far, and most of the kids were just excited to meet a real life firefighter. None of the embarrassing scenarios I’d imagined the previous night had happened yet.
The day still had a ways to go, but I was feeling good. When Ash called me out to demonstrate the hoses, I even felt like showing off.
“Absolutely no tricks, Beck,” Calder warned me with a serious face as I approached the hose. “Do not stand on one leg, do not point the hose at the sky, no crazy antics.”
“Buzzkill,” I sighed, rolling my eyes for extra drama.
“Health and safety isn’t a joke,” Calder insisted. “We don’t want people thinking they can copy you and getting hurt.”
“Fine,” I breathed rebelliously, stomping over to the hose like I was about to throw a tantrum. From the corner of my eye, I could see Calder scoff. He was amused.
Ash took up the job of crowd control, one of his less practiced skills. Luckily, he did just fine, and our demonstrations all went off without a hitch. I soaked in the claps and the cheers, and the adoration of the people. It felt as if we were being praised by thousands, even though the real number attending the event was probably closer to about a hundred. Maybe less, I’d never been particularly good at math.
“Hot dog time!” I announced around lunch, carrying my full tray around and offering refreshments to everyone I came across.
Rhea was standing with Ash a bit further out from the busiest part of the event, but I went out of my way to offer them each a good ol’ dog.
“Hungry?” I asked, glancing from Ash to Rhea.
Ash seemed a little annoyed with the interruption, but Rhea’s smile never faltered. “Bet I can eat one faster than you.”
“That so?” Ash raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief. “Beck, do you believe she can?”
“Mm, doubt it,” I replied, leaning in to whisper to her. “Ash is the fastest eater in the station, except for me.”
“Please, you lost the last competition,” Ash said hurriedly, grabbing one of the hot dogs from my tray. “If anything, we’re neck-on-neck.”
“That was just because I already ate!” I defended my honor, and this turned into a stare-off between Ash and I.
That was, until Rhea cleared her throat, and we looked over to see her wipe a bit of ketchup from the corner of her mouth. “I win.”
Ash and I both laughed, and the competition was somewhat forgotten.
“I should see if there’s something I can help with,” Ash eventually sighed. “Promised Calder to getmore involvedin community work. Don’t want him to think I’m trying to slack off.”
He gave Rhea a quick look before he left. She offered him a little wave before turning back to me. The way she was looking at me now had me convinced.
“Can we talk privately?” I asked, nodding toward the side of the station, where there weren’t any people. Rhea frowned, but shefollowed me anyway. I didn’t want to make her worried, but I also didn’t want to do this in front of the whole neighborhood.
As soon as we were out of eyesight, I started my speech. “Look, Rhea, I really like you. Like, a lot. Very, very much.”
“Okay…” she said, trailing off with a glance at the tray of hot dogs I was still holding. It probably wasn’t the best prop for this conversation, but I’d completely forgotten to hand it off to someone else. So, it would have to do.
“And I know you like me, too,” I continued. “But I also know you have feelings for Calder, and for Ash, and they feel the same way about you as I do.”
Rhea stayed silent, probably waiting for me to drop a bomb.
“And I’ll be honest, I’m not sure it would work for all of us to keep dating you at once.” I saw her face fall for a moment, but I pressed on. “But… I’d like to give it a shot. I’m not going to fight my feelings for you, even if that means I have to share you.”
23
~
Rhea
After the community event, I was exhausted, and I headed home looking forward to a good long night’s sleep. Unfortunately for me, Beck coming onboard, the upcoming festival, and general insomnia kept me awake.
I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling for what felt like hours before I finally gave up. I checked my phone; it was just past midnight. At least I didn’t have to work the next morning, but I still didn’t feel like just sitting around in my house waiting for the sandman to eventually show up.
