“We have tried casually dating some women together. Some of our college friends are happily married in poly arrangements and we’ve always thought that is what we wanted. But we’ve never found anyone we were seriously interested in.” Greg studied my face.
“You just met me.”
“And yet we’ve been though a lot already.” Burris said.
I felt my heart rate pick up. None of this made sense. I wasn’t planning on staying here. I knew nothing about these men. And yet, I wanted this.
“Okay. I think I’d like to get to know you both.” I nodded slowly.
“We’d like to trust you by telling you about the saw, then, if we will be seeing a lot more of each other.” Greg looked around.
It clicked into place. “There have been more incidents like this.”
“The woman you saw us with earlier today in the diner is a friend of ours who is a local detective. We went to high school with Rhonda and trust her,” Burris said. “And Bryan is one of our college friends, who is going to pretend to be a big potential new client at the company.”
Then they started telling me about the other incidents.
“Rhonda told us off,” Greg said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not many people talk to us like that, to be honest.”
“I think I understand your point of view too,” I said, trying to be diplomatic. “You employ a lot of local people and didn’t want to point fingers until you had more information. You were hoping to uncover it and sort it out among yourselves. You two seem like you are used to handling everything yourselves.”
***
“Would you like ice cream, or pie?” Greg asked as we left the pub.
“Didn’t we just eat toffee pudding?” I wondered if they were serious.
“Yes, but there’s about a half hour until fireworks,” Burris said. “If you’d like to see them.”
“The field is at the end of the main street here in the factory parking lot. We could watch them from my office,” Greg said.
“I’d like that,” I said. I found that I, too, didn’t want the evening to end.
I was bemused when Greg took my hand. Several people called out hellos and not just to them, but also to me.
“You are already getting known,” Burris said.
Not even everyone in my EMT program had known me by name. There were three hundred of us. I’d been here two days and people knew me. It was a nice feeling.
We’d made it to the parking lot when the fireworks started. We stopped walking to watch the shower of red sparks. I could hear patriotic music.
“Is that an orchestra?”
“We fund a community orchestra and band for all ages,” Greg said.
I glanced at him. He seemed embarrassed. “Is there anything around here you aren’t involved in?”
“We like to help the community.” Burris walked around to my other side, so I was standing between them.
I looked at the crowded lot, with people sitting on folding chairs and blankets. It was peaceful, and cozy.
Two kids running past jostled us and the men pressed closer to me, in a protective stance.
“Let’s move inside,” Burris said, taking my hand.
We hurried inside, and they walked me quickly through a corridor with wide windows so we could still see the show going outside.
“Hey, Travis,” Burris waved to the guard at a checkpoint. “We’re going to watch the show. Quiet night?”
