HARRISON
Back in Omaha, night shifts always brought out the crazy calls. A lot of small fires happened overnight, especially during the winter when people did dumb things like use propane heaters in their homes or forget to put out their fireplaces before going to bed. Here in Strawberry, my experience working overnights has been a lot of nothing. The one positive is that I’m always able to stay on top of my paperwork. Paperwork, it is pretty much a four-letter word. They don’t tell you with more responsibility comes more paperwork.
Travis Grant is working with me this shift. We’ve been on call for twelve hours and we’re headed into our night shift. In the last twelve hours, we’ve had a grand total of two phone calls. Both of them were for minor injuries and the calls took less than an hour. I spent more time doing the paperwork for both calls than I spent on the actual calls themselves.
I might sound like I’m complaining, but I promise I’m not. Unlike my old house, when we aren’t on calls we make ourselves seen out in the community. Dalton said I’d start to get to know the people in this small town and he was right. Today Travis and I visited the local elementary school and talked to the kids about fire safety.
With Angela being so busy now that the inn is open and fully booked, I’ve taken advantage of the free time to drop by and see her as well. The least I can do is bring her lunch when she’s been running around like a crazy woman all week. She’s even had to pick up overnight shifts and that means I don’t get the pleasure of her sleeping in my bed either. Who would have thought she was going to be the busier of the two of us?
The movie we were watching just ended when my dispatch phone rang. It wasn’t an emergency, that would have come through as an alarm in the firehouse, but it meant something was up that needed my attention for sure. “Captain Thatcher speaking,” I say as I pick up the phone.
“Good evening, Captain. This is Dispatcher Linda Carlton, we received a call from Mr. Solomon at The Pub downtown, are you familiar with the location?”
“Yes, ma’am. Everybody knows where The Pub is. Is there an emergency going on down there that they need us for?”
She makes a noise that sounds like a giggle, which is mildly confusing considering that she’s a 9-1-1 dispatcher calling on my official phone. “I wouldn’t call it an emergency. Sol called us because there seem to be two young ladies that may have enjoyed their Sunday night a bit too much.”
“Oh geez,” I run my hand through my hair, “Angela and Blair?”
“Yes, sir. Sol was going to call Stan, but being that it is close to midnight, he was hesitant.”
“So he called 9-1-1?”
“Not exactly, he just contacted the dispatch directly. I told him he could have called the fire station, but he said he didn’t have the number handy. If you’re not available to go take care of the..um…situation, I can call Ginny to get them.”
Of course, Linda knows Blair and her parents, everybody knows everybody here. “That’s not necessary, Linda. We’re not doing much here. I will make sure they both get home safe and sound.”
“Thank you, Captain Thatcher.”
“Call me, Harrison, Linda. You call me more than my girlfriend and Mom combined, we’re basically best friends.”
She laughs on the other end of the line, “Fair enough. Have a good evening, Harrison. Hopefully, we do not speak again and I mean that in the best possible way.”
“That’s fair.”
I hang up and tuck my phone into my back pocket and grab my jacket from the back of my chair. “Come on, Travis, we have a rescue mission.”
“What?” He jumps to his feet and makes a rush for the door.
“No need to hurry, just a couple of women enjoying a night off a bit too much. I’ve been requested to take care of the situation.”
He looks at me with confusion in his eyes until he finally clicks, “Oh, your girl is drunk, huh?”
“And apparently with her partner in crime.”
Travis and I take my truck rather than the fire engine. No need to roll downtown in the large rig just to take care of these two. We’re still on the clock, but I estimate that it should only take a few minutes to get them back to the inn safely. I assume that Hayes is going to be okay at home, Blair has been working overnights as well, leaving him alone to get up and ready for school on his own. I make a mental note to send him a text just to be on the safe side.
The Pub parking lot is empty except for a single truck parked near the side entrance. That is probably Sol’s, the girls probably walked over once they were done working. The front door is unlocked and I open it to find Blair and Angela in front of the jukebox singing along to some sad country song. Sol had a push broom in his hand, cleaning up while the two ladies were dancing and singing along to the song. Needless to say, neither would be making it on American Idol.
“HARRISON!” Angela screamed my name and then came tumbling over to me. I could smell the vodka on her breath before she even fell into my arms. She drunkenly wrapped her arms around my neck and tried to kiss me, but I avoided her lips and gave her one on the cheek. “Did you come to drink? You need to try this special water.”
“I don’t think I need to try any special water you may have tried, Blondie.”
“Harrison,” Sol said my name and put his hand out. I shook his hand and gave him a nod.
“I’m sure this isn’t how you planned your Sunday night, but I do appreciate you not letting them wander the streets like this.”
“They’ve been more entertaining than anything. Sorry if I interrupted your shift at all. I was going to call Stan, but it was late.”
“We were both up. Linda got quite the laugh out of your call though.”
“I figured she would.”
“So…any idea what these girls got themselves into? I’m surprised you didn’t cut them off.”
“We had wine, Harry, it was sooooooooo good.” I cringe at the nickname Harry. It is something I’ve never gone by and don’t intend on starting now. I’m sure she won’t remember any of this in the morning, but I make a mental note to give her a good spanking next time I get the chance.
“Did you have vodka-flavored wine, sweetheart?”
“Pssh,” she rolls her eyes, “they don’t make that you silly goose. It was strawberry flavored because we live in Strawberry. Get it?” She starts to laugh and that gets Blair giggling again. She’s made her way away from the jukebox and would be flat on the ground if it wasn’t for Travis holding her arm.
“Don’t forget the special water, Angie Banangie!” She slurs.
“Special water?” I glance to Sol.
“They finished off a bottle of wine from the vineyard and I was going to cut them off. I brought them both glasses of water and went to the back to brew a couple of cups of coffee so they could sober up a bit before sending them on their way.”
“I don’t think that worked.”
“It would have, except when I came back out they had poured out the water and filled their cups with vodka from behind the bar.”
Blair and Angela attempt to hide their giggles but neither are successful. I guess that explains why Angela smells like her breath could start a fire if she got too close to anything that sparks. “I’d like to say I can’t believe they’d do something like that, but together they are a bit unpredictable. I’m sorry again, Sol. I’ll get them out of your hair.”
“I appreciate you coming down to get them, Harrison. They weren’t any trouble, plenty of entertainment for the old men with nothing better to do. I just want them to make it home safe.”
“What do the two of them owe you?” I ask as I reach for my wallet.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Sol waves me off. “They paid for the bottle of wine before they were too drunk and I’ll give them shit about the vodka later,” he says with a wink. Sol’s not exactly what you would call a friendly face, but he was still a stand-up guy.
Travis seemed capable of helping Blair, so I wrapped my arm around Angela’s waist and assisted her in walking out to the parking lot. There were a lot of stumbles as both of them were wearing heels along with the copious amount of alcohol flowing through their bloodstreams.
“What’s the plan, Harrison?” Travis asked.
“I think the best bet is to just take them both back to the inn and Blair can crash at the cottage. They won’t be happy in the morning, but we just call those consequences.” With the two ladies safely strapped in the back of my truck, I make the short drive to the hotel, parking in the back next to the cottage. All of the lights are off, Beth probably went to bed hours ago. I dig Angela’s keys out of her purse get the door unlocked before coming back to the girls.
“I’ll go ahead and get them in there, Travis. You can just hang out here.”
“You sure, Cap?”
“Yeah, I know where everything is anyway.”
Blair thanks Travis for helping her tonight and both of them give him flirty waves. He’s just a young guy, only twenty-three, but I still see the bit of blush on his cheeks after their drunk flirting. I’m not jealous, of course, I know at the end of the day Angela just wants me. It takes some time, but I finally get them both in the house and sit Angela down on a chair in the kitchen while getting Blair settled on the couch.
“Do you want a blanket, Blair?”
“Yesssss, I love blankets, Harrison, did you know that?”
“I didn’t know that, but now I do. Should I take your shoes off?”
“Mmhmm,” I look up to see her eyelids closing. She’s going to be out cold any second now. I drape the blanket over her and set her shoes by the front door. Before taking Angela to her room, I leave a bottle of water on the coffee table.
“Your turn, Blondie.”
Angela claps her hands and attempts to jump into my arms, failing miserably. “Harrison! You were supposed to catch me!”
“I’m sorry, beautiful. You caught me off guard. Let me try it this way.” I swoop her up into my arms and carry her bridal style back into her room as she giggles in glee. She didn’t make her bed this morning (she never does) so I was easily able to set her in bed, take off her shoes, and pull the covers over her.
“How is that, Blondie?”
“Perfect except you’re not laying with me,” she sticks out her bottom lip.
“I wish I could stay with you, darling, but I have to go back to work now. I’ll give you a call in the morning to see how you’re doing.”
“Okay, I guess that works.”
I kiss her forehead and tuck her blanket up for her once again. As I begin to walk away, she grabs my hand and I turn back to her. “Thank you, Harrison. I love you.”
My heart skips a beat hearing her say those words. She’s drunk, so I don’t know if she even understands what she said, but I really fucking hope she means it. I’ve been so nervous to say those words to her. Like a coward, I’ve been waiting for her to make the first move. Her words were so shocking to me that I couldn’t even figure out what to say back. The only saving grace in the situation was the small snores she started making right away that let me know she was asleep.
I wasn’t about the tell her I loved her for the first time when she was drunk, but once we were together next and I had the chance to find out how she really felt, I was going to tell her.