On the morning of Monday, February 24, 2020, a pair of packages arrived at Firehouse 220 addressed to Paiva Harrington. One of them was labeled as KEEP FROZEN and had been delivered separately from the other, which had a card attached.
Inside the card was the following message:
Dearest Paiva,
I heard it’s your birthday! Wishing you all the best. Someone told me you like tacos. I hope chocolate ones will do. Feel free to share them or not at your discretion. Also heard that you like cats. Here’s to having the best of both worlds combined into one.
Love and kisses,
Dris
ps: Oh. The bat? Please use that to beat Rhys only half to death. I rather like him very much alive. Thanks, love.
Naturally, in the box marked KEEP FROZEN was another package containing ice cream!
The other box contained a 17 inch jumbo plush and a toy foam baseball bat.
Birthdays at Firehouse 220 were a chance for the firefighters to blow off a little steam. Paiva arrived extra early, putting on a good front like she always did, ready to face the onslaught of pranks that were surely waiting.
But the pole hadn't been greased, her boots didn't have live critters crawling from within, and her locker only had birthday paper-wrapped across the front rather than fifty condoms taped to the outside.
Strange.
Stranger still, the breakfast her fellow firefighters made actually tasted...good. No overload of salt, no hidden habanero sauce. No side dish of fried grasshoppers or some other hideous insect that would never pass her lips.
Had she gotten to the point that even her co-workers thought her too boring to play pranks on? It was a sobering thought. But she kept the smile in place, thanked the men for the flowers, cards and little delicately decorated cake. So thrown off her game, she didn't immediately recognize the prank when it came calling.
The muscular, handsome tow-truck driver brought with him a clipboard and paperwork for her to sign. Her beloved Silverado was about to be towed.
“But I park there all the time!” she insisted, refusing to sign anything.
“Ma'am, I'm just doing my job,” he said with obvious impatience, thrusting the clipboard at her again.
The half-open shirt and bulging biceps should have tipped her off. If not that, the too-symmetrical features, gleaming green eyes, and perfect white teeth should have done it. There wasn't a law against good-looking tow truck drivers, though, and he played his part well.
“Well, I'm not signing. I'll go move my truck.” She didn't get three steps away before the tow-truck driver blocked her path.
“There's another way we can settle this, Ma'am.”
“You call me Ma'am one more time today and I'll shove that clipboard places it was never designed to fit.”
Snickers from her co-workers erupted behind her, another telltale sign she missed.
The tow-truck driver tossed the clipboard aside and snagged her around the waist, dragging her right up against all his hard curves.
Thus began the show. She couldn't even consider it torture. Having a wang thrust in your face to the tune of 24k Magic wasn't a bad way to go.
After the hoots and cat-calls and teasing finally ended, after the tow-truck driver put all his clothes back on, she headed to the lockers to put all her cards away.
Except a whistle and a shout of her name drew her right back to the stairs leading to the main bay. She set the cards on a table and trotted down the flight, wary, of course, of yet another prank on the way. She accepted the delivery and ferried the packages back upstairs, an eyebrow arched over the keep frozen instructions.
Had someone sent her body parts?!
When she opened the card and saw the message on the front, she laughed. By then, all her co-workers had gathered around to peer over her shoulder.
The message inside the card melted her heart and made her laugh again. Rhys tattled! She couldn't have been more delighted. For a second, she clutched the card against her chest, amused, before attacking the gifts. A whoop went up around her when she revealed the frozen chocolate tacos, which she refused to hand over to anyone. Those were hers! The next gift earned the gift-giver a little guffaw, even though he wasn't there to see or hear it. She hugged the kitty and threatened her co-workers with the bat.
“So who is Dris?”
“He a new flame?”
“Why haven't we met him?”
“Guys! He's just a friend! I swear. Now back off before I beat you.”
Oh, the teasing. She didn't bother to try and explain the connection between Rhys (who didn't have long to live) or Dris and herself. It was better to hoard her gifts and chow on ice cream to celebrate a day made much brighter by the thoughtful, unexpected delivery.
