Part 2 (2/2)

”She's not going to be mad at you, Donny. She's going to be p.i.s.sed as h.e.l.l at me! She's been warning me off you for months, and I go off and do what I wanted to do after all. I know some of it is that she looks up to you, but she had a major crush on you when she started at the firehouse, and she's bound to have some of that pop up and cause a little jealousy.”

Now my head was spinning way too quickly. A crush on me? Pauli had a crush on me? d.a.m.n, looked like there was more going on than I thought, and I wasn't sure what to do about it.

”I didn't realize she's a lesbian, Caity, or that she had a crush on me. What should I do about it?”

Caity shook her head and held me a little tighter for a second. ”No, she's not a lesbian, she's bis.e.xual. She's had boyfriends and girlfriends since she started dating. She's simply attracted to the person and not the gender. I think if I talk to her, she'll be fine once that initial flare up pa.s.ses. When do you work with her next?”

I reviewed the roster in my head., ”Tomorrow and then not for about a week. How am I going to work all s.h.i.+ft with her tomorrow? d.a.m.n, this is going to be difficult, isn't it?”

Caity gave me her best smile, leaned over and kissed the top of my head. ”Yeah, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.”

CHAPTER 3.

I'M SURE YOU'RE wondering how it went working with Pauli that day. Truth is we were so busy we didn't have much time to talk anyway so it worked out. When she did find out a few days later, she showed up at my house to talk to me. That was when the real fun started for me.

She pulled up outside my house while I was outside cutting the gra.s.s. I'd just finished and was putting away the mower, but I was moving kind of slow since I'd been thinking about Caitlyn. Pauli got out of her truck, a big black Ford Explorer, and came over to me as I wiped my hands off with a towel and closed the garage.

”What's going on, Pauli, did we have plans or something?” I knew we didn't and I knew why she must be there, but I didn't want to come out and ask if she had a problem with me and her sister.

”I think you know why I'm here, Donny. I spoke to my sister last night. I took the night to think things over before deciding to talk to you about it. Do you have some time now?”

Well, that was surprising! She was still talking to me in that same polite manner that she always used. She wasn't steamed or screaming at me. I was grateful, as I didn't want a scene in my driveway on my day off. I waved her inside, kicking off my gra.s.s-covered sneakers in the doorway, and slipping off my socks as well. As I padded towards the kitchen, Pauli followed me and sat down at the table. I grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, tossed her one, washed my face and hands at the sink before grabbing a clean dishtowel to dry off.

Finally, I sat down, ready to deal with Pauli's visit. ”Okay Pauli, I knew your sister was going to talk to you so I'm sort of ready for this, but please try and go easy on me. The whole idea is almost as new to me as it is to you.” I took a swig from my water bottle and nervously played with the label as I waited for her to say something.

Pauli leaned forward so that her elbows were on the table, her spiky blond hair drooping a little as she locked her hazel eyes on me. Her eyes were so like her sister's and yet so vastly different. Where Caity's were clear and open to be read, Pauli's were darker and it felt like there was a door slammed shut when I looked into them.

In a level tone of voice she said, ”Donny, I've suspected for a while that you had a thing for my sister but I didn't think anything would happen. You of all people preach about the code of not sleeping with members of the family. She's a dispatcher and she's my sister. Either way that's like sleeping with a cousin or something. What's gotten into you?” She leaned back, still staring me down, daring me to answer her.

”You're right, I know you're right. I don't know if anything would have come of my feelings if your sister hadn't made the first move.”

Her jaw clenched, I could see the muscle in her jaw contract. I took a deep breath and counted as I exhaled to relax a bit.

”I've liked her for a while, but I was too afraid to do anything about it. The truth is, we aren't sleeping together, we're just starting to date. I'm scared, Pauli, more afraid than I've ever been about anything. I don't want to mess things up. You know how I always say don't sleep with members of the family unless you think it could be really serious?”

She nodded but didn't relax.

”I think this is serious, Pauli, that's why I've been too afraid to do anything about it. I had a rocky break-up not long before you joined the station, and I didn't take it too well. I decided not to get involved again because I didn't want that kind of pain in my life.”

It was my turn to lean forward and lean on the table. I looked her dead in the eye and continued; ”I think your sister could be it for me, for life. We're good friends with an attraction to each other. I hope it doesn't bother you that we're dating, but I can promise you two things. One, I will always do my best to take care of her and never hurt her. Two, whether or not you approve, she's worth fighting for, and I will keep seeing her.” Then I sat back and sucked down some more water, waiting for the dam of Pauli's emotions to burst forth.

Instead, she remained calm, still leaning back in her chair as she looked me over as if a.s.sessing a trauma scene. ”I'm going to keep an eye on you, Donny. I believe you and I trust you, but she's my sister, you know? I had to come over and ask. I had to see for myself how you really felt. We're good, but don't you dare hurt her, got it?”

I nodded and stood up when she did. I followed her to the door and waited there as she left. Once she was gone, I leaned against the wall with a sigh of relief. I couldn't believe that Pauli had actually come over to ask my intentions!

Pus.h.i.+ng off from the wall, I went upstairs to take a shower before heading over to Caity's house. We were planning to cook on the grill, and she said she had a surprise for me. Surprises have always made me nervous, and she knew it. I think that had something to do with her pleasure in it, the making me nervous part. As if I wasn't already nervous enough. Ah well, what else could I do but go find out my fate?

I arrived a few minutes early and went around back to the patio where the grill was located. Caity's eyes lit up when she saw me coming. I wasn't used to seeing that, but I was sure my own did the same. I had a bag in my hand and she frowned at it but came over to give me a quick kiss and hug.

”What's that, Chloe? I thought I told you not to bring anything?” She had started using my given name more often the past week or so. She said that Donny was a good name for a friend, but she didn't want to spend her life calling out Donny's name when there was a perfectly good name not getting used. I had choked on my drink when she said that part about the spending her life calling me anything, and the conversation quickly changed course. Honestly, I never had anything against my first name, the Donny bit was something started at the fire academy, and it stuck.

”I know, but I couldn't resist. It's just a little something for tonight. You can have it now or it can wait until dinner. Your choice entirely.” She raised an eyebrow at me, a trick I had never mastered, before shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

”You are just too much sometimes. So, what is it?”

”Nothing much. Just a bottle of my homemade salad dressing. I know you like it, and I had some time to make a batch today.”

”You are so sweet, Chloe Donovan! Thank you. You know how much I love your dressing. Even better, we're having salad tonight.”

She motioned to me to leave the bag on the patio table and I joined her as she went in the house to get the food ready for the grill.

I was impressed by the amount of preparation that had already been done. We both love to cook so I usually help with the basic chopping and cleaning. It looked like everything was already done.

”What's going on? You don't trust my knife skills anymore? Have I ever minced when you asked for chopped?”

She grinned and came over for another hug. ”Of course not. I just wanted to be able to spend more time hanging out than cooking tonight. I thought we could talk about how things are going and about Pauli's reaction to my announcement.” She gave me another squeeze before releasing me and leaning against the counter.

I chuckled then laughed outright. ”Oh, you mean the reaction that involved her coming over to my house this afternoon, unannounced, to see what my intentions are towards you?”

I watched her eyes get as large as saucers before she slouched and hung her head down.

”She really did that to you? Oh, Chloe, I'm so sorry. I told her not to confront you. What happened? Are you two okay?”

I walked over to her and leaned against the counter next to her before putting an arm around her waist. I waited patiently for her to look up into my eyes so that I could see her as I spoke to her.

”Everything is fine. She came in and we spoke about it. Mostly she just wanted to make sure I was in this for real, not to play with your heart. She wasn't around when Karen left so she doesn't know that I'm not a player. She's protective of you and that's something I totally respect.”

”Are you sure? I mean, it isn't going to mess with you two working together will it?” She didn't look convinced that things were fine.

”I promise you, we're fine and working together will not be a problem unless I break your heart. Since I have no intentions of doing that, we're fine.”

I gave her my best grin and pulled her against me. She leaned into me and we just enjoyed the embrace for a few minutes. She felt so good in my arms that I never wanted to let her go, but I had to or we wouldn't ever get out of the kitchen. ”Weren't we supposed to get the food on the grill? Let's do that and then we can spend the rest of the evening relaxing.”

She stayed against me for another minute and then moved off to start getting food together. It was still a little weird for me, cuddling with Caity. I mean, yeah it was the stuff I'd dreamed about for months, but it still seemed strange to go from hardly touching her to kissing and hugging, never mind anything else! Yeah, it felt awesome and frankly, I spent even more time turned on around her than ever before, but at the same time, it was almost surreal. I planned to ask her if she felt the same way, but hadn't figured out how to bring it up yet.

After dinner we were sitting outside on a swinging bench seat she had on the patio just relaxing and talking. Her head was in my lap and her legs drawn up so she could lie down and use me as a pillow. I played absently with her hair and thought about the unexpected nature of things. Everything was so new and I was still too afraid to trust that my heart would be safe. I guess she sensed something because she looked up at me.

”Do you need to talk? I know that quiet, brooding thing you do. I'd like to help if I can.”

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