River City: Station 4

Author's note -

This is my first real attempt at writing a simple romance. Although the last story I published here on Lit ended up being more of a simple romance than I originally intended when I started writing it, this one was written from the beginning as, hopefully, a simple love story.

This story is a work of fiction based on something that really happened to a longtime, very close friend of mine, and some of the characters are based on real people. All the names have been changed to protect them. And although the story is set in Southern California, in the San Diego area, there is no "River City" in the area. I chose the location because it's an area I know and love, and I called the city "River City to disguise any actual agencies involved.

I have taken many liberties with the actions of law enforcement and firefighters simply for the sake of the readers; I didn't want to get too technical and risk losing potential readers due to the storyline being unnecessarily complicated. With that in mind, if you happen to be a firefighter, or a law enforcement officer, or a current or former Marine, please understand I am familiar with all three professions and ignore those little "it wouldn't really happen like that" moments.

Very minor spoiler alert - Yes, the thing that happens to "Connor" in Chapter One really happened him, and he really did meet "Brandi" somewhat in the manner I describe, but that is where the similarities between real life and this work of fiction end.

To "Connor" and "Brandi" - I love you guys, and this story is dedicated to you.

-- Prologue -

I'm not superstitious. I don't believe in karma. I don't read horoscopes. I think psychics are charlatans whose only purpose in life is to take money from unsuspecting people who are hoping to find real answers to the problems they face. I'm not even what I would consider religious, though I was raised in a religious household and I do believe most of the Ten Commandments have played an important role in today's society. I say most, because anybody who knows me knows I have taken the Lord's name in vain on more than a couple of occasions and, in this day and age, many people work on the Sabbath, including me, on occasion.

I do believe in fate, though. And while many would argue karma and fate are essentially the same thing, I would argue karma is more of a cause-and-effect belief, where one action occurs as a result of another action. Fate is when things happen because they are supposed to happen, whether they happen as a result of another action or not. And I firmly believe everything happens for a reason, happens because it is supposed to.

I was raised primarily by my father, who, up until his death, was very religious. And while he took me to church on Sundays and tried to instill his religious beliefs in me, he also made it clear I would be my own person and I was free to choose to do as I pleased where religion was concerned once I turned 18 and reached the age of manhood.

My parents weren't divorced, but from a very young age, my mother wasn't around very much. While my father, and me as I grew older, followed most of those Ten Commandments closely, my mother seemed to have a difficult time following the one that read, "Thou shalt not commit adultery". As I already mentioned, my father was religious, and along with the Ten Commandments, my father was a firm believer in the words of Jesus Christ when he said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do". He knew Jesus was referring to those who crucified him, but Dad applied it in many aspects of his life, and every time my mother came crawling back, begging for forgiveness and promising it would never happen again, that is exactly what he did; he forgave her.

Things would get better between them for a while, and life at home would be somewhat normal for a few months. Normal in the sense that I had both parents at home, not normal in the sense that I actually felt like I had a mother around or that I felt like we were a normal family. But after those few months, my mother would grow bored with being around Dad and would find herself running into the arms - and bed - of another man.

I was almost 19 years old and near the end of my freshman year of college when Dad couldn't take my mother's infidelity anymore and took his own life. I came home from school to find him hanging in the shower with a note to me on the bathroom counter. He apologized to me, begging me to forgive him and asking me to forgive my mother as he also detailed the emotional pain he had endured at her expense over the course of their marriage. I gave the note to my mother after his funeral, telling her I never wanted to see or speak to her again. I blamed her, and I never forgave her. I didn't think she could have saved him, though. I truly believed Dad would have found a reason to take his own life even if my mother had remained faithful. As I said, I believe in fate, and to this day, I truly believed my dad's suicide was meant to happen.

I packed most of my clothing, grabbed important items such as my lockbox with my birth certificate and social security card and a few other things I thought I would need, and left the house, telling my mother to do whatever she wanted with the rest of my stuff as she told me she loved me and begged me not to go. I moved in with my best friend, Roger Hansen.

My mother died from cancer just over two and a half years later, as I was beginning my senior year of college. I didn't go to her funeral, and the only reason I even knew she died was because, even though I hated her, my friends made sure she knew where I was and her attorney was able to track me down. She left me everything, which wasn't much, but she had a life insurance policy that allowed me to pay off the house and my student loans, plus pay for the rest of my tuition and buy a new truck while leaving enough to live on for about a year while I finished college and looked for a job.

It took a lot out of me emotionally to step back into that house. She hadn't touched my old room, and I found everything exactly as I had left it two and a half years earlier. Pictures and posters still hung on the walls, many of them faded from where the sun hit them each day as it shined through the bedroom window. Clothes I had long outgrown still hung in my closet. Two and a half years' worth of dust accumulated on my desk, my old desktop computer, trophies, and other odds and ends I had in the room. A picture of me and Dad from when I won my first surfing competition in my sophomore year of high school, still taped to the mirror attached to my dresser. A box of old Playboy and Penthouse magazines, stuffed in an old backpack and shoved under my bed to keep them hidden from Dad.

With Roger's help, I got the house cleaned up and presentable. I contracted with a company that specialized in estate sales and, after going through the house and deciding what I wanted to keep, sold most of the furniture and other items in the house, including both of their cars. I had a garage sale two weeks after the estate sale and was able to get rid of many of the remaining items that didn't sell during the estate sale, and the items that didn't sell during the garage sale were donated to Goodwill. After the estate sale company took their cut, and with the money I had made during the estate and garage sales, I had enough money to do a minor remodel of the house.

Roger and I did the work ourselves a little bit at a time, working nights and weekends when we could until we graduated, then finishing it up in the first couple of weeks after graduation. We ripped out most of the carpet and laid down tile, painted the walls and kitchen cabinets, installed new countertops in the kitchen, and remodeled the bathrooms. When we were done, even though I knew the layout of the house like the back of my hand, it looked different enough that I could see myself being able to live in it, with Roger moving in and becoming one of my roommates.

Roger had been my best friend since the day we met on our first day of school, in Miss McGill's Kindergarten class at River City Elementary. We grew up together, played sports together, surfed together and went to college together. The only time our paths deviated was when we entered college. Where I majored in business administration and management, Roger studied criminal justice. Where I wanted to be a big shot executive with a Fortune 500 company, Roger wanted to be a cop.

Our other roommate was another friend named Adam Rizzo. Adam was three years older than me and Roger. He was a high school senior and captain of the surf team when we were freshman. Even after he graduated, we remained close friends with him, continuing to surf and hang out at every opportunity. He had been a lifeguard and even became certified as an Emergency Medical Technician during the summers before deciding to become a firefighter, and he helped me get a job as a lifeguard during my junior year in high school when he entered the fire academy. After graduating high school, I followed Adam's example and also became certified as an EMT.

That summer after college graduation was my last year as a lifeguard. Roger applied for every law enforcement agency in the area and went through the background processes with many of them before finally being accepted to the academy for River City Police Department. While Roger was in the academy, and with my own luck at finding an entry level job in the business world not panning out, Adam talked me into applying to be a firefighter. Adam had moved out and married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy. He told me the pay was good, and since I was already a certified EMT, if I wanted to try to get certified as a paramedic, the pay was not only better, but the department would actually pay for the training.

It wasn't what I envisioned myself doing for the rest of my life, but as fate would have it, the River City Fire Department jumped at the chance to hire me, largely due to the fact I was already an EMT, and they immediately got me into a paramedic program after I finished the basic fire academy. Apparently, I was supposed to become a paramedic.

While I was doing my thing with the fire academy and paramedic training, Roger graduated from the police academy and began his training. It was while he was on training that he met April. April was a year younger than me and Roger and had grown up in River City, but lived on the other side of town and went to different schools than us. She was a barista at a coffee shop on his beat, working to put herself through college, and before he knew what hit him, Roger was in love and found himself proposing to April. They got their own place together before getting married, and I suddenly had my house to myself.

It was a little less than two years later when April's best friend from childhood returned home from MIT, where she had been studying and obtaining her Masters in Computer Engineering. When Roger and April introduced me to her, it was, as they say, love at first sight. Admittedly, I was never able to figure out what it was that drew me to her other than her looks, I just knew she was beautiful and we were supposed to be together.

We were polar opposites. She was a computer nerd, glasses and all, though she had switched to contacts in recent years. And she was far smarter than I could have ever hoped to be. While she went to the gym to stay in shape, she wasn't into sports and didn't really like outdoor activities. I liked to have friends over for bar-b-cues, drinks, and a dip in the pool, but she preferred her quiet time, often opting to stay indoors and read a book or debug a computer program while I went to the beach to play volleyball with friends or catch some waves. We dated for a couple of months, and six months after Roger and April introduced us, we were married. As the old saying goes, opposites attract, and fate brought us together for a reason.

About a year after I joined the River City Fire Department, the city decided to stop hiring EMTs. The EMTs who were still with the department were offered the opportunity to become paramedics, and the city opted to contract with American Medical Response for services. They city said it was cheaper to contract for services than it was to pay multiple paramedics and EMTs, plus purchase and maintain ambulances itself. I guess it made sense, but those decisions were way above my pay grade.

My name is Connor Byrne, and my story started two and a half years ago, when I was a 27-year-old paramedic for the River City Fire Department, assigned to Engine 4 from Station 4. My station was about to receive a call for service. A call that was about to change my life in a way I never imagined possible.

A call that was meant to happen.

-- Chapter One -

The station horn blared, shocking all of us awake. It was just after 1 o'clock in the morning on a rainy Friday during the first week of April, and we were just over 19 hours into our 24-hour shift. None of us had been asleep long, having just returned from a call of a minor accident involving two vehicles on the outskirts of town. Thankfully, it wasn't anything major, just one car barely rear-ending another at a traffic light. The driver of the car that hit the other vehicle fell asleep after his own long shift and his foot slipped off the brake. There were no injuries and there was barely any damage to either vehicle, but we were called out as a precaution.

Immediately following the station horn came the voice of the dispatcher on duty. "Station 4, RCPD is requesting paramedics at 3953 Fig Avenue, The Mugshot Bar and Grill. Requesting unit states two patrons got into a fight and one of them may have a broken nose. Victim is a 29-year-old white male. RCPD is already on scene."

The ironic thing about this call was The Mugshot Bar and Grill wasn't even in our normal coverage area. The Mugshot was in the heart of downtown and it normally would have been handled by Station 1, which was literally a block and a half away. It was so close they guys from Station 1 could have walked there in less time than it took to get into the engine and drive over. But we were the next closest station geographically. Once I was in the engine, I checked our CAD system and confirmed Station 1 was on a different call, which explained why we got the call. Our CAD system was our computer aided dispatch system. Through GPS tracking, it provided the exact location of each fire department vehicle in the city and, if they were on a call, details about that call.

Although it didn't happen very often, this wasn't the first time police and fire had been called to The Mugshot. Fights between guys at The Mugshot were rare, because the bouncers usually dealt with things before they got out of hand. But every once in a while, someone got in a lucky punch. The Mugshot was owned by a retired captain from the River City Police Department and the bouncers were all former police officers, guys who wanted to be police officers, or former Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton. In other words, they did a really good job diffusing the situations, frequently having the people go from arguing one minute, to sitting down, laughing and enjoying a beer with each other the next. We only got called when Station 1 was on a different call, and Station 1 only got called when there was an injury that one of the bouncers, bartenders, or waitresses couldn't handle with a Band-Aid.

It didn't take us long to get there, thanks in large part to the time of day and lack of traffic. When we pulled into the parking lot, I could see three PD units and a small crowd of people hanging around the entrance waiting to talk to one of the officers. I jumped out of the fire truck, grabbed my medic kit, and looked for the liaison from the police department. It turned out I didn't have to look long. The liaison for this call was a female officer about my age named Brandi Schmidt, who I had encountered on a few calls over the years I had been on with the fire department.

She had a natural beauty about her, made even more obvious from the minimal makeup she wore. She was about 5'5" with a healthy looking tan. She had light brown eyes and what I imagined was very long, dark brown hair, given the size of the bun she wore it in while on duty. I could only imagine her figure, which was effectively concealed by the tactical vest and gun belt she wore. I had never seen her when she wasn't on duty, which was surprising considering how close members of our respective departments were, but considering she was definitely beyond what I considered cute when she was on duty, I had no doubts turned a lot of heads when she wasn't. Had I not been happily married, I might have even gone so far as to inquire with Roger about whether she was available, possibly even skipping using Roger as a go-between and asking her for her phone number myself.

"Hey, Byrne," she said, giving me an apologetic smile as she walked up to me. "Sorry to get you guys out here in the middle of the night. This is Hansen's call, so he should have whatever info you might need, but it sounds like that asshole," she said, pointing to the back seat of her squad car, "grabbed the ass of the victim's girlfriend. The victim confronted him, and that asshole" she pointed again, "grabbed an empty beer bottle and broke it over the victim's nose."

All I could do was shake my head. "Really? Fucking drunks that can't keep their hands to themselves. It should be that asshole whose nose is possibly broken, not the poor dude sticking up for his girlfriend," I said in response. It wasn't a big secret between the FD and PD that we not-so-secretly enjoyed seeing suspects get their asses handed to them. Unfortunately, this didn't sound like one of those situations.

"Yeah, he's a real douchebag. In fact, I'm about to transport him to the station to get him ready for booking. I'll see you around."

We said our goodbyes and Schmidt headed toward her patrol car while I started heading for the door to find Roger before tending to the victim. I ran into Roger while on duty about as often as I ran into Schmidt, but unlike Schmidt, since Roger and I had been best friends almost our entire lives were like family, we hung out regularly outside of work. The only person who even came close to being as good a friend as Roger was Adam Rizzo, who was now my lieutenant, having recently been promoted and reassigned from Station 3 to Station 4. There were a few more people in my small circle of friends, but of all of them, these two were the closest and the two I hung out with outside of work most often. Roger saw me before I saw him.

"Hey, Connor, didn't expect to see you guys out here. Station 1 on a call?" he asked as he walked up to me.

"Yeah. From the CAD system it looks like a senior citizen took a fall while going to the bathroom and possibly broke a hip. They're at the hospital now getting ready to clear the call,' I replied.

"Well, I'm sorry you guys had to come out, but I think the EMT's can probably handle this one. You guys can clear the call and head back to your station for some shut-eye if you want." As he said this, Roger gently turned me around and directed me back toward the engine.

"We're already here, Rog. You know we have to see the guy and file a report to document the call. Our procedures aren't all that different from yours in that regard. I need to at least see him before I can make the determination to turn him over to the EMT's." I turned back around and started heading back toward the group of people standing around by the entrance. "Where's the victim?" I asked as Roger caught up to me.

"Connor, please don't go over there." He had a pleading tone in his voice, and his eyes were already saying 'I'm sorry'.

I started to ask Roger what was up. He wasn't acting like himself and his actions were saying there was something I wasn't going to want to see. Before I could get the words out of my mouth, I saw the victim's girlfriend, crying while the victim tried to console her. She stood 5'7", had long wavy blonde hair, had a nice figure, and an ass I would recognize anywhere. She was 26 years old and her name was Alexis, but everybody called her Lexi.

She was also my wife.

-- Chapter Two -

I don't know if it was shock or training that allowed me to maintain my composure and keep myself from flying off the handle, so to speak. Looking back, I think it was probably a combination of both. I was shocked to see my wife out with another guy, obviously, but I was trained to maintain my composure due to some of the things I was exposed to on the job. Lexi was obviously shocked to see me. Her eyes were wide, her mouth was agape, and she was frozen in place. She knew this wasn't an area of the city I normally would have responded to, so she was just as surprised to see me as I was to see her.

I didn't even look at Lexi as I treated the victim, whose name I learned was Wyatt Banks. He was an average looking guy, about 5'10" and skinny. It was obvious he did what he could to stay in shape, but it was just as obvious that whatever activities he participated in to do so didn't involve lifting weights at a gym.

As I was talking to him, with the way he talked to her and repeatedly referred to her as his 'girlfriend', it became apparent to me he had no idea Lexi was married, or that I was her husband. His nose was obviously broken, and there was a large cut on the bridge of his nose from where he had been hit with the beer bottle that obviously needed stitches. His left eye was also already swelling and bruising, showing signs of a possible orbital fracture. While I could have sutured the cut myself, with the obvious break to his nose and possible fracture, he was going to need more medical attention than I could provide. I gently cleaned the blood from his face and patched him up as best as I could with a temporary laceration closure and did what I could to make him comfortable while reassuring him the doctors would be able to get him all fixed up once he got to the hospital.

I stood to one side of the gurney and Lexi to the other as the EMT's were preparing to load him into the ambulance for transport to River City General Hospital. As they lifted the gurney, I gave him a small pat on the shoulder, leaned in close to him and, while looking Lexi in the eyes, said, "Thanks for sticking up for my wife. I hope you enjoy fucking her." Then, as he and Lexi both looked at me in horror, I looked at Lexi and told her, "As long as I'm not on a call, I get off at 6 o'clock. I should be home by 6:30. You and any shit you need better be gone by the time I get there."

I grabbed my medic kit and started heading back to the engine, trying to hold back the tears I felt welling up in my eyes. I was almost to the engine when Lexi caught up to me.

"Connor, wait! I can explain!" she said.

"Explain? There's nothing to explain, Lexi! I just caught you with another guy, and God only knows how long you've been running around with him. If Station 1 wasn't out on a call, I still wouldn't know and you would continue running around behind my back. So, fuck you and your explanations." I was yelling, crying, and I had obviously drawn a crowd. I looked around and saw Roger, Adam, and the other guys from the station all looking at me with sorrow in their eyes. Lexi still wanted to talk, but I wasn't listening to any of it. She finally left, telling me she would try to call me later as she walked away, crying.

Roger was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Connor. I saw Lexi come out of the bar while I was talking to the suspect. She didn't see me at first. I was planning on heading to the station to talk to you as soon as I knew we were both off duty. Then you showed up on the call. I figured it would be better to get you away and let you know after your shift was over so it wouldn't be a distraction for the rest of your shift."

"Roger, you don't owe me an explanation. I know you were only trying to prevent what could have been a really explosive situation." I loaded my medic kit in the engine and climbed in, starting to type my notes into the CAD system. I knew it was protocol to provide certain information about who we were, what company we were from, and what actions we had taken on scene, but I didn't care. Roger knew me. He knew everybody from the station. And he had literally stood and watched as I had treated Wyatt Banks before turning him over to EMTs. He had the information he needed for his report.

We still had to head to the hospital before we could clear the call. Before we rolled away, Roger opened the door. "Hey, are you going to be on your 48 hours off after your shift ends? I'm starting my long stretch of days off after my shift, so if you want to go grab a beer or something, I'm available all weekend." River City PD had a different schedule than the FD did. Where we worked a total of four 24-hour shifts every two weeks, with alternating breaks of two days and three days in between, the PD worked seven 12-hour shifts, with breaks of two days and five days off.

"Actually, I'm starting my 72 off after my shift," I answered, still looking at the CAD screen while choking back the tears. "Yeah, maybe a beer doesn't sound bad. I'll text you."

Nobody said a word on the way to the hospital or on the way back to the station. It was just after 2:30 when we got back and, by the time I finished filing the paperwork I needed to file, it was almost 4am. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I headed into the kitchen in the firehouse to start a pot of coffee and start prepping breakfast for the oncoming shift, hoping we wouldn't have any additional calls as I did so.

It was sort of an unwritten rule that the off-going shift would prepare breakfast for the on-coming shift, as long as the off-going shift wasn't on a call. The crew for the on-coming shift usually started straggling in between 5 and 5:15, just in case they had to prepare breakfast themselves. We had all experienced those shifts where we spent the entire shift on call after call, so it was always possible the breakfasts we enjoyed with each other before the start of our shifts would be the only real meal we ate, filling in the gaps with a granola bar, piece of fruit, or a cup of yogurt when we had a chance.

I had just poured myself a second cup of coffee and was cracking some eggs for omelets when Adam walked in.

"You okay, Connor?" he asked.

I stood there and looked at him for a few seconds before replying. "Adam, I could tell you I was, but you would know I'm full of shit. Of course, I'm not okay. How the fuck would you feel if you had seen Dorothy out with some other guy?"

He poured himself a cup of coffee before he replied. "If I had seen Dorothy out with some other guy, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation. I would have been in the back of Hansen's car, on my way to jail, because I would have killed the mother fucker she was out with, then I would have killed her. You definitely showed a lot more restraint than I would have."

"You know, I'm not even pissed at the guy. As I was talking to him, it was obvious he didn't even know Lexi was married, let alone the paramedic treating him was her husband," I said. Then, shaking my head, "And no, you wouldn't have. You would have probably reacted the same way I did. Well, maybe not the same way. You definitely would have gotten in the guy's face made sure Dorothy felt like shit in front of everybody, but you wouldn't have killed anybody."

Adam smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Besides, if anybody in this relationship is going to stray, it's me, not Dorothy, and the chances of that happening are less than zero. I'm not only very much in love with my very pregnant wife, I'm also smart enough to keep my dick in my pants. Those Italian women are hot in bed, but they're also hot tempered, especially with the added hormone imbalance caused by being 8 months pregnant. I would like to keep my dick attached to my body, thank you very much."

I couldn't help but laugh. I knew he originally came to simply check on me to make sure I was okay, but Adam had a way of cheering people up, no matter the situation.

"Look," he continued, "I know we're going on our 3 days off, but if you need more time, just say the word. You have plenty of vacation time on the books. Besides, I know that new kid Matthews, the one who replaced me at Station 3, has been looking to pick up an additional shift or two. He's eager to gain more experience, and I heard he's also engaged, so he's looking to make some extra money."

"I'll give it some thought," I said. "I suppose I'm going to have to talk to Lexi eventually, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do it today. Maybe not even this weekend. On that note, though, Roger invited me out for a beer tonight. You game?"

"Can't. I promised Dorothy we would go to Phoenix to see her sister and brother-in-law this weekend. They have some baby things for us. And since, as I said, I want to keep my dick attached to my body, I'm not about to ask her if we can postpone the trip for a day."

We sat and chatted some more while we finished the pot of coffee. I made another pot and, as the guys from the on-coming shift started coming in, I made them breakfast. Before I knew it, my shift was over and it was time to head home.

-- Chapter Three -

Lexi and I lived in my childhood home on the other side of town. As I made the turn onto our street, I could see her car was still in the driveway. I didn't know if she thought I was kidding when I told her she and any shit she needed better be gone when I got home, but I wouldn't have put it past her to have interpreted that as me saying she had until 6:30 to be gone. I pulled my truck into the driveway, shut off the engine, and sat there for a couple of minutes. It was only 6:23 so I decided to go ahead and wait a few minutes.

As 6:28 rolled around with no sign of Lexi coming out of the house, I figured I was probably going to have to face the music and deal with what was probably going to be a very ugly conversation now rather than waiting for a couple of days. As I got out of my truck, Roger pulled his black and white into the driveway behind me.

"What's up?" I asked as he got out of his RCPD unit.

He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry brother. Lexi apparently called April, and April called me. She asked me to stop by after work to make sure things don't get too heated between you and Lexi and to help Lexi with anything she needs before coming back to our place. April offered to let her stay with us while you guys get things sorted out." I didn't like April sticking her nose into our business, but I really didn't blame her. She had known Lexi almost as long as I had known Roger. And just like Roger was my best friend in the world, April was Lexi's.

"Rog, you've known me for 22, almost 23 years. You know damn well I'm not going to fly off the handle and do anything stupid. But I do appreciate you stopping by. I know you well enough to know you don't want to get in the middle of it, but I also know April is Lexi's best friend." I went to the door and, as I started to put my key in, it opened. Lexi was standing there, waiting.

Her eyes were red and swollen and she had dark circles around her eyes from where her mascara had run while she cried. "Connor...," she started, but I put my hand up and stopped her.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Lexi. I've been awake for most of the last 30 hours. I'm tired and I want to sleep. After I sleep, I want to go to the gym and work out. And after that, I'm probably going to go out for a beer or three with Roger. I don't want to talk to you now. I don't even want to talk to you today. I want to have a clear head before I listen to you try to explain why you have chosen to throw away the last 3 years of our lives. Go on. Grab your stuff and go with Roger." I walked past her and started to head for the bedroom.

"Connor, please listen to me. I didn't mean for things to go this way," she pleaded. "I love you."

I looked her in the eyes and took a deep breath before responding. "You should have thought about that before you decided to run into the arms of some other dude. Now go. We'll talk about this later."

We both stood there for a minute, neither of us trying to hide the tears. After it was clear I wasn't going to talk, Lexi picked the bags she had packed and headed to her car.

"Tell April I'll be along shortly," Roger said to Lexi as she walked past him. As soon as Lexi backed out and drove away, he turned back to me. "Connor, I know you just said we don't want to get stuck in the middle of things between you and Lexi, but you're wrong. April and I are on your side. April is pissed at Lexi and has spent the last four or five hours crying herself. We're both pissed. And things probably won't be very comfortable for her for the next few days. But, like you said, April is Lexi's best friend and Lexi is hers. Lexi is like a sister to her, and no matter how pissed off April is, she isn't going to turn her back on her. I just want to make sure you understand that before I leave you be and head home."

"Why, Rog? Why would she do this? You saw the guy. What could she possibly see in him that I don't already offer her?" I asked.

"I don't know, brother. That's for you and Lexi to discuss. All I can offer is for me and April to be there to act as sort of intermediaries when you and Lexi get together to talk things out. That is, if you want us to be there."

"You know, I'm not even pissed at the guy. I already told Adam this, but when I was checking the guy's nose, it was obvious he didn't know Lexi was even married. And when the EMT's were putting him in the ambulance, the look on his face when I thanked him for sticking up for my wife and told him to enjoy fucking her, that said it all. He legitimately thought he had found himself a keeper and was as crushed as I am to discover she had been lying to him. But honestly, I'm not even pissed at him. I actually feel bad for the guy."

"You really told him that? To enjoy fucking her?" he asked, smiling at the ridiculousness of it.

"Yeah, I did."

"We can talk about this stuff later," Roger said. "For now, I'm going to let you get some shut-eye. I need to head home and do the same. But since I'm here, about that beer or three tonight. Normally I would suggest The Mugshot since, as an active duty RCPD officer, I get to drink for free when I'm off duty, but I'm sure that's the last place you want to go, so how about The Sundowner?" he asked. The Sundowner was another popular spot downtown, just a few blocks away from The Mugshot. It was really more of a gastropub, as it was an all-ages establishment and was family oriented. But they had quite a selection of craft beers on tap, including several award winners they brewed in-house.

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "How does 6 o'clock sound? We can grab a bite to eat to eat first. You know I don't like to drink on an empty stomach."

"Six sounds fine. You want me to pick you up, or just meet there?"

"Let's just meet there. No sense in you driving all the way over here just to turn around and head back downtown. I'll just grab an Uber," I responded.

"Okay. See you there, then. Now, go get some sleep. You need it more than me." With that, Roger headed back to his unit, got in, and headed home.

-- Chapter Four --

Given everything that had happened in a few short hours, I felt sure my sleep was going to be restless. I was surprised when my alarm went off at 3pm and I discovered I hadn't woken even once since falling asleep about eight hours earlier.

The first thing I did was hit the shower. I usually showered as soon as I got home, but under the circumstances, I was willing to forgive myself for this small transgression. In the long run it was almost a waste of time considering I was heading straight for the gym after I showered, but I didn't want to walk into the gym smelling like I had already worked out.

After getting out of the shower and throwing on some workout clothes, I noticed a new text message from Adam.

"Hey bro, hope everything is ok. My offer stands if you need a couple more days off. I already contacted Matthews at Station 3 and he said he is clear to cover the next two or three shifts for you. Worst case scenario, the captain says I can cover for you and bring in one of the other lieutenants to cover me."

I thought about it for a minute before replying. Adam had been right earlier when he told me I had plenty of vacation time on the books. While I wasn't maxed out on my vacation time, I was close, and I had way more than two or three shifts worth. It was probably a good idea to go ahead and burn some of that time before I maxed out and stopped accruing it.

"Yeah. I'm holding in there, thanks for checking in. And yes, I'll take you up on the offer of some extra time off. I'll stop by the station Monday to submit the time off request." I sent the text off, then immediately sent another. "Give my thanks to Matthews for covering for me."

Within two minutes, Adam texted back.

"Copy that. And you can thank him yourself when you stop by to submit your request. See you Monday."

With that out of the way, I headed to the gym. Being a firefighter/paramedic was a physically demanding job, so the majority of us liked to stay in shape. I could have worked out at the station between calls, like some of the guys did, but I preferred the gym because I could get a full workout in without worrying about being interrupted by a call.

Having just showered before coming to the gym, I tried to keep my workout relatively light, focusing on my back and biceps followed by 30 minutes of cardio on a stair stepper. It didn't matter. I still sweated my ass off, and by the time I was done, I was definitely in need of another shower when I got back home.

Before hitting the shower, I scheduled an Uber to pick me up at 5:30. I figured it was only going to take about 20 minutes to get to The Sundowner, but I didn't want to push it. I'm the type of person who would rather be an hour early than a minute late. Besides, if I was there first, I could go ahead and request a table and cut down the wait time once Roger arrived, who was the exact opposite of me in terms of being on time. Roger was so notorious for being 10 to 15 minutes late that I often joked with him and told him he was probably late to his own birth, and he actually had been 10 minutes late to his own wedding.

The Uber driver showed up a few minutes early and, as a result, I got to The Sundowner ever earlier than I had anticipated. I was surprised when I got there and saw Roger already standing outside, waiting for me.

"Please don't kill me," he said, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender as I walked up.

"Why? What did you do?" I asked.

"April and Lexi insisted on coming. I tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn't listen. They said they would have just come anyway. Totally my fault for opening my mouth and telling April where we would be headed. Sorry," he said, genuinely looking and sounding apologetic.

"I'm not ready to deal with Lexi right now. I was planning on just coming down, grabbing a bite to eat, then shooting the breeze with you for a while over a couple of beers," I said. "Maybe I should just catch an Uber back home."

"Look, just come in. We already have a table and we have it set up so Lexi will be sitting diagonally across from you. I'll be next to you and April will be directly across from you. Remember, we're here to provide support to both of you, but we won't interject. If you're uncomfortable with it, then I'll run you home myself. If you decide you want to talk, we'll listen to both sides. If you want to talk alone, we'll leave you two be and grab seats at the bar while you talk." I don't know what it was about Roger, but he had always been able to make a convincing statement. I also knew he would stay true to his word and remain impartial, at least outwardly, despite having verbalized earlier in the day that he and April were both on my side.

"Alright. Let's do this," I said with a sigh and we headed in.

Roger led the way to a table for four toward the back. When April saw us, she stood up and met us about half-way. "I'm sorry, Connor. I don't know what the hell got into that girl," she whispered to me as she gave me a hug.

I returned the hug, adding, "I'm going to get you back for this, April. The last person I wanted to see tonight is Lexi. I'm not happy she's here."

"I know, Hun," she said. "And I really am sorry. But I know you guys need to talk, and I thought it might be better if you had friends who support you nearby as you do."

"You owe me," I said as we reached the table. Lexi stood up and came around to me, attempting to embrace me in a hug of her own, but I stepped back. "You gave up the right to hug me at 1 o'clock this morning, when I found you with that guy."

I could see the hurt in her eyes as they filled with tears, but I didn't care. Lexi just nodded to let me know she understood and stepped back around to her chair.

"I'm not happy you're here," I said before she took her seat, "but you might as well swap seats with April. If we're going to talk, I don't want to have to do it with us sitting diagonally across from each other." She exchanged glances with April and, after April gave her a slight nod, they changed positions and we took seats directly across from each other.

Other than giving the waitress our drink and appetizer orders, we sat in silence for several minutes. I'm sure Lexi thought I had fire coming out of my eyes and she could easily see the anger and the hurt in them, just as I could see the shame and sorrow in hers. Only after the waitress brought our drinks and appetizers did she finally speak.

"Connor, I really don't know where to begin," she started.

"How about starting with why the fuck you're running around with some other guy?"

"It's not like that. It isn't like I just woke up one day and said I wanted to test the waters to see if I could find someone better than my husband. It just happened. Nobody can replace you and I still love you."

"Bullshit, Lexi," I shot back. "You have to open yourself to it. It doesn't 'just happen'. If you still loved me, you wouldn't have let it 'just happen'," I said, trying to keep my voice low. "So go ahead, try to explain how it 'just happened' that you started running around with another guy. Who is he? How long has this been going on? And don't try to bullshit me, because I heard the way he talked about you and I saw the look in his eyes when I thanked him for standing up for my wife and to enjoy fucking you. Who the fuck is he, Lexi?"

She sat there, trying unsuccessfully to hold back the tears. "His name is Wyatt Banks. I knew him at MIT and he just started working with me last year. He's one of the analysts at work."

"I already know his name. And I don't care what the fuck he does for a living. I want to know how the fuck you ended up with him. And while you're at it, why the fuck didn't he know you're married?"

"Connor, please. This isn't easy on me," she said.

"You think it's easy on me? You aren't the one who showed up someplace I didn't expect you to, only to find me with another woman. How long?"

"A few months. Maybe seven. When he transferred to our offices, all the girls in the office thought he was cute. We would flirt with him. All of us, not just me. But we spent a lot of time talking, and I guess one thing led to another and that innocent flirting developed into the 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling. I never intended to let it get this far." Her voice trailed off.

"Again, I say bullshit. What do you mean you never intended to let it get this far? If you hadn't intended it, then it wouldn't have happened. You're fucking married, for Christ's sake. Or did that somehow slip your mind?"

Lexi just sat in silence, unwilling or unable to talk.

"Why didn't you tell him you were married, Lexi?" I prodded. I already knew she didn't wear any jewelry while she was working. Some of the stuff she did at work revolved around high voltage computer equipment, and they had to remove any metal that could possibly conduct electricity.

It was several moments before she finally found her voice. "Please don't take this as me making an excuse, because I know there is no excuse for it. But I guess I just liked the attention. It started out as what I thought was just innocent flirting. Then we started talking more and the flirting got more intense. I felt wanted. It isn't that I don't feel wanted by you, because I do. But I still felt wanted by him, too. Then, on Halloween, while you were on duty, a bunch of us went out for drinks after work. And one thing led to another and...."

"And you started fucking him," I interrupted.

"I never had sex with him, Connor," she said, almost too quickly. "I don't expect you to believe that, but I didn't. And I won't. It's over between us."

While I wasn't surprised to hear her say it was over, I didn't believe her. Not entirely, at least. "You're right, I don't believe you. You may be telling the truth about not having sex with him, but would you have? If I didn't show up on that call and catch you, would you have? My gut says yes. My gut says if you hadn't been caught, it wouldn't be over between you and you would have slept with him."

"Connor, I was there that night to...,"

"Stop, Lexi. I don't want to hear it," I said, cutting her off. The look of guilt and shame on her face spoke volumes. I still wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't already had sex, or at the very least given him a blow job, but I didn't want to hear anymore from her at that moment.

"Rog, April... love you guys. I'm out," I said as I got up and started to leave. Before I had taken three steps, I felt a hand grab me by the arm and turn me around. It was Lexi.

"Please, Connor. Please don't walk away. I know saying I'm sorry isn't enough and it will never be enough, but I truly do love you and I'm still very much in love with you. I know you can't forgive me right now, and I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but please, give me a chance to prove to you how much I still love you. Give me a chance to earn your forgiveness and regain your trust." She stood there, biting her lip as tears streamed down her face.

I pointed back to her chair and motioned for her to sit and I retook my own chair. "Sit down, Lexi."

"Thank you. Thank you for at least giving me the chance to...."

"Stop," I interrupted her. "You're not going to want to thank me, not after what I'm about to say to you. You know damn well what my childhood was like. I spent countless nights listening to my mother do exactly the same thing you're doing now... begging my father for forgiveness, for one more chance to prove she still loved him. Things would get better for a few months, then she would be right back out at all hours of the night, sleeping with God only knows who. She did this time, after time, after time, even after I was in college. She did it until my father couldn't take it anymore and in despair, wondering where he went wrong, wondering why she chose to stray from their marriage, he took his own life."

I had to stop talking for a minute as the memories of my parents' marriage, my mom's infidelity, and my father's suicide began to bring back emotions I didn't want to deal with on top of the situation with Lexi. When I finally had my emotions under control, I continued. "When I read the suicide note my dad left, I instantly hated my mother. I never spoke to her after the day of his funeral, and I didn't go to hers. But I made an oath to myself that day. I promised myself I would never become my mother, I would never cheat on my wife, I would never run around, sleeping with whatever whore wanted to crawl in bed with me. More importantly, I promised myself I would never become my dad if my wife decided to run around on me. There won't be any forgiveness from me, Lexi. I will not become my father. I will not end up like my father. You had your chance to stay faithful. You blew it."

With that, I got up and walked out of The Sundowner, not looking back until Roger caught up to me outside.

"Connor, wait. Let me drive you home," he said. "April and I weren't sure if something like this might happen, so she and Lexi came over in her car."

"Yeah. Okay. But we need to stop by the grocery store first. I have most of the next two weeks off, and for at least the next couple of days, I don't intend to remain sober."

-- Chapter Five --

As I suspected, the rest of Friday, as well as Saturday and Sunday, were pretty much a blur. I stayed at home, climbing into the bottom of several bottles of beer, and when the beer ran out, I climbed into the bottom of a bottle of bourbon and followed that up by climbing into the bottom of another bottle of bourbon. Lexi called my cell phone no less than 40 times over the course of weekend, and the number of text messages from her was easily triple that. I finally got to the point where I texted her back and told her to stop unless she wanted me to permanently block her number. I understood she wanted to talk, that she was hoping I would have a change of heart. She may have been completely sincere about wanting to prove to me she still loved me, but as far as I was concerned, the damage was done. Based on the things I saw my mother do as I grew up and the way my father raised me, I was of the opinion that if a person strays once, they'll stray again. But unlike my father, I wasn't willing to forgive, especially when she knew damn well what she was doing was wrong.

By the time I woke up Monday morning, I was actually tired of drinking. While drinking could camouflage the problems for a while, it wasn't going to make those problems go away. I had decisions to make about my marriage and I still needed to get down to the station to file my vacation request. I dragged myself out of bed, showered, shaved, dressed, and headed downstairs to eat some breakfast.

I had no sooner sat down with a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal when my phone pinged to alert me of another text message. I was relieved when I saw it was from Roger and not Lexi, even though I had a feeling it had to do with Lexi.

"Hey bro, Lexi needs to talk to you about picking up some more things from the house. Can you please either return her calls or at least reply to one of her text messages?"

I sat my phone back down, having every intention of ignoring it, just as I had been ignoring Lexi's calls and text messages. After a moment, I had second thoughts. Roger hadn't done anything wrong. He was just trying to help, and he didn't deserve the same treatment I was showing Lexi. I quickly replied and told him I would call Lexi to discuss things later before finally digging into breakfast.

My first stop after breakfast was the fire station to fill out my time off request and talk to Adam for a bit. Other than the brief text exchange between us on Friday afternoon, I hadn't had a chance to talk to him during the weekend since he was out of town with his wife. When I pulled into the private vehicle parking area in the back of the station, I could see the bay doors were open and it looked like the crew had just returned from a call. I caught up to Adam as he was walking into the station.

"Still hanging in there?" he asked as he held the door open for me.

"Yeah. I would like to be able to say that the situation isn't anything a few beers and a bottle of bourbon couldn't solve, but I proved to myself over the weekend it isn't. I'll find a way to get through it, though. She wants me to give her another chance, to let her try to earn my trust back. I don't think I can ever forgive her for this and I don't think I'll ever trust her again," I said as I took a seat at the small dinette in the firehouse kitchen.

"I wish I could say I understand your train of thought, Connor, but I don't," he said as he handed me a cup of coffee. "I mean, I know what you went through as a kid with your parents, but not everybody is like your mother. People make mistakes, and people can change. If I were in your shoes, I would at least be making an attempt to salvage my marriage. Especially considering how much I know you love Lexi."

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes while I thought about what Adam just said. Yes, I was fully aware that people can change and make up for past mistakes. And yes, I still loved Lexi. But as Adam had also said, he knew how my mom repeatedly cheated on my father as I was growing up and he knew my mom's cheating is what drove him to commit suicide.

"You have a point," I started, "but this is a matter of principle to me. I'm not saying I will always hate Lexi. I don't even hate her now; I just hate what she did. Yes, I love her. But am I still in love with her? Less and less with each minute that passes."

"Have you talked to her? I mean really sat down with her and tried to talk things out? Don't get me wrong, I think what she did is horrendous and as a friend to both of you, I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am in her. But have you really sat with her and listened to what she has to say for herself?"

"I tried. Full disclosure, it wasn't my choice. I was basically ambushed. Roger and I made plans to go out and grab some grub and down a few beers last Friday, but Roger opened his big mouth to April, and the next thing he knew, April and Lexi had invited themselves along. So, it wasn't my choice, but I did give her the opportunity to explain herself," I told him. "The guy is a co-worker of hers. She didn't even try to tell the guy she was married, Adam. She claimed it started as innocent flirting and that one thing led to another."

Just as I finished, a baby-faced kid I didn't know and could only assume was Matthews stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey, Lieutenant, sorry to interrupt, but there's a guy in the public lobby saying something about wanting to thank the paramedic who treated him at The Mugshot. You know anything about that?" he asked.

Adam let out a short laugh. "As a matter of fact, I do. And so does this gentleman sitting across from me. Lucas Matthews, meet Connor Byrne. Connor, meet Lucas. He's the new kid from Station 3 that's covering for you."

"How ya doin', Matthews?" I asked as I stood and shook his hand.

"Good, Sir. And it's good to meet you. Thank you for the opportunity to get some extra experience under my belt and, of course, for the chance to make some extra cash. I don't know if the lieutenant told you, but I'm getting married in a few months, and I can use the extra money."

"No problem, Matthews. And you can dispense with the 'sir'. You can call me Byrne or Connor. I may have been on the job a little longer, but I don't outrank you."

"Thank you, Sir... er... Byrne. You can call me Lucas, Luke, or Matthews. Anyway, what should I tell this guy?"

"Well, if it's the guy I think it is, then I'm the one who treated him, so go ahead and tell him the medic who treated him will be with him in a few minutes," I said. "I still need to take care of a couple of things, but I won't be long."

"Copy that," Matthews said as he headed out the kitchen door.

"Jesus Christ!" I said as soon as Matthews was out of earshot. "What is he, twelve?"

Adam laughed. "I know he looks young, but he's actually 24. Only been on the job four months, but he was a Navy Corpsman before rejoining civilian life and putting himself through paramedic training, and the guys at Station 3 say he's top notch. Don't know where he gets the idea he needs extra experience. Damn kid has probably seen more shit than all the other paramedics in the department combined."

"You got that right," I agreed. "Before I head out there and talk to this guy, how did your weekend with Dorothy's sister and brother-in-law go?"

"It was actually really good. I love those two like they were my own brother and sister. They gave us a lot of stuff for the baby they don't need anymore. Including a brand-new baby swing and a brand-new travel play-pen. Said they kept the stuff specifically for when Dorothy had a baby. Speaking of which, by the time you come back, I'll probably be on paternity leave. I'm taking 6 weeks off, but you know I'm available for you 24/7 if you need anything. Unless Dorothy happens to be pushing out our first kid. You'll have to wait for a while if you need anything while that's happening, but I'll still get back to you as soon as we know the baby is healthy. I also gave Dorothy a heads up that you might want to go out for a couple of beers. I didn't fill her in on why, just that you might need to talk. Maybe we can get Roger and a couple of others together tomorrow night or Wednesday night, make it a boy's night."

"Sounds like a plan. It'll definitely be nice to get out without being sabotaged. Probably tomorrow night, Roger will be working Wednesday, but I'm thinking about calling a couple of the other guys, too, so I'll go with whatever works for most. And I'll tell Roger to keep his fucking mouth shut about our whereabouts this time."

I downed the last of the coffee I was drinking and headed to the office to submit my time off request before heading out to the public lobby. As I entered, I saw Wyatt Banks standing and looking at the various photos we had of current and past firefighters assigned to Station 4. He turned around when he heard me enter.

"Mr. Byrne?" he asked.

"That's me. Banks, right? Wyatt Banks?"

"Yes, sir," he said, looking down in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

"What can I do for you? And I'm genuinely not trying to be rude, but you're pretty damn lucky you got here when you did. I'm actually taking some personal time off and I just happened to be here at the station to get some necessary paperwork turned in. I was about to leave." It was the truth. I wasn't trying to be rude. My instincts told me he didn't just stop by to extend his thanks and I wanted to give him the chance to say whatever it was on his mind. "By the way, call me Connor. That's my name."

He finally looked up at me. His nose was bandaged and his eyes were still bruised, which shouldn't have surprised me considering he had taken a beer bottle across the bridge of his nose just a few days earlier, but he didn't look like he had also suffered an orbital fracture, after all. What did surprise me was the fact I could see tears in his eyes.

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I wanted to thank you, too, for doing what you could before they took me to the hospital, but mostly I wanted to apologize to you face to face. I honestly had no idea Lexi was married. I would never try to put the moves on another man's wife, let alone get involved with her, and I'm sorry. I'm not asking you to forgive me, I just hope you will accept my apol...."

"Apology accepted," I said, cutting him off. "I could hear from the tone of your voice and I could see the look in your eyes that you had no idea. You didn't know she was married. You didn't know the guy who was treating you was her husband. I don't blame you; this is all on Lexi. But I'll tell you what, I appreciate the hell out of the fact you tracked me down to apologize. Most men would have high-tailed it out of town. That takes balls."

"Honestly, if I had known I was getting involved with a married woman and her husband found out, that's exactly what I would have done," he said. "I'm not trying to downplay anything by saying this, but I was a victim in this too. Not anywhere near as big a victim as you, but she played me. I fell in love with her and I thought she had fallen in love with me."

"Don't worry, I agree. Like I said, I could hear it in your voice, and the look in your eyes when I thanked you for sticking up for my wife said it all. But let me ask you something, and please be honest in your response. Again, I'm not even the slightest upset with you and no answer you give is going to change that, but did you guys... you know?"

He looked down again, avoiding my eye contact. "Yeah. I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I broke things off between us as soon as I could after I found out she was married. I'm even going to request a transfer when I get back to work." he said as he gave a brief nod.

"At least she told the truth about one thing," I said. "She told me it was over between you two, but she also told me you guys never had sex."

He looked up quickly, meeting my gaze once again as he shook his head. "She's lying to you. She's lying and I'm pretty sure I can prove it. It happened on Halloween. It wasn't anything I intentionally set out to do. It just happened. But I have security cameras all around my house, and the only time we had sex was on Halloween by my pool. I wasn't even thinking about the cameras at the time, I was just caught up in the moment. But my system will hold 12 months of footage, so I know for a fact the footage will still be on the DVR."

That revelation made me dizzy and I had to sit. "I'm going to be very frank with you. I won't go into all of the details because in all honesty, it's none of your concern. But my father killed himself because my mother spent most of their marriage running around with other guys. As a result, I have already made the decision to file for divorce from Lexi. She knows the full story about my father, but she doesn't know I'm going to file yet, and I would appreciate it if you can keep that to yourself for now." I let what I said sink in before I continued on. "I also don't think you should request a transfer to a different location just to avoid Lexi. I've made my decision, and if you want to pursue things with her, by all means, do it. I don't care anymore. I might sound like a cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch, giving up on my wife like this, but that's how deeply her actions have cut me. But I'm also going to ask if it would be possible to get a copy of that video. You obviously have every right to tell me to go fuck myself, but even knowing the footage exists will help when I do tell her I'm filing, which will probably be later this evening."

Wyatt sat there for a few minutes, mulling over everything I had just said to him before finally responding. "I won't say anything," he assured me. "I won't give you a copy of the footage, but I'm almost positive there is an angle that clearly shows her face. I'll get a screenshot and text it to you if you want. I'll also make sure I archive the footage so it doesn't get written over by new footage. And about the transfer, I think it's probably for the best. I don't want to get involved with a woman who will willingly cheat on her husband. If she'll cheat on you, then what's to stop her from cheating on me?"

I stood up as he extended his hand. "Thank you for your understanding. I won't lecture you and tell you to give her another chance, because it sounds like your mind is made up. I'm deeply sorry, and I can't even begin to describe the guilt I feel for being involved in the breakup of a marriage." He reached in his pocket and withdrew a business card. "My personal number is the one on the bottom. Send me a text when you have a chance, and I'll send you that screenshot if you want it. Otherwise, feel free to reach out to me if you ever need anything. And again, I am deeply sorry." After handing me his business card, he turned and walked out the door.

-- Chapter Six --

I sent my number to Wyatt later that morning, and within a couple of hours, there it was. A screenshot of him behind Lexi leaning over a chaise lounge as he fucked her from behind. It crushed me to the core to see that, and for a moment I could almost understand why my father had killed himself over my mother's escapades. I knew he had caught her in the act on at least two occasions. I was only looking at a picture of my wife screwing another man, and I felt lower than I had in my entire life, lower even than the day my father killed himself. I quickly closed the picture, crying until I had no more tears to shed. I hated that image, and I couldn't wait until I could delete it, but at least I had closure as far as which one of them was telling the truth.

I tried to keep myself occupied and my mind off Lexi for most of the day. I called Roger, Adam, and a couple of other mutual friends from our inner circle to set things up for the next night. I knew Roger would be back on duty Wednesday night, so that took Wednesday out of the equation. Adam was good with Tuesday and so were the other guys I called.

I knew I couldn't keep ignoring Lexi, and I had told Roger I would give her a call, so I went ahead and made that plunge. I kept the conversation brief, telling her she could come over that evening to get what she needed and we would talk. She offered to bring take-out food and, even though I didn't exactly want to sit down and have a meal with her, I accepted. I intended to keep things as short and to the point as I could, but I probably wasn't going to feel like cooking or going out on my own after she left, assuming I even felt like eating.

When she showed up, I was surprised she rang the doorbell. Yes, I had kicked her out of the house, but this was technically still her home and I hadn't asked her for the keys. When I thought longer about it, I was surprised she hadn't simply come over to get what she needed. I mentioned that to her when I opened the door, and she simply stated she knew this was my house, even if it was technically also her home, so she was trying to respect what I had done and give me space.

It was obvious from her appearance she had probably been sleeping as well as I had, which was to say not very well at all. Her hair, which she normally wore down unless she was at work or going to the gym, was pulled back in a high ponytail. She had absolutely no makeup, which was also completely unlike her. Lexi was a woman who would put mascara and eyeliner just to go check the mail. And she was wearing a simple pink t-shirt with a pair of yoga pants and flip-flops. Under different circumstances, I might have felt bad.

"Hey," she said as she walked in. "I stopped by Great Wall Szechuan. I figured if you were willing to try to talk things out, I might as well up my odds and try to butter you up, even if it doesn't work."

If buttering me up was her goal, and I had no doubt it was, then picking Great Wall Szechuan was probably the smartest thing food-wise she could have done. She knew I loved Chinese food in general, and Great Wall Szechuan had about the best Chinese food I had ever eaten. They had a full 5-star rating with over a thousand reviews and, in spite of their name, they didn't just serve Szechuan. They also specialized in Cantonese, Hunan, and Fujian cuisine, and I could smell what I recognized to be shrimp in lobster sauce.

Upon opening and inspecting the various containers of food, I noticed she not only brought the shrimp in lobster sauce, but my other favorites as well. There was Hot & Sour soup, Crab Rangoon, shrimp in spicy garlic sauce, and plenty of Lo Mein noodles. Basically, she brought all my favorites and none of her own.

"Yeah, you're definitely trying to butter me up," I said as I grabbed a couple of plates and forks for us. "You could have brought something you like, though."

She took a deep breath before speaking. "Connor, I know I'm in ass-kissing mode right now. I don't know how much ass-kissing I'm going to have to do, or even if the ass-kissing will work. But it's like I told you Friday night, I never meant for things to go as far as they did with Wyatt. I still love you and I still want to be with you. I want us to build a family together. If that means I will have to bring you your favorite foods from your favorite restaurants every single day for the rest of our lives, then it's a small price to pay." Her voice cracked as she spoke, and the tears in her eyes almost made me feel guilty.

My conversation with Wyatt earlier that morning was still fresh in my mind. "Lexi, if you love me and you want to be with me and you want to build a family with me, then why can't you be completely honest with me?"

"Babe, I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she tried to put on a good show of being confused.

"Don't 'Babe' me. You do not have the right to refer to me as 'Babe', or 'Sweetie', or 'Honey', or any other term of endearment right now. And you know exactly what I'm talking about," I shot back at her.

"No, Connor, I don't."

"Lexi, I happened to be at the station today when Wyatt Banks stopped by. He came by to thank me for helping him out the other night. And he came by to apologize. Now, before I go any further, have I jarred your memory?" I asked. She swallowed hard, but still gave me a blank look and acted like she didn't know what I was referring to.

"Connor, I really don't know what you're getting at! What kind of shit did Wyatt say? I already told you, things are over between us. He broke it off as soon as he could after he found out I was married." She was acting like I was stupid.

"First, the fact he broke it off, not you, makes it sound like things would still be going on between you two if my station hadn't been covering for Station 1 on that call and I found out."

"That's not what I meant to..."

I cut her off. "I'm not finished. Let me finish. Aside from the fact there never should have been anything between you that needed to be broken off, it should have been you, not him, that broke it off. I hope you realize that little fact doesn't work in your favor. But do I need to spell it out for you? Because I will, but I want you to know you're not going to like it if I do. Against my better judgement, I'm giving you one last opportunity to come clean on your own." I was getting angrier. I honestly didn't know what had gotten into her. I didn't know what I had done wrong, if anything, or if things were as she said and what started as innocent flirting got out of hand. Neither justified her actions, though.

"What? Did he tell you we had sex? He's full of shit, Connor," she said.

That wasn't what I had been hoping to hear. As angry and as hurt as I was, and in spite of the things I had said to her on Friday night, there was a small part of me that wanted to, if not forgive her, then at least work things out and try to mend the wounds. She was the woman of my dreams, and up until this moment, until this last attempt to deceive me, a part of me still wanted to spend forever with her. Now... I was surprised to learn how quickly one person could fall out of love with another.

"How big is his pool, Lexi? Or were you too busy getting fucked to pay attention?" I asked, trying to contain my anger.

Her eyes betrayed her, getting bigger when I mentioned his pool, but she still would not relent. "Connor, I told you, nothing happened between us other than some kissing. You're seriously going to take the word of some guy you don't even know over your wife?" She was trying to act as angry as I actually was.

I pulled out my phone and brought up the text I had received from Wyatt. I opened the picture he had attached and held my phone up for Lexi to see. "He has security cameras, Lexi. You were looking right at one of them and didn't even know it. Now, do you want to continue digging a deeper grave for yourself?" I was shaking. I was crying. I had her cornered.

I already knew the truth, but I was still afraid to hear her finally admit it.

- Chapter Seven -

Her voice was barely a whisper, so quiet I had to force myself to lean closer to her just so I could hear her. "I'm sorry, Connor. I'm so sorry." She was motionless, almost frozen, as she repeated that over and over, until no sound escaped her lips. She sat, staring at the plate of food in front of her, crying for what seemed like an eternity.

When she finally spoke again, it was still barely more than a whisper. "I'll leave," she said as she stood up. "I'm sure you don't want to look at me, and I don't blame you, so I'll just go." She grabbed her keys and started to head for the door.

"Lexi, wait," I said. "We still have things to discuss and, in fairness to you, I want to give you the opportunity to explain yourself. It isn't going to change the direction we're headed, but it may affect how easy or difficult it will be to travel the road ahead. Please. Just tell me the truth."

She stood there crying for several minutes, saying she was sorry, over and over, before finally turning to face me. After taking a deep breath, she started to explain. "Connor, I already explained most of what happened the other night. I knew Wyatt at MIT. He was finishing his Masters program while I was starting mine. We never dated back then, because he wasn't my type. He was about 80 pounds heavier back then. When he came to work for my company, all the girls in the office thought he was cute, including me. I didn't even recognize him at first due to his weight loss. But after I realized who he was, we started talking regularly. At first, it was just small talk, things like our experiences at MIT and our company. The small talk turned to what I thought was just innocent flirting and it was never my intent to let things get physical between us. Yes, I thought I was starting to develop feelings for him, but I was wrong.

"I told you about how a bunch of us went out after work last Halloween. Well, several of us ended up going back to Wyatt's house. Men and women, not just us girls. It wasn't a situation where he was trying to get one of us alone, we just went with the intent of talking. Talking about life, talking about school, talking about work, just talking.

"We were drinking wine. All of us. As the night went on, people started to leave, until it was just me left. I wasn't drunk, but I had been drinking and I didn't trust myself to drive. I wanted to wait a while to let the wine wear off before I drove home. The next thing I knew, we started making out. We ended up in his hot tub, and the making out continued. He started kissing my neck and... well... you know what that does to me. I couldn't control myself any longer, and before I knew it, I jumped out of the hot tub and pulled him out with me. I leaned over one of the chaise lounges by his pool, and I let him fuck me.

"I'm not trying to claim the alcohol affected my judgement. It didn't. I was in complete control of my faculties and I knew what I was doing. But by the time I started to feel guilty about what I was doing and realized I wasn't developing feelings for him, because I'm already in love with the perfect man, it was too late. He had already finished. We went back inside, where he promptly passed out, I got dressed, and came home.

"I tried to avoid him at work, but considering we have projects we need to work together on, that wasn't possible. But I swear to you I have avoided intimate contact with him after that night. If I need to go to our security team and have them pull video of my whereabouts for every single minute of every single day I was at work, I will. The only place we don't have cameras are the bathrooms and locker rooms, but those places only have one way in and out. And I didn't meet up with him after work. If you don't believe me, you can ask Wyatt.

"He did try to keep flirting and he kept asking me out, but like I said, I was trying to brush him off. I kept making excuses, hoping he would figure out I wasn't interested. He just wouldn't take a hint. Before you ask, yes, I did think about telling him at work that I'm married and I made a mistake, but I kept having nightmares about how he would react, and I didn't want him to react in a way that would have seen me branded as the office whore.

"That's why I finally agreed to another date with him. He saw it as an actual date, but I saw it as an opportunity to break things off, to tell him the truth and, hopefully, make sure he didn't say anything at work. We ended up having to cancel the original plans because we both got stuck at work on a minor emergency with some equipment we are developing, but I didn't want to put it off any longer. That's why we were out as late as we were. But before I could explain things to him, some other guy grabbed my ass less than five minutes after we got there. Wyatt stood up for me, and you know the rest. He broke it off with me before I had a chance to break it off with him."

She stopped talking and finally looked me in the eyes. "I made a mistake, Connor. It's you I love. And I know I have forever lost your trust. I know how you feel, and I can only hope you'll forgive me someday."

"Why didn't you just tell me, Lexi?"

"I've been trying, Connor, but you wouldn't listen. You have already judged me guilty beyond redemption."

"I'm not talking about the affair as a whole. Why did you continue to lie about having sex with him? Why didn't you just admit it?"

"I don't know. I really don't. I guess I just...." Her voice trailed off.

"You guess you just... what?" I asked.

"I guess I just put myself in your shoes. I thought that if the roles were reversed, if you were the one who strayed, then I would want you to make me believe you hadn't strayed, to show me how much you still loved me, even if there were doubts in my mind. I would want to believe I was truly yours, in heart, mind, and body. I wanted to make you know you're still the one I want. I was wrong for doing that. And I know I have to live with the consequences of my actions."

I stood looking at her for a long time. For the first time since I discovered her affair, I found myself wanting to hug Lexi. More than just hug her, I wanted to hold her tightly and let her know I didn't hate her, that I would always care about her. But at the same time, I didn't want to give her the wrong impression. I didn't want to give her false hope. I still loved her, and that love for her made everything that much more painful. I was my father's kid, but unlike my father, I would never be able to forgive her. Some may have seen that as a fault, and maybe it was. But if my mom hadn't been so willing to open her legs for men other than my father, I may have still had the ability to forgive.

"Connor, please tell me what you're thinking. I know I'm probably hoping beyond all reasonable hope, but I need to know. Good, bad or indifferent, I need to know where we go from here," she said.

"Lexi, I...." My words caught in my throat.

"Go ahead," she said. "I understand."

"Lexi, I care about you. I love you. But it's because of that love for you that I can't hold on. I can't go through life knowing you strayed, whether you intended to or not. I can't spend the rest of my life wondering if someone else is making you feel butterflies, wondering if you're out with someone else while I'm at work. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you, to trust you completely and without question. And it wouldn't be fair to either of us to stay in a marriage like that. It wouldn't be fair to me, always having that thought in the back of my mind, and it wouldn't be fair to you, feeling like you're always walking on eggshells around me."

I let my words sink in for a moment before I continued. "Just because I can't hold on doesn't mean things need to get bad between us, though. I love you, and I care about you, and I always will. And I want us to remain friends, if that's possible. I mean, if you want to get an attorney, I'll understand, but I honestly don't think that will be necessary and I won't be getting one. Your car and my truck are paid for. The house is mine, but I'm willing to do what I can to help you get set up in a house of your own, even if I have to sell...."

"No. No, you're right. It doesn't have to get ugly. And no, I don't want you to sell this house. Umm... I got... I gotta go."

Before I could say another word, she turned and ran out the door. I didn't know where she was headed, but I hoped it was back to Roger and April's house, so I decided to send them a quick text. I grabbed my phone and started a group chat between the three of us.

"Hey guys. Just told Lexi things are over between us. She's obviously upset and she just took off. I think she's headed back there."

Roger replied almost immediately with a short, "Copy that" and a thumbs up emoji. April sent a quick broken heart emoji, followed up by a direct text, effectively removing Roger from the conversation.

APRIL: "Are you sure that's the right move?"

ME: "April, please. Don't want to talk about it right now."

APRIL: "I can imagine she's heartbroken. That woman loves you more than you can imagine."

ME: "I know. And I love her. Which is exactly why I have to do this. Now, can we please just drop it?"

APRIL: "OK. You know we're here for you... both of you... when you're ready to talk.

After my brief exchange with April, I realized Lexi took off without grabbing anything, so I sent one more message to April, letting her know I would be gone between 5pm and 10 or 11 o'clock the following evening, and that Lexi was free to come by and get her things then, if she wanted.

- Chapter Eight -

The next three months or so went by quickly. Divorce paperwork had been filed, and neither Lexi nor I was trying to make a big stink about anything. We were even at a point where we were on friendly terms with each other and could be around each other for extended periods of time. There had been one instance where we set up a time and place to meet so we could discuss some things over coffee, and Lexi went above and beyond by getting all dolled up, likely hoping I would reconsider once I saw what I was missing out on. But I stuck to my guns and tried not to let her get in my head. After that one instance, she kept everything on a professional level, so to speak. She even apologized and admitted she knew what she did was a long-shot, ultimately telling me that having me as a friend in her life was better than not having me in her life at all.

During that same period of time, several friends, to include Roger, Adam, and two other buddies of ours, Pete Kowalski and Keith Thompson, both cops who worked with Roger, started meeting every Tuesday night to drink and complain about whatever there was to complain about - women, work, sports, politics - nothing was off limits. Occasionally two or three other friends would join us, but the five of us made up the core group. With the exception of Adam during the fourth week when Dorothy finally had the baby, the five of us had met up every Tuesday after I caught Lexi cheating.

It was during one of these Tuesday night meetups that my life began to take another turn, I just didn't know it yet. It all started when the five of us were sitting at what we had come to think of as "our table" at The Sundowner. It was actually two tables for four pushed together so we could seat 8 comfortably, and if someone didn't mind partially blocking the aisle, we could seat 9.

None of us really paid much attention to the good looking, slightly taller than average guy with the military style haircut and the much shorter, drop dead gorgeous brunette walk in. To us, they looked like any other couple on a mid-week date out for a bite to eat. It wasn't until they were walking by our table and the brunette stopped that we noticed them.

"Well, hey, guys! How's it going?"

It was Brandi Schmidt and her date.

"Holy shit, Schmidt! Is that really you?" Roger asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you out of uniform and I know I've never seen you with your hair down."

"Careful, Rog. Your eyes are about to pop out of your head. Not only does this guy look like he can kick all of our asses, I happen to know April will definitely kick YOUR ass," I said, giving him a hard time, but still trying to discreetly check her out.

"Fuck you, Connor. Schmidt's my partner, nothing more. I just haven't seen her outside of work before," he fired back.

"So, what are you guys up to? What brings you out?" she asked.

"Ah, we've been meeting every Tuesday night since Connor found out...." Roger caught himself before he finished the sentence. "We all met up one Tuesday a few months ago and decided to make it a weekly thing. Kind of an exercise in interdepartmental relations between the PD and the FD."

Schmidt nodded her understanding. As she was about to move on, Kowalski chimed in. "You and your boyfriend are more than welcome to join us, Schmidt. That's actually why we have a big table. Sometimes other guys pop by. And like Roger said, interdepartmental relations and all, and since you're PD, you qualify."

She looked at Kowalski with a confused look on her face. "My boyfriend? Oh! This guy? Eww. He's not my boyfriend, he's my brother. I don't even have a boyfriend at the moment." We all got a good laugh while Kowalski turned beet red. "Anyway, Tyler, meet Roger Hansen, Adam Rizzo, Connor Byrne, Pete Kowalksi, and Keith Thompson. PD, FD, FD, PD, and PD." She pointed to each of us as she said our names, then again as she identified which department we were with. "Everyone, meet Captain Tyler Schmidt, United States Marine Corps, and my twin brother. He's stationed here at Pendleton, but I don't think I'm allowed to tell you what he does."

I stood up and extended my hand to Tyler. "Connor. Nice to meet you, Tyler" I said. Then, looking from Tyler to Brandi and back to Tyler, I asked, "You sure you two are twins? Considering the two of us can look right over her head and we can look each other right in the eyes, I'm guessing you're about 6 foot 2, am I right?"

"And a quarter, but only the Marine Corps really cares about that quarter. And yes, we're twins. Fraternal, obviously. I got our dad's height, she got our mom's good looks," he said with a smile.

I looked at the others still seated at the table, then back to Brandi and Tyler. "Please. Join us. As Pete said, you're more than welcome and that's why we have a large table."

"Well, if you guys are sure it's okay."

"It's okay, Schmidt. I can't speak for Rizz or Connor here, but as far as me, Kowalski, and Thompson are concerned, you're one of the guys. Am I right?" Roger asked as he looked at Kowalski and Thompson.

"Any 5 foot nothing woman who can take down a 6-foot-tall gang banger and have him in cuffs before he can say 'Mommy' is one of the guys in my book," Thompson said.

"I'm 5 foot 5, asshole," she said with a smile as she and Tyler took seats across from me. "And that guy deserved it. Not only did he swing at me, but he shouldn't have called me 'sweetie' and told me to go home, where I should be barefoot, pregnant, and in front of a stove." While the others were laughing, I was noticing for the first time how truly beautiful she really was. As I had suspected, her hair was very long, well past her shoulders. It was dark brown with blonde highlights, and her eyes were a light brown, a little darker than light amber honey. They were mesmerizingly beautiful, and I had to quickly look away when her eyes made contact with mine.

"So, is it always just the boys? No wives or girlfriends?" she asked. "I don't want to get anyone in trouble."

"No need to worry about that," Pete said, "our wives pretty much keep us in check. Well, except Connor's, that is."

Brandi gave me a sly smile before asking, "Oh? Got yourself a free pass there, Connor?"

I knew she was just joking around, maybe even being slightly flirtatious, but it still felt uncomfortable when I replied. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I'm in the middle of a divorce."

She turned all shades of red. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I... I didn't know."

I gave her an understanding smile. "It's okay. You had no reason to know. But tell me, why is a pretty girl like you out on a date with her brother?" I asked, trying to lighten things back up.

"I already told you guys, he's my brother. It's not a date! Eww!"

We were all laughing at her response, especially Tyler. "Relax, Sis, I think Connor is just pulling your chain. But to answer your question on her behalf, it's because she hasn't met anybody that meets my approval or, more importantly, our dad's," he said, giving me a wink to let me know he was joking.

Brandi gave Tyler a playful slap on the arm. "That's bullshit and you know it," she told him. Then, turning her attention back to the rest of us, "Well... mostly bullshit. It's true that none of the guys I've dated has met Tyler's or Daddy's approval, but the fact of the matter is, they haven't met mine, either. And in spite of what they might think, Tyler and Dad have no say in who I date, anyway."

"Relax, Schmidt," I said, borrowing Tyler's line, "I think your brother is just pulling your chain."

"Is that what this is gonna be? Everybody gets to poke fun at the short chick?" Her wide smile betrayed the false indignity she was trying to portray. "Seriously, though, I just haven't found 'Mr. Right'. All the guys I've dated either didn't like the fact I'm a cop, or they couldn't handle an assertive woman. Or both."

"That's their loss, Sis," Tyler said before leaning over and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "But don't forget about that one guy who assumed you were a lesbian just because you're a cop and thought you might be open to a relationship of convenience to keep your sexual preferences in the closet."

She laughed when Tyler mentioned that guy. "Oh yeah. That was a quick 'hell no'. Had a hard time convincing him not all female police officers are lesbians, and even if I was, I would be out, loud, and proud, not hiding it. He was a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't interested in having a relationship, even a pretend one, with a guy who probably would have been more interested in my brother than me. No, thanks."

We continued chatting as a group for a couple more hours, sharing about ourselves and learning a little bit about Tyler and Brandi, including the fact Tyler was also single, was an intelligence officer in the Marine Corp and was the recipient of two purple hearts and two bronze stars, among other medals, for service in the Middle East. We learned Brandi had been a gymnast up until high school, and held a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, having been studying the martial art since she was a child.

Brandi and Tyler quickly became fast friends of the rest of the group, sharing the same, often twisted, senses of humor as the rest of us. Before heading our separate ways that evening, we made sure to let Brandi know she and her brother were always welcome to join us on 'guy's night', and we even made arrangements with The Sundowner to have our standing reservation for 8 at 6pm every Tuesday changed to a standing reservation for 12.

- Chapter Nine -

A few more weeks went by, and our weekly Tuesday night meetups continued. Brandi became a regular attendee, and even Tyler showed up about half the time.

In between those meetings, work was work. Some days were busy, with call after call, and others were slow, where we might only have a couple of calls in the entire 24-hour shift. I didn't see any of that as being out of the ordinary; that's just how things went. The only thing I noticed that changed over the course of those couple of months since Brandi became a regular member of the group was the fact that I started seeing her more frequently on calls.

Adam had noticed it, too, and one particular evening after running into her on yet another call, he took the opportunity to give me a hard time about it after we got back to the station.

"If I didn't know better, Connor, I'd say you have a stalker," he said, laughing as if it were the greatest joke in the world.

"Kiss my ass, Adam. She must have changed beats or something. You know we typically run into whoever is covering our part of the city at least once per shift. If she did and she's on duty, we're bound to see her."

"You keep telling yourself that, Bro. But I've seen the way she looks at you when we roll up on calls. She smiles and her eyes light up like you're her knight in shining armor when she sees you jump out of the truck. Kinda the way Dorothy still looks at me every time she sees me."

"I've seen how Dorothy looks at you. The last few months it has been more of a 'you fucking bastard' look. While she was pregnant, it looked like she was thinking, 'You fucking bastard, you did this to me'. Now that the baby is here, it's like she's saying, 'You fucking bastard, how dare you go to work and get some peace and quiet while I have to put up with a screaming baby."

"Fuck you, asshole," but he was smiling. He knew I was joking and he also knew that I knew he and Dorothy were still very much in love with each other. "Seriously, though, I really have noticed the way Schmidt looks at you. Maybe you should ask her out."

"Not gonna happen, Adam. For starters, my divorce isn't even final. Second, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into another serious relationship yet."

"I never said anything about getting into a serious relationship. I just said maybe you should ask her out. You know, a date. Besides, you're both adults with adult needs, if you get my drift."

"Yeah, I get your drift. But right now, she can't give me anything I can't get from Rosie Palm and her five sisters." I raised my right hand and wiggled my fingers before making a fist and, after lowering my fist to my groin area, made a jerking motion. "Besides," I continued, "nothing says she isn't looking for a relationship. She's a nice girl and I'm not going to put us in a situation where I accidentally lead her on."

"Okay, okay. I get it. But don't try to tell me you haven't least noticed her, because I've also seen the way you've checked her out and gotten lost in those eyes of hers on Tuesday nights."

I blushed, because he was right. I had gotten lost in her eyes on more than one occasion. And if Adam, who normally sat next to me during our Tuesday night hang-out sessions, had noticed it, the others had, as well. And that included her brother, who normally sat across from me.

"See? See? I'm right! You have noticed her."

"She's fucking gorgeous, Adam. I have to be blind not to notice and I have no shame admitting that. But I'm still not going to ask her out. Not until my divorce is finalized, anyway."

"That's my boy," he said while giving me a pat on the shoulder. "At least it sounds like you're thinking about it. Changing the subject, Labor Day is coming up in a couple of weeks and Dorothy wants to throw big bar-b-cue slash pool party. She told me to ask if you'd be willing to smoke some of your ribs and maybe a pork butt for some pulled pork. Or whatever you want. We'll pay for the meat, but after she tried your ribs and pulled pork on the 4th of July last year, she refuses to let me do the cooking."

"Absolutely." If there was one hobby I enjoyed above any other, it was smoking meats. My ribs, brisket, chicken, pulled pork, and various smoked sausages were well known around the fire department. "How many people are we talking about? I'll need an accurate count so I can calculate how much meat to buy."

"I can get you a full count in a couple of days, but we're talking about all the guys from here who aren't working that day, plus the guys from the Tuesday group, and their families. So probably a couple dozen, at least, probably more."

"No problem. I've cooked for plenty more than that before," I told him. And it was true. I had cooked for well over a hundred people before. Two dozen would be child's play.

The rest of the shift was uneventful. I gave some thought to what Adam said about Brandi, about how he had seen the way she looks at me when she sees me, as well as how we had seen her on more of our calls recently. I knew the city wanted the police department beats to essentially mirror the fire department's coverage areas, so if she changed beats, it made sense we'd see her more often. It was done for critical situation response purposes. The powers that be thought it was a good idea to have the fire and police department members from each area be familiar with each other and learn what to expect from each other. In theory it was a great idea, even though in practice it didn't always work out that way. But it worked well enough that everybody was able to get to know who their regular cross-department counterparts were. I decided I would ask Roger if he knew anything about it during our regular Tuesday night meet-up.

Our Tuesday hang-out time came and I got to The Sundowner a little earlier than usual. I wanted to be able to head Roger off at the pass, so to speak, and get to him before he sat down. I didn't want to ask to speak to him privately, as questions from the others would have been inevitable. As it turned out, Roger was already there with Adam.

"Speak of the devil," Roger said as I walked up and took a seat.

I pointed at Adam and asked, "Is he finally admitting to you how jealous he is of my good looks? Or is he telling you lies?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, glancing sideways at Adam. "What the fuck has dipshit here been saying?"

"Only that you had noticed a particular female officer from my department on more of your mutual aid calls recently."

"What else?"

"That's it, I swear," Roger said, holding his hands up.

Adam interjected. "Roger's telling you the truth, Connor. I swear I didn't say anything else about what we talked about. But don't forget, despite the fact he normally needs to use his fingers and toes to count, Roger is a good cop. And since he's a good cop, he was able to put two and two together without taking off his shoes and socks this time." We all laughed at Adam's joke.

"I'll just get to the point," Roger said, still laughing. "Yes, our favorite short brunette police officer requested a beat change to Beat 4. In fact, she went to our lieutenant and requested the change the very next shift we were on duty after that first time she and Tyler joined us here. The lieutenant didn't have a problem with it, as long as she found a volunteer from Beat 4 who was willing to go to Beat 1. It didn't take long. Beat 1 is a lot busier with radio calls, but Beat 4's calls tend to lead to lengthier investigations and much more paperwork, so she actually had a list of people willing to make the change."

"Okay. And?" I asked, sensing there was more to it.

"Aannnd... she wanted to change to Beat 4 because of you. She confided in me before she went to our lieutenant. She's hoping you'll ask her out sooner rather than later, by the way, but she's also not going to try to rush you into anything. She knows your divorce isn't final and she said she understands it may take some time before you're ready to move on from Lexi."

I looked at Roger for a minute before responding. "I already told Adam I don't know if I'm ready to get back in the dating game, at least not until my divorce is final. I also told him that just because I'm not looking for another relationship doesn't mean that she isn't, so I don't want to inadvertently lead her on."

"That's not what I'm trying to say, Connor," he said. "I know how you feel and I know how you are. I'm just trying to let you know when, not if, you decide the time is right, the door is open, so to speak. We have all seen how you look at her. That includes her brother." He raised his eyebrows as he let that sink in before going on. "I honestly don't think she's going to be off the market anytime soon, because I think there's a very good possibility, she thinks she may have found 'Mr. Right'. You just don't know it, yet, which is understandable under the circumstances. But I also think you're a fucking idiot and should just ask her out,"

"Why would she do that?" I asked. "Why would she intentionally put herself in a situation that could lead to heartbreak?"

"Are you playing with me or are you actually that fucking stupid? I'm going to be a dick and answer your question with a question. How did you feel when April and I introduced you to Lexi?"

"You're saying Brandi is in love with me?" I asked after a few seconds. "She doesn't even know me! I mean deep down, truly know me!"

"That didn't stop you and Lexi from falling head over heels for each other when you met. And I daresay, Brandi already knows you better now than you and Lexi knew each other when you got married. But no, I'm not saying she is in love with you. I think it's more a situation where she knows she wants to get to know you better and see where things can lead. Just give it some thought. She's a big girl, and I'm sure if things don't end up working out, she'll be alright."

I nodded my understanding. "Makes sense, I guess." Before we could continue our conversation further, other people, including Brandi and Tyler, started showing up. The conversation that evening focused primarily on Adam's Labor Day bar-b-cue and pool party and Adam made sure everyone, including Tyler, was not only invited, but also expected. They all seemed genuinely excited to hear my cooking skills were going to be on display and, as everybody started to leave at the end of the gathering, everybody told me how much they were looking forward to it.

- Chapter Ten -

The day before Labor Day arrived. Adam's headcount came out to close to three dozen people, counting kids. Knowing how both cops and firefighters can eat, I decided to do two full briskets, eight racks of ribs, and two pork butts for pulled pork. I figured it was way more food than was needed, but based on how guys from the fire department raved about my bbq, I knew I wouldn't have a problem sending food home with people, so I was sure nothing would go to waste.

Adam came over in the morning and helped me get my smoker loaded in my truck as well as the wood I was going to need. Timing was everything, and the briskets were going to take the longest, so we decided I would be staying the night at their place. My smoker, along with Adam's smoker, were enough to get the job done. Their invitations said the party started at noon and went "until the cows come home", with food starting to be served around 2pm, so we were shooting for a time to have the briskets come off the smokers to rest between 1:00 and 1:30. The ribs were going to be easy as long as I got them going between 8:30 and 9 o'clock the next morning, and the pork butts were going to fall right in between as far as time was concerned.

We set up shop in his backyard and, after getting the briskets going around 9pm, sat around drinking beers and reminiscing about life. We took turns through the night keeping watch on the fireboxes on the smokers while the other slept, and in the morning, we found Dorothy busy making sides of baked beans, coleslaw, corn on the cob, rolls and angel food cake for strawberry shortcake. We timed everything almost perfectly, and by the time all the guests had shown up and started enjoying themselves, lunch was ready to go.

With the food finally being served, I was finally able to tear myself away to start mingling with the other guests. One of the first things I noticed was that Lexi was there. That didn't shock me, though. Much like I was very close to both Roger and Adam, Lexi was very close to Dorothy as well as April. Besides, despite being in the middle of a divorce, we were genuinely on friendly terms, to the point it was entirely possible we were both realizing we were better off as friends than spouses.

What did catch me off guard, though, was the fact that Lexi was chatting with a group of people that included Brandi and Tyler. I took note of what kind of beer Tyler was drinking, grabbed another one for him as well as one for myself, and headed over to join the group.

It was kind of weird when I walked up to the group, seeing both Lexi and Brandi smile at my arrival. I was sure Lexi was simply smiling because we hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks. As I said, we were both starting to move on and had accepted the fact we wouldn't be together again. But we still cared about each other and, even though I still wasn't able to forgive her, it was nice to see her. It was nice to see Brandi, too, but when she smiled at me, her eyes lit up like her day had just been made complete. I could have said it made me uncomfortable to have her looking at me like that, but it didn't. It was kind of nice to know someone had noticed me. Having her look at me that way in front of my soon-to-be ex-wife, however, was a little awkward.

I handed the beer to Tyler before turning to Lexi and giving her a quick hug. "How ya doin'? Heard you bought a condo. Have you moved in yet?"

"Hey you! Everything's good. Yep, I took the plunge and jumped into home ownership. Not moved in yet, though. Escrow just closed on Friday, and I have a couple of things I want to get done first. New blinds, tile, maybe a different paint color in the master bedroom. That sort of thing. How have you been?" she asked.

"I've been holding up. Keeping myself busy with the gym, little projects around the house. Hanging out with friends." I turned to Brandi and Tyler and politely waved my hand toward them. "I see you guys have met, by the way."

"Yeah. Brandi here was just telling me she's assigned to Beat 4 with the police department and Tyler is in the Marine Corps. I just got done telling Brandi and Tyler my soon-to-be ex-husband is with the fire department and is assigned to Station 4. Any chance the two of you have run into each other?"

Brandi's eyes got wide as she realized Lexi had just identified me as her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"Wait a minute," she said. "Connor is your soon to be ex?" she asked, looking at me. In the brief moment of silence before she spoke again, I saw Tyler turn around and look the other way. I might have been mistaken, but I could have sworn he was trying hard not to laugh.

"What the fuck did he do that caused you to want a divorce?" she asked Lexi while looking at me questioningly.

Lexi looked at me confused, as if she was confirming I hadn't told Brandi why we were getting divorced. I gave her a slight shake of my head, telling her 'no', I hadn't.

"Actually, it wasn't anything Connor did and he filed for divorce from me. Long story short, we figured out we made better friends than spouses. And he truly is one of the best friends a person could have." There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, but her voice was sincere, and I actually felt the same way.

"Gotcha," Brandi said, continuing to look at me.

"Tyler, what do you say we join the guys? I'm inclined to let the ladies talk. Now that the cat's out of the bag, I know Lexi is probably itching to tell them all kinds of sordid and entirely false stories about how I like to swing from chandeliers when the moon is full as part of some ancient pre-mating ritual," I said.

"You mean I'm not the only one?" Tyler quipped, picking up on my joke. Everybody laughed and we excused ourselves, walking across the yard to join Roger, Adam, and a few other guys.

As we were walking, I asked Tyler why he turned around and tried not to laugh when Brandi asked Lexi about me being her soon-to-be ex.

He stopped walking about mid-way between the ladies we had just left and the guys we were joining up with. "Connor, I'm a Marine. A Marine officer. I would be doing the Marine Corps a great dishonor by not telling you the truth. Not only are you just about the only thing Brandi talks about every time we see each other, but she had quite literally just finished telling Lexi she had a crush on a firefighter from your department right before Lexi told her that her soon-to-be-ex worked at Station 4 before you walked up. Even knowing you are going through a divorce, I don't think she made the connection when Lexi said her soon-to-be ex was assigned to Station 4, hence the shocked look on her face when she made the connection after Lexi identified you as her soon-to-be ex. And I might be mistaken, but I've also seen the way you look at her."

I couldn't help but smile. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Tyler, I'm not a Marine, especially not a Marine officer, but I would be doing a great dishonor to myself if I didn't tell you the truth. And the truth is, a couple of others have already told me they suspected as much, but you just confirmed it. And no, you aren't mistaken. I think she's very beautiful and I have definitely noticed her." I turned and looked back at the group of women, where it was obvious Lexi and Brandi were both getting along very well.

I felt Tyler place his hand on my shoulder. "For what it's worth, you have my blessing if you want to take her out. Not that you need it, and Brandi would put me in my place if she heard me say that, lecturing me about her not needing my approval. But you're a good man, Connor. And you've become a good friend to both of us these last few months. I honestly don't think she could do better."

I turned back to face Tyler. "You don't know how much that means to me to hear you say that, but I'm going to be frank with you. As I've told the others who have voiced their suspicions and opinions, I don't know if I'm ready to try another relationship yet. As much as I think I would really enjoy taking her out on a date, I don't want to lead her on and end up finding out I'm not ready. My divorce isn't even finalized, yet."

"I can respect that. You want me to have a talk with her?" he asked.

"Actually, in spite of what I just told you, I don't want to scare her off and possibly ruin my chances. I know it sounds ridiculous, and I know it's just as unfair to keep her wondering when or if I'm even going to ask her out as it would be to lead her on, but can you not say anything one way or the other?"

He looked at me thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Deal... on one condition. I'll keep my mouth shut, but would I be overstepping any bounds if I asked what happened between you and Lexi? Even though I only spoke to her for a few minutes, she's a beautiful woman herself, and she seems really nice. And obviously the two of you are still on good terms, so what's the deal?"

It was my own turn to give him a thoughtful look. Taking a deep breath, I gave him the Reader's Digest short version of the story. "Long story short, Lexi made probably the biggest mistake she could have ever made. She got involved with another guy. It was a short relationship, and when I caught her, she wouldn't tell me the full truth. So even though I still care about her and still love her - as a friend and nothing more - I can't find it in myself to forgive her. And truth be told, she wasn't lying when she said we make better friends than spouses.

"We never really tried to become friends before things became romantic between us. Even in the 6 months between meeting and getting married, we didn't take the time to get to know each other. We were focused on being lovers. And in the years we were together, we still didn't take the time to really get to know each other. It literally took me filing for divorce before we discovered things about each other that drove each other crazy. And it might be unfair on my part, but there's a big reason I can never forgive her. That's a story for another time, though. But now it's my turn to possibly overstep boundaries. What about you? Why isn't there a Mrs. Tyler Schmidt? Can't find anyone Brandi or your mom will approve of?"

Tyler laughed. "No, my reasons are actually much simpler than that. Our dad was also in The Corps. Retired Colonel. I saw how it affected Mom, and to a lesser extent me and Brandi, every time he got transferred. It was stressful on all of us, but there were times it really put a strain on their marriage. Don't get me wrong, they are still together after 30 years of marriage and they are still very much in love. I just don't want to put a wife, or worse, a wife and kids, through that."

I looked back at the women again, focusing first on Brandi, then on Lexi before turning back to Tyler. "She really is a sweetheart. Lexi, I mean, but Brandi, too. And I really hope she finds someone who will make her happy someday. But that person won't be me. I have found I'm perfectly content having her as a friend that I only see or talk to every few days and nothing more, and I can guarantee she feels the same way now, even though she initially tried to make things work."

"I'm out. Ready for another?" Tyler asked, holding up an empty beer bottle and changing the subject.

"Jesus Christ! Where the hell did you put it?"

"Connor, I'm a Marine. We excel at two things - killing enemies, and drinking beer."

I downed the rest of my beer while we went and grabbed another before finally joining up with the guys. The rest of the day went by much more quickly than I wanted it to. Even though the Tuesday night meetups were a great time, it felt good to really unwind, and it was the first time I had really taken the time to unwind since everything with Lexi started.

More than once that day, I found myself looking for Brandi, only to discover she was already looking at me. And I may have had too much to drink that day, but more than once I could have sworn I saw Lexi looking at Tyler, and Tyler looking at her. Before I passed out on Adam's couch that night, I thought back to what Tyler said about me having his blessing to date Brandi. And I know their brother and sister relationship was obviously different than the relationship Lexi and I had, but if there was anybody I hoped to see Lexi end up with, it was him.

-- Chapter Eleven --

On a Tuesday a few weeks after the Labor Day party, Lexi and I were finally given a date to appear in court where the judge would enter judgement, declaring us legally divorced. Ironically, or perhaps because it was supposed to happen, the date was Halloween. That night, during our regular weekly meeting at The Sundowner, I made the announcement I would officially be divorced on Halloween and bought the first round of drinks. All of the regulars were there, including Brandi and Tyler, and I received a round of cheers. I had a sneaky suspicion the cheers were more for the free round of drinks than they were for my divorce finally coming to an end, but I didn't care.

I noticed a look of relief and slight smiles on both Brandi's and Tyler's faces. It piqued my curiosity, and when Brandi excused herself a few minutes later to go to the restroom, I quietly asked Tyler what was up with the faces.

"Nothing major. I swear I never said anything to Brandi, but I think hearing that news brightened her day and she might be hoping you'll finally ask her out, that's all."

"That explains her, but what about you?" I asked.

"Connor, Lexi and I didn't want to say anything until after your divorce was finalized, but we've been seeing each other. I didn't want you to know because I didn't want you to think I was stabbing you in the back."

"Bro! Why would I think that? I think that's great! I could have sworn I saw you guys making eyes at each other on Labor Day," I responded, genuinely excited.

"You're really okay with it? Like I said, I don't want to do anything that might jeopardize your friendship with Lexi."

"I'm absolutely okay with it. Seriously. I was even thinking about how you told me you thought I should ask Brandi out and that you didn't think she could find a better guy. I feel the same way about you, that I don't think Lexi could find a better man for herself."

"Thanks, Man. That means a lot." He looked over and saw Brandi returning from the bathroom and quickly asked if I had given dating her any thought. I told him I had been giving it some thought, but I probably wasn't going to make a decision on whether or not to her out until after the divorce was final. He gave me a smile and told me he understood, but there was also a huge look of relief on his face after I told him I had been giving it some thought.

I didn't want to get ahead of myself. I still wanted to get to know Brandi more as a person before I asked her on a date. Sure, we got to talk during our Tuesday nights at The Sundowner, but it was all small talk and we were never alone. We never had the chance to develop a deeper friendship, to begin learning the more personal details about each other, and I wanted that deeper friendship developed before I made the decision on whether or not I wanted to pursue a more intimate relationship with her.

The next couple of weeks went by in a flash. Halloween came and the judge declared us divorced. We had already decided on who got what from the marriage, so the judge didn't need to worry about making any rulings regarding who got what. We both made good money. Lexi actually made more than me, but neither of us asked for alimony. The judge saw how amicably we were ending our marriage and actually asked us if we were sure we wanted a divorce. She said that, while it wasn't unheard of, it was pretty rare for two people divorcing each other to display such affection for each other, and more than once she had seen couples end up married to each other again a couple of years later. We assured her this is what we wanted, and the deep bond we had formed as friends was actually a side-effect of the divorce. She wished us luck and sent us on our way.

Lexi and I decided to go have lunch that day. Other than Labor Day, we hadn't attempted anything other than coffee with each other since the day I told her our marriage was over, and the Labor Day party really didn't count as a meal together. At her insistence, we went to Great Wall Szechuan. She said we never got to finish the meal she brought that day, so she wanted to add one little memory to our married life, even though our married life was officially over.

As we were eating, Lexi looked at me and asked if she could tell me something. She said she didn't want to upset me, and what she had to say might do just that. When I told her no, she seemed a little surprised.

"I say no, you can't tell me something that may upset me because it isn't going to upset me," I said.

"How do you know it won't upset you?" she asked, more playfully than accusatory.

"Because Tyler told me two weeks ago you guys are dating, and I told him I thought that was awesome. Actually, I think I said 'that's great', but that's just semantics. I really do think it's awesome, and I think the two of you will be great together. Don't think I didn't notice you checking him out at Adam and Dorothy's on Labor Day, by the way." I gave her a wink and smile that I hoped said, 'neener neener'.

"That brat!" she laughed. "I wanted to be the one to spill the beans!" She sat for a moment, sizing me up before she spoke again. I knew her well enough to know that she was probably trying to decide whether or not she should say anything about Brandi, so in that split second, I decided to mess with her a bit.

"Whatcha thinking?" I asked before she had a chance to say anything.

"I was just thinking about something Brandi said before you walked up to us at the party. She said something about having a crush on a firefighter who worked for the department. When I asked her what beat she worked and she told me Beat 4, I was wondering if it was you. Then, when I spilled the beans that my soon-to-be-ex worked at Station 4 and that you were that soon-to-be-ex, the look on her face said it all. It is you, isn't it?" She smiled wide and looked happy for me.

I gave her a blank stare, hoping my eyes wouldn't give me away. I shook my head and while looking her directly in the eyes said, "I don't know what you're talking about, Lexi. Brandi is a friend. We hang out on Tuesdays, but a bunch of us hang out on Tuesdays. And I see her occasionally on calls, but that's about it. Are you sure she isn't talking about one of the other stations? She used to be assigned to Beat 1. Or even one of the other teams at my station? You do remember we have 4 teams at each station, right?"

She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to decide if I was pulling her leg or not. "Yeah, maybe you're right. She didn't say the guy was from your station specifically. Maybe it was just surprising to her because we were talking about a guy from the fire department, then you walked up and I made that comment to her and Tyler that you were my soon-to-be-ex and maybe you guys had seen each other since you are assigned to Station 4. Maybe I didn't read her reaction right and it was just one of those 'small world' moments."

I sat there with a blank look on my face, acting as if I still had no idea what she was talking about, before letting a small smile begin to creep across my face.

"What?" she asked.

"Gotcha!" I said, laughing.

"Ha! No, you didn't! Tyler already told me everything, so take your 'neener neener' look and shove it, mister!" I hadn't seen her laugh that hard in a long time, and I was laughing right along with her. "Besides, Brandi also admitted to me later that day it was you she had noticed, if you know what I mean," she said with a wink.

"Yes, I do know what you mean. This may come as a surprise to you, but you aren't the first person to mention this to me. How did the subject of me even come up with her? It isn't like you had been around us at the same time before Labor Day."

"Connor, this might come as a surprise to you, but I'm a woman. I know, shocking, right? But as a woman, I sometimes have the magical ability to sense what other women are thinking. And the way she looks at you is the same way April says I used to look at you. So, I asked her point blank if she wanted to fuck my soon-to-be ex-husband."

"You did not say that! Please tell me you were not that crass," I said, genuinely shocked.

She just laughed. "No, Connor, I did not really say that. What I did do was subtly mention to her I had already seen her checking you out. She blushed and tried to apologize to me, but I assured her it was okay. I told her it was okay because we weren't together anymore. I admit, I may have felt a very small twinge of jealousy, but I told her I knew I made a mistake and I knew I had to suffer the consequences. And I might have also mentioned to her that her brother was cute, and he could definitely make suffering those consequences a lot easier, but that was later in the day, after Tyler and I had flirted a bit and made goo-goo eyes at each other."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Yeah. She told me she had subtly tried to flirt with you, hoping you would ask her out, but you hadn't seemed to pick up on it. She asked if I thought there was a possibility you were still in love with me. I told her no, there's no chance of that. I didn't go into details, because I got the impression she doesn't know what I did. I just told her to be patient, that you are worth the wait. And I told her to treat you right, if things do begin to happen between you two, because the mistake I made that caused our marriage to end was quite possibly the biggest mistake I had ever made. You're a damn fool if you don't ask her out, by the way."

I pretended not to hear what Lexi said about asking Brandi out. "She was there that night, you know. At The Mugshot. She was assigned to Beat 1 back then, and she was one of the officers who responded to the call. She was the liaison when we showed up, but as soon as we got there, she had to transport the suspect for booking. Ironically, when I saw her, I thought to myself that if I wasn't happily married, I probably would have asked her for her number and tried to get to know her better."

Lexi shook her head. "I don't remember seeing her that night. And she obviously didn't remember seeing me if we did cross paths. Makes sense, though. She has probably encountered hundreds, if not thousands, of people during her career. I would have been just one more face at a bar as far as she was concerned."

"You know," I said after a minute, "we couldn't have done this a few months ago, laughed this way, had heart to heart conversations this way, just been ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I was very much in love with you. But we never really got beyond the physical part of our relationship, which I think we have both come to understand was a mistake. Not that the physical part wasn't good, because it was very good. It's just that I think we should have spent more time getting to know the actual person, not just the body of that person, and we should have done it before we got married."

She smiled at me, a beautiful, genuine smile that at one time would have brought me to my knees. "You're right. I mean, I was devastated when you told me you couldn't go on being married to me. I truly did want to make things work, because I truly did want to have a family with you. But in those days and weeks following, I did a lot of soul searching. I've only recently realized in the last few weeks that I think what you're saying might have played a very big role in why I let myself stray. It certainly wasn't because I didn't love you or find you attractive, or that I didn't want you inside me every minute of every day.

"I still think you're... how did I describe you to April that day she and Roger introduced us, after you left... oh yeah, 'that fucking hot paramedic, Connor'. I really do think that. But I think Wyatt provided things I didn't know I was missing from our own relationship. He showed an interest in getting to know me on a personal level, not just a physical one. He gave me a chance to open up and be myself. We shared many things in common. I'm not saying it was your fault, because I was just as much to blame and I definitely could have put more effort into our marriage. I never showed an interest in getting to know you, the person. I just knew I loved the way you made me feel physically, the way you fulfilled my sexual desires."

She stopped talking for a moment and gave me an almost evil looking smile. "By the way, I never had a chance to tell you to go fuck yourself for telling Wyatt you didn't care if he pursued a relationship with me. He admitted it to me after it became known around the office I was getting divorced. He did take your advice and changed his mind about putting in for a transfer, though."

"Did he?"

"Did he, what? Ask me out?

"Yeah. I mean, I know what he told me, but that didn't mean he wouldn't change his mind after the husband of the woman he was in love with basically gave him permission to start a relationship with her."

She laughed. "Oh, God, no. Not that I would have accepted any invitations from him. But not only was I still trying to save our marriage, it never wouldn't have worked with him, anyway."

"Why not?" I pressed on.

"Why wouldn't it have worked?" I nodded, and she gave me a crooked smile. "You remember when I came clean? After you confronted me with the evidence?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember me telling you that by the time I began to feel guilty and realized I was making a mistake, he had finished?"

"Yes, Lexi. I remember. Is there a point to this?"

"Connor, I started to feel guilty and realized I was making a mistake as soon as he bent me over that chaise lounge. Before I could even get the words out of my mouth, he was done. As in two-pump-chump."

I sat for a moment, digesting everything she had just told me. "Why didn't you just tell me?" I asked.

"That he was a two-pump-chump? Does it really matter?" she asked.

"You know, I love you to death, but in spite of your brilliance, sometimes the ditzy blonde in you rears its ugly head," I laughed. "I meant the first part. The part about him showing interest in you and giving you a chance to open up and be yourself. Why didn't you just tell me?"

She took my hands, something that just a few months earlier I wouldn't have been able to let her do. "Connor, I couldn't even admit that to myself. How could I admit that to you? But in the long run, I agree. Things have become much better between us."

This was the most open about why she had strayed she had been with me. I understood she had only recently realized this herself, but if she had realized it and been able to say it then, things may have turned out very differently for us. I may have been able to forgive her then, and we may have been able to find a way to make it work. It certainly would have opened our eyes and given us a place to start. But I was still enjoying this deeper friendship I had developed with her. It was almost becoming a brother/sister type of relationship, the type of relationship I imagined Brandi and Tyler had.

Yes, Lexi and I knew we still loved each other, but the dynamics of our relationship had changed. And this is how things between us were supposed to be.

- Chapter Twelve -

A couple of days had passed since my divorce was finalized. Halloween had come and gone and I still hadn't made a decision on whether or not I wanted to ask Brandi out. I was beginning to think Tyler had mentioned to Brandi I was thinking about asking her out on a date, because she started acting differently that week.

We ran into each other on a couple of calls that Thursday night, and again on more calls while she was working overtime the following Monday. She was all business on those calls, and almost seemed like she was trying to ignore me.

When we got together that Tuesday, she acted the polar opposite. She dressed differently than she normally did. Not provocatively in any way, but in a way that looked like she was trying to get my attention. Instead of her usual t-shirt, jeans, and running shoes, she wore a casual dress with heeled boots. She flirted a little more and, instead of sitting across from me, she sat next to me, giving her the opportunity to put a hand on my shoulder when she laughed at my jokes, and she 'accidentally' brushed my hand with hers as she reached for her drink.

I mentioned this to Tyler that night as everybody was leaving. Brandi had left a couple of hours earlier because, she had to be in court on a case the following morning, so we had a few minutes we could talk about her without her being around. He told me not to worry about how she was acting on duty. He knew she was still patiently waiting, and it was probably a different tactic she was using to try to make me think she was losing interest, even though she had obviously been flirting that night. He went on to explain that, in spite of her assertiveness, outward independence, and the fact we were well into the 21st century, she was still very old fashioned. She believed it was the man's place to initiate things in a relationship, not the other way around, and she was probably just frustrated I hadn't done any initiating.

In that moment, I realized my stubbornness was likely going to cause me to lose any chance I had with her. I asked Tyler not to say anything, but told him I would be asking her on an impromptu date the next Tuesday. I told him I didn't know what we would do, but I also told him I didn't want her to feel the added pressure of getting ready for a date thrown into the mix. I wanted her to be herself, and I was probably just going to ask her if she wanted to go somewhere else to talk after she showed up and The Sundowner. If I was going to do this, I wasn't going to make the same mistakes Lexi and I made. An impromptu 'see you guys later' date during our regular Tuesday night gathering would raise eyebrows, but the setting would already have both of us at ease, and we wouldn't have time to put on a false front for each other.

I didn't know it at the time, but I wasn't going to have the chance to ask her on an impromptu date the next Tuesday.

My regular Thursday shift was fairly uneventful. We had calls for service, but they were mostly centered around people needing medical assistance. The one call we had during the shift where PD showed up was a vehicle collision, but that call was handled by Brandi's beat partner, so I didn't see her.

My next shift on Monday started out the same way. A couple of calls for medical assistance in the morning and early afternoon, then silence. At about 7pm, a little more than half-way through our 24-hour shift, and about an hour after Brandi had come on shift, the excitement started, and it wasn't the kind of excitement any of us liked or wanted.

It began with us hearing sirens blaring as a couple of RCPD units rolling Code-3 - lights and sirens - drove past the fire station. We had the ability to switch the station radio to the police department frequency, but we also had an extra hand-held radio we kept on hand for that specific purpose.

"Hey, Johnson, grab the spare radio," Adam yelled from the public office as Mike O'Leary, one of the other firefighters on my team joined us.

"Already on it, Lieutenant," Tom Johnson said as he walked in and also joined us. He turned on the radio, which was already pre-programmed to the police frequency.

"... ty-one and Paul-43 in pursuit of a white Subaru Legacy. Plate niner Alpha Alpha niner Juliet six eight. Southbound 4000 block 16th street."

I wasn't sure who the first unit was, but I knew Paul-43 was Brandi's radio callsign.

"Paul-15, code 3 in route. 3 blocks southeast on Cherry."

Paul-15 was Roger. This continued for another minute as additional units responded

"Paul-41, suspect just hit a traffic light. Repeat, suspect hit a traffic light. Southwest corner of 16th and Apple. Roll parame.... POP! POP! POP! Paul-41, we're taking fire! POP! POP!"

"Paul-15, I'm hit. I'm hit. Left shoulder. POP! POP!"

"Paul-21, suspect down. Repeat, suspect down. We need medics now. Suspect hit, Paul-15 hit, and it looks like Paul-43 has been hit."

"Dispatch, Paul-43, can you confirm your status?"

Silence.

"Dispatch, Paul-43, update your status."

Silence.

"Paul-Sam-4, Paul-43... Schmidt, are you okay?" Paul-Sam-4 was Brandi's shift sergeant.

"Paul-41, Schmidt's down. Breathing, but unconscious and bleeding from the lower abdomen on her left side. Looks like a round might have found its way through the bottom of her vest."

The whole scenario, from the time we first heard the sirens to the time the station horn sounded letting us know there was an incoming call for service, played out in less than two minutes. We knew they were in our coverage area, and we were already moving to respond after Roger said he had been hit. Before Dispatch could announce the call, Adam notified them via our radio we were already aware of the situation and were in route. We arrived on scene less than four minutes later.

The first thing I saw when we arrived on scene was the suspect. Other officers had already cleared his vehicle and confirmed he was alone before escorting us into the crime scene. The suspect was on the ground, motionless, with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. In addition to the wounds to his chest, a large chunk of his skull was missing, making it obvious he had also taken at least one shot to the head.

Roger was sitting on the ground next to his car, its windshield and driver's door window shattered. He was holding his blood-soaked right hand to his left shoulder, trying unsuccessfully to stop the bleeding.

"I'll live," he said when he saw me. "Go check on Schmidt." He motioned to the right with his head. I looked in that direction and saw two other officers with their trauma kits on their knees next to her. I heard more sirens and looked up to see two ambulances and the engine from Station 3 arrive on scene.

Two EMT's headed to Roger, and two EMT's plus the station 3 paramedic joined me at Brandi's side.

"We need to get her out of her vest. NOW!" I heard a voice say. I looked to my right and saw Lucas Matthews, the paramedic who had covered for me all those months ago.

The other officers moved out of the way as I knelt beside Brandi. While Lucas started getting supplies from his medic kit and the EMT's monitored her condition, I used my scissors to cut away the elastic and Velcro straps that secured her ballistic vest to her body.

I gently pulled the blood-soaked front panel of her vest and cut away her uniform shirt and the t-shirt she wore under it. With the wound only partially exposed, Matthews helped me unfasten her gun belt and move it to the side before he began cleaning the blood from the wound area. He found the entrance wound and began packing it with QuickClot Combat Gauze. I had used it myself on a couple of occasions, and it truly worked wonders to quickly control and stop bleeding in situations such as this.

As I was helping Matthews pack the gauze, one of the EMT'S spoke.

"I just lost her pulse," he said.

The other EMT checked. "Confirmed. Initiating CPR."

I pushed the EMT out of the way. "I got this. Get the defib ready," I told them. Then, looking at Brandi as I began chest compressions, "No you don't, God dammit. I haven't asked you out yet. I'm not letting you die on me."

I continued compressions as the EMTs connected the necessary pads for the ECG monitor functionality of the defibrillator. One of the EMTs turned the defibrillator and began to prepare the paddles and the other began preparing an I. V. to get her ready for transport to the hospital. As I continued compressions, the flat lines on the screen suddenly popped to life. "Heartbeat detected!", I heard him say as I briefly paused compressions. While it was always possible to get false readings while checking the pulse during CPR due to the artificial pumping of the heart, the ECG monitor picked up electrical activity of the heart.

I looked at the ECG monitor to confirm for myself. Sure enough, the monitor was showing a heartbeat. Her pulse was weak, but she was alive. I knew she wasn't out of the woods by a long shot, though. We all worked together to finish getting her prepped for transport, on the gurney, and in the ambulance. I wouldn't be able to ride with them, but as part of our standard protocol, we would have to go to the hospital before we closed the call and returned to the station. I was going to have to trust the EMTs to take care of her until I could check on her myself.

With Brandi on the way to the hospital, I turned my attention back to Roger. It appeared the EMT's had stopped or at least controlled the bleeding from his shoulder and were preparing to load him in the ambulance. "How is she?" he asked as I walked up.

"Alive, but in bad shape. She flatlined there for a minute, but I got her back." I realized my voice was cracking and I had to stop talking. "How are you doing?" I asked after a few seconds.

Roger looked down at his right shoulder, then at the EMT's. "Well, the wonder twins here gave me some miracle drugs and I can't feel a thing. Pretty sure my shoulder is probably shattered, though, and I'm also pretty sure it's gonna hurt like a mother fucker when the drugs wear off."

"Good thing you shoot with your right hand," I said, trying to lighten the mood while I double checked the work the EMTs had done.

"Yeah, but I drink and jack off with my left. Gotta keep my gun hand free, you know?"

"Looks like April's mouth is gonna be busy, then. You're always bitching about how she won't shut up, maybe you can get some peace and quiet, now."

He laughed. "If I wasn't drugged, I'd probably shoot you, because I'm sure laughing would hurt like hell. But as far as April and peace and quiet are concerned, don't kid yourself. She's gonna be pissed that I went and got myself shot and she'll probably want to finish the job."

"I think you underestimate her." I let the EMT's load him in the ambulance. Before they closed the doors, I told him I would check on him when I got to the hospital.

We had to give our info to homicide detectives before we were cleared to leave the scene. It was standard procedure and I knew it. They needed our statements for their case, even though they didn't need to build much of a case against a dead suspect. We still needed to justify why we didn't perform lifesaving measures on the suspect, and even though the suspect had been shot in self-defense or the defense of another, it was still considered a homicide scene. They needed to conduct their investigation to make sure it had been a clean shooting on the officers' parts. Considering he had a good-sized chunk of his skull missing, and there were two officers who had been shot, not to mention police cars riddled with bullet holes, neither justifying why we didn't perform lifesaving measures nor declaring it a good shooting was going to be difficult to do.

As I was waiting for a couple of the other guys to give their statements, I shot Tyler a quick text.

"Hey, give me a call asap."

I got a response almost immediately.

"I know. Just got off the phone with her lieutenant. On the way to the hospital now."

I wasn't one to cry at a scene, no matter how horrendous the scene was. I had seen much worse during my career, and I would likely see much worse again in the future.

But this one hit home.

- Chapter Thirteen -

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of the monitor in the hospital room was both annoying and comforting. Annoying because the frequency of the rhythm never changed, the pitch of the beeps never varied. It was comforting because the beeps kept going, a constant reminder she was still alive.

It had been five days. She had flatlined once more at the hospital since I initially brought her back from the brink of death at the scene. The suspect got lucky when he shot at her. He had just been spraying bullets downrange, not caring what or who he hit. The bullet that hit her grazed the bottom edge of her ballistic vest before slightly changing trajectory and entering her side at a slightly downward angle through a small gap between the bottom of her vest and the top of her duty belt.

They vest slowed the bullet down, but didn't stop it from entering completely. The doctors had been able to remove the bullet, but it caused some internal damage. Most notably, they had to remove one of her ovaries. They had been able to remove the bullet and her ovary both laparoscopically, which would significantly cut down on her recovery period. The doctors had upgraded her condition from critical, to serious but stable. They had been keeping her sedated for her comfort, and now they were trying to slowly bring her out of it.

Technically, I wasn't even supposed to be in the room. The hospital typically only allowed relatives in the critical care and intensive care units, and even then, they only permitted one relative at a time. But Brandi wasn't just another patient, and I wasn't just the average family friend. We both had the distinction of being first responders, and for first responders, the hospital turned a blind eye to some of the visitor rules. They still insisted on one person at a time, and with the exception of when I was on duty, Tyler, their parents who had flown down from Idaho, and I had been taking turns staying by her side.

Roger had been discharged a couple of days earlier. As it turned out, his shoulder wasn't shattered as he thought. It was cracked, but the detectives had been able to determine the round that entered his shoulder was actually a ricochet off his windshield. He was going to be out for a few weeks, but he was expected to make a full recovery.

Absent the ovary she'd lost, the ribs I'd cracked while performing CPR, and the scars she would carry with her for the rest of her life, Brandi was expected to make a full recovery, too, although it was likely her recovery was going to be longer than just a few weeks.

Word had somehow gotten around about me doing CPR to bring her back in the minutes after she had been shot. I wasn't sure who it was, but I had a sneaky suspicion it was either Roger or Adam, and maybe both. Even though I tried to explain to Colonel and Mrs. Schmidt that it was my job, that I'd have done it for anybody, they wouldn't have it. They both considered me their daughter's guardian angel and welcomed me into the family with open arms, even going so far as to invite me to their home in Idaho for Thanksgiving and Christmas, both of which were quickly approaching.

I was thinking about these brief interactions with Colonel and Mrs. Schmidt as I watched Brandi sleep when the nurse stepped in and told me Mrs. Schmidt wanted to come sit with her daughter for a while. Seeing as how I was merely a friend, I wasn't about to deny her that opportunity.

As I stepped out of the room and before she stepped in, she reached up and placed a hand on my face and smiled before standing on her tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She had done this practically every time she saw me from the moment she met me. And as I had done every time she did it, I blushed.

I headed back to the waiting room to find Tyler and Colonel Schmidt in conversation. They both stood up when I entered.

"There he is. My daughter's hero!" Colonel Schmidt said as he stood. I recalled the moment months prior when I first met Tyler and found out he and Brandi were actually twins. He'd said Brandi got their mom's good looks, and he got their dad's height. It was mostly true, as Tyler was what most women would have considered 'hot', but it was still easy to see Brandi's resemblance to their mom, who was a beautiful woman herself, and Tyler's resemblance to their dad, whose easily 6'6" frame even made even us look short. And considering we were both 6'2", we were hardly what could be considered short.

"Sir, I really do appreciate the way you see things, but as I have said, I would have done the same for anybody," I said, feeling myself flush with embarrassment for what must have been the hundredth time since I first met him.

"Well, you didn't do it for just anybody. You did it for my little girl. And stop calling me 'Sir', 'Mister', or 'Colonel'. I'm retired, and I only make people I don't like do that. So, for the umpteenth time, please call me 'Anthony' or, since I consider you family now, you can call me 'Tony'."

"I'll do my best, Tony. And thank you."

"See? That isn't so hard now, is it?" Before I could reply, he continued. "Now, Tyler here tells me you have been planning to ask my little girl out, is that right?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied, reflexively.

My reflexive answer didn't escape him and laughed as he said, "The correct answer should have been, 'Yes, Tony', but I'll let that one slide. I just wanted you to know that Tyler speaks very highly of you, and if he approves of you, then I approve of you. You have my full blessing to date my daughter."

As he finished his last sentence and before I could reply, the door from the ICU opened, and out stepped a crying, but smiling, Mrs. Schmidt. "Tony, you know damn well that girl doesn't need your approval to date anybody. And if you won't listen to me, then you can let her tell you herself. She's awake. And the doctor said everyone in the family can go back to see her." She turned and smiled at me before adding, "That means you, too, Connor."

"Thank you, Ma'am, but I'll let you folks have some time with her first. I think I'll sit out here for a bit and say my thanks to the man above."

She gave me a warm smile. "Okay, but don't wait too long. I'm sure she's going to want to thank you personally. And please, call me Charlotte."

They headed back into the ICU while I took a seat and did exactly as I had promised. I thanked God for helping me stay calm during the call. I thanked him for sending Lucas Matthews, a combat vet and former Navy Corpsman, to help. And I thanked him for pulling her through. It didn't seem like much time had passed while I was sitting there, but when Tyler and their parents came back out, a quick glance at the clock told me it had been 90 minutes.

"She's asking for you," Tyler said with a smile and a quick wink.

"How is she?"

"Physically, she's aware of her surroundings, but she's loopy as hell from the painkillers. Take anything she might say with a grain of salt. Or don't. Up to you." He flashed a shit eating grin at me, making me wonder if there was more to what he was saying, but I decided to brush it off and I headed back to her room.

I knocked before entering and, after receiving an approving look from the nurse in her room, entered.

"You must be Connor the Great. You're about the only thing this young lady has talked about since her mom told her about the angel who saved her life," said the nurse.

I blushed at her description. "Well, I am Connor, but I'm not all that great and I'm definitely not an angel. I'm a paramedic, so it's kinda what I do."

"Don't go telling her mother that. For that matter, don't try to convince her of that, either." She pointed toward Brandi, who was listening to us with dazed amusement. "That one has been saying all kinds of crazy stuff since her mom told her about you saving her life. But I'll let you two lovebirds chat," she said as she walked out of the room.

Lovebirds? Just how doped up was Brandi, and what the hell had she been saying?

"Hi there, Mr. Guardian Angel. Is it true?" Her words were slow and her speech slurred, an obvious side effect of whatever painkillers they had her on.

"Is what true?" I asked a little playfully.

"Well... a couple of things, actually. But for starters, did you really save my life?"

I felt my face flush red with embarrassment.

"You're cute when you blush, you know that?" she asked, effectively making me blush even more. "Aww... look at the cute paramedic turn all red. If I wasn't on drugs and all but strapped down to this damn bed, I would give you a big, wet, thank you kiss. With tongue, even."

I cleared my throat, trying to overcome how flustered I suddenly felt. I wasn't uncomfortable, just caught off guard at the things she was saying.

"You haven't answered me, Mr. Guardian Angel. Is what my mom said true?"

I cleared my throat again. "Other people helped me save you, Brandi. It wasn't just me. There was another paramedic that helped control your bleeding. And two EMTs that monitored you while the other paramedic and I worked on you."

"But you're the one who did CPR and cracked my ribs, right?" I tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of her question, yet it sounded so sincere. I smiled and nodded. I had been relieved when I learned I hadn't broken her ribs and possibly punctured her lungs when I did CPR, but I still managed to crack several of them, and I knew from personal experience that even cracked ribs would hurt like hell once the painkillers wore off. "Guilty as charged," I told her.

"Then it was also you who said you weren't going to let me die because you haven't asked me out yet," she said with a smile.

"You... you heard me say that?"

"Well duh. I just told you I heard you say it."

"Brandi, your heart had stopped beating and you were unconscious when I said that... but you're saying you heard it?"

"I'm starting to think you're the one on drugs, Mr. Guardian Angel. Yes, I heard it. I know my words are slurred and I sound a little loopy, but I didn't stutter. So, were you really planning on asking me out?"

I smiled at her. "I guess the cat's out of the bag. Yes, I've been planning on asking you out."

"You mean to tell me I've been wasting my time flirting with you, practically throwing myself at you, and all I had to do to get you to finally notice me was get shot and almost die? Mental note to self - skip the small shit and get right to the point with you, because you can't take a subtle hint. You're oblivious to the small stuff." She rolled her eyes at me.

"Wait a minute... in my defense, I was going to ask you out Tuesday, try to escape from the regular Tuesday night thing, and go somewhere we could just talk. It's not my fault you decided to be a drama queen and get yourself shot in a last-ditch effort to get my attention, which you already had, by the way."

She looked at me dubiously. "Well, you sure had a funny way of showing it, Mister. Now, will the guardian angel who saved my life let me give him a thank you kiss, or will I have to get my father and brother in here to hold you down?"

I leaned closer to her, letting my lips briefly hover over hers before pulling back and asking, "Wait a minute, Officer Schmidt, are you trying to set me up? Isn't it against the law for someone to take advantage of a person under the influence of narcotics?"

She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "Why yes, as a matter of fact it is. Looks like you figured out my trap. But it isn't against the law for someone under the influence of narcotics to take advantage of the cute guardian angel who saved her life. Now, pucker up, mister, and kiss me, before I get my brother and father in here."

"You know, you're beautiful when you're loopy." I said, smiling at her as I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "But I would prefer our first real kiss to happen when you aren't drugged up on painkillers."

"No fair. You were supposed to kiss me on the lips," she pouted.

"I know that's what you want, Sweetie, but like I said, I want our first kiss to be memorable. For both of us."

Brandi flashed me a big smile. It was a loopy, drugged up, and wonderful smile. "You just called me 'Sweetie'!"

"I know," I said, giving her a wink and flashing her a smile of my own.

Before either of us could continue, the nurse from earlier and a doctor came in. "I'm going to have to ask you to step out, Mister Schmidt. We need to prep your wife to take her down for some x-rays and tests," said the doctor.

Brandi laughed at the doctor. "Did you hear that? He called you 'Mr. Schmidt' and called me your wife."

"I heard, Sweetie," I said, still smiling at her loopiness. Then, to the doctor, "I'm not Mr. Schmidt, and she isn't my wife."

"Nope. He's my guardian angel, though."

"I'm sorry, sir. Only family is supposed to be in here," the doctor said.

"It's okay, Dr. Gonzalez. This 'guardian angel' here is Connor...?"

"Byrne," I said. "Connor Byrne."

"Connor Byrne. He's the RCFD paramedic who worked on Ms. Schmidt at the scene and saved her life," the nurse finished.

"Please accept my apologies, Mr. Byrne. I wasn't aware. Of course, you're welcome to visit Brandi. But I'm afraid we do have to get her prepped for X-rays and some tests," he said.

"No problem, Dr. Gonzalez. Take care of this young lady for me, please."

As I was walking out the door, Brandi called my name. "Connor, wait. Can you come back here for a minute?"

I looked at the doctor and, getting a quick nod of approval, stepped back to the side of Brandi's bed.

"Connor, I know you think I'm loopy right now because of the painkillers, but I want you to know it isn't the painkillers talking when I tell you I think I'm falling in love with you."

I took Brandi's hand and pulled it to my lips. I gave her a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

"I know, Sweetie. And I promise, as soon as you get better, I'm going to give you every chance in the world to prove that."

I gave her another kiss on the forehead and headed back to the lobby, hoping I would be able to hide the tears forming in my eyes from her parents and brother.

-- Chapter Fourteen --

I didn't mention anything to Brandi's family about what she said to me, nor did I say anything to her during my subsequent visits. I believed her, and I was telling her the truth when I told her I was going to give her every opportunity to prove it after she got better.

The follow-up X-rays she had gone in for confirmed she only had cracked ribs and the small incisions where they had removed the bullet and her left ovary were also showing signs of beginning to heal. She got discharged from the hospital one week to the day after she got shot. I was on duty at the time, and I was more than a little sad I wasn't able to be there when she got discharged, but I knew Tyler and her parents would be with her, so she was in good hands.

Tyler and their parents insisted Brandi stay at Tyler's condo for a couple of weeks. Her own apartment was on the third story of her building, and there was no elevator. They didn't want her having to climb up and down stairs before she was ready to. Tyler's condo, even though it was two-stories, had a bedroom on the first floor she could use.

Tyler sent me a text that evening after he and their mother had gone to Brandi's apartment to get some things she would need. He invited me over for dinner, telling me, 'Mom won't take no for an answer, and neither will Dad, so if you know what's good for you, you'll be here at 6pm sharp'. I gladly accepted and asked what dinner would consist of so I could bring a bottle of wine or two. He let me know that wouldn't be necessary, as Charlotte didn't drink very often, Brandi shouldn't be drinking, and he and Tony were like me, preferring beer to wine.

I shouldn't have been surprised the next night when I showed up at Tyler's place and discovered Lexi was there, but I was. With our divorce finalized, work, and then focusing on Brandi during the last week, I hadn't really given much thought to the fact Tyler and Lexi had been dating for two months. It was nice seeing Brandi and Lexi getting along, and it looked like Charlotte and Tony had taken to Lexi almost as quickly as they had taken to me.

Dinner was beyond delicious. I considered myself quite the chef, and had even considered going to culinary school before deciding to major in business management, but Charlotte cooked a Beef Wellington with sides of roasted asparagus, bacon and bleu cheese stuffed mushrooms, and homemade dinner rolls that could very easily have been on the menu at a Michelin star restaurant, and the imperial stout Tony preferred paired perfectly with it.

After dinner, we moved into the living room, with me and Brandi on the love seat, Tyler and Lexi on the couch across from us, and Charlotte and Tony in recliners to either side. Brandi wasn't nearly as chipper as she had been the day they brought her out of her induced coma. While she was on pain meds, and surprisingly her incision and the area where the bullet had entered weren't bothering her, she was still in a considerable amount of pain due to her ribs. She playfully blamed me for her discomfort, telling everybody it was my fault she had to sleep in an upright position. I felt bad when Lexi asked me to tell the story how I had cracked my ribs in a dirt bike accident I'd had several years earlier. I felt bad for a couple of reasons.

The first reason I felt bad was because this appeared to be the first time Tony and Charlotte were learning Lexi and I knew each other prior to Tyler and Lexi dating. I saw the looks they gave all of us and I quickly found out it was. Tyler explained I was Lexi's ex-husband, and that I had essentially been the one who introduced them as our divorce was being finalized, but that we went our ways amicably and actually had a better relationship as friends now that we were divorced than we had while we were married. He even seemed to be reading my mind when he told them our relationship was more akin to brother and sister, like he and Brandi. To drive home the fact Lexi and I were no longer involved with each other, I found myself almost involuntarily reaching my arm around Brandi and pulled her a little closer to me, even though we hadn't officially started dating.

The second, and most significant, reason I felt bad was because I actually told the story of the dirt bike accident.

Everybody sat and listened with interest as I relayed the story of how I went to the desert with friends guys from the station and had borrowed a motorcycle I had never ridden from a buddy of mine. The motorcycle was modified for racing and had a lot more power than I was used to or expecting. I was also used to riding hard packed dirt trails found in wooded areas, not the softer sandy trails in the desert, where I was riding at the time. When I got on the bike and took off, I almost immediately started hitting some small bumps. The small bumps not only caused me to involuntarily twist the throttle, increasing speed, but also caused me to lose my footing on the foot pegs. By the time I got feet back on the pegs, I was headed directly for a tree branch.

As I told this story, I stood and used motions to mimic what was going on. When I got to the part about me hitting the branch, I crossed my arms in front of my upper chest and neck. My lower ribs took the full brunt of the impact with the branch and knocked me off the motorcycle, directly onto my ass.

I walked away, obviously, but not without some significant injuries and a lot of pain. I had two cracked elbows, four cracked ribs, and a broken coccyx. Everybody winced, including Lexi, who had seen me after the accident and had heard the story many times, when I told them about my injuries. But when Tony asked me if I had really broken my ass, everybody lost it and started to laugh, including Brandi.

And when she laughed, it hurt.

A lot.

I felt so bad when she actually started crying and asked everybody to stop laughing, but I couldn't help myself. I promised myself I was going to make it up to her somehow, but I wasn't done with the story. After confirming with Tony I had indeed broken my ass, which resulted in everybody laughing again, I told everybody I'd needed to fabricate a sort of sling to hold me upright so I could sleep in a standing position. "Four cracked ribs and a broken ass. I couldn't lay on my stomach, and I couldn't lay on my back, so what else could I do? I borrowed an extra rescue litter from the station and the web straps we use to secure people in them to hold me in. I found a way to secure the litter to the wall in our bedroom, and every night for three weeks I made Lexi strap me in before she went to bed."

"He looked like he was sleeping in a coffin. It creeped me out, but it was so funny looking. I think I still have a picture of him sleeping like that somewhere," Lexi added.

"I still have a copy of it on my phone," I said as I pulled up the picture and passed my phone around for everybody to see.

By this time, everybody laughing so hard they were crying. Everybody except Brandi. Brandi was unsuccessfully trying to punch me while begging me to stop making her laugh, and she was genuinely crying from the pain.

It was enough to make me stop laughing. I legitimately felt bad, and I pulled her a little closer to do what I could to comfort her. "I'm sorry, Sweetie," I told her as I held her and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "I promise, I'll make it up to you. And I promise, the ribs will start to feel better."

As the pain subsided, and her sobs stopped, she poked me in my ribs. "You better, you asshole." But she was smiling.

I looked across to Tyler and Lexi, and they were smiling, too. The jealousy I expected from myself when I saw Tyler holding Lexi wasn't there. Nor was there any jealousy in Lexi's eyes. In fact, the look in her eyes combined with her smile was telling me she was happy to see me holding Brandi. She approved of seeing me and Brandi together.

And in that moment, I had an epiphany. I knew more than anything, when we first split, Lexi wanted to work things out, even though I wasn't open to it. And even though I had already decided I was going to pursue things with Brandi, I realized my delay hadn't been a situation of whether or not I needed to make sure I was ready to move into another relationship. It was a situation where I needed to make sure Lexi was ready to see me move into another relationship. And that look and smile told me she was.

It told me things between me and Brandi were supposed to be happening.

-- Chapter Fifteen -

The following Tuesday came around, and I was looking forward to my night out with the guys. Brandi was still sore, but she was starting to feel better and was moving around a little better, and she convinced me and Tyler she was okay to tag along. Even though most of the guys from her department had been by to see her, as well as a few of the guys from mine, she was tired of being cooped up and wanted to get out and see everybody.

I beat her and Tyler to the Sundowner, and when she walked in, it was to cheers from not only our small group, but from many of the other regular patrons and staff, as well. It was enough to bring her to tears. After several very gentle hugs, she finally took a seat next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

I still hadn't made things 'official' between us, but I intended to do exactly that during this evening. I told Roger and Adam what my plans were, and they both told me - and I quote - 'about fucking time, dipshit'. They went on to remind me they both tried telling me to just go for it weeks earlier.

As soon as the line of people stopping by to say hi to Brandi and tell her how happy they were she had pulled through had dwindled down, I asked her if she had a minute to talk. The twinkle in her eyes and the smile on her face told me she was ready to give me all the minutes I wanted. I helped her stand up, took her by the hand, and led her out to the patio. Being the middle of November, it was empty, in spite of all the heaters that were set up, and it gave us a small bit of privacy.

I faced her while I took her hands in mine. "Brandi, I feel like kind of a dork doing this. First, I owe you an apology. You were throwing out hints and flirting with me, and you thought I hadn't noticed. The truth is, I noticed you that first night you came in with Tyler and became part of the group. Even without everybody else telling me how they noticed you looking at me, I noticed you. And I didn't act on that. At first, I didn't act because my divorce from Lexi wasn't final. And after the divorce was finalized, I didn't act on it because I thought I wasn't ready to move into another relationship, and I didn't want to lead you on. But the other night, after dinner at Tyler's, I realized the reason I hadn't made a move wasn't because I didn't think I was ready, it was because I needed to know Lexi was ready. And in her little way, she told me she was. I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though you don't feel you need your brother's or father's approval, I did feel like I needed Lexi's. And now I have that, and I'm sorry it has taken so long."

"Oh, Connor. Not that I think it matters now, but for what it's worth, she had already given me her blessing. She has been hoping you would finally move on." She was smiling, and like Lexi's smile used to, Brandi's smile started to melt my heart. "I don't think it makes you a dork, though. I actually think it's very sweet of you."

I let out a little chuckle. "That isn't actually the part that makes me feel like a dork. The dorky part comes now, because I'm about to sound like a pre-pubescent sixth grade boy. Brandi, I would very much like to get to know you better. Will you be my girlfriend?"

I didn't think it was possible, but her smile got even brighter. "Well, now you do sound like a dork," she laughed. "But to answer your question, yes, I will be your girlfriend. On one condition."

I raised my eyebrow and asked, "And that is?"

"Will my guardian angel finally give me a real kiss?"

And pulling her to me gently, so as not to cause any discomfort, that's exactly what I did.

"Oh my. Even better than I had imagined," she said after we finally broke our kiss. "I can't wait until these ribs fully heal and I can really kiss you." She gave me another kiss before pulling back. "You can have more later. A lot more. But it's freezing out here, even with the heaters. Let's head back inside and start turning heads."

We headed back in and saw Tyler in a quiet corner of the restaurant talking on the phone. When he returned a few minutes later, he had tears in his eyes.

"That was Lexi," he said to me. "She asked me to let you know her dad had a stroke a few hours ago. He didn't make it."

- Chapter Sixteen -

Jim Armstrong, Lexi's dad, was only 56 years old. Lexi's mom had passed away when she was 8. While she had a brother 5 years older than her, she never got along with him and she hadn't seen or spoken to him since she was 15. He spent most of her youth in and out of juvenile hall and jail on various drug charges, and when she was 18, he was sent to prison after being sentenced to life without parole for the murders of his wife and two of her friends.

With some help from his sister, Lexi's Aunt Janet, Jim raised Lexi the best way he knew how, and she was very close to him. He was a computer guy, and he taught her everything he knew. By the time she was in her early teens, Lexi was designing, building, and repairing computers for friends. By the time she was 16, she had landed a job as a computer tech at the company where Jim worked. Along the way she also learned multiple programming languages and could practically design and code an application in her sleep. She excelled in high school, graduating at 17, and had obtained her Bachelors in Computer Engineering from San Diego State University by the time she was 21, and her Masters in Computer Engineering from MIT by the time she was 23.

I was also very close to her dad. He became sort of a surrogate father to me after I met her, to the point I called him 'Dad' and he would introduce me to people as his son; not his son-in-law or his daughter's husband... his son. Even when Lexi and I broke the news to him we were getting a divorce, he told me I was divorcing the woman, not her family. He said I was always welcome, because in the few short years I knew him, I was more of a son to him than his own flesh and blood had ever been. I was sure the bond I shared with Lexi's dad played a role in the bond I still share with her to this day.

Even though he had never been a Marine, firefighter, or police officer, I wore my formal uniform, Tyler wore his dress blues and Roger, even though he hadn't been cleared for full duty, wore his formal uniform out of respect during the funeral. I sat in the front row, to Lexi's left, holding her close as we both cried and comforted each other during the service. Lexi's Aunt Janet and her husband Frank were to my left. April and Roger, to the left of Frank, completed the first row, both of them being considered family.

Tyler and Brandi were directly behind Lexi and me, both providing silent comfort to us. Even though Brandi hadn't met Jim, Tyler had. And while I didn't know what Tyler thought about Jim, I knew what Jim thought about Tyler.

Jim called me after Lexi took Tyler to meet him. He said he had taken an instant liking to him, but wanted me to know I would always be his favorite son. He was never one to beat around the bush, and he asked me what I thought of Tyler and if I had any problems with him dating Lexi. I assured him Tyler had quickly become like a brother to me and, in fact, I had actually had a role in introducing them. He was relieved when I told him that, confiding in me how disappointed he had been when Lexi and I told him about the divorce. "Maybe she won't screw up this relationship and I'll get grandbabies while I'm still young enough to enjoy them," he said. "But in a way, it kind of doubles my chances in the grandbaby department. So, what about you, you got your eye on anyone?" I could imagine the smile from the excitement in his voice when I told him that, even though I hadn't asked her out yet, I had my eye on someone and I would be making sure I took her to meet 'Dad' as soon as I could.

That conversation took place two days before Brandi got shot. I regretted I was never able to introduce Jim and Brandi. I regretted I had dragged my feet in making things official with her. Jim would have loved her and he would have been thrilled at the possibility he might have grandbabies who would still be related by blood through Tyler and Brandi, even if they weren't related through me and Lexi.

The memorial service was as nice as it could have been. While the only family he had in addition to Lexi was his sister and her husband, who never had children, he had many friends and the chapel in the funeral home was packed. Many people got up to tell fun stories about him, or to share about how he had made a positive impact on their lives.

As the memorial service was coming to an end, I felt an arm wrap around the left side of my chest and a head on my left shoulder, then that arm squeeze me, giving me a gentle hug. It was Brandi. She whispered a quiet, "I'm so sorry, Connor. He sounded like such a wonderful man," moments before the funeral director directed the pallbearers into position. Roger, Tyler and I took positions on one side of the casket and three other friends of Jim's took their positions on the other. At the funeral director's direction, we lifted the casket to our shoulders and proceeded to carry the casket to a waiting hearse.

The graveside service was smaller than the memorial service, attended only by family and a few very close friends. While the few of us attended the graveside service, other friends who had been at the memorial service preceded us to Aunt Janet and Uncle Frank's house. Jim had made it known to Lexi throughout his life that he didn't want a memorial that resembled her mother's. Her mother's family had insisted in a formal wake before the funeral, including a viewing the day before the ceremony. After the funeral, Lexi's grandparents wanted to be left alone, and thought Jim, Lexi, and Lexi's brother should join them in their grief.

Jim believed people should grieve, but he also believed they should heal. In Jim's opinion, wakes held before the funeral were both depressing and unnecessary. The funeral and burial provided closure and should end the grieving. The healing should begin immediately after, and he wanted people to enjoy themselves as they began the healing process.

Though there was no way he could have known it would happen this early in life, Jim Armstrong left very specific instructions for his sister and daughter that were to be followed upon his death. After the funeral, a gathering of friends and family was to take place. Those friends and family attending were instructed to bring a change of clothing; anything would be acceptable, as long as the clothing was casual and comfortable, and colors were not predominately black or shades of grey. He wanted people to be well fed, he wanted liquor to flow freely, and he wanted people to have fun as they remembered his life.

As I saw Lexi and her aunt smiling and genuinely enjoying the stories of their father and brother, I smiled to myself. Jim Armstrong knew what he was doing when he insisted on this. Jim Armstrong was probably one of the smartest men I had ever known.

And, indeed, the healing had begun.

-- Chapter Seventeen -

Thanksgiving arrived. Benjamin Franklin had said something about the only two things for certain were death and taxes. While Benjamin Franklin was also a key figure in the early American fire service, having been a founding member of the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia in 1736, things had changed drastically in the almost 300 years since. Brandi would normally have had to work, but she was still recovering from her cracked ribs and hadn't been cleared to return to duty, not even in a limited duty role, and since I was also scheduled to work every Thursday unless I took the day off, being scheduled to work Thanksgiving was also a certainty in life.

When the end of the previous year rolled around, when we had to put in our annual vacation requests, I had originally requested Thanksgiving off. Lexi was going to be off work anyway, and we planned on spending it with her dad, aunt, and uncle, as we did every couple of years. Even without Jim's sudden death, our plans would have changed because of the divorce, and I pulled my request early on in the divorce proceedings. Tyler and Brandi were gone to their parents' house in Idaho for the holiday, and Lexi had accepted Colonel and Mrs. Smith's invitation to join them, so making a little holiday pay took some of the sting off of being alone.

Thanksgiving was never a lost cause for those of us on duty, though. There was a large group of volunteers who split into smaller groups and went to each fire station to prepare Thanksgiving dinner every year. The plan was always to have dinner prepared and served between 5pm and 7pm. We knew it was much later than most families typically ate their Thanksgiving dinners, but they timed it and prepared enough food so the police officers assigned to the beat matching each station could also stop by and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

Station 4 was lucky due to its location. We were situated in an area that was primarily a shopping and industrial district. We only had a couple of small neighborhoods in the area and, as a result, calls for service were typically very few and very far between. The only call we had received all day was for an oil fire that started when one guy put a still partially frozen turkey into a turkey fryer with extremely hot oil. The reaction between the partially frozen turkey and the hot oil caused the oil to quickly bubble over the lip of the fryer and cause a minor explosion. The resulting fire had already been extinguished by the time we arrived on scene and, other than the pride of the man who caused it, there were no injuries.

I was headed back for a second helping of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy when I heard the public lobby bell indicate someone had entered. Figuring it was one of the PD officers from Beat 4, I didn't pay much attention to it, so I was surprised as I was stuffing my mouth full of mashed potatoes to see Brandi walk in.

"Surprise!" she said as she came up to give me a kiss.

"Brandi, what are you doing here?" I asked, swallowing a mouthful of potatoes and genuinely surprised, but happy to see her none-the-less. "You're supposed to be in Idaho with your parents, Tyler, and Lexi!"

"I wasn't about to leave my guardian angel on our first Thanksgiving together. Everybody understood, though, and with my ribs still on the mend, they all felt it was probably best that I didn't travel yet, anyway."

"Well, it certainly is a pleasant surprise," I said, giving her a kiss. I made her a plate of food and helped her into one of the chairs at the dinette as I took a seat next to her. Then, realizing she hadn't been cleared by her doctor to drive, "Wait a minute... how did you get here? You aren't cleared to drive yet, are you?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Guardian Angel. I brought her, and I will take her back home." It was Adam's wife Dorothy with their newborn. "Adam knew I was bringing little Andrea here to see her Papa on her first Thanksgiving, so we worked it out for me to bring Brandi along as well."

"How did Adam know?"

"How did Adam know, what?" Adam asked as he entered to kitchen area. "I heard the bell and figured it might be you, Honey." He gave Dorothy a kiss before taking the baby from her arms. "There she is. Daddy's little princess."

"How did you know Brandi didn't go to Idaho with Tyler and Lexi?"

"Simple, Moron. You have a small group of very close friends who love you. Once Brandi told Lexi and Tyler she wasn't going, Lexi called April. April told Roger, Roger called me, I told Roger I would arrange with Dorothy to bring her here, and then Roger called Brandi and told her the plan. Brandi has actually been at our place since Tuesday. Tyler and Lexi dropped her off so she wouldn't have to be by herself."

"I love my little brother to death, but he can be way overprotective of me sometimes. I'm healed enough to take care of myself. But I really do appreciate you guys letting me stay. I've had fun learning to be a mom along with Dorothy. The best part is, I get to Andrea back to her when I'm done."

"Your little brother?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yes, my little brother. I was born 2 minutes and 41 seconds before him. I am older; therefore, he is my 'little' brother and I am his 'big' sister," she said triumphantly, as if challenging us to disagree with her. I smiled at her with admiration in my eyes. This was exactly the kind of thing Lexi and I never did. We never told each other the mundane details about each other. Even details about Lexi's brother; I had learned those things from Jim.

"What? What's wrong?" Brandi asked, noticing me staring at her.

"Nothing's wrong, Sweetie. Everything is right," I said before giving her another kiss.

I stood up and gave Dorothy a hug and thanked her, then thanked Adam for their role in helping me and Brandi spend part of our Thanksgiving together. "Thank you. Both of you. And I love you guys, too." Then, taking a look at little Andrea in Adam's arms, "Are you sure you're the father, Adam? She's far too pretty to be your daughter," I said, laughing.

Before Adam could respond, Dorothy smiled and extended a middle finger toward me. "Trust me... Mr. Guardian Angel... there is only one person I wanted to father this baby. And since Channing Tatum was unavailable, I settled for Adam."

Everybody except Adam laughed. "You sure you want to get involved with this asshole? You're gonna have to put up with this shit, too, ya know," he said to Brandi, trying not to laugh himself as he handed the baby back to Dorothy.

"I can't think of a better reason to get involved with someone. Just beware, I'm pretty quick witted, myself. It's a great self-defense mechanism. It works wonders with putting guys on the department at ease who don't take me seriously, and it worked just as well when I was a Marine," she said.

I was amazed. In less than 2 minutes, she had told me two things about her I hadn't known.

"You were a Marine?" I asked.

"Yes, I was. Tyler and I both wanted to be officers, like our dad. He went to Annapolis, and I tried to get in, but... well.... my grades weren't exactly up to snuff. Instead, while he went off to Annapolis, I enlisted. When I became eligible for GI Bill benefits, I started taking college courses and after my enlistment was up, I went full time and finished my degree in criminal justice. My original goal was to become a real estate attorney, and I even started law school, but I wanted to find a way to pay the bills a little more reliably than the retail jobs I worked after I got out, so I became a cop. But I discovered I love my job and I put law school on the back burner for a while."

My mouth dropped open. How many more times was she going to pleasantly surprise me with information about her I never would have thought to ask myself?

"There's that look again. Are you sure nothing's wrong with you, Babe?"

"I swear, Brandi, everything is right. Perfect, in fact. I'll tell you when we're alone," I said.

"Okay," she said. "I'm gonna hold you to that, so be prepared to be interrogated."

"Yes, Ma'am, Officer Schmidt, Ma'am!"

"Change of subject. I'm not sure this is the appropriate time to bring this up... no, maybe I should wait until later," she said, looking at Adam and Dorothy.

"You want us to leave you guys alone for a few minutes?" Adam asked.

Before responding, she looked back to me. "No, I think it'll be okay. You're going to find out when Connor asks you about what I'm about to ask him anyway," she said, making up her mind. Looking back at me, she asked, "Have you given any more thought to my parents' invitation for Christmas? I already know I'm not going to be cleared for full duty until after the start of the year at the earliest, but I had already blocked out the two weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year's as part of my annual vacation, anyway. I have the two weeks from the Sunday before Christmas to the Sunday after New Year's Day, so with my regular days off thrown in, I have almost 3 weeks off, because I won't have to be back to work until the first Wednesday in January, and that's only if I get cleared. And it would make them really happy, even if you can only get up there for a couple of days."

I looked at Adam, and before I could even get the words out of my mouth he said, "Done. Just tell me what days you want. I already have a list of other guys from this and other stations who are single that are volunteering to work the holidays so the guys with families can spend time with their loved ones." Then, looking at Dorothy, "Christmas is on a Thursday, but I have someone lined up who is willing to work for me, too, if you want, Babe."

"Good. That would be a wise move for you to be home for your daughter's first Christmas, especially if you ever want to father another child," Dorothy replied while giving Adam her best 'evil eye'.

I looked at Brandi, who was already smiling with excitement. "Well, it looks like I'm going to be experiencing my first white Christmas with my favorite person in the whole world."

"Hey! I just gave you the time off! I thought I was your favorite person now," Adam said with mock indignation.

"Sorry, Adam, you aren't nearly as pretty as 'Gimpy' here, but you're definitely in the top five" I said, returning Brandi's smile before giving her a kiss.

I was suddenly feeling very emotional, but in a very good way. I didn't know Brandi's parents very well, but in the couple of weeks they were here while she was in the hospital and then beginning her recovery, they treated me like, and I even began to feel like, I was part of the family. I already thought of Tyler like a brother. As a kid, my dad and I spent many Christmases wondering if my mother was even going to be there. After he died, and until I met Lexi, my Christmases were spent with either Roger or Adam. After meeting Lexi, they were spent with her and her dad. Aside from Christmas mornings with Lexi, none of those ever really felt like I imagined Christmas should feel, and I was already imagining I was about to have the best Christmas I had ever experienced to that point.

-- Chapter Eighteen -

Brandi and Tyler warned me and Lexi about how their family went above and beyond at Christmas. Ever since they were kids, their parents made them create a 'wish list', a tradition that continued even to this day. They told both of us to prepare for their mother to insist on wish lists from us and to be spoiled.

It was early morning the Sunday before Christmas, and we were all sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Salt Lake City, where we would then catch a regional flight to Pocatello, Idaho, when Brandi took me by my hands and pulled me aside.

"Babe, I need to tell you something before we go, because I don't want you to be overwhelmed," she started. When we were out of earshot of Tyler and Lexi, she continued. "In a nutshell, Tyler and I never had to work a day in our lives if we didn't want to. We work because our parents instilled in us a sense of responsibility as we were growing up. He believed we should earn what we have, not have it given to us, even though we were spoiled rotten by our grandparents while we were growing up and are still spoiled by Mom and Dad."

"What are you getting at, Sweetie?" I asked.

She sighed. "My mom's parents were well off, Connor. Very well off. My grandfather was a real estate mogul here in Southern California in the late 60's and early 70's. By the time he was 29 years old, he had made his first million. He invested that money, some of it in more real estate, some of it in the stock market, and he eventually got into real estate development by building custom homes. That's how he met Grandma. She was an architect by trade, and he hired her firm to draw up plans for the first six houses he built and sold. They put their minds together and started their own company, and by the time he died, he had turned that first million into a real estate development empire worth almost a half-billion dollars. That's where my dream of being a real estate attorney came from. I saw some of the land deals his attorneys brokered when I was a kid, and it fascinated me.

"They initially didn't like the fact that Mom fell in love with some young Marine Captain, especially one who had volunteered for multiple deployments to the Middle East during and following the Gulf War. She was following in Grandma's footsteps and had studied home design architecture and they had hoped she would start working for Grandpa's company. They thought she was above a common man. But... well... you've met my dad, and he won them over with his charm and personality. The fact he graduated from college with a degree in business management helped, but Mom said they would have liked Dad even if all he had was an eighth-grade education. Anyway, Mom was their only child, and when Dad retired in 2018, Grandpa brought both of them into the business and taught them everything he knew, with the intention of having them take over the day-to-day operations so he and Grandma could retire. Grandpa died in 2020 and Grandma died the following year. They left some money in a trust fund for me and Tyler, but Mom and Dad inherited the empire after grandma died.

"The business has continued to do well. When they got tired of living in Southern California and went looking at property after Grandma died, they settled on Idaho. They bought a little piece of land about half-way between Pocatello and Idaho Falls and built their house. In fact, Mom actually designed it." she finished.

"Thank you for telling me before we got there," I said, looking over toward Tyler and Lexi.

Brandi followed my gaze. As if reading my mind, she said, "Tyler gave her the same speech before they went up there for Thanksgiving. He made her promise not to say anything to you, because he said it was my responsibility to tell you. I just don't want to hide anything from you and I didn't want you to be caught off guard when you found out there is money in my family. I want you to know I'm the normal, down-to-earth girl you see, and my parents are the same down-to-earth people you met. I don't want you to suddenly think I'm some stuck up princess who rebelled against her parents by running off to become a police officer and is falling in love with someone they don't see as worthy. Not only is that not true, but you saw how attached they got to you." She paused for a moment, looking as if she was considering saying something else before she continued. "But, to be completely transparent, I needed to know you were interested in me, not my money, which is why I took so long to tell you this."

"Brandi, I would care about you even if you and your parents were dirt poor. Money isn't going to change how I feel about you," I said, reaching up and gently stroking her hair.

"I understand that now, but I've also talked about you a lot with Lexi. She told me one of the biggest mistakes the two of you made in your relationship was... how do I put this... not really holding things back, per se, but never sharing the small, intimate details about yourselves with each other. That's why I have been trying to share every little mundane thing about me with you. And, I also don't want you to feel overwhelmed on Christmas. If I know Mom, and trust me, I know her, whatever your heart desires will be under or around that tree on Christmas morning."

I gave her a dubious look.

She laughed. "I'm not kidding, Connor. I brought a guy I was dating in the Marine Corps home for Christmas one year, when they still lived here in California, and in addition to everything he put on his 'Christmas wish list' Mom made him create, she also gave him the keys to a brand new, fully loaded, 4x4 Chevy Silverado 3500 with a 6-inch lift, just because he said it looked cool when we drove past the dealership. Go ask Tyler if you don't believe me," she said, waving an arm in his direction.

I relaxed my look before she continued. "I also don't want you to feel ashamed if you can't buy the gifts you would really like to buy in return. They can put some pretty outlandish things on their wish lists. But honestly, Mom is just as thrilled to receive a new kitten calendar for her office or a key chain with her name on it from a friend as she is a new pair of 3 karat diamond earrings from Dad. Sometimes even more thrilled, because she knows at least she'll use the new kitten calendar every day for a year. And Dad loves gag gifts. Seriously. Get him one of those coffee mugs shaped like a boob or a fart machine, and I guarantee you'll have a best friend for life. And if there is something you do really want to get them, anything at all, please don't be afraid to say so. I don't want you to worry about it. It can be a gift from us." She smiled, letting me know how sincere but serious she was.

"I don't know. I'll bet I can think of at least one thing my heart is beginning to desire that she can't put under the Christmas tree," I said with a wink before pulling her in for a gentle hug.

Brandi smiled and gave me a quick kiss before replying. "Don't bet on it. And please don't give her any ideas. I really don't think I would like being stuffed in a box, wrapped, and placed under the tree on Christmas morning. Knowing Mom, she would forget to poke holes for air in the box."

Just as she finished talking, the gate attendant announced our plane was boarding, and we re-joined Tyler and Lexi as our trip officially began.

Our flight to Salt Lake City and subsequent flight to Pocatello were uneventful, despite some turbulence and snow flurries. Tony and Charlotte Schmidt were waiting for us near the baggage claim area after we got off the airplane, and as soon as Charlotte saw us, she came running up to give me the hug and kiss I had learned to expect when they had been in California after Brandi's incident. "There he is, the man of the year," she said, to my slight embarrassment. "We're so happy you were able to make it, Connor. We really missed seeing both of you at Thanksgiving."

I smiled at her and looked at Brandi before replying, as Tony extended his hand to welcome me himself. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Charlotte. Tony, it's good to see you again," I said, shaking his hand.

"Well, would you look at that? He's learning, Honey," he quipped, making reference to me using their names instead of calling them 'Colonel and Mrs. Schmidt'."

After exchanging welcome hugs and kisses with Tyler, Brandi, and Lexi, Charlotte turned her attention to Tyler. "Honey, you know I hate driving in the snow, and we both had to drive down to make sure we could get all four of you and your luggage home in one trip. Would you mind driving my car back home? Brandi, Connor, and I can ride with your dad while you and Lexi take my car."

"Sure, Mom. No problem. Just point the way."

After claiming our luggage, I soon learned Charlotte's 'car' was actually a brand-new white Cadillac Escalade ESV with the Sport Platinum package. Tony also had one that was identical in every way, except he had opted for red. We probably could have easily fit all the luggage in one of the SUV's and ridden in the other if they'd had someone else to drive.

"You ride up front with Tony," Charlotte said after the luggage had been loaded. "I'll ride in the back with Brandi." I got in the front passenger seat and marveled at how luxurious it was as Tony got in the driver's seat and took off. As we drove away from the small airport, Tony gave me the rundown on the specs of the SUV. He didn't do it in a bragging sort of manner; it was more a simple conversation with a man he knew would appreciate it. "It's nice to be able to talk to a man about the performance aspect of it," he said. "Charlotte wanted one because it's big, comfortable, and pretty to look at, but I wanted it for the functionality of it. Damn thing could have looked like a grasshopper for all I cared, I just like the way it handles." He was right, it did seem to handle well, and I did appreciate the performance side of it, especially considering my own truck was highly modified for both functionality and performance.

About 25 minutes outside the airport, as Brandi and Charlotte chatted away in the back seat, Tony looked in the rearview mirror at Brandi. "You told him, right Princess?" he asked her.

"Yes, Daddy, he knows. And I'm pretty sure after he soaks it all in, he'll understand why you and Tyler feel the need to give your so-called 'approval' of any man I date, if he doesn't understand already", she replied.

He turned his attention back to me. "We have had a couple of... shall we say, 'uncomfortable', situations with boyfriends in the past. Charlotte and I like you, and we don't want to scare you off. So please, act as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Do it for our sake, if not for yours and Brandi's." I nodded my understanding before he changed the subject a few minutes later.

"We could have had you guys fly into Idaho Falls. We're actually situated on a little piece of land about half-way between there and Pocatello, but the airport in Pocatello is about a mile closer. With as much gas as these God damned Escalades eat, and with gas prices being what they are, we figured we'd take advantage of it."

-- Chapter Nineteen -

About ten minutes later, I learned the 'little piece of land' was actually a sprawling, 150-acre estate. We entered through a large gate with stone walls topped with wrought iron fencing on each side. The driveway, if that's what it was, was lined with tall pine trees on both sides and gently curved around to the left. About sixty seconds after passing through the large gate, the "house" came into view. What I saw before me was a huge, two-story building that could easily have been mistaken for the lobby building of a nice hotel, including a large motor court in front with a porte cochere where the main entrance stood. It was flanked by three 2-car garages on the east end of the house and two more 2 car garages on the west.

Tony pulled up in front of the main entrance, with Tyler pulling in behind him. "Welcome to our humble abode. It'll be easier to unload the luggage here than from the garage. I'll have Robert and George unload everything and take it to your room."

As we approached the front door, it was opened by a woman who appeared to be close in age to Charlotte. She was dressed casually, but neatly. "This must be Brandi's guardian angel I have heard so much about," she said. "My name is Mary-Margaret Henner, but please, call me Mary. I'm one of the Schmidts' housekeepers."

She had no sooner introduced herself and a man of roughly equal age and a man of roughly my age appeared. "And we're Robert and George Henner, Mary's husband and son, butlers, landscapers, electricians, and general handymen to the Schmidt's," the older man said. "I'm the husband, by the way," he said with a grin.

Tyler, Lexi and Brandi were all laughing. "Stop it. All of you," Brandi said to the Henner's while shaking her head. Then, looking at me, "Robert is actually Daddy's Executive Vice President for Operations and his best friend, and George is actually Daddy's personal attorney. While it's true they help Mom and Dad take care of things around the property, they do it out of love and alongside Mom and Dad because they want to, not because they are paid to."

"Can we give you a hug?" Mary asked Brandi. "Or are you still recovering?"

"I'm still a little sore, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't have a hug for my Uncle Robert and Aunt Mary," she said as she wrapped her arms around one, then the other. "You too, George. Give me a hug. And where are Amanda and the girls?"

"The girls are in the main kitchen helping Amanda get coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies ready," George said. "Not that a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old are actually going to be much help," he laughed as he embraced Brandi, then Tyler and Lexi before shaking my hand. "Good to see you, Brother," he said to Tylrt. "And you too, Lexi. It's nice to see this guy actually keeping a girlfriend. I was beginning to worry the Navy might be wearing off on him and he might be getting a little light in the loafers, if you know what I mean."

Before Lexi could reply, Tyler laughed. "I'm a Marine, asshole, and I will always be a Marine. The Marine Corps might fall under the Department of the Navy, but we're the Men's Department." In spite of all of us having heard the joke before, we all laughed.

"And trust me when I tell you he is all man, and is definitely not light in the loafers," Lexi said with a sly smile.

The women headed indoors while Tony, Tyler, Robert, George and I unloaded the luggage. Robert asked whose luggage belonged to which person, then he and George took care of taking it to the proper rooms while Tony and Tyler took me on a grand tour of the house. As we were walking to the garages on the east end of the house, Tony told me how Robert came to be in his employ.

Robert was a retired Marine Sergeant Major who had served under Tony's command. While they maintained nothing but a professional relationship when they were still on active duty, the two men liked and respected one another. After retirement, once they were civilians and no longer subject to the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they became fast and best friends. Robert, and later his son George after finishing law school, went to work for Tony. When Tony and Charlotte decided to make the move to Idaho, they insisted Robert, Mary-Margaret, George, Amanda, and Elizabeth go with them. Corrina had both been born after the move.

When we got to the garages, I quickly learned they were not 2-car garages, but double length 4-car garages. These garages held Tony's car collection, which consisted of a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a 1963 Corvette split-window Stingray, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, a 1967 Camaro SS, and a 1968 Dodge Super Bee, the only non-GM car in the bunch.

"Damn, Tony, I like your taste in cars. I'll even forgive you for tarnishing the Bowtie brand by having that Super Bee under the same roof," I said as I walked around each car slowly.

"If you like those, wait until my '34 Ford Coupe is done," he said.

"Please tell me you're going to be leaving that Ford piece of shit out in the snow to rust," I joked.

"Don't worry. I'm fixing it up right and having my guy put a Chevy power plant in it," he winked.

As we left the garages to continue the tour, Tony explained the reasoning for the size, which I learned was just under 18,000 square feet of livable space, not counting the ballroom, which added another 10,000 square feet. I could have easily fit seven of my own houses at just over 2300 square feet and still had plenty of room to spare in the house proper. "When we bought the property, Charlotte originally designed something much more modest, only about 5500 square feet. We wanted enough room in the house to be able to have Tyler and Brandi and their future families come stay and still be comfortable. As things progressed, and when we decided to ask Robert, Mary, George and Amanda to join us up here, Charlotte set the original plans for the 5500 square foot house aside.

"She came to me one night before bed and asked what I thought about designing a home with two more homes within the main home; large apartments, essentially. She said she thought it would be a great idea for the kids and their families to actually live here if they chose to, not just a comfortable place to stay while they visited." As he said that, we passed through a locked door into what was, in effect, an entire house within the main house.

"This side is Brandi's side. It's loosely based on Charlotte's original plan. Smaller, and with a few modifications. Tyler's side, on the west end of the main house, is a mirror image of this. Four bedrooms, including dual master suites, 4 full bathrooms and two powder rooms, full kitchen, formal living and dining... basically, everything a person could ask for in a home."

He and Tyler spent another hour giving me a tour of the rest of the house. I was in awe of how large it was, but also at how much it felt like a home rather than a museum. With the exception of the elegant Christmas decorations found all throughout the house, including a 20-foot-tall tree in the main living room, it was simply decorated and void of many of things I had seen in pictures of other estates, such as expensive art, vases, or books that served no other purpose than to look nice and collect dust. In their place were family portraits and other pictures of family members and friends of theirs from during and after Tony's time in the Marine Corps.

After joining the ladies in what I was told was called "the sitting room" and being introduced to George's wife Amanda and their two young children, Charlotte promptly produced several pens and pads of paper.

"We have three days to shop, and the stores close early on Christmas Eve, so we really only have two. You two," she said pointing to Tyler and then Brandi, "know what is up. Make sure Lexi and Connor know what is expected of them." Then, turning to the others, "That goes for everybody. Don't hold back."

I looked at Brandi and raised my eyebrows. "I told you I wasn't kidding. Anything you have seen that you thought you would like to have, even things you thought looked cool but decided you can live without... write it down. We'll have a lot of shopping and wrapping to do in the next couple of days, and tomorrow will be an early day because we'll be making the trek all the way back down to Salt Lake City to do most of the shopping, so be prepared."

As I laid in bed that night, holding Brandi and chatting about the day, I thought about how her parents had welcomed me into their lives. Even Robert, Mary, George, Amanda and their kids treated me like a relative they hadn't seen for a few months as opposed to a stranger they had only just met. Lexi's dad always treated me like a son, and I looked up to him as if he was my father, but the holidays had always been small, intimate occasions with Lexi, her dad, and occasionally her aunt and her uncle.

This... this already felt like I had a full family.

And it occurred to me, even though we had only been dating officially for a couple of months, even though her wounds were still healing and we hadn't consummated our relationship, before seeing the nice cars and the beautiful house, I had already fallen deeply in love with the beautiful woman who considered me her guardian angel.

-- Chapter Twenty --

I woke up at 5am Monday morning. Brandi told me Tony and Charlotte would want to be on the road by 7:30 in order to make the 2-and-a-half-hour drive to Salt Lake City. We would eat breakfast at the house, then grab lunch and dinner there before making the 2-and-a-half-hour drive back.

After showering and getting dressed, I left Brandi's "apartment" and made my way to the main kitchen. Tyler was already there, sitting at the breakfast counter while sipping on a cup of coffee and browsing a website on his phone.

"Morning," he said as he stood up and walked to the coffee pot to pour himself another cup. "Coffee is over here; mugs are in the cabinet right above it. There are several flavored creamers, half-and-half and milk in the fridge, and sugar here on the counter."

"Oh, I don't need all that stuff," I said as I opened the cabinet, grabbed a coffee mug, and poured a cup for myself. "Just black."

Tyler smiled. "You have no idea how happy Dad will be to hear you say that. He believes that's how God intended for people to drink coffee. He says if God wanted people to put cream, sugar, and other crap in their coffee, then he would have made coffee beans that had cream and sugar in them."

"I know we're leaving early, but what gets you up before the asscrack of dawn?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I'm always up by 4am. I blame the Marine Corps. And I'm quickly learning how my early rising drives Lexi nuts."

I laughed. "Yeah, I guess I could have warned you about that. She hated hearing my alarm go off on my work days. Always up by four so I could be at the station no later than 5:15."

"Then you understand," he said, laughing along with me.

"All too well," I said as he went back to browsing his phone. "Whatcha doin'?" I asked.

"Something my father and the Marine Corps have instilled in me. I'm improvising. I'm adapting. I'm overcoming the craziness of what the day has in store for us. I'm doing as much shopping as I can and ordering for pick-up. That way I don't have to deal with more long lines filled with agitated people than I have to. My advice - follow my lead. I know how my mom and Brandi are, and I have a hunch Lexi is probably the same way."

"She might surprise you. She is a computer nerd, after all. Then again, she might surprise me. We never went all out the way I'm getting the impression we're about to."

Tyler smiled at me and shook his head. "You have no idea, Brother. Just don't be surprised on Christmas morning when you see not only everything on that wish list you gave Mom, but probably a lot of shit you hadn't even thought of."

"Yeah, Brandi kind of hinted at that. She told me I could put whatever my heart desires on that list, and I will probably find it under the tree on Christmas morning."

"Did she also tell you not to put her on that list, because Mom will try to find a way to wrap her up for you?"

After I stopped laughing, I nodded my head and said to him, "Yeah, something to that effect. Damn, you two think a lot alike."

"Well, we are twins, after all."

"Speaking of the two of you being brother and sister, I have a stupid question," I said, slightly changing the subject again.

"I have an equally stupid answer. Go for it."

"What kind of gift do you get for a sister?"

"You're talking about Lexi?" he asked.

"And everybody always told me Marines are just stupid gorillas with guns. No shit, Sherlock. Of course, I'm talking about Lexi."

"Okay, you got me there," he laughed. "I've always gotten Brandi something that says, 'I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I love you, Sis', something she would enjoy that would make her think of me when I'm not around. What kind of stuff does Lexi like?"

"Again, she's a computer nerd. She likes gadgets and widgets that help her with work. But I want to give her something special. Something that says, "I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I love you, Sis."

"You'll think of something. But it's my turn to ask a similar question. Feel free to tell me to go fuck myself if it makes you uncomfortable, but what kind of lingerie does Lexi like to wear?"

I gave him a serious look before replying. "Go fuck yourself, Tyler."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said as he turned beet red.

I grinned, "I'm just fucking with you, Man. My best advice, and this is God's honest truth, is to buy whatever you think will look sexy on her, and whatever will also look sexy at the foot of your bed. If you think she looks sexy, then she'll feel sexy. Honestly, she isn't picky, though I do know she has always liked sets with stockings and garters and she has always preferred lace trimmed satin as opposed to lace or cotton."

"Thanks," he said, looking back to his phone briefly before looking back at me. "I wish I could give you the same advice, but I've never seen Brandi in sexy lingerie. Not that I've wanted to," he added quickly.

I smiled and, taking Tyler's advice about shopping, I opened up a browser on my own phone and started shopping for some simpler presents for Tyler, Tony and Charlotte, as well as a lot of the clothes Brandi had put on her list, and I began thinking of ideas for a special gift for Lexi. Before too much time had passed, everybody else started to sleepily drift into the kitchen. After a breakfast of French toast, bacon, eggs and hash browns, we made the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Salt Lake City.

We went our separate ways in groups of three; Brandi, Charlotte, and Lexi in one group, Tyler, Tony, and I in the other. I was thankful I had followed Tyler's lead and done a lot of shopping online and was happy to see Tony had done the same thing. It was much simpler to just walk into a store, show them the pick-up code, and walk back out with the merchandise I had purchased. Even some of those lines were long, but they were nothing compared to the lines at the registers.

We did lunch on our own, but briefly met the ladies just after, where we split into pairs, with Tony and Charlotte heading in one direction, Tyler and Lexi heading in another direction, and Brandi and I in a third. Dinner reservations were made for 5:30 at an Italian restaurant near one of the main mall entrances.

Brandi told me she bought a couple of items for each of her parents and for Tyler that she intended to tag as being from both of us, and I had taken her advice and bought a nice desk calendar for her mom that could be used for year after year, and a Bug-A-Salt "rifle" for her dad. The "rifle" used regular table salt to shoot flies, mosquitos, or whatever type of pesky insect could invade southern Idaho during the summer. Brandi gave her approval on both items and assured me they would love them.

As we were walking through the mall to meet everybody for dinner, I was mentioning to her I still needed to find something for Lexi. She reminded me we still had another day of shopping if we needed it and she would help me brainstorm for ideas later. Just as we were about to get to the restaurant, we passed an electronics store. On a display table at the front of the store were a bunch of digital picture frames, some plain, some with nice designs, and some with intricately carved borders.

I had found a gift for Lexi, and I had what I thought would be the perfect picture to load on it saved to my phone.

-- Chapter Twenty-One -

It came as no surprise that dinner was delicious. The women, even Charlotte, all enjoyed glasses of wine while Tyler and I each enjoyed a bottle of Peroni. Tony passed on drinking, saying he never had a sip when he had to drive, not even if he was only going to be driving around the corner, let alone over 170 miles.

The drive back was uneventful, but filled with a lot of good conversation, jokes, and even some Christmas Carol singing. We got back to the house around 11pm, unloaded gifts, and turned in for the night.

The next day, Tony, Tyler and I opted to stay behind while the women, including Mary, Amanda, and the children, headed out for another day of shopping. The men had all finished our shopping and, with the exception of a delivery truck that would be delivering most of Tony and Charlotte's purchases later in the day, we were ready to wrap and start placing gifts under the Christmas tree.

We wrapped what we could and had just sat down to enjoy a beer when the packages arrived. What I expected to be a small delivery van ended up being a box truck with at least a hundred already wrapped boxes of various shapes and sizes, ranging in size from about 4 inches square, to one unwrapped box that was easily over 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide and almost 3 feet deep and was marked "VaultPro" on the sides.

Pointing to the big one, Tony looked at Robert and said, "You don't see that Robert, but you're going to have to use the forklift to get it down to your house. In the meantime, we can put it in the main garage." He tipped the delivery drivers an extra $50 each to have them move the large box into the garage at the west end. I learned later that particular box contained a new gun safe for Robert's collection of hunting rifles, relic rifles, and various other firearms he owned.

"See what, Boss? You know these old eyes don't see as well these days. But, Thank You," Robert replied.

"Let's get the rest of these inside and under the tree. Charlotte doesn't know I paid for wrapping and I want her to think I worked my fingers to the bone all day, wrapping all this stuff myself," he said as he started gathering boxes in his arms.

It took us several trips to get all the gifts inside. During the process, I noticed the names on the tags attached to the boxes included everybody, including at least ten with my own name on them. By the time we were done setting them around the large tree in the formal living room, they formed a small mountain that was at least 4 feet high and 20 feet in diameter.

The women feigned being impressed when they returned. "My goodness! You boys have been busy today, haven't you?" Charlotte said as she entered the sitting room. "You got all those gifts beautifully wrapped and carefully placed under the tree in just a few hours."

"Slaved away all day, Honey," Tony said as he gave Charlotte a kiss.

"Uh huh. You wrapped 117 presents all by yourself? Very impressive," she said. As she turned toward the kitchen, I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes.

"You think she bought it, Son?" Tony asked Tyler.

"Not a chance, Dad. Not a chance. Good try, though," he replied through his laughter.

"Yeah, you're right. But it was worth a shot. Who's ready for another beer?" We all raised our hands. "Honey, since you're in there, would you mind..."

"Come get it yourself, Sweetheart. Unless you're too wiped out from all that wrapping you did this afternoon," she said as she poked her head around the corner.

"Nope. She definitely didn't buy it," he laughed as he got up and went into the kitchen to grab another round of beer.

The rest of the day was and evening was spent drinking, eating, and generally getting deep into the Christmas spirit. Brandi seemed to be in less pain, and when she wasn't helping her mom do some Christmas baking in the kitchen, she spent a lot of time curled up next to me on the couch while enjoying a glass of wine. Tony, Robert, and Tyler shared some stories from the Marine Corps, and I was able to share some of my own funny stories from my time with the fire department. Not to be left out, Brandi shared some of her stories from both the Marine Corps and from the police department.

It was a wonderful evening I'll never forget. One spent in the company of family I never imagined I would have.

-- Chapter Twenty-Two -

I was awakened on Christmas Eve morning by a sudden burst of light as Brandi opened the curtains. She was already dressed and appeared as if she was ready to jump right out the window into the snow below.

"Get up, Babe! Come look at all the new snow on the ground!" she said excitedly.

I got up and joined her at the window. "It's beautiful," I said through a yawn as I took in the pristine look of about 2 feet of fresh snow we had reveived overnight. "You sure seem excited about it."

"I am! Don't forget, I grew up in Southern California. My parents have only lived here for a few years, and I've only been here for Christmas one other time. The other years I was working or they came down there to either my place or Tyler's. C'mon. Get dressed. I want to go build a snowman and make snow angels with my guardian angel." She gave me a quick kiss and took off down stairs.

I quickly changed out of the joggers and t-shirt I had slept in and into something warmer. Even though I had also grown up in Southern California, I was no stranger to snow. I grew up spending my summers attached to a surfboard, and my winter weekends attached to a snowboard.

I had no sooner stepped out the back door from the kitchen onto the porch when I was hit with a snowball, followed by Brandi laughing hysterically. She didn't throw it hard, and the snow wasn't packed together, so it surprised me more than it hurt me. "Ooohh... someone wants to fight," I said as I picked up a small pile of snow and tossed it back at her.

"No fair. I still can't duck out of the way. Besides, I told you I was going to get you back for making me laugh so hard when you told that motorcycle accident story after I got out of the hospital." She stuck her tongue out at me and laughed again.

I smiled and gave her a kiss. "Okay, we're even now. Let me grab a cup of coffee to finish waking up, then I promise we'll get to work on that snowman and snow angels," I said, turning to head back inside. Before I could even get the door open, I was hit in the back of the head with another softly tossed pile of snow, followed by more hysterical laughter from Brandi.

"Now we're even," she said, sticking her tongue out again. "You go ahead and get your coffee. I'm going to run over to George and Amanda's to see if the girls want to come help us build the snowman and make snow angels with us."

I headed in and was finishing up my cup of coffee while chatting with everybody else, when about 15 minutes later when Brandi returned with the girls. "I'll bet if you go ask Auntie Charlotte really nice, she'll make you girls some hot chocolate with marshmallows or whipped cream," she said as they walked in.

Charlotte perked up when she saw them. "I don't know about that. Your mommy will probably get mad at me if I make you hot chocolate with marshmallows OR whipped cream this early. How about I make you hot chocolate with marshmallows AND whipped cream instead? I'll even put a peppermint candy cane in it!" She gave them a wink and smiled at their enthusiastic nods while she helped them sit on stools at the breakfast bar.

As soon as the girls finished their hot chocolate, Brandi and I took them outside and built a snowman. Brandi even sang the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from the movie 'Frozen' with the girls as we built one they decided to call Olaf, despite the fact it looked nothing like Olaf the snowman from the movie. After we built the snowman, Brandi and I had fun with the girls as we made our snow angels.

As I stood up from my snow angel and helped Elizabeth stand up from her own, I heard Corrina whisper loudly to Brandi as she looked at me, "Aunt Brandi, is Uncle Connor really an angel? How come he doesn't have any wings?"

Brandi looked at me and smiled before answering. "He's my guardian angel, Sweetie. You'll understand when you're older. Come on, let's get you girls inside and warmed up before your mommy or daddy yells at me for letting you catch a cold."

We headed back inside and Charlotte made more hot chocolate - with marshmallows AND whipped cream - for the girls, while Tony offered me something a little stronger in the form of a glass of Scotch to help warm me up. Tony, Tyler and I sat with the girls while Brandi went and changed clothes, then came back to the kitchen to start helping Charlotte with the dinner that would be served that evening. A few minutes later, Mary and Amanda arrived to also lend a hand. "George is ready," she said to Tyler while smiling at the girls.

Tyler looked at me. "Come on. I'll explain on the way," he said. "Dad, go ahead and stay here. Connor and I can handle this.

We walked the short distance to the house George and Amanda lived in, one of four on the estate that had been built based on Charlotte's original design. Tyler told me they, along with Robert and Mary, usually stayed the night in the main house on Christmas Eve. That way, the girls didn't need to trudge across the snow on Christmas morning to open gifts from Tony and Charlotte. It was a tradition that was started with Elizabeth, when she was two. George had passed out with Elizabeth asleep in his lap on Christmas Eve, and instead of waking both of them and making them walk the hundred yards back to the house, Tony, Tyler and Robert went back to their house, retrieved all the gifts, and returned to the main house. Nowadays, when the girls inquired about why they stayed at "Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Tony's" house on Christmas Eve, George or Amanda would explain to them it was easier for Santa to make one stop for everybody rather than going to each individual house. So, they brought all of their gifts and added them to the stack around the Christmas tree, saving two or three unwrapped "Santa gifts" for each girl.

The wrapped gifts had already been brought over to the house. Tony and I were headed to help transport two large doll houses, a kitchen play set, and a motorized Barbie Jeep, among a few other small toys for the girls. We took the toys to the garage and assembled what needed to be assembled and would be moving everything to the formal living room after the girls went to bed.

Dinner that evening, as I was quickly becoming accustomed to, was delicious. To think dinner on Christmas Day was going to be even more extravagant than this one was hard to imagine. After dinner, everybody retreated to the sitting room, where George read the girls "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" before Amanda announced, "Bedtime, young ladies. You know Santa won't stop if you aren't asleep," and ushered them off to the guest room where they would soon be sound asleep.

As Amanda left the room, Brandi cuddled up a little closer. "You looked adorable today when we were playing with the girls. You'll make a good daddy someday."

I looked down to see her smiling at me. "You do realize you looked even more adorable, right? The way your eyes were lit up when you got back to the house after going and picking them up just about melted my heart. You'll make a pretty damned good mom yourself."

"You know," Brandi continued, "we usually wait until Christmas morning before unwrapping our presents, but if you're a really good boy, I might let you unwrap me tonight."

I looked at her questioningly.

"The doctor cleared me for... shall I say.... extracurricular activities," she said with a wink and a smile.

"Ahem... do the two of you need to retreat to your own area of the house?" Tony interjected while everybody else laughed.

We both blushed and, after regaining our composure, I looked Brandi in the eyes and replied, "No, Sir, Colonel, Sir. Not yet. But I say this, I have undoubtedly fallen deeply in love with your little princess."

Brandi and I finally consummated our relationship that Christmas Eve. Twice. And again, on Christmas morning, before we went down to join the rest of the family.

Brandi and Tyler weren't kidding when they told me and Lexi to be prepared to receive anything and everything we put on our wish lists, and more. I honestly didn't think I would be getting everything, so when I happened to mention to Tyler that it would be cool to see what their Tony and Charlotte's property looked like from above, he dared me to put a camera drone on my list so I could see for myself. Not only did that camera drone appear under the Christmas tree, but additional batteries and every accessory imaginable that went with the drone did, as well. For the record, their property was even more beautiful from the air than it was from the ground.

Brandi was thrilled with the clothes and shoes I bought her, and Tyler appreciated the new pair of Oakley sunglasses I bought for him. Charlotte loved the small desk calendar with kittens holding the blocks for the month, day and year, and Tony got a kick out of his Bug-A-Salt rifle, telling me it would come in handy during fishing trips to the nearby Snake River. There were more extravagant gifts Brandi bought that were marked from both of us, and everybody felt genuinely spoiled.

Lexi and Tyler spoiled each other much in the same way Brandi and I spoiled each other.. One of my favorite gifts actually came from Lexi. It was an antique pocket watch that had belonged to her dad. It had been handed down to him from his father, who in turn had received it from his own father. He told Lexi he wanted to pass it on to his favorite son, me.

That watch was worth much more than the digital photo frame I had purchased for Lexi, but the real gift wasn't the frame itself, it was the "note" I turned into a picture and loaded into the first position in the memory along with the photo I loaded in the second position for her. I told her to turn it on, because the frame wasn't the only gift. When she did, her reaction brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. The "note" simply said, "World's Best 'Sister'", which brought a quick smile and "Thank You" from her. Then, the screen morphed from the "note" to the photo I had also loaded. It was a picture of me, with Lexi on my left and Jim on my right, both kissing me on the cheek at a surprise birthday party her dad threw for me the year after Lexi and I got married. Behind me in the background was a big sign that said "Happy Birthday Son!"

Lexi brought her hand to her mouth and cried, finally mouthing the words "Thank You" as she stood to come give me a big hug. "I thought that picture got deleted. I love this. You know he loved you."

"I know, Hun. And I loved him, too."

I felt someone step up to me and wrap their arms around me. I looked to my side and saw Brandi crying as well. "That was the sweetest gift I've ever seen someone give," she said. "I knew falling in love with you was the right thing to do."

I never told Brandi this, but I disagreed. Falling in love wasn't the right thing to do.

Falling in love is what we were meant to do.

-- Chapter Twenty-Three --

Up to that point, that was the best Christmas I had ever experienced, and the gifts had nothing to do with it. It was the people. It was the feeling of being surrounded by family, the way I believed a person should feel during the holidays.

Brandi and I continued to enjoy the new, physical part of our relationship for the remainder of our time while visiting her parents and after we returned home. In fact, we still enjoy it to this day.

After our Christmas holiday was over, we resumed the weekly Tuesday meetups with the other guys. We even suggested the other guys start inviting their significant others, seeing as how Brandi and I were the only regulars who were now a couple.

We continued developing our relationship over the course of the year. On Halloween that year, on the first anniversary of my divorce from Lexi, I asked Brandi to move in with me. We continued to learn each other's quirks and habits, the things that drove us crazy about each other, like the way I insisted on squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle, and the things we thought were adorably cute, like how she had to have the bedroom ceiling fan on while bundling up under the covers..

Brandi showed a genuine interest in learning to do some of the things I liked. I taught her how to snowboard that winter, and during the summer I taught her how to surf. In return, she taught me how to ski and began giving me private Jiu-Jitsu lessons. I still have a difficult time understanding how a petite woman who is only 5'5" tall, and might have weighed 125 pounds soaking wet with all of her police equipment on, could take down a 6'2", 210-pound man who was very solidly built. But considering our grappling on the floor generally ended up in activities that had nothing to do with Jiu Jitsu, I wasn't complaining.

It wasn't all about me and Brandi, though. In mid October, before I asked Brandi to move in with me, Lexi and I became Godparents. Yep, Roger and April became parents to a set of identical triplets, all boys - Jason Connor, Mason Adam, and Payson Tyler Hanson. I couldn't help but joke with Roger and tell him there was no doubt they were his kids when they finally arrived, two days past April's due date. And believe me, mom and dad were all too happy to let 'Aunt' Lexi and 'Aunt' Brandi babysit whenever they wanted.

Thanksgiving rolled around again, and Brandi and I both opted to work. Tyler and Lexi had moved in together, and they suggested inviting Tony and Charlotte down to celebrate Thanksgiving at Tyler's condo a day later, which is what we did.

It was during that weekend my life took another turn, the best one yet. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, as the women were out and about doing what they did best - shop - Tyler, Tony, and I were relaxing on Tyler's porch while enjoying glasses of bourbon. Almost as if we had planned it, Tyler asked me if he could talk to me because he had an important question at the exact same time I asked Tony the exact same thing. Literally, the words, "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute? I have something important to ask" came out of our mouths at the same time.

Tony laughed and, after glancing at me, then Tyler, then back to me, replied, "I think Connor beat you to the punch by about a tenth of a second." Then, looking at me, "Besides, I already know what Tyler needs to talk to you about. Go ahead," as signaled for me to ask my question.

"Sir, you know I love Brandi very much. I may never understand why Lexi did what she did, all I know is it was meant to happen so Brandi and I could find each other. And I would like to ask..."

"You son-of-a-bitch," Tyler interrupted while giving me his typical shit eating grin.

"Yes, Connor, and I'm pretty sure I speak for Charlotte as well when I say we would be honored to give you our blessing and have you marry our daughter," Tony said, as if reading my mind.

"Thank you, Tony. I promise, I'll treat her right and I'll never let her down. I promise I won't disappoint you or Charlotte."

"Connor, we know you won't. You could have told us the first day Charlotte and I met you that you wanted to marry Brandi and we would have happily given you our blessing then," he said sincerely.

"Thank you." Turning to Tyler, I asked, "What did you need to ask me?"

"The same thing, dumb ass."

"Tyler, you're a handsome man, but you're not my type," I joked, returning his shit eating grin.

"No asshole, I want to ask Lexi to marry me. I know you aren't related, but as her ex-husband and one of her best friends, I would like to have your blessing. I'm going to ask her to marry me either way, but I would still like to have your blessing before I do."

"You've been like a brother to me ever since I met you. Of course, you have my blessing." I stood up and gave him a big hug.

"Welcome to the family," he said. "When are you planning on asking Brandi?"

"Well, we are already planning on going up to your parents' again this Christmas. We both already have the time off and I kind of wanted to do it in front of the whole family."

"Really? I was thinking of the same thing."

"No reason we can't both ask them at the same time, is there?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Or, maybe we each ask in private, then announce it to the family after they say 'Yes', just in case one of them surprises us."

"You don't actually think one of them would say 'No', do you?"

Tony sat there for a moment with an amused look on his face. "I have an idea, and if you two numb nuts will shut up and listen to me for a minute." We both stopped and listened to Tony as he explained his plan and helped us set it in place.

The first three weeks of December flew by, and before we knew it, Brandi and I, as well as Tyler and Lexi, were back in Idaho. The week before we flew up, Tyler and I met up at a jewelry store and bought the rings we wanted to give to Brandi and Lexi. We had the store ship the rings from there to another of their locations near Tyler and Brandi's parents and made arrangements for Tony to pick the rings up.

On Christmas morning, after gifts were opened and everybody was enjoying a cup of coffee or hot chocolate while Elizabeth and Corrina played with their new toys, Tony called Elizabeth and Corrina over. "Come here, girls, Uncle Tony needs you to do something." This was a cue for Tyler and I to stand up, stretch and act like we were going to head into the kitchen for another cup of coffee. Tony handed each of the girls a small box, making a small scene of telling Elizabeth to take her box to 'Aunt' Lexi and Corrina to take her box to 'Aunt' Brandi.

As the girls turned to walk over to Lexi and Brandi, Tyler and I took our positions behind our respective girlfriends. I heard Brandi say, "Daddy, what did you get us?" as she opened her box. They both looked back at Tony as Brandi said, "Okay... you got us empty jewelry boxes?"

At that moment, Tyler and I both brought the rings that had been in those boxes in front of us as we each dropped a knee. Tony had apparently not told anybody, including Charlotte, of our plan, as she excitedly yelled, "Oh my God!", which in turn prompted Lexi and Brandi to turn around and see us kneeling, arms outstretched, engagement rings in our hands.

Neither of us even had the chance to ask, as our respective girlfriends, now fiancées, tackled us to the floor and began smothering us with kisses while giving each of us a resounding "Yes".

Tyler and Lexi set a date for the following June while Brandi and I decided we wanted to get married the next Christmas Eve to commemorate both when I first said I had fallen in love with her and when we had first consummated our relationship, finally making it a real relationship in her mind.

That following June, on the Wednesday before Tyler and Lexi were set to get married, Lexi called me and asked if I was available to meet her alone for lunch, as she had a very important question to ask me. She assured me Tyler knew she was going to ask me to go to lunch and why, and she told me if I wanted to bring Brandi along that it was okay, because Brandi knew as well, but she preferred it if I could go alone. She went on to explain she didn't know how I was going to react to the question and she didn't know how she was going to react based on my answer, but she didn't want anyone else around if the reactions were negative. I agreed to meet her at a little bistro downtown at noon.

When I got to the bistro, she was already there, sitting at an outdoor table. She looked happy and excited, but also nervous. "Hey, Sweetie! Excited for your big day?" I asked as she stood and gave me a hug.

"Excited. Happy. Nervous. Scared. Did I say excited and happy?" she asked, laughing. "Actually, the big day is what I wanted to talk to you about."

I gave her a questioning look. "What about it?"

"Well, I know Tyler asked you to be his best man, but I would like to ask you to reconsider."

"Okaayyy... does being his best man make you uncomfortable?"

"No, no. It's not that. Look... here's the thing. My Uncle Frank, Tony, Roger, and Adam have all offered to walk me down the aisle. I know it shouldn't be a big deal, because Daddy got to walk me down the aisle when I married you, but I miss him and I wish he was here to walk me down the aisle when I marry Tyler." She started crying. "I'm sorry. I'm becoming a mess."

"It's okay, Hun. Take your time."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Connor, when you filed for divorce, I never in a million years would have imagined our relationship would actually get better. It's very different now, but we are in a much better place. Aside from Aunt Janet, and now Tyler, you're the closest thing I have to family. What I'm trying to say is, Connor, and I know it might sound weird having your ex-wife ask you this, but would you be willing to walk me down the aisle and give me away to Tyler on Saturday?"

I gave her what was probably the biggest smile I had given her since before that fateful night two years earlier, possibly ever. I was surprised when my own tears began to fall. "Oh, Lexi, I will be absolutely honored to walk the woman I consider a sister down the aisle to marry the man I consider a brother."

And that following Saturday, in a small ceremony overlooking the ocean on a beautiful day in June, I walked the woman I had once been married to, the woman I loved more than any other except for my own fiancée, the woman I now viewed as the sister I never had, down the aisle to marry the man I had grown to love as my own brother, the man who would, in fact, become my brother-in-law in a few short months.

-- Epilogue --

Now, you didn't really think I would finish my story with a happy ending for my ex-wife, but not a happy ending for me, did you?

Of course not.

While Lexi was fine with a smaller ceremony, and Tyler agreed, Brandi wanted her fairy-tale wedding. And her parents made sure she got exactly that. She had a hand-sewn, custom-made wedding dress befitting a princess that I'm sure set her parents back more money than I made in a year. She had a horse drawn carriage that took her from George and Amanda's house, where she got ready, up to the front of her parent's house, where she was met by Tony before being walked down the aisle to my side.

In the two weeks leading up to our wedding, she became increasingly nervous about how the dress would fit, and actually had the dressmaker on retainer and flew her to Idaho to take measurements on a daily basis and make alterations if needed. I later found out she did this right up to our wedding day.

The moment I first saw her appear through the doors and begin walking down the aisle, I felt my knees go weak. Before me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. We had taken our time getting to know each other. In those two years, Brandi had become my best friend. My soulmate. My closest confidant. The person I loved more than any other. And now, she was about to become my wife, my partner for life.

In the year between becoming engaged and getting married, I had talked Brandi into following her dream and going back to finish Law School. She started her pursuing that dream the previous September. At the same time, she convinced me to apply to graduate school to pursue a Master's degree in Business Administration. Tony had talked to us, and to Tyler and Lexi as well, and convinced us to follow his own dream of having his kids follow in his footsteps and join the company, with the intent of slowly taking over and fully inheriting the business.

Tyler had announced he would not be renewing his contract to serve in the Marine Corps once his current contract was up. In her free time, Lexi began learning about home architecture design and began collaborating with Charlotte on an application that would allow clients to create basic designs before Charlotte's team took over drafting official blueprints. Brandi and I decided we would hold on to our jobs while we finished school. It was going to be a big step, going from being a Marine, and a computer scientist, and a police officer, and a firefighter/paramedic, but it was something all four of us looked forward to.

It was during the reception following our wedding ceremony that I first noticed Brandi wasn't acting her normal self. Don't get me wrong, she was the happiest I had ever seen her, and neither of us could take our eyes off each other for more than a couple of minutes. But there were moments I thought she looked a little more flushed than she should have, especially given the fact she was wearing much more makeup than she normally would have.

"Are you feeling okay, Love?" I asked her. "You're looking a little flushed."

"I'm fine. I think it's just the dress. It feels a little snugger than when I put it on this morning," she replied.

I took her word for it, and we continued to mingle with the guests, both together and separately. It was while I was chatting with Roger, Adam, and Tyler that I noticed her heading back to the buffet and making another plate of food.

"Sweetie, you're beautiful, and I'm not trying to insinuate anything by saying this, but I'm genuinely concerned. Are you sure you should be eating more food if your dress is feeling a little tight? Why don't you at least change into something a little more comfortable?" I asked.

"I promise you, Babe, I'm fine," she replied. Then, after looking around to see if anyone was in earshot, she gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen from her, "I'm eating for two, Daddy."

It took a full thirty seconds for what she had just said to fully register. "Wait... did you just say... am I going to be... are you...?"

She had tears in her eyes. Happy tears. She could only smile as she nodded. "Yes, Connor, I'm pregnant. I mean, I still need to go to the doctor and get an official test, but I've taken three tests at home in the last couple of weeks, and they all came up positive. That's why I have been so paranoid about how the dress fits these last couple of weeks."

"How long... how far along?"

"By my guess, seven weeks. It took a couple of months for my remaining ovary to begin compensating for the one I lost when I got shot, but I was always regular within a couple of days up to that point, and I have been regular ever since it started to compensate."

I had to sit down. "Wow," I said as I smiled up at her. "You weren't kidding that day in the hospital when you said you were just going to get straight to the point and not give hints. I knew you wanted to start a family as soon as we could, and I agreed, but you really don't mess around, do you?" I stood back up and held her tight, not wanting to let her go.

"Nope. This woman mean's business," she said as she pulled me in for a kiss. "And you aren't going to believe this, but you're going to be an 'uncle', too."

She smiled and looked over to Tyler and Lexi. They were standing across the room, smiling as they watched us. "Really?" I mouthed to them. Tyler gave me his trademark shit-eating grin, and Lexi nodded as she put her hand on her belly and rubbed.

And as I rejoiced in the fact the most beautiful bride in the world was going to make me a father, I silently thanked Lexi for what she had done almost three years earlier.

In her mind, she had made a mistake.

In my mind, she had done what fate determined she would do.

She had done it because she was supposed to, because this was what was meant to happen.