Page 29 of The Fireman and the Flirt

“Are you? I heard you like to get up to freaky things now and again, Gearhead.”

There it was. The inescapable label, shattering this delightfully confusing moment. It was someone yanking open curtains, flooding a room with unwanted light. I thought I’d shaken it as an adult, but oh no, it would forever haunt me. Like a ghost. Or an STI.

“I actually have to get back to the office. I have a meeting I just remembered. I’ll let you scope out the rest of the house on your own. Make sure to close the door when you leave.”

I brushed past him, immune to the pull of the bed’s vortex, immune to whatever spell Derek may or may not have been trying to cast. When I got back to the office, I would ask Hannah to be his point of contact moving forward. Why the hell did I ever think it was a good idea to work with a former crush?

9

DEREK

What the hell just happened?

I stood in the bedroom, me and one extra-large bed, going over the instant replay in my head. Cary and I were joking around, and then…did I start flirting with him? Was I seconds away from throwing him on the bed and tearing off his fancy shirt? He made it so damn easy with his cute smile and his big eyes. An electricity crackled between us, which made me keep going. But then just as fast, it was over, and I was standing in a stranger’s house alone.

I had crossed a line with my flirting and made him uncomfortable. But was it something else, too? Because he seemed borderline upset.

I got into my car and let out a sigh. I was having a good time with him. And then my dick had to ruin it.

I’d had fleeting attraction to guys in the past. Nothing ever worth acting on, and something I had ignored while I was married. I supposed I was bisexual in today’s parlance. Cary was the first man in a long time to make that side of me come out and play.

I checked my phone for a message from him. Nada. But another blast from the past popped up on my screen.

Leo: I hear you’re back in town and hanging out with Mitch? I’m feeling left out.

Leo was my other good friend from high school. The three of us hung out religiously. Leo had more drive than either of us. He’d gone from being a successful lawyer to mayor of Sourwood.

Derek:You around now?

Leo: I got some time between meetings. Want to meet at my office?

Derek: Sure. Where is it?

Leo: City Hall, motherfucker!

For a small town,Sourwood’s city hall was impressive. Inside, a big rotunda stretched up from the center, its round walls dotted with exhibits of Sourwood past. I vaguely recalled the mandatory field trip here in elementary school, although the highlight for me that afternoon was playing pogs on the back of the bus.

On the rotunda walls were photos of the city council members, with Leo’s photo hung above them all. He was the head honcho. The BMOC of our hometown. I was proud of my friend.

I went down a long hallway of offices, which looked no different than a corporate setting, until I reached the last door. I gave my name to Leo’s administrative assistant and sat in the waiting room.

“There he is.” Leo strutted from his office, his dress shirt sleeves rolled up, black hair slicked back with touches of gray at the tips. He’d gotten older looking, but the sarcastic glimmer in his eye was the same as it’d been years ago. “Thanks for leaving the glacier to deign us with your presence.”

“Alaska is a beautiful state.” I smacked him in the stomach, a reminder that a fancy office didn’t change a guy. “Are you going to invite me into your office, Mr. Mayor?”

“Right this way.” Leo led us back.

I was expecting the Oval Office, but then I remembered this was a small town in New York. It was cozy, but had certain presidential touches: a large wooden desk that had to be a century old, a sofa by the door with a framed American flag hung on the wall.

“You’re hot shit, man,” I said as I looked around.

“I’m merely a civil servant to this great town.”

Servants didn’t have large, fancy desks. Nice try.

“I did some redecorating when I got re-elected.” Leo was very into decor. Cal said he had renovated and remodeled his Colonial home where he lived with his boyfriend and kids. And he was easily the best dressed of our friend group.

“I heard you have a boyfriend now,” I said. “A carpenter.”

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