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Well, I’m sure I offended him. In my defense, I might not have had the idea for the sexy firefighter pictures at all if he hadn’t been so ridiculously good-looking, but that’s not much of an excuse. It probably wasn’t appropriate considering we were both in a work situation.
Tactlessness, thy name is Blaze.
Then I remember what a complete jerk the chief was about it, and the anger comes roaring back
“‘I have an entire community counting on me,’” I mimic the chief under my breath as I stomp up Main Street toward the Flying Saucer. I need my support latte desperately now. “‘My employees risk their lives. You’re just an entitled woman whose idea of hard work is reading a book.’”
The fury intensifies. Everyone thinks as a librarian I sit around and read all day. As if, and I wish! A spike of self-pity inserts itself into the emotional-wreck party. No one appreciates the library and what we do for the community.
I actually growl as I shove open the door to the Flying Saucer, but fortunately, the sound is covered by the tinkling of the little bells over the door. The busiest part of the morning is over so there’s not much of a crowd, which is fortunate. Even more fortunate is that my best friend, Joyce, is working this morning.
She brushes a lock of pink-tipped hair out of her face with a tattooed forearm as I walk in and gives me a big smile from behind the counter. “Heya, Blaze! How are you doing today?”
I march up to the counter. “I need a support latte and an iced mocha for Gigi. You are not going to believe the conversation I just had! Two conversations, actually.”
“Uh oh.” Joyce begins ringing up the order. “What did you do now?”
“Why do you automatically assume I did something?” She raises her eyebrows at me. “Fine. In my defense, Walden provoked me.”
She takes my credit card. “I’d make fun of you, but Noah and I turn into twelve-year-olds whenever we’re together too.”
“At least your brother doesn’t control your budget,” I point out.
Joyce grimaces. “Yeah, that would get ugly. Hey, Mariah!” she calls over her shoulder to her assistant. “Can you finish up this order? I’m going to sit down for a moment.”
Mariah starts making the drinks and Joyce leads me over to a free table.
“I’m being totally self-involved,” I say as we sit. “How’s Trev? How’s Hunter?”
“They’re fine.” Joyce smiles at the mention of her baby son and boyfriend. “Trevor’s with my mom today, getting spoiled, and Hunter’s working hard. But I know you didn’t come here to talk about them. Spill.”
So I tell her about my meeting with Walden, the fact that we’re probably not getting the Addison building after all, losing my temper, and storming into the fire station.
When I get to the part about the pin-up calendar, Joyce bursts out laughing. “You didn’t!”
“Yeah, I really did. I didn’t mean anything skeevy by it. I honestly thought it was a good idea. I mean, those guys are ridiculously buff.”
“It’s a great idea. I think plenty of women would pay to see Chief Wainwright without his shirt on. I would. But don’t tell Hunter I said that.” I can tell she’s still fighting a smile.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
“Okay, it’s a little funny,” I admit. “But I still feel really stupid. And he was a real jerk about it. He made a big thing about how his people risk their lives and he does so much more for the community than I do, and he told me I’m an entitled woman whose idea of hard work is reading a book.”
She winces. “Ouch… Although in fairness, his men do literally risk their lives.”
“I’m here for sympathy, not logic.”
“Got it. It does sound like he was out of line with the entitled woman reading books thing,” she agrees.
“He was totally out of line!” I agree, a bit loudly. “It was… it was… sexist,” I splutter. “And inappropriate! And obnoxious!”
Joyce presses her lips together and I can tell she’s making a real effort not to point out that my suggestion about the calender could easily fall into sexist and inappropriate comment territory as well. “Yes,” she finally agrees. “Totally out of line.”
And that’s why Joyce is my best friend. She’s always on my side.
“But…” she adds, “it’s possible you could have handled it a little better.”
