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He then picked up his pen, his attention going back to his notepad. “Oh, by the way, about the retirement party?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s customary for the next-in-line to plan it. I advise you to take an hour or two and figure out what you want to do for me and the guys. It doesn’t need to be extravagant. You know I’m not that fancy. But I would like some good beer options. Maybe one of those brands only available across the border?”
“Across the border. Got it.” I nodded, already stepping out of his office, a part of me worried that he was going to change his mind about the promotion right then and there. “I’m on it.”
“You better be!” George playfully scoffed at me. “Can’t wait to see what you come up with, kid!”
“Weird question. How are you when it comes to party planning?”
I was pacing back and forth at my desk, with Parker on the other end of the line. The news of being next in line to George’s position had made it so I couldn’t have sat down if I’d wanted to, too much nervous energy building up underneath my skin.
“What kind of party planning?” Parker asked. “Like a birthday? Or like a wake? Which is also technically a party, I think, just a huge bummer?—”
“Retirement party for George. He sprung it on me super last minute and expects me to plan it for him by tonight.”
“George? Your boss, George?”
“The one and only.”
“Hmm.” Parker hummed, a few moments passing before he spoke again. “Okay, I know this might sound a little lame but?—”
“But?”
“I think you should have it at the fire station,” he went on. “George loves that place, right? And that way, everyone’s already there. You just need to figure out the food and drinks and everything else is pretty much set.”
“That’s a pretty good idea.”
“Thanks. I pride myself on having those every once in a while.”
“Okay. So, hosting it at the fire station…” My words trailed off, as I tried to put the final pieces together in my head. “We could probably place a pretty large beer order at the liquor store down the street. And for food, there’s this Italian place he loves that does grinders and subs—Shit!”
“Shit? What shit?”
“The place is run by takeout purists. They don’t like taking orders by phone. They make you show up, pay in person and it takes forever to get everything together.” I groaned. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to take care of that when I still have so much paperwork to get through here?—”
“Let me take care of it,” Parker insisted. “It’s not like I’ve got a packed schedule or anything.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you running errands for me while you’re on vacation, Parker?—”
“Just leave it to me, sir.” Parker’s tone was sultry and low before it returned to its usual brightness. “Seriously, though. I’ve got this. Just give me the address of the Italian place. Oh, and for the liquor store, too.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Parker Evans.”
“Maybe this will make us equal, then, after the whole you-literally-saving-my-life-thing.” He chuckled. “I’ll see you at the station at around seven? Does that work?”
“That’d be perfect.”
I’d been right about my inability to get away from the paperwork on my desk anytime soon. It’d taken me the rest of the day to finish filing everything away, uploading information to the cloud, making copies of documents, and so on. I’d been so lost in the work of it that I barely noticed the clock on my wall getting nearer and nearer to seven.
But I was instantly reminded of the retirement party when the smell of Italian deli meats and cheeses wafted through my closed door. My stomach rumbled at the scent, as I logged out of my work laptop and headed for the hall, eager to get a bite to eat and consult with Parker about tonight’s planned festivities.
I spotted Parker once I made my way into the cafeteria, surrounded by tray after tray of food covered in aluminum pans. He’d gotten enough take-out to feed a small army, which was a great call considering the guys at the fire station tended to eat like a small army, too.
“Thanks for doing this, Parker,” I started as I moved closer to him. “You really didn’t have to?—”
“Of course, I did,” he interrupted, with a smile. “What was I supposed to do? Let you let down your boss? No way.”
