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Mia and my therapist's voice kept replaying in my head as I sat next to him, waiting to hear the tales he sold Beck. Stay calm. Think rationally. Don't jump the gun. Allow others to express their emotions. You'll be fine. The longer we sat next to each other, the more I felt like I was in the twilight zone.
“Knight,” Beck nodded in my direction as he sat down. “Nate.”
His old man grunts were funny and would have normally made me laugh and crack a joke or two, but the air was much too tense to crack anything other than a whip.
“Morning,” I said.
Beck was a stern older gentleman who gave very little leeway. He'd always treated me like a son of his own and rerouted my attitude countless times, but he never shied away from putting me in my place. That was one of the things I respected about him the most.
“Good morning, Captain Beck,” Nate chimed in.
“Good morning gentleman.”
After shuffling through a stack of papers in front of him, Beck pushed them aside and glared at each of us. I knew a strong lecture would follow his gaze because it was the look he gave me any time I crossed the line.
“You two have been a thorn in my side since the day you met,” he said. “I don’t know what the problem seems to be and frankly, I don’t care. All I care about is getting the station back to the way it was.”
Nate straightened up in his chair, putting on his ‘team player’ front. While I slouched lower and waited for the bunt of Beck’s lecture.
“Knight, you’ve been with this department for years. We love you here and we respect what you do, but we’re not tolerating anything more like what happened at the start of summer. That was a stupid move that should have landed you on the block list.”
“Yes sir,” I said, owning my negligence. “It won’t happen again.”
After another long glare, Beck replied, “good. Because your doctor has cleared you to come back to work.”
I was surprised to know that he got the news before I did. Before therapy, I would have found any reason to be angry about that, but when I saw the smile across Beck’s face, I couldn’t find a single reason.
“Whew!” I blurted out with excitement. “Thanks, Captain. I was losing my mind wondering when I'd be let back.”
“Yeah, well, make sure you keep your head out of your own ass and not make the same mistakes.”
I glanced over at Nate during my excitement. He looked confused as to why he was called to the meeting with Beck and me. To be honest, so was I. Beck didn’t give us some long drawn out lecture about getting along and being firehouse brother’s or anything. So, I thought he just wanted to rub the fact that I was going back to work in Nate’s face.
Beck cleared his throat and lifted the stack of papers he read through earlier. After a moment of silence, he tossed them over to Nate. Nate took a few seconds to read through the first page and I witnessed the color wash from his face completely.
“Wh-what’s this?” he stuttered.
“I was hoping you'd be able to tell me,” Beck said. “Before we sign anyone on, we allow them to bring their own background check. That's what integrity means to me. However, I decided to do some digging in my free time and this is what I found.”
Nate looked like he’d seen a ghost. He tossed the papers back on Beck’s desk and lowered his head. Whatever there was to read in his file, I knew there had to be something that would get him released because Beck was a man who thrived on integrity.
“I think you and I both know what this means, son,” Beck said. “I won’t ask any questions about your past or make you have to relive anything, but I run a tight ship around here. I think it’d do us all a favor if you cleaned out your locker and moved on to the next stop in your life.”
There was a lot of contention on Nate’s face. A lot of sadness and worry too. I was curious to know what he and Beck knew, but I didn’t pry. Whatever it was, it was something he knew would come back to haunt him at some point.
Beck walked him to the door and thanked him for his services. Even through all the trouble Nate caused with me and whatever secrets he hid from Beck, he was still treated with respect and dignity.
“What was that all about?” I asked once Beck and I were alone.
“Kid had some priors that I'm not fond of,” Beck said. “He was a great ranger, but with his history, I knew he’d only end up being more trouble in the long run. I always knew there was something off about him. I should have done that background check a long time ago.”
After I was officially declared back to work and my locker was refilled with all of my belongings, I rushed home to tell Mia the good news. I was surprised to learn that she had a flight planned and would be heading home a few days later. The thought of her leaving made the good news I had to share feel like it meant nothing.
“Aww, babe, don’t make that face,” she cooed.
"I wasn’t expecting you to leave so soon.”
I knew the summer would end and Mia would eventually have to fly home, but it came faster than I was ready for. She had book promo and book clubs to attend. I was going back to work and was sure to be busy in the gym, but I wasn’t ready for her to leave. Not so soon.
