She remembered the first time she’d done a ride along. They did their best to make her feel like she belonged. They kicked back when the radio was silent and hauled ass to the next emergency when needed. It was a learning experience to help her call appropriate shots over the radio from the ER.
She trusted these guys.
Even she knew that trust was rare.
“Come in, come in.” Charlie opened the door to their man-cave and gave her one of the prime seats so she could put her foot up.
“How you doing?” Radar asked.
“Remarkably well. I was told that some of you volunteered for the search.”
“Yeah, well… you might not wear blue, but you’re part of our family here.”
Oh, damn… there were actual tears welling behind her eyes. “Uhm, I’m not even sure who was there. I don’t remember anything.”
Radar and Spock raised their hands. “Mitch on B shift was with us, and Miller from 73.”
“Wow. That’s just… wow.” She blinked several times trying like hell not to let tears fall. “I know the rest of you had to shuffle shifts.” She turned to Charlie. “And your boss had to let you go.” She grabbed Charlie’s hand because he was close. “Thanks isn’t the right word.”
They were smiling at her and taking her appreciation with a shrug. “It’s how we work, right? You’d have come for us.”
Yeah, she would.
Another knock grabbed their attention. “Delivery.”
The smell of barbecue sauce followed the delivery guy as he stepped inside the fire station.
“Who ordered? I thought we were going out?” Stan asked.
Monica waved the deliveryman over once he placed the bags on the table. “On me,” she said as she signed for their dinner. She’d scheduled dinner for the guys for the next few days to make sure everyone managed at least one meal on her.
“Oh, hell no.”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
More than one of them pulled a wallet from his back pocket.
“C’mon guys. I have to do something.” She shooed the deliveryman off before someone could grab the ticket and circumvent her gesture.
They didn’t like a woman paying for their food, but that didn’t stop them from digging in.
She ate with them and they talked about some of the things they’d seen while in Jamaica. A couple of them talked about joining a team of emergency aide for future disasters.
“I’ve seen my share of crazy shit, but that was huge,” Spock said between bites.
“Did you see the clinic?”
Radar nodded. “After we got you on the plane, nice digs your sister has by the way, we took some of the locals back home.”
“I didn’t know you were related to the Morrisons.”
“I’m not. Well, my sister married Jack. But—”
Clive waved a rib at her. “That’s related in my book. Morrison offered a huge incentive for us to look for you.”
Monica stopped eating mid chew. “He did?”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Like we needed it or something.”
Knowing these guys didn’t come because of money made her smile linger.
“Word from the ER is that you lost your job.”
They all watched her now, with eyes over their food and serious concern on their brows.
“Pat’s been out to sack me forever. Not sure why.”
“She’s jealous,” Radar said as if it were common knowledge.
“Jealous of what?”
“You’re single, gorgeous, all the guys fawn over you, and you could take her job in a heartbeat if you wanted it,” Clive said.
That had Monica squirming in her chair.
“Way to make her uncomfortable, Clive.”
“What?” Clive had this cleft in his chin that dug in with his smile.
“Aren’t you married?” Monica scorned.
“Happily. But I’m sure as hell not blind,” he said with a wink.
That made her laugh. “Remind me to kick your ass when I get this thing off.” She lifted her leg as she spoke.
“She can’t really fire you for helping in Jamaica, can she?”
Monica blew out a breath. “I don’t know. I have a meeting with human resources tomorrow to find out what exactly is happening.”
“Well, we have your back if you need anything from us.”
The guys nodded right as the blaring alarm forced them from their hot dinner and had them running for the door. She knew the drill, wasn’t offended in the least.
“Would have been too much to ask for ten more minutes,” Stan said. He patted Monica on the shoulder as he made it out the door.
“Thanks, Queenie.”
“Thanks, Monica.”
“Come by again soon.”
One by one they left her alone in the station with boxes of barbecue and a crazy lump in her throat.
They were a damn good group of guys.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Monica walked… well limped, out of the human resources building with a pink slip and an attitude. She was half tempted to walk into the ER and ask Pat what the hell her problem was. Now that Monica was back in the States, a formal investigation would take place. Of course that took time to happen and it wouldn’t transpire until all parties involved could be reached.
All parties involved. Who the hell could they be talking about? On the surface the case had very little ground. Monica had covered her shifts. Except one of her colleagues had gotten sick and the shifts then defaulted back to Monica. It became her responsibility to have them covered. She wasn’t exactly around to fix the schedule, being knee-deep in shit on the island. The scheduling problem had taken place the first hours on Jamaica and there wasn’t a damn thing Monica could do to fix it.