Chapter Twenty-Four

 

 

 

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

 

“Thirteen,” Christos counted one Wednesday morning as I pushed the weights above my head. “Two more, Owens, let’s go.”

I pushed up again, slower than before as the three hundred pounds started to feel like four times that. On the final rep, I pushed up and was grateful for my friend when he helped direct the bar back into its’ place.

“Damn,” he said, slapping my back as I moved to a sitting position. “That’s awesome.”

“Owens,” Captain Stevenson barked from the door to the gym. I turned my head to look at him expectantly and he gestured for me to follow him. “My office. Now.”

I stood and grabbed my towel to wipe my face, catching Christos’ eye as I did. He nodded at me, knowing as well as I did that I was about to find out if I was being promoted or not.

I’d taken the promotion exam the week before, during the last week of August, and I was anxious to know one way or another after my interview a couple of days before. Jones had taken the exam, too, and I knew that she was just as qualified, if not more so than I was.

I pulled my shirt on as I walked down the hallway to Cap’s office and he snapped at me to shut the door when I made it through the doorway. After I did as he said, I fell into a chair in front of his desk. He just stared at me, his cold, brown eyes not giving anything away as he did. After a long moment, he nodded his head once.

“I want to offer you the position of Company Lieutenant, effective a week from Sunday.”

I blinked at him for a moment as I absorbed what he was saying and eventually shook my head.

“Are you shitting me? What about Jones?”

The Captain shook his head and dropped some paperwork in front of me. “She withdrew her application shortly after the exam. With the two of you, it was going to be a tight race and I can’t say who would have gotten it. Without Jones, though, you were by far the best candidate for the job. The men look up to you, you get the job done, your scores were high, and I know you’ll lead them well.”

That was the nicest thing the Cap had ever said to me or maybe anyone. I smiled and he rolled his eyes.

“Do you want the job or not, dickhead?”

I stood and extended my arm to him. “I do, sir. Thank you. I accept.”

Cap stood as well and shook my hand as he gestured to the paperwork in front of me. “That has details as to your new salary, your new job duties, and anything else you’d want to know. I’ll make the announcement to the company and we’ll have a promotion ceremony to make it official. That vacant office belongs to you so do what you will with it.” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “Now get the fuck out of my office.”

I chuckled and thanked him again before heading out to the common area. I searched for Jones but she was nowhere to be found. I went to her bunk room but the door was open and the room was empty. I finally found her downstairs checking off the oxygen tanks in the garage.

“You withdrew from the lieutenant position?”

She jerked her head up and met my gaze without responding for a moment. She broke our stare down with a nod as she turned back to the tanks.

“I did.”

“Tori,” I said with irritation in my voice. “Why?”

She didn’t respond for a moment as she wrote down readings on the clipboard. She turned to look at me after she’d finished the top row.

“I have my reasons, Owens. It’s not a good time for me.” She straightened up and gave me a small smile. “Congratulations. You’re going to be great.”

She moved towards the second set of oxygen tanks and ended our conversation. I stared at her for a moment, torn between pushing the issue and leaving her alone. I chose to leave her alone, though, and went back upstairs.

An hour later, the captain called an end-of-shift huddle since we were back to starting our shifts at seven in the morning rather than two in the afternoon. He announced the promotion and my co-workers took the next few minutes to congratulate me. As soon as I could, I grabbed my stuff and headed to my truck. I checked the time and saw it was almost eight in the morning and I hoped that Megan hadn’t turned her phone off for work yet.

After I pressed her name, I held the phone to my ear while it rang. She picked up on the third ring.

“Good morning, Si.” I loved that I could tell she was smiling over the phone.

“Good morning. Did you make it to work okay?”

I heard a rustling in the background before she answered. “I’m here now. Just setting up the first room so I can bring a patient in.”

“I won’t keep you then,” I replied as I started my truck. “I just wanted to tell you that I got Lieutenant.”

Megan let out a loud squeal that had me pulling the phone from my ear for a moment. “You did? That’s amazing! Congratulations, baby!”

“Thanks, Megs,” I said with a chuckle. Her reaction was perfect and proved why loving her was so easy.

“Okay. We’re going to celebrate tonight. Go home and nap because I’m taking you out, mister.” She covered the phone and told someone she’d be right there. “Si, I have to go but I am so proud of you.”

“Go work. I love you.” I dropped my head back against the headrest and listened to her sigh happily.

“I love you, too. I’ll text you at lunch in case you’re asleep.”

We hung up the call and I headed towards my house. Alex’s car was in the driveway when I pulled up and Kendra immediately assaulted me when I walked through the door.

“Uncle Simon!” She cuddled to my chest before looking up at me with a serious expression on her face. “We haven’t seen you in, like, a thousand years.”

I chuckled as I shifted her against me and headed for the kitchen. “It’s been like four days, pretty, but I missed you, too. Shouldn’t you be at your mommy’s?” I set her back at the table where her cereal bowl was and she nodded. I dropped my backpack by the basement door before walking over to Hudson and ruffling his hair when I took the seat next to him.

“Clarissa is sick so I took them for the night. They’re going back to her house tonight. You just getting off?” Alex asked as he rinsed his bowl and I nodded.

“I found out I got lieutenant today.”

“Really?” Alex looked up at me with a grin. “That’s awesome. Congrats, bro. I’m not surprised, though.”

I ripped open a banana and stuffed part of it in my mouth. “Thanks, Al.”

“Daddy. Can you see if Megan wants to come to my dance recital next week?” Kendra asked as she put her bowl in the sink. “She told me she’d come when I asked her last time she was here.”

I watched Alex carefully as he gave his daughter a small smile. “I don’t know, baby. I told you- Megan is pretty busy and she and I can’t be friends like we were before. We’ll see, okay? But Mommy will be there and I’ll be there.” He looked at me and I glanced at the calendar before nodding. “And Uncle Simon will be there.”

“Okay.” Kendra nodded and smiled at her father. “I still hope she comes.”

Alex gave me a ‘Well, shit’ expression before gesturing to the door. “Let’s go, guys. We’re going to be late.”

I waved as my family left and I felt like a dick. I could easily ask Megan to go to the recital and make Kendra’s day, but I needed to come clean with my brother if I was going to do that. I looked at the calendar and figured I had most of Saturday and all of Sunday off. I’d see if my brother had time to do lunch and I’d tell him then.

I went downstairs to my room and changed into my sleep shorts before falling into bed. Although it’d been a slower night, I still hadn’t had more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep since Monday night. I was out almost immediately and slept through Megan’s lunch time text. I probably would have slept longer if someone ringing the doorbell hadn’t woken me up around three.

I trudged up the stairs and pulled open the door to find my mom on the porch.

“Mom.” I smiled and stepped back to let her in, kissing her cheek as she passed me. “What are you doing here?”

She sat on the couch and smiled when I sat down on the opposite end. “I came by to congratulate you. Alex called me this morning to tell me the news. I’m proud of you, sweetheart.”

“Thanks. I’m pretty excited. I didn’t think I’d get it, honestly.” I ran a hand through my messy hair and sighed. “If Jones hadn’t dropped out, she would have gotten it over me. She didn’t say why she dropped but it’s kind of a bittersweet victory.”

“I bet the outcome would have been the same regardless,” she replied with a shake of her head. “Phil and I want to take you all out tonight to celebrate. I already cleared it with Clarissa so the kids can come.”

I hesitated as I looked at her. “I actually already have plans to do that with someone else.”

“Bring her along.”

“I can’t. It’s complicated.” I looked at my mom with an apologetic expression and she gave me a small smile.

“Because you don’t want your brother to know that you’re dating his ex-girlfriend?”

“What?” I looked at her in disbelief. “How do you know that?”

“I saw you two at Trivoli’s a week or so ago,” she explained simply, as if it should have been obvious. “Are you why they broke up then?”

“Not completely but I’m not innocent.” My voice was low as I averted my gaze from my mother’s. I could see her assessing me in my peripheral vision.

“Do you love her?”

I nodded immediately and fought against smiling when I looked back at her. “So much. I’ve loved her for a while.”

“Do you love her enough to put this rift between you and Alex?” she asked quietly. Again, I nodded immediately.

“I do, Mom. She’s it for me. I’m going to marry this woman one day.”

“Okay.” My mother stood and walked over to wrap me in a hug. “You need to tell your brother soon.” She pulled back and gave me a serious look. “You don’t want him to find out by running into you two snuggling in a booth like I did.”

I stood and gave her another hug. “I’m planning on telling him this weekend.”

“Good. Don’t make plans for tomorrow night. We’ll take you all out then.” She walked to the door and stopped to smile at me again. “For what it’s worth, Megan is a lovely woman. I’m not going to pretend like the situation isn’t all twisted but she’s pretty great.”

I agreed with my mother and watched her as she walked down the driveway to her car. I thought about what she said and she was right. If she could run into us somewhere that meant Alex could and that would be shitty.

I took my time showering and getting ready before heading to Megan’s apartment. She wasn’t there yet but I hung out inside with Kelly until Megan came home from work.

“Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” she said as she gave me a quick kiss and continued walking towards the bedroom. I stood to follow her and she whirled around, holding her hand up to stop me. “No. If you follow me, I will never get dressed. Sit back down on the couch.”

I grinned and took a step towards her. “I’m trying to see the negative in that, babe.”

“Simon,” she warned and I reluctantly sat back down with a pout. Megan just smiled and disappeared into the bedroom. I let out a long sigh and looked over at Kelly, who was shaking her head with a small smile on her lips.

“You two are ridiculous.”

When Megan reappeared, she was wearing a white dress that stopped right above her knees. Her hair fell perfectly at her shoulders and she’d stepped into a pair of black heels that made her legs look miles long. She drove us the forty-five minutes into the city and we ate at steakhouse in the Venetian casino. After dinner, we walked the strip for an hour, watching the shows and the people, and headed back to her place once we’d made it back to the car.

It was almost midnight when we got back to the apartment but I kept her up for another hour as we made love in her bed. I watched her get ready for the work the next morning, looking completely exhausted, but she didn’t complain once.

“You’re going to sleep at your place tonight?” she asked as she pulled her scrubs on and I nodded from where I was still sitting in bed.

“I have to be to station at seven tomorrow morning anyway, so better to just stay there after dinner with my mom. But that means I should be off by seven on Saturday morning so I’ll be yours all day.”

Megan smiled as she came to sit on the bed. “You have a game Saturday night?”

“Yeah,” I replied, tugging her into my lap. “And I’m going to try to take Alex to lunch Sunday to come clean. So think of something you want to do Saturday, okay?”

I pressed a kiss to her mouth and she smiled against my lips.

“Okay.” Megan pulled herself out of my lap and squeezed my hand before stepping away. “Call you on my lunch?”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’ll pick you up at twelve. I love you, babe.”

“I love you, too, Si.” Megan offered me a wave, bent down to pet the dog briefly, and walked out of the bedroom, leaving me alone in her bed.