Operation Date Escape

But it was Joe Mitchell’s night to cook and the smell of his friend’s famed ‘Smokehouse Chili’ had him picking up his step in anticipation. Joe was unarguably the best cook at the firehouse.
    He paused to shut off the large screen TV, one they used for both recreation and to watch department training videos on, then crossed the open room to the dining area where the rest of his unit had already gathered for their evening meal.
    Hopefully they could get this one in without another call coming in. Just as washing your car had a tendency to bring about rain, mealtime at the firehouse pretty much guaranteed some kind of emergency would arise.
    Conversation around the table quieted the moment he arrived, turning instead into deliberate murmurs and muffled snickers.
    His gaze slid around the table, taking in the toothy grins of his fellow firefighters. What were they up to now? These guys loved a good joke and it was pretty apparent that he was about to be at the receiving end of one of them.
    “Well, well, if it isn’t Hot Lips Maxwell,” the Lieutenant said with a chuckle as he reached across the table for the coffee pot.
    Hot Lips?
    “Excuse me,” he replied, certain he had misunderstood what the Lieutenant had just said.
    “Keeping secrets from us, eh, Maxwell?” another of his crew, one they fondly referred to as Stubby, baited.
    “Not that I’m aware of.” Cole pulled his chair out from under the table and settled into it. These men were his closest friends, more like family. There really were no secrets between them.
    “That’s not how we hear it, Stud Muffin ,” Joe stated with a lopsided grin. His reply was followed by the smacking of lips all around the oversized dinner table as the other men blew exaggerated air kisses his way.
    Okay, so maybe he didn’t tell them everything. But somehow they had found out about his brief lapse in common sense. But how? Then it dawned on him. “Kelsie called?”
    “So that’s her name,” the Captain noted with a nod.
    “Sorry to disappoint you, pal,” Joe muttered between chews. “But your lady friend hasn’t called.”
    He tried to ignore the quickening of his pulse, set about by the memory of the kiss he’d shared with the feisty little redhead. If Kelsie hadn’t called, there was only one other way the men would know about her. He glanced toward the door. “You mean she’s here?”
    “Boy, do you have it bad,” Joe said with a hearty laugh.
    “ I don’t have anything bad,” he argued, his gaze shifting toward the stairs. “So is she down there or not?”
    His best friend shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint you, pal, but your little Cupcake’s not here.”
    He turned his attention back to the men seated around the table. “Then how did you find out about what happened at the hospital?”
    Stubby laughed. “How else? We heard about it through the ‘grapevine’.”
    The ‘grapevine’ being one of the other fire departments. Cole frowned, his excitement waning. He should have known Kelsie wouldn’t have changed her mind about going out with a guy like him. Good old Mr. Perfect .
    If she only knew how wrong her assumption about him was. He had just as many flaws as the next guy. Maybe more.
    He reached for the ladle and scooped a heaping spoonful of chili into his bowl. “I don’t know what you guys heard, but it’s not what you think.”
    Joe pulled a handful of saltine crackers from one of the open packages scattered about the table. “Then what is it? One of the guys from Station 24 saw you in Riverside’s emergency room a few days ago. And the way he tells it there was some sexy little redhead clinging to you and cooing sweet nothings into your ear.”
    His first thought was to deny it, but how could he? Kelsie had been muttering sweet nothings. Not that she’d meant any of them, but she’d said them all the same.
    “I’m not going to discuss it.” There, that was simple enough.
    Only Joe wasn’t ready to let it go. “Thought you were going to steer clear of relationships after your breakup with what’s-her-face.”
    “Melanie,” Cole managed, despite being distracted by thoughts of another female, a certain spunky one with a sense of logic that made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever. The little China doll that had nearly knocked his socks off when she returned his kiss in the front seat of his Ford F250.
    “Don’t you mean Melissa?” Stubby promptly corrected with a chuckle.
    Cole frowned. He was usually