Partners and Friends

by

Jackie Clouse

The loud buzzing of an alarm clock woke up Johnny and Min, he reached across his wife and turned it off. The red digital display read 5 30. Min groaned and pulled the covers up over her head. “It’s way too early.”
“I know, but I like to lay in bed for at least a half hour.”
The couple had been staying with Daisy and Enos for the past month, it was now April and their anniversary was less than two weeks away. During their stay they had looked at quite a few houses, but so far had found nothing to their satisfaction. Min snuggled up against her husband, he was nice and warm.
“How’s the bunkhouse coming?”
“Fine, should be done soon.”
“Will it look the same?”
“I don’t think so, it might look like that new station.”
“33?”
“Yeah that’s the one, boy their stationhouse is nice, they’ve got a huge kitchen and their TV room has couches instead of chairs, it looks like they are living in a really big house.”
“Sounds nice.”
“It is.” Johnny tucked his arms underneath his head. “So what are we going to do for our anniversary?”
Min lifted her head up. “You mean you actually remembered it?”
“Of course I remember it, why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, most men usually forget things like that.”
Johnny took the pillow out from under his head and hit his wife with it. “Since when I am like most men?”
“Touché!” She climbed up on top of her husband and sat down hard on his stomach, she had his pillow in her hand and started whapping him with it.
“Hey!” He grabbed her arms and tried to pull her off of him, they were struggling and the two of them ended up rolling off of the bed, they landed on the floor with a loud thump. They both were laughing hard, Min moved her hair away from her face; Johnny was on top of her.
“Well this is a very compromising position; I’d say that you have the upper hand Mr. Gage.”
Johnny nodded his head, he was still snickering. “I hope we didn’t wake up Daisy and Enos.”
“I doubt it, their bedroom is downstairs and at the other end of the house.”
“You didn’t answer my question, what about our anniversary?”
Min put her arms around his neck; he was looking down at her. “To tell you the truth I really don’t know, we’ve been doing so much lately I haven’t thought about it.”
“We have to do something special, it’s our first.”
“I know.”
Johnny looked into the face of his wife; he leaned over and kissed her. “Well think of something, okay?”
“I will.”
“It’s probably close to 6; I better go grab a shower.”
“Yeah you better.”
Johnny sat back on his haunches and got up from the floor; he opened the closet door and took out a clean uniform. He hung it on the doorknob and went over to the oak dresser; he was looking at his t-shirts, one of the things they were able to rescue from the crushed remains of their apartment.
“Let’s see, which one should I wear?”
Min had gotten off of the floor and had put on her white robe, she was tying it closed. “Aren’t you going to wear your uniform?”
“No, not today, I’ll change when I get there.”
The room the couple was staying in was simple, they were sharing a king sized bed with a light oak headboard. There were two nightstands on either side of the bed and a matching dresser, everything made of the same light oak. There was a closet on the right side of the room and they had a connecting bathroom on the left, decorated in peach. Johnny took out a t-shirt, it was black and in bright white were the words CERTIFIED AMBULANCE JOCKEY. Johnny tossed it on the bed along with a pair of black shorts. “Are we looking at any more houses tonight?”
“I don’t think so, I think we need a night off, don’t you?”
He went into the bathroom and Min heard the sound of the shower turning on, she waited until she heard the glass door close. She walked into the bathroom and opened the glass door; she crossed her arms and admired the view.
“Min close the door are you trying to give me pneumonia?”
She sighed and reluctantly closed the door. “Aww you are no fun at all! I was just looking.”
“At what? You’ve seen everything there is to see.”
“I know but I never get tired of seeing you with your clothes off.”
Johnny opened the door, he was soaking wet and water was dripping off of his chin. “Oh really?”
Min nodded her head. “Really.”
He grinned widely at her. “Want to come wash my back?”
Min didn’t need a second invitation, she untied her robe and let it fall to the floor, she took off her nightgown and stepped into the shower, she closed the door behind her.

Daisy had kissed her husband goodbye and had made bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast. The men had taken off to work with toast in hand, they had no time for anything else. She had put the food on two plates and set them at the table, she was waiting for her cousin to come down. She got a cup out of the drain board and poured herself a cup of coffee. She heard someone humming as they came down the stairs, Min had a very large grin as she walked into the kitchen.
“Good Morning Cousin.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow as she stirred a teaspoon of sugar into her coffee. “Good Morning, you sure are smiling widely for 6 30 in the morning.”
“Well it’s such a lovely morning.”
“Uh huh.”
Min looked at her cousin, she was wearing a short red silk robe. “Wow Daisy that is beautiful! Where did you get it?”
“Enos got it for me when he went to Korea a few months ago as part of the officer exchange program. Coffee?”
“I’ll get it myself.” Min opened up a cherry wood cabinet and took out a cup, she filled her cup with steaming hot coffee.
“Does your wide smile by any chance have anything to do with a certain loud bang at 5 30 this morning?”
Min felt her face start to burn. “I plead the 5th amendment.”
Daisy shook her head. “I’m not a cop Min, just married to one, have some breakfast.”
“Thanks.” A plate full of bacon and eggs looked divine and the young woman sat down, she started thinking about their upcoming anniversary.
“So how goes the hunt for a house?”
“Not so great actually, I think we have looked at a dozen houses and still haven’t found anything.”
“Do you have a real estate agent?”
“No, should we?”
“Min of course you need an agent! And I know just the person, she’s a regular at the shop, she should be able to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.”
“Well if you think it’ll help.” Min was picking at her eggs a little bit with her fork.
“The eggs aren’t good?” Daisy saw the way she was playing with her food.
Min looked at her and shook her head. “It’s not that Daisy, you’re a great cook you know that, something else is on my mind.”
Daisy got up from the table and refilled her coffee. “Like your anniversary?”
“How did you know?”
“I was there Min, remember?”
Min took a bite of her toast. “I just don’t know what to get Johnny, first anniversaries are special and I’m totally clueless.”
“When Enos and I had our first anniversary, we went away for a couple of days, we stayed in this hotel by the beach, it was very romantic.”
“That is a good idea Daisy and I appreciate it, but I wanted to get him a present.” Min had a bite of her eggs and suddenly giggled, an idea came to her but it was ludicrous. Daisy watched the way her cousin started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
Min put her fork down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Well I got an idea of what to get Johnny but it isn’t exactly possible.”
“Why not? What’s your idea?”
“I was thinking that what I would really like to get him is a house.”
Daisy didn’t react in a negative way, she simply nodded. “So what’s wrong with that?”
“Oh come on Daisy, a house?”
“Why not? You know what you want, why not take today off and go see if you can find it.”
Min thought about it for a moment, she did know what they were looking for and it would be a great present for their first anniversary. “All right I will.” She stood up and went over to the wall near the fridge where the phone was, she picked it up and dialed her brother’s apartment. He answered on the third ring and sounded half asleep.
“Hello?”
“Hi Bo, it’s me, I know it’s early and I’m sorry but do you think you can manage without me today?”
Min heard her brother yawn. “I don’t see why not, everything is ordered, the schedule is done, if you want the day off go ahead.”
“Thanks a lot Bo, I owe you.”
“What’s so important that you need a day off?”
“I’m going to go find a house, it’s a surprise for Johnny.”
“Okay well happy house hunting, this Duke needs sleep, bye Min.”
“Bye Bo.”
Min hung up the phone and clapped her hands together. “Mrs. Strate, would you care to accompany me this very day to find a house?”
Daisy put her finger to her chin. “Hmmm, well, it has been ages since I had a day off.”
“And we can go to lunch, my treat.”
“Okay you talked me into it!” Daisy raised her coffee cup high in the air. “To house hunting!”
Min walked back over to the table and clinked her cup against her cousin’s. “To house hunting!”

Johnny came out of the locker room, he had put on his uniform, there was a lot of noise coming from the construction crew. He opened the fridge door, it was his turn to cook breakfast and he didn’t know what he was going to make. He spotted the eggs and a pound of bacon and decided to make that. He closed the fridge door and opened up the oven, he took out two big skillets and set them down on the burners.
Roy walked into the kitchen carrying the newspaper and a bottle of orange juice. “Morning Johnny, why are you the early bird?”
“Morning. “Johnny took the eggs out of the fridge and set them down on the counter. “It’s my turn to cook.”
“So what are you going to make?”
“Scrambled eggs and bacon.”
“Sounds good.” Roy sat down at the table and took the rubber band off of the paper. “How are things going with Daisy and Enos?”
“Pretty good, but we really miss having our own place.” Johnny got the cooking spray out of the pantry and sprayed both skillets with it, he put it away and washed his hands thoroughly.
“Yeah I know what you mean, living with someone else can be a real drag.”
“The room is nice though and we do have our own bathroom, it’s just that we feel like we’re intruding.”
“You were invited weren’t you?”
“Yeah, Daisy and Enos invited us.”
“Then you aren’t intruding.”
Johnny had a spatula in his hand as he turned around and faced his partner. “So what’s the latest involving the bunkhouse of doom?”
That description of it made Roy chuckle, his partner always did have a colorful vocabulary. “Another 8 weeks.”
Roy watched his partner’s face drop. “Oh you’re kidding! 8 more weeks of sleeping on those lousy cots?”
“Yep, 8 more, if we’re lucky, it could take longer.”
“That is terrific, station 51, home of the stiff necked, stiff backed, overworked and under slept firemen!”
“They aren’t that bad Johnny, and besides we haven’t had to sleep on those cots much, we haven’t done any 48s or 72s since the quake.”
Johnny flipped the bacon slices over. “For now no, but the Chief could change that any time he wants, don’t tell me we are going to be long shift-free for the next 2 months.”
“No I didn’t say that.”
“See! What if the chief decides to start them back up tomorrow?”
“Then we’ll do it Johnny, lousy cots or not, you know as well as I do that fires aren’t going to stop burning and people aren’t going to stop getting hurt just because our bunkhouse fell down and we have to sleep on cots.”
Johnny took a plate out of the cabinet and put a paper towel on it, he took the cooked bacon out of the skillet and put on a few more slices, they sizzled when they hit the hot surface of the skillet. “Yeah I know, I just wish things were easy sometimes.”
Roy folded up his paper. “Let me ask you this, in the 6 years you’ve been a fireman have things ever been easy?”
Johnny didn’t hesitate, he knew the answer. “No.”
“Exactly…and they aren’t about to start now.”
“Yeah tell me about it.” He flipped over the bacon and sighed.

Daisy’s friend was named Julia Walsh, she was a middle aged woman short jet black hair, she was dressed in a maroon pant suit. She looked like a very successful real estate agent, her suit looked expensive and her hands were dripping with rings, she came into Daisy’s shop and smiled when she saw her friend.
“Daisy!” The two women hugged and Daisy took Min by the arm.
“Jules this is my cousin Min, she’s the one that needs your services.”
“Nice to meet you Min, Daisy has told me a lot about you.”
Min shook her hand, her grip was not too weak or strong, it was just right. “Same here Julia.”
“Well now that intros are out of the way, how can I be of service to you Min?” Julia took out a maroon planner and opened it to a long list of addresses.
“My husband and I lost our apartment, it was destroyed in the earthquake and we want to buy a house.”
Julia nodded. “All right, that sounds easy enough, you tell me what you want and we’ll see what we can find.”
“Johnny and I want a 4 bedroom house with a big front yard, a big backyard, and a double car garage.”
“What about the price range?”
“Price really doesn’t matter.”
The real estate agent’s eyes grew wide for a second. “I think I can help you find that special place, shall we take my Mercedes?”
Daisy nodded. “Can you give me a second though to tell Cass that I’m leaving?”
“Of course Daisy.”
She walked away and Min touched the pocket of her tan cotton shorts to make sure her wallet was in there. “Okay I’ve got my wallet.”
“How long have you been looking for a house?”
“About a month now, I do hope we find something because I want to start the paperwork, I want to surprise my husband with it for our first anniversary.”
Daisy came back and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’m ready to go now, Cass is going to take care of everything for me while I’m gone.”
Julia took her Mercedes keys out of her pocket. “All right then, shall we Ladies?” She held the door open for Min and Daisy.

Over the course of the next three hours, Julia drove Min and Daisy around the residential areas of Los Angeles. She had shown Min six houses that were what she had said she wanted but still she hadn’t found anything. It was a beautiful spring day, the temperature hovered around 70, the sun was shining brightly. They had stopped at a little outdoor café for lunch; it had bright green umbrella tables.
“I cannot believe how many houses I have seen lately.” Min took her sunglasses off and rubbed her eyes, there was a slight breeze blowing and it was playing with the ends of her long hair. “And I still haven’t found our house.”
Julia shook her head. “Don’t worry about it Min, it takes some people years to find their dream house.”
“Please don’t say that, you’re going to depress me.”
Daisy touched her cousin’s hand. “There is no reason to get depressed, we aren’t done yet.”
“Right Min we still have a few more places to check out, so don’t give up okay?”
Min nodded. “Okay.”
The waitress set three glasses of ice tea down on the glass table and took the lunch orders, she thanked them and left. Julia took out her planner and opened it to the list of houses. There were red check marks beside the houses they had already seen.
“Let’s see, our next stop is about 3 miles from here.”
Min put some sugar in her tea and stirred it with a spoon. “What’s the description?”
“One story, four bedroom, two bathrooms, wall-to-wall bedroom carpeting, fireplace, covered porch.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Oh it is, Southwestern style stucco with red Spanish tile.”
Min smiled widely. “I love Spanish tile!”
Daisy nodded. “So do I, it gives a house a sort of old world charm.”
Julia looked at the price, she always hated discussing money. She had gotten into real estate to help people find their perfect happy home, it always made her feel uncomfortable to talk about the price and the deposit. “Min, I know you said that price wasn’t important but I do have to talk to you about something.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Julia cleared her throat. “Were you planning on putting any money down?”
“Well I wasn’t going to, should I?”
“I think it would be a good idea, it would show how serious you are about the house.”
“All right, how much do you recommend?”
Julia turned her planner over and unzipped a compartment, she took out a small calculator and started pressing buttons. “According to my calculator, you’d have to give me ten thousand dollars.”
Daisy was sipping her tea and the amount that Julia quoted made her tea go down the wrong way. She set her glass down and coughed a little as she wiped her mouth. “Ten thousand? That’s a lot of money Jules.”
Min turned towards her cousin. “No it isn’t Daisy, some places require you to put down twenty percent of the asking price.”
“She’s right Daisy, it’s normal to ask for something down.” Julia looked at Min. “The ten won’t be a problem will it?”
Min shook her head. “No, in fact I was thinking about giving you more than that.”

Johnny was sitting at the kitchen table, he had real estate magazines scattered all over it and he was reading one called House Monthly.
“Found anything?”
“Nope, and this is the fourth magazine I’ve looked at.” He closed the magazine and tossed it on the pile. Johnny sat back in his chair and sighed. “I didn’t realize how much bull there would be in trying to find a house.”
Roy got a cup out of the cabinet and filled it with java, he handed it to his partner. “Here, maybe this will make you feel better.”
“Thanks.” He took it from his partner and had a sip.
Roy sat down in the chair beside him. “Believe me I know how hard it is to find a house, it took me and Anne a couple of months to find ours.”
This didn’t encourage Johnny, he set his coffee cup down and rubbed his hands over his face. “A couple of months? That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“I thought things were going good at Daisy and Enos’ place?”
“They are but that doesn’t mean we want to stay there forever. We want to get our own place and buy furniture and stuff with the insurance check we got for the apartment.”
Roy nodded. “Well just keep looking Johnny, I’m sure you and Min will find a place.”
Johnny had another sip of his coffee. “I’m sure we will too, the real question is when.”
“What are you two doing for your anniversary?”
“Don’t know yet, Min is supposed to be thinking about it.” He looked at his partner. “What did you and JoAnne do for your first?”
Roy leaned back in his chair and a large smile bloomed on his face. “We were living in this little tiny apartment near Long Beach, I was just a fireman back then. There was this really bad storm that night and it had the whole city blacked out. I was working a 48, and it was around 9 when I finally got home. I opened the door and Anne had put candles all over the apartment. She had put her veil on and had set dinner up on the coffee table, she looked so happy standing there in the soft glow of all those candles with a sweet little smile on her face. Then for dessert we had the top of our wedding cake, she had wrapped it up and put it in the freezer.”
The scene Roy had painted was a nice one and it made Johnny smile. “Did you give each other a present?”
Roy nodded slowly. “Yeah, but I’m not about to tell you what.”
“Aw come on, why not?”
“Let’s just say that our son was born nine months later.”
Johnny started laughing. “Never mind then, I think I get the idea.”
“See Johnny it wasn’t about presents, it was about celebrating our first year together as a married couple. She and I were sitting there in the dark eating year old frozen wedding cake and it was one of the happiest anniversaries we ever had.”
Johnny nodded. “You’re right, it isn’t about presents, it’s about us.” He slapped his partner on the back. “Thanks Roy.”
Roy raised his mug to his partner and winked at him. “Anytime.”

Min was standing in the middle of a huge living room, both the floor and the ceiling were made of reddish wood, they both had a shine to it but there were support beams running across the ceiling. There were a pair of French doors that led to another room and she looked around and smiled. Julia and Daisy were still looking around the rest of the house, they came into room and saw the way she was smiling.
“You look happy Cousin.”
“Yeah what’s with the grin?”
Min took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Ladies…I think I’ve found our dream house.”
Julia’s face broke out into a huge grin. “Really? You like it?”
“It’s perfect, it’s got everything we want and so much more.”
Daisy nodded. “It is a great house, do you think Johnny is going to like it?”
“He’s going to flip when he sees it, especially when he sees the yard, it’s enormous.”
Julia was looking at the description of the house in her planner. “According to this, this house sits on a half-acre.”
“That’s a lot of land to mow and keep weed-free.”
Min laughed. “Oh I don’t think he’s going to mind, he said he wanted a yard.” She turned around and smiled widely at Julia. “Start the ball rolling, I want it.”
Julia clapped her hands together. “Great! As soon as you give me your deposit I’ll get it started.”
Min reached into her back pocket and took out her checkbook. “Do you have a pen?”
“Sure Min.” Julia reached into her planner and handed the young woman a pen. “Here you go.”
“I thank you.” She wrote out a check, tore it off and gave it to the real estate agent. “As you requested, one deposit check.”
Julia looked at the amount Min had written and her eyes grew wide. “This is for 30 thousand dollars.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure you want to give me this much?”
Min nodded. “I’m positive.”
Julia folded the check in half and put it into her planner. “Let’s go back to the shop Ladies, I have some paperwork I need to get started.”

Johnny and Roy were just coming out of the garage, they had just come back from a call and went into the kitchen. Chet was sitting at the table, flipping through a book.
“Hey Gage, your wife called.”
“Really? I’ll give her a call back.”
Chet shook his head, he was chewing gum and blew a large bubble. “She didn’t call to talk to you.”
Johnny got an apple out of the fridge and took a bite. “Who did she want to talk to?”
Roy got a glass out of the cabinet and poured himself a glass of chocolate milk, Chet was watching him. “She called to talk to you.”
He closed the fridge. “Me? Did she say why?”
Chet shook his head. “Nope, she just asked me to tell you to call her as soon as you got back.”
Johnny had another bite of his apple, he was rather curious as to why his wife wanted to talk to his partner. “So are you going to call her back?”
Roy finished half his milk and set it down on the counter. “I guess I better.” He walked around the kitchen table and picked up the phone, he realized that he didn’t know the number, he turned back and looked at Chet. “Did she say where to call her back?”
“Oh, wait a second I’ve got it.” Chet had put the paper he had written the number on in the front of his book. “Here it is.” He handed the paper to Roy.
“Thanks Chet.” He dialed the number and waited for an answer.

Min was sitting in the break room of Daisy’s shop, it was set up to look like a studio apartment, there was a little kitchen area, a couch, a round table with four chairs and a television. She was flipping through a clothing catalog when the door opened and Daisy poked her head in.
“Min, its Roy on the phone.”
“Thanks.” There was a phone on the wall and Min picked it up. “Hi Roy.”
“Hi, what’s up?”
Min could tell by his tone that her husband was not too far away. “Johnny is there isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Okay well I know you are probably wondering why I called to talk to you and not to him, right.”
“Right.”
“Well the reason is I have a surprise for him, can you meet me after work?”
“Okay.”
“The address 1204 Cochise Drive, I’ll see you there at around 6 15?”
“That’s fine, okay.”
Min could tell by the way he was talking that not only was Johnny right there next to him, but probably looking at him with those eyes. “I know he’s probably going to grill you Roy, but please whatever you don’t tell him anything.”
“I understand, bye Min.”
“Bye Roy, see you soon.”
Roy hung up the phone and went back to get his milk, he could feel his partner staring at his turned back.
“So what did she have to say Roy?”
“Not much, just wanted to ask my opinion about something.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow. “But Roy you hardly said three words to her.”
“Well I guess I don’t have much of an opinion.” He finished his milk and went into the locker room before Johnny could ask another question.

Min was standing on the front porch, she was looking at the big front yard and the huge tree that was in the middle of it. The branches were very long and full of thick leaves that shaded out the sun, there was a red brick walkway that cut the yard in half, it stretched all the way to where she was standing. She heard the sound of a vehicle approaching and recognized Roy’s little blue sports car as it pulled into the driveway.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Roy got out of the car and looked at Min. “So why did you want to meet here?”
Min smiled widely. “What do you think?”
Roy looked around at the house, it was a tan color and the roof was made of Spanish tile, the yard was pretty big and he liked that. “It’s nice.”
“Oh good because I bought it.”
The paramedic’s face dropped. “You…bought it? Really?”
“Yeah today in fact, I want to surprise Johnny with it, come on in and take a look.”
She led him through the opened front door, into the living room. “I love the way the floor and the ceiling shine, I think it’s neat.”
Roy looked up at it. “Yeah that is neat.”
“We have these lovely dark wood French doors, on the other side of them we have the dining room and the kitchen.”
Min opened the doors and they both walked into the dining room, the kitchen was just off of it. The dining room had that same shiny hardwood floor made of reddish brown wood.
“I know it’s going to be fun to keep that floor polished, but I don’t mind, let’s look at the kitchen.”
The kitchen had white tile with little blue flowers, the cupboards were mahogany in color and the stove was in the middle of the room. “Weird isn’t it? To see the stove in the middle like that, but Jules said it’s called an island.”
“Yeah but at least you won’t have to worry about cleaning behind the stove.”
Min started to laugh. “You’ve got a point. Want to see the bedrooms?”
“Sure.”
“The master bedroom is separate, it’s off of the living room.”
They walked down the hall and the first thing they saw was the bathroom on the right. “Here is the other bathroom.”
Roy peeked his head in, it was pretty big with a snow white cast iron tub, the tile was the same as the kitchen, white with little blue flowers. It had a dark wood medicine cabinet and vanity. “Big bathtub.”
“Yeah I know, perfect for those long soaks.”
“You like to do that too? Anne loves to soak, she’ll spend all day in a tub if she could.”
Min laughed and pointed out the other three doors. “Those are just the extra bedrooms, they’re all the same size, you don’t have to look at them.”
Roy nodded. “Okay, so why did you want me to come here besides the tour I mean.”
Min took him by the arm and walked with him back towards the kitchen. “Why don’t I show you the backyard.”
She opened the backdoor and they walked outside into the backyard, the lush green grass seemed to stretch out forever. There were a few trees along the right side of the house and an area of potting soil that was about four feet away from the house, the edge of it was lined with bricks. This area was obviously a big flower bed, Roy was highly impressed the yard was something else, the possibilities for it were endless.
“Wow now that is a yard. How big is it?”
“Half an acre.”
Min sighed and leaned her head on Roy’s shoulder. “I need your help with some little things Roy.”
“Like what?”
“I want to put up some shelves in the living room and a ceiling fan in the master bedroom.”
“Is that all?”
“Well no, there are a couple more little things.”
Roy walked around her and stood face to face with his partner’s wife. He looked at her lovely face, they had gotten to be pretty good friends since she had started seeing Johnny. He could see that pleading look in her big brown eyes. She was a very beautiful woman and there was something about her that he couldn’t put his finger on but he suddenly understood why Johnny was so crazy about her. “Okay, whatever you need me to do, you’ve got it.”
Min smiled widely and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you Roy, so much.”
He was a little shy at first but then he returned her hug. “It’s no problem Min, I know how much Johnny wants a house.”
“Do you think he’s going to like it?”
The hug ended and Roy nodded. “It’s a great place, he’s going to adore it. When do you want to get started?”
“Well, as soon as possible, our anniversary is in ten days and I want to have everything ready by then.”
“What about furniture and all that?”
“Johnny and I have already picked some out, I just have to go buy it and get it delivered.”
Roy nodded. “Okay, just give me a call when you’re ready.”

Johnny had pulled into the driveway and found it strange that Min’s red Mustang was not parked outside the house. He went inside and saw Daisy was in the kitchen, she was standing in front of the stove cooking dinner, she saw her cousin-in-law and smiled.
“Hey Johnny, how was your day?”
“Pretty good.” He took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. “Where is Min?”
Daisy knew exactly where she was and with whom, but she had promised Min to keep the big secret about the house until their anniversary. “She said she had to go run an errand and would be back soon.”
Johnny sniffed the air. “Whatever you’re cooking smells great Daisy, what is it?”
Daisy opened the cabinet above the stove and took out a container of garlic and added it to the chicken she was browning. “Oh just some chicken in mushroom sauce.”
Johnny ran his fingers through his hair. “I think I’m going to go take a shower.”
“Okay, dinner should be ready in about an hour.” She stirred her chicken and watched as her cousin-in-law headed up the stairs.

Johnny sighed as the warm water ran down his back, he raised his head and shook his hair back. He was still thinking about the fact that his wife had called to talk to Roy. He shook his head again, he was being silly, there had to be a logical explanation for why Min didn’t want to talk to him.
“Well, well, well, I spy a naked, wet, fireman!”
Johnny jumped and wiped his face, he turned around and saw his wife standing in the doorway. “Geez can’t a guy take a shower in peace?”
Min laughed and shook her head. “Sorry Sweetie, maybe if you weren’t so cute you wouldn’t have this problem.”
“I don’t have a problem, you are the one that’s a peeping tom.”
“I only peep at you Dear.”
Johnny picked up the soap and started washing his chest. “So why did you call and talk to Roy today?”
Min smiled widely. “Sorry I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
She shook her head. “I just can’t, but I will when the time is right, okay?”
“Okay.”
Min uncrossed her arms. “Well I’ll leave you to your shower.” She winked at him and closed the door.

Min was lying on the bed, her husband came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and another around his head like a turban, it made her snicker a little.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are, you look silly with that turban on your head. How was your day?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed and took it off his turban and began to dry his hair. “Okay, they told us it’s going to take 8 more weeks to finish the bunkhouse.”
Min put down her book and looked at him. “8 weeks? Why so long?”
“I don’t know, I guess they are taking their sweet time.”
“Well I’m sure it’ll be spectacular.” It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her husband about the house, it took every ounce of restraint she could muster not too. She watched as he got up and started to put on clothes. “Hey wait a minute! You aren’t going to get dressed are you?”
He turned around and looked at her, he had his briefs on and he put his hands on his hips. “Well I certainly can’t go have dinner with Daisy and Enos in my skivvies.”
“Aww why not?” She got up from the bed and put her arms around his slim waist. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“Yeah but I think Daisy and Enos would.” He ginned widely and put his arms around her neck. “But maybe we can come upstairs for some dessert.”
“Such a wicked husband!” Min kissed him on the lips. “You got it Fireman, and I just might have something to wear.”
“I like the sound of that.” He leaned over and started kissing his wife.
There was a knock on their bedroom door and they both stopped their lip wrestling, Johnny grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and threw them on. “Who is it?”
“It’s Enos, Daisy sent me to tell you both that dinner is ready.”
“Okay Enos we’ll be right down.”
Min sighed. “We can continue this discussion after dinner.”

The dining room of the Strate house was a beautiful one, a crystal chandelier that sparkled like diamonds hung a few feet above the table, giving it a look of elegance. The table and chairs were cherry wood and held 8 but the foursome pulled them out and sat down. Daisy brought a large skillet in, her hands were covered with puffy silver oven mitts and she carefully set the burning hot skillet down on a pot holder. She came back from the kitchen again, this time holding a large porcelain bowl filled with rice pilaf.
“Do you need any help Daisy?”
She nodded. “There is a basket of rolls on the counter, if you could get them I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure.”
Min went into the kitchen and met her cousin-in-law there, he was carrying a glass tray, it had a pitcher of sweetened ice tea and four glasses with ice.
“Hey Enos, how was work?”
The Detective was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt with a big gold badge on it. “Fine, good, we finally finished our investigation of a murder that happened in Hollywood last month.”
Min picked up the basket of rolls and the little yellow container of butter that were both on the counter. “Sounds exciting.”
“It’s pretty routine, but I love it.”
“Come on our dinner is getting cold.”
The two cousins walked back into the dining room and sat down, Min put the rolls in the middle of the table. “Johnny just told me upstairs that it’s going to take two more months to finish their bunkhouse.”
Daisy cut into her chicken. “Wow that’s a long time, imagine if it had been the whole station that fell? It would probably take them six months to finish it.”
Johnny nodded. “I know, I asked Captain Stanley if they were building it one brick at a time, he said no.”
Enos sipped his ice tea and picked up his fork and knife. “Johnny how is that new station doing?”
“33 is doing pretty good, no one was sure how they were going to handle the earthquake, but they did great. I think once they get more experience they’ll be one of the best in the city.”
“But 51 is still the best.” Min looked at her husband and winked at him.
Johnny grinned widely at her. “Well we like to think so.”
“Any anniversary plans?”
Min wiped her mouth and looked at Enos. “Actually yeah I do have something in mind for our anniversary.”
“You do, what?”
Min turned and looked at her husband and shook her head slowly. “My lips are sealed.”

Johnny opened the bedroom door and was surprised to see there was very little light, Min had taken a silk scarf and draped it over their nightstand lamp. She was came out of the bathroom wearing a black t-shirt that said FIREMEN’S WIVES DO IT 24-7.
“What do you think?”
He tightened his lips and tried so hard not to laugh, finally he couldn’t take it anymore, he laughed loudly. “Where did you get that?”
“The same place I get yours, I thought you would get a giggle out of this.”
He sat down on the bed and curled his finger at her, she walked over to him and he encircled her waist and put his head against her stomach. “I wish we had a place of our own, your cousin and her husband are nice but we don’t have any privacy.”
Min looked down at the top of his head and played with his dark hair. “I know Sweetie, believe me I do but I promise that we will have a place of our own again.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
He sighed and lifted his head. “Okay, that makes me feel better.” A small smirk came to his face as he slid his hands under his wife’s t-shirt.
“Hey!” His hands were cold as they touched her stomach and it made her entire body break out in goose bumps.
“What?”
“Who said you had an invitation to play Christopher Columbus, the great explorer?”
Johnny’s freezing hands moved around to her back and rubbed it gently. “You did.”
Min pushed him back lightly against the bed and climbed on top of him. “Just checking.”

Min was sitting at her desk in her office, she was working on the employee schedule when the phone suddenly rang. She jumped out of the chair, her heart was racing, the phone had scared her.
“Skidz.”
“Hi Min, its Roy.”
She turned her chair a little and leaned back in it, twirling her pen in her hand. “Hi, what’s up.”
“I just wanted to let you know I found those things you were talking about the day you and I were at the place.”
“You found the shelves I want? Great! Where and how much?”
“They’re at Barney’s, and it’s going to cost 29.99 for each unit you want.”
“How many units do you think will cover that one wall?”
“Well there are five levels in each, I’d say it would take at least 4 units to cover that wall, maybe more.”
“All right, I’ll call Barney’s and have them deliver 4 units to the house at 6.”
“Okay, I should be there around 6 30, I’ll go straight from work.”
“Sounds good Roy, I’ll see you then, bye.”
“Bye.”
Roy hung up the phone in the garage, he walked around the corner heading towards the kitchen, he almost ran right into Chet who was standing in the doorway. He was eating an apple and eyed the fireman suspiciously, he hadn’t heard the entire conversation but he was pretty sure he heard Roy say the name Min.
“Talking to your wife Roy?”
The paramedic nodded. “Yeah, I was just checking to see if things were all right at home.”
Chet took a big bite of his apple. “Uh huh.”
Roy cleared his throat and walked past Chet, he went into the locker room. Chet watched him go and shook his head, Roy had just lied to him. The rest of the men were sitting down in the TV room watching a mid afternoon movie, Johnny got up and went into the kitchen, he wanted a snack, he saw Chet was sitting at the table.
“How come you aren’t in here with the rest of us Chet?”
“I’ve already seen that movie a dozen times.”
Johnny opened the fridge and took out an orange, he closed the door and began peeling it. “So, what else are you going to do? We haven’t had a call in two hours.”
Chet leaned back in the chair and looked at Johnny, he wasn’t sure whether he should tell him about the call Roy made, after all it really wasn’t his business. He then thought about the fact that despite his constant teasing and practical joking, Johnny was his friend. “Say Gage, how’s your wife?”
“Min’s fine, why do you ask?” He opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink and threw away the orange peel.
“Oh no reason.”
Johnny opened the orange and peeled off a slice. “You always have a reason Chet.”
“It’s not my place to say anything.”
This statement got Johnny curious, he pulled out a chair and sat down. “Chet, if it’s about my wife, it is your place to tell me, now what is it?”
Chet sighed. “I might be wrong Johnny but I could have sworn I heard Roy talking to your wife on the phone just now.”
Johnny sat back. “Roy talking to Min?”
“That’s what I heard.” He got up from the table. “You know I think I will check out that movie.”
Chet left the kitchen, Johnny was chewing a slice of his orange and he swallowed it and got up. He went into the locker room and saw Roy sitting down on the wooden bench, he was polishing his work boots.
“Hey Johnny, good movie?”
Johnny popped another slice of orange into his mouth. “Not really, no, just some science fiction movie.”
“Yeah that’s what I thought, that’s why I’m not in there.”
“Oh.” He sat down on the bench next to his partner. “Did you talk to JoAnne?”
“Just now in fact.” He moved the brush back and forth across the toe, trying to get a nice shine on it.
Johnny nodded, maybe Chet had heard wrong. “I was just wondering, you haven’t talked much about her lately.”
“She’s been pretty busy, her women’s club is having a big fund raiser and they appointed her chairwoman so she’s been gone a lot.”
“I’ll let you finish your polishing, I want to catch the end of that movie.”
“Okay.”
Johnny got up and went back into the kitchen, maybe Chet was wrong about the call her head. After all, Roy was his best friend, he had no reason to lie. It must have been a mistake… he thought to himself and went back into the TV room.

Min had got to the house at 5 30 and the delivery from Barney’s was there a little after 6. The bright blue truck pulled into the driveway and two men that could easily be football players got out. They were wearing blue coveralls that were too small, it reminded Min of a sausage casing that was overstuffed.
“You Min Gage?”
“Yeah.”
The burly man turned around and shouted. “Yo Joe, bring the dolly, this is the right place!”
“You got it!” The other man walked around to the back of the little truck and opened it up, he climbed in.
“Could you sign this please?”
“Sure.” Min took the clipboard and signed her name.
“Thanks, they’ll be sending you the receipt for your order in the mail in 3 to 5 business days.”
“Thank you.”
She held the door open and the two men pushed the dolly inside. “Where do you want this Ma’am?”
Min went inside and pointed. “Just in the middle of the living room please, a friend is coming to help me put them up.”
“Whatever you say.”
They pushed the bright red dolly to the middle of the living room floor and the two men began piling the medium sized boxes on top of the wooden floor. They did it without much care and the boxes thudded loudly as they were stacked on top of each other.
“There ya go Lady.”
“Thanks very much.”
One man smacked the other on the back. “Come on Joe, let’s get out of here.”
The two men walked out and Min closed the door and shook her head. “Friendly guys.”
She looked at the stack and took out her pocket knife, she cut the plastic binding on one of the boxes and pried out the large copper staples. She opened the box and the smell of stained wood hit her, she took out a piece and looked at it, it matched the floor perfectly. “Wow nice taste Roy!”
“Thank you.”
Roy had just come in the door, he saw the stack of white boxes. “When did that get here?”
“A couple of minutes ago, you probably saw the big blue truck, they just left.”
“Oh so that’s who that was.”
Min got off of the floor. “Do you want something to drink? I brought a little cooler full of stuff to snack on.”
“A soda would be great.” Roy unbuttoned his uniform shirt and took it off, he looked for some place to put it.
“I’ll take that.” Min took it from him and laid it on the fireplace mantle so it wouldn’t get dirty or messed up. She opened the little cooler she brought and took out a soda. “I hope you don’t mind cola.”
“Nah, as long as it’s cold.” He opened the soda and had a sip. “That hit the spot, so I take it you want me to start with the shelves?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind, I told you I would help, just let me get my tool box out of my car.”
“Okay, I’ll get mine out too in case you don’t have something.”
They both went outside and got their small tool kits out of their respective cars, they went back inside and got to work.

“So how is everything coming along Min?”
Daisy and Min were sitting at the dining room table, they were both drinking coffee and having a light breakfast. Johnny was upstairs asleep, Min had decided to let him get some extra snooze time since it was a day off.
“Good, things are coming together nicely.”
“Still don’t plan on telling Johnny anything yet?”
“Nope and believe me it isn’t easy, he was just saying to me the other day that he wished we had a place of our own again. I had to bite my tongue hard to not blab everything to him.”

Johnny rolled over and expected to feel the warm body of his wife, he felt nothing but sheet and this caused the fireman to open his eyes. He saw that he was alone, he looked at his watch and it read 8 30, he threw back the covers and got up. He yawned widely as he took his navy blue robe out of the closet and put it on, his wife had to be around here somewhere and he was going to find her.

“Here let me get you some more coffee.”
Daisy got up from the table and brought over the coffee pot, she refilled her cousin’s cup.
“Thank you.” Min added more cream and sugar to her coffee and stirred it with a spoon.
“Roy has been a big help to you?”
“Oh he really has, he’s great, we’ve been meeting after work, he is really sacrificing a lot of time to be with me.”
“He sounds like he’s a very nice guy.”
“Roy is the best, the only thing that I don’t like about this whole situation is having to lie, it makes us both feel bad but it’s one of those things that has to be done.”
“You can’t exactly tell Johnny the truth.”
“Not yet Daisy.”

Johnny was just coming down the stairs, he thought he heard his wife mention Roy, but he wasn’t sure, he might have heard wrong. He shook his head and walked into the kitchen, the two women smiled at him.
“Good Morning.”
He was wearing the robe Min bought him and it tickled her that he was actually using it. “Morning Sweetie.”
“Morning, what’s for breakfast, I’m starving,”
Min got up and got her husband a cup of coffee. “What do you want to eat?”
“Whatever you got is fine.”
“We have eggs, toast, cereal.”
Johnny sat down at the table. “Um, I think I’ll take some toast.”
Min put two slices of bread into the toaster and got the butter out of the fridge. “What are we going to do today?”
Johnny shrugged. “I’m not sure, whatever you want.”
The toast popped and Min put it on a plate and brought it to her husband along with the butter. “Well we could go look at furniture.”
“Why? It’s not like we have a place.”
“I know but I think its fun to look, isn’t it Daisy?”
Daisy nodded. “Oh sure, sometimes Enos and I go window shopping.”
Johnny buttered his toast. “All right, if you want.”

Roy had been given a key to the house and was working on the last shelf when he heard the front door open.
“Min?”
“Yeah it’s me Roy.”
She walked into the living room and saw him kneeling on the hardwood floor, attaching the last shelf into the wall with screws. “Almost done?”
“This is the last one, but as you can see it only covers half the bottom, we’ll need one more.”
“That’s no big deal.”
He tightened the screw and sat back on is haunches. “So what did you and Johnny do today?”
“We did some furniture shopping, he thinks we were just going to look.”
Roy got up slowly and brushed off his jeans. “Did you buy anything?”
Min nodded. “Yup, a living room set, a king sized bed with a cherry wood bedroom set.”
“Sounds nice, when is it going to be delivered?”
“They had to special order everything so it’s going to be at least a few days.”
“Good, that will give me time to put up one more shelf and paint the master bedroom.” He adjusted his grey t-shirt as he got up to put his screwdriver back in his grey tool box. “So where is Johnny now?”
“He said he was going to work on his Land Rover, he was going to give it a tune up, I told him I was going to go run a few errands.”
Roy put the screwdriver back in his tool box, he saw the face Min was making. “You don’t like having to lie to him do you?”
She shook he head and sighed. “I hate lying to him, even if it’s for a good reason.”
“I know, but it will be worth it when he sees this place.”

Johnny rolled out from underneath his Land Rover, he had oil up to his elbows, he took a rag from the garage floor and wiped his hands off as best he could. He had finished changing the oil but he wanted help with the tune-up. He got up and went into the kitchen, he knew Daisy would kill him if he got any grease anywhere so he carefully turned on the faucet and used a little bit of dish soap to wash his hands. He got off as much grease as he could and used a paper towel to dry his hands. He picked up the white kitchen phone and dialed Roy’s phone number. He leaned against the wall and waited for the phone to be answered.
“Hi JoAnne, it’s Johnny, is Roy around?”
“No, I thought he was with you.”
Johnny creased his brow. “With me?”
“That’s what he said Johnny, he said he was going to help you tune up your Land Rover. Is Min there? We were supposed to go shopping this afternoon.”
“No, she left, she didn’t mention that the two of you were going to go shopping together.”
“I guess she changed her mind, when Roy gets home I’ll have him call you.”
“Okay thanks JoAnne, bye.”
Johnny hung up the phone, both his partner and his wife were not where they had said they were going to be, he began to wonder if maybe they were together.

Min and Roy had a shopping cart with them as they walked around Barney’s. The store was huge and smelled of freshly cut wood and cedar, mixed in with the flowers that were blooming in the garden department. They were picking up the last shelf unit they needed for the living room and a few odds and ends. They were in the light switch cover area and Min gasped when she saw the wooden light covers.
“Oh this one is perfect!” She picked up one made of cherry wood, she showed it to Roy. “Don’t you think? Wouldn’t this match the cherry wood bedroom set?”
Roy stopped pushing the bright blue cart and took the light switch from Min. “Yeah I think it would go nice.” He looked at the display and saw some that were the same reddish wood as the living room. “Hey look at these.”
Min saw them and nodded. “They would be perfect in the living room and look they have matching electrical outlets too.”
He picked up one of them. “Yeah they are nice.”
Min stopped a moment and thought about how many outlets and light switches there were in the living room. “There are 2 light switches and 6 outlets.”
Roy picked them up two light switch covers and start putting the six outlet covers in the shopping cart.

Captain Stanley and Chet had a bright blue shopping cart of their own and were picking up more supplies for the bunkhouse. The crew had run out of little things and the two men had volunteered to get them so the work would not have to stop. They were in the nail aisle which was only two aisles away from where Roy and Min were, the twosome was looking at shelf paper for the kitchen.
“Chet can you get a couple of boxes of two inch nails?”
“Two inch nails, right.” Chet picked up two boxes of a hundred nails and put them in the cart.
Hank looked at his list. “Let’s see, we need 4 boxes of three inch nails, and 6 boxes of four inch nails.”
“Okay.” Chet was putting boxes of nails into the cart when he heard a familiar voice, he looked towards the end of the aisle and saw Roy and Min walk by. He shook his head, it might have been a mirage. They passed by again and Min had Roy’s arm, they were smiling and laughing as they pushed a cart. Holy Smokes, he thought to himself, it was no mirage.

Min came home by the time the sun went down, she had a few little bags with her. She climbed the stairs and opened the bedroom door.
“Hi.”
Johnny was lying on their bed, an arm tucked under his head, he was reading the newest issue of Fireman magazine, there was a big article about high rescues. “Hi.”
“Did you tune your Rover?” She set the bags down on a nearby chair and hung her purse on the door knob.
“Yeah, it’s running nice now.” It was on the tip of his tongue to ask where she was and if she was alone, but he didn’t. He suddenly felt very silly, there was nothing going on between his wife and Roy. “So did you get your errands done?”
She kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed. “As a matter of fact, I did.” She saw the bright red magazine that was in his hands. “What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s just a fireman’s magazine, tells the newest equipment, better ways to do rescues, stuff like that.”
Min nodded. “Okay, sounds kind of boring but then again I’m not a fireman.”
Johnny laughed. “It’s got a lot of interesting stuff believe it or not.” He set the magazine down on the nightstand and touched his wife’s hair. “You know, there is only six days until our anniversary.”
“I know.”
“So what are we going to do?”
She smiled widely. “Sorry but you are just going to have to wait and see.”

Johnny yawned as he opened his locker, he sat down on the bench and started untying his work boots.
“Johnny…”
He looked up and saw Chet standing there with his hands in his pockets. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day but the opportunity just never came up.”
He took off his boots and put them in his locker. “About what?”
“A couple of things.”
“Like what?” He stood up and started unbuttoning his uniform shirt.
Chet cleared his throat. “The other day Cap and I were at Barney’s, we were picking up some nails and screws for the construction crew, while we were there I saw Roy and Min.”
Johnny had hung his shirt in his locker and put on his t-shirt. “What day was this?”
“Friday.”
He sighed and rubbed his face. “The day that she was supposed to be shopping and Roy was supposed to be helping me tune up my Rover.”
“I’m sorry Johnny, I didn’t want to say anything about it but I felt that I had to.”
Johnny turned and looked at Chet, the fireman had a very serious face, it was the first time Johnny had ever seen Chet serious in all the years he had known him. “Do you think there could be something between them?”
Chet thought about how they were smiling and laughing and the fact that Min had Roy’s arm. “I don’t know Johnny, but I think you should definitely talk to Roy about it.”
Johnny nodded. “Do you know where he is?”
Chet looked away from Johnny. “No I have no idea.”
“Boy you answered me pretty fast, too fast. Where is he?”
The dark haired fireman sighed. “I heard him telling someone on the phone to meet him at the Sunshine Café.”
Johnny stood up and slipped on his sneakers, he put one leg up on the bench and tied it, then the other. “Was he talking to Min?”
“I don’t know.”
Johnny grabbed his wallet and his keys and started to walk out of the locker room, before he got to the door he stopped and patted his friend on the back. “Thanks Chet, you’re a good friend.”
Chet smiled at him and nodded. “I hope I’m wrong.”
“Me too.” He left without another word.

There were all kinds of thoughts running through Johnny’s mind as he raced his little Land Rover down Sun Valley Boulevard. He went over everything in his mind and it added up only one way, his best friend and his wife were having an affair. There was a fire that was building inside of him, threatening to turn the normal, calm, laid back demeanor of Johnny Gage into a raging man that was capable of almost anything.

Min raised his ice tea glass. “To the new home and my first anniversary with Johnny.”
Roy clinked her glass against hers. “To your new home and your first anniversary.”
Min sipped her tea and breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I am so glad we got everything done.” She reached across the little outdoor table and touched Roy’s hand. “I owe you big time for this Roy, I really do.”
He shook his head and squeezed her hand. “No you don’t, Johnny’s helped me do everything major to my house, I was just returning some of those favors.”
“I can’t wait to see the look on his face, he is going to be so surprised.”
“Why wait?”
Min heard her husband’s voice and turned to see him standing there. “Johnny? What are you doing here?”
Johnny had a strange look on his face; he looked both angry and terribly hurt. He swallowed hard; they were holding hands, there were unspent tears in his eyes. “How could you do this?” His gaze was focused on Roy.
Roy and Min looked at each other, Min shrugged her shoulders at him, she was just as clueless as he was. “Do what?”
“I thought we were partners! I thought you were my friend!”
Johnny lunged at his friend and grabbed him by the shoulders; he pulled him out of the chair, knocking it over in the process. The two men ended up on the ground and Johnny was straddling Roy, he began punching him. Min couldn’t believe what she was seeing; it didn’t seem real until her brain screamed at her to do something. She got up and grabbed her husband’s shoulders.
“Johnny! Stop it!”
She pulled hard on his shirt and finally got him off of Roy. “Have you lost your mind?”
She helped Roy sit up and took a napkin off of the table and pressed it to his nose, it was bleeding. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Roy’s blue eyes were fixed on Johnny.
Min was standing between the two men, both of them were sitting on the ground, she looked down at her husband. “Why did you do that?”
“Oh sure, take his side! It figures that you would!”
“What does that mean?”
Johnny scoffed. “Don’t give me that innocent routine Min, I know all about it!”
Min turned and looked at Roy for a second. “You do?”
“Yeah, and by now I’m sure Chet has told everyone at the station!”
Roy’s nose finally stopped bleeding, what Johnny said began to make sense, that might explain the cold shoulder that Chet had been giving him all week. He remembered Chet being in the garage the day he called Min.
Min squatted down and touched her husband on the arm, he pulled away from her. “Johnny, what are you talking about?”
Johnny looked at his wife and shook his head. “I love you so much, how could you?”
“How could I what?”
His face grew angry again. “Have an affair with this back stabbing ex-partner of mine!”
Min’s eyes grew wide. “What?”
“You heard what I said! Didn’t think I would find out did you?”
She shook her head slowly, she couldn’t believe what her husband had said. “Is that what you think?”
Johnny’s voice was thick with emotion. “It’s what I know, how long has it been going on?”
Roy got up slowly, his face was throbbing, especially his right cheek, his partner had hit him pretty hard. “I don’t know how you got that idea Johnny-”
“Spare me your lies Roy, we’re through both as partner and friends.” The paramedic looked hurt and he hung his head.
Min shook her head. “This has all been a big mistake.”
Johnny Gage never looked more serious in his life, his jaw was clenched. “The only mistake I made Min was marrying you.”
Those words cut the young woman to the quick, it felt as though a huge knife had just been plunged into her chest. Her eyes grew wet with tears and she reached into her pocket and took out a copy of the keys to their house. “Roy and I have not been having an affair, he’s been helping me get our new house ready for our anniversary.” She stood up slowly and threw the keys at his feet, she was crying hard as she turned and walked away.
Roy sniffled, he wiped his nose again and took money out of his pocket, he put a few dollars down for the tea they had and he too left. Johnny was sitting on the ground, he picked up the keys and looked at them, the keychain read. “Gage, 1204 Cochise Drive.”
He curled the keys up in his hand and put his fist against his forehead.

Min was crying so hard that she could barely see the road, somehow she managed to make it to the club. She took the backstairs to her brother’s apartment and pounded on the door.
“Hold on a second! I’ll be right there!”
The door unlocked and Bo saw his tear streaked sister standing there. “Hi.”
“Can I come in?” She wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“Sure.” He stepped back and let her in.
Bo was still working on his apartment, there was very little furniture and the place smelled of fresh paint, Min sat down on the plastic covered couch.
“What’s going on?”
Min looked up at him and a gush of fresh tears rolled down her face. “Johnny thinks I’m sleeping with Roy.”
“What?” Bo sat down beside her and she leaned her head against his chest.
“Roy and I met at the Sunshine Café, we just went there to have some tea and maybe a piece of pie to celebrate the fact that we had finally gotten everything done. Johnny showed up and started beating up Roy, he said that we were having an affair!”
Bo sighed and stroked his sister’s hair. “Okay, tell me everything that you’ve done ever since you bought that house.”

Roy was standing in the guest bathroom of his house, he had a cold wash cloth against his cheek, he took it away and saw the mark that his partner had given him in the mirror. It was red and starting to turn purple, it was going to be a nice bruise. He sighed, he couldn’t believe that his partner of over six years had hit him.
JoAnne suddenly appeared in the mirror behind him. “Nice face.”
“Thanks, compliments of Johnny Gage.”
“Speaking of which, he’s here Roy.”
“Terrific, he’s here to finish beating me up.”
His wife shook her head, her blonde hair moving slightly. “I don’t think so.”
Roy set the washcloth down on the sink. “Are you sure?”
“You know Roy, if I was in his shoes, I might have thought the same thing.”
He leaned forward, his hands on either side of the sink. “You would?”
JoAnne sat down on the rim of the tub. “Think about it, what if I was out with Johnny a lot and not exactly telling you why, wouldn’t that kind of plant the idea in your mind that we might be fooling around?”
“Yeah I guess it would.” He thought about everything, the meetings at the new house after work, the phone calls in the garage, he was sure that Chet had heard at least one of them, maybe more. He sighed and turned on the faucet and splashed his face, his wife was right.
“And don’t you think that might make you upset enough to slug the man that you thought was sleeping with your wife?”
Roy turned around and looked at his wife, he wiped the water dripping off of his chin. “It might.”
“No might’s about it, you would, imagine what he must have been going through thinking that his wife and his partner were sleeping together.”
“All right Anne, I think I get your point.”
JoAnne smiled. “Good, now go talk to your partner.”

Johnny was sitting on a lawn chair out on the front porch, he was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. He was trying to think of what to say to Roy, what he did was pretty unforgivable and he wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his friend over it.
“Hi.”
Roy was standing over him and when Johnny saw the purple mark on his cheek, he covered his eyes with his hands. “Hi.”
Roy sat down in the lawn chair that was next to his partner, Johnny finally uncovered his face. “Roy?”
“Yeah?”
“I was a jerk.”
Roy started laughing. “No you weren’t a jerk Johnny.”
“Oh yeah? Tell that to your face! You should be furious with me.”
“I’ll admit that I was pretty sore at you but then I realized why Chet had been acting so weird and Anne also pointed out a few things I hadn’t thought of. She made me see that Min and I did look pretty suspicious, I probably would have done the same thing you did.”
Johnny finally faced his partner, he felt so ashamed. “When I saw the two of you together, I just snapped. The whole world turned red and it was like I was somebody else. I am really sorry I jumped you.”
“I can understand Johnny, whether we tell them or not our wives do mean a lot to us.”
“She does, I just hope that what happened at the café doesn’t send her packing.”
“It won’t, believe me, we have worked so hard on that house, and she did it all for you. She’s probably really upset but I don’t think she’ll leave you over it.”
Johnny leaned back against the lawn chair. “And you know what today is don’t you?”
“Sure I do, it was a year ago today I was in a penguin suit standing beside you.”
“That’s right, and I went and did something completely stupid.”
Roy shook his head. “Listen to me, go buy her some roses and go talk to her.”
“I don’t even know where she is.”
“I bet I do, she’s at the new house.”
“But she gave me the keys.”
“She had three sets made, she gave one to me and she kept two.”
Johnny looked at his partner. “Roses huh, okay.” He turned towards his partner and stuck out his hand. “Friends?”
Roy grasped the outstretched hand and shook it. “Partners and friends.”

Bo had heard everything and he handed his sister a tissue. “Min, I hate to say this but if I had been in Johnny’s shoes I would have thought that too.”
Min sighed. “Great! So I brought this on myself?”
“No that isn’t what I’m saying, you have to look at this through Johnny’s eyes, how would you feel if you thought he had another woman on the side?”
She covered her face with her hands and leaned back against the couch, the plastic rustled as she did so. “I’d be upset.”
“Exactly! That’s why he went nuts and started beating up Roy.”
She uncovered her face. “So what do I do?”
Bo smiled widely. “I suggest you go talk to him.”
Min sat up and kissed her brother’s cheek. “Thanks Bo.”
The blond headed man smiled widely. “Hey that’s what I’m here for.”

Min arrived at their house only to discover that Johnny wasn’t there, she sighed as she looked around it. The furniture the couple had picked out was maroon and teal green in a Southwestern pattern. They had been arranged around a dark oak coffee table and two matching end tables. Above the furniture hung a beautiful Navajo blanket, it was the same one that had hung in their apartment, it had survived the earthquake. The hand woven blanket had a Chevron design in the center surrounded by southwest peach, maroon and teal, it went well with the furniture.
“Min?”
She heard the voice of her husband but she didn’t turn around, she was still pretty upset, his words at the café were cruel and she had not gotten over their sting. The sound of his tennis shoes squeaking on the hardwood floor echoed a little, he tried to touch her shoulder but she moved away from him. This made the fireman sigh heavily, he figured that he probably deserved it.
“I guess I had that coming.”
Still she was silent, she crossed her arms over her chest, Johnny walked around his wife and looked at her. He could easily see how much pain he had caused her. “I’m sorry Min, when I saw the both of you I figured it had to be true, I got so scared and angry.” He started to walk away.
“Why were you scared?” She finally spoke; it made her husband turn around.
“Because I thought I had lost you.”
Min sighed and hung her head for a moment. “How could you think that?”
Johnny shrugged his shoulders. “I know I’m not the easiest guy to live with let alone be married too.”
“Johnny…” She walked up to him and put both hands on his face. “Listen to me and remember these words, there is no man on this planet that can even hold a candle to you. Do you understand?”
He nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“Good.” Min put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I know that most of this is probably my fault, Roy and I did keep things from you and lie about where we were but it was only because I wanted to surprise you with this house.”
Johnny put his arms around his wife. “It’s a great house, I haven’t seen all of it but I like it.”
Min squeezed him. “I’m glad.”
Johnny sighed and let go of his wife. “I have to go.”
“Where?”
He touched her cheek and kissed her. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
She nodded slowly. “Okay, everything is moved in, there isn’t anything left at Daisy’s.”
”Okay I’ll be back.”

Min blew out the match she was using to light a few candles, she heard the sound of the front door closing.
“Min?”
“I’m in our bedroom Johnny.”
“Boy this is a big place, it’s going to take time to get used to it.”
Johnny walked into the room and saw it was filled with candlelight. Min was standing in the room in a black satin nightie, it was shiny and had spaghetti straps, it went down to about mid-thigh. Her long dark hair was loose and it hung to her chest. “Hi.”
He swallowed hard, his hands were behind his back and he brought them around the front, he was holding a big bouquet of peach roses. They were identical to the ones that made up her wedding bouquet exactly one year ago. “I brought these for you.”
She smiled as she took them from him. “Thank you.” She sniffed them and did a little spin. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful and so are you.” He reached out and took her hand. “I want you to know something, marrying you was not a mistake, it was probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life.”
Min still had the roses in her hand, she put her arms around her husband’s neck and hugged him. “Will you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
She kissed his lips gently and smiled. “Dance with me?”
He looked at her. “Now?” He looked down at himself, he had a t-shirt and his work pants on. “Well, if you want to.”
“I want to.”
She let go of him and set her roses down on the nightstand, she went over to one of the walk-in closets and opened the door. She had a little stereo on one of the shelves and she turned it on and pressed the play button on the cassette deck. The soft familiar tones of Unchained Melody began to play, it was one of the songs they had danced to at their wedding reception. She walked back over to him and smiled.
“May I have this dance?”
“Of course.”
Min put her arms around her husband’s neck, he had his arms around her waist as they gently swayed to the music. They were looking into each other’s eyes and they both saw love reflecting in them. This was only their first anniversary and they both knew many more would come. The song ended and Johnny bent down a little and scooped his wife up in his arms, he carried her to their bed and laid her down on it. One of the candles that was lighting the room was on the headboard, he smiled at his wife as he blew out the candle.