The First Time
Melinda was deliriously, deliciously happy. Johnny had finally agreed to have her move out to his beloved ranched with him. She had even gotten him to agree to build her a studio on the property…silly boy! He stupidly agreed a lock was a good idea, because, after all, artist's supplies were expensive. She never opened the tightly drawn drapes, nor invited him into the studio when he was home, claiming it as her sanctuary. Johnny never questioned her, feeling everyone needed their own space. His was the barn, and the horses, which Melinda never came near. He never knew about the second lock…the once she had installed herself; on the inside of the door.
The first time it happened, it really was an accident. Melinda hadn't meant to get so rough with Johnny. She wasn't even all that angry with him. Just a little…frustrated. She had thought when he had three days off, he would put the station and his work behind him, but she quickly discovered that was not the way it was at all.
He had come home with some books of tickets for some ridiculous Fireman's Picnic he was selling. It seemed he had won a trip to Las Vegas the year before, and wanted to try to win the waterbed this year. He playfully asked her if she wanted to buy a ticket, and she could have screamed.
"Can't you think about anything but work, just for five minutes, John?"
Johnny's head canted to the left in surprise. "What are you talkin' about?!" His voice began to rise. "These are tickets for a charity. I sell 'em every year! What's your problem?!"
Her not-so-lovely blue eyes snapped in rage. She slapped him sharply as she lost her temper with his constant obsession with work. Instantly she regretted her actions, and she fawned over the shocked young fireman, who had gasped and pulled away.
"Oh, baby! I'm so sorry!" She immediately put her arms around Johnny and turned his face towards her. "I didn't mean to do that! I am so very sorry! Can you forgive me? Johnny-cakes, I didn't mean to lose my temper with you. It's just that I have so many plans for us during your time off, and I just don't want anything to get in the way. Can you understand? I never meant to hurt you! Please? Can we just move on? You know I love you, right?" Melinda's rapid-fire barrage of words was beginning to confuse Johnny, and besides, his jaw didn't really hurt. It wasn't that big a deal. He smiled and wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks. He needed to comfort her; let her know she hadn't really hurt him. He would do anything to wipe the hurt from her beautiful blue eyes…
Melinda watched as the tentative smile spread over John's bruised face, then as it grew into his full charming grin. He wiped away her tears and began to caress her tenderly. When he kissed her passionately, and the book of tickets lay forgotten on the bedroom floor, she knew she had him right where she wanted him. After he fell asleep, she dropped the tickets into the trashcan. Johnny forgot all about them, and oddly, he sold very few tickets for the picnic that year.
By the time he returned to work after the three days off, the bruise had faded somewhat. He passed it off as a stable accident, and nobody was the wiser. Johnny himself had never given it another thought. It was certainly not the first time he had been slapped by a young lady, and he doubted it would be the last. Besides, making up was fun…He grinned to himself as he got ready for shift. John Roderick Gage had no idea that his life was headed down a road he would never have wished on his worst enemy, if he'd had one.
The accident that put him off-shift for ten days was actually kind of a dumb one. He cracked his collar-bone on the floor of a commercial kitchen that was coated in cooking oil. Seems somebody needed to move a pallet of cooking oil from the storage room to the main pantry and they got the bright idea to use a small forklift to do it, aaaaaand, well, things went downhill rapidly. The restaurant owner put in the call to rescue the guy who flipped the forklift; Sam Lanier toned out 51's; and Johnny wound up with a cracked collarbone. Again. Wasn't all that bad, but required bed rest for a few days, and no heavy lifting for ten days…which equaled out to about four shifts off. He grinned, his eyes dancing. Oh, damn. For the first time, he wasn't upset about the time off. Not at all!
For Melinda's part, she was absolutely thrilled at the turn of events. She couldn't believe her luck! She would have Johnny all to herself for ten whole days. She had gotten the call from him at the station as he had gotten ready to leave. She had reminded him to bring home his laundry, and drop off his uniforms at the cleaners on the way home. She would run to the market and restock their supplies; and pick up a few special items while she was at it, she smiled to herself. It was a good thing she was a careful planner. She had already ordered everything she needed, and all she had to do was drop by the post office on her way home from the market. With any luck, she would be home before Johnny, and he would never even see the plain brown boxes, or their contents…at least not before she had everything ready.
Sure enough, there was no sign of the white Land Rover a couple of hours later as Melinda pulled up into her usual spot in John's driveway. Normally, this would bother Melinda to no end, because it meant she didn't know exactly where he was. For now, she decided to let her irritation with her wayward fireman go, and use the unexpected time to her advantage. She would deal with his slowness in getting home later.
First, she unlocked her private sanctuary and stowed the boxes from the post office in there, and locked it quickly. There was no rush to set up. There would be plenty of time, later. Next, she stowed the groceries in the pantry and the large refrigerator and freezer. Finally, she hid the clothing she had bought in her closet. No use to let him see that too soon…it would only upset the poor boy! She gave a small chuckle as she thought of him dressed in the totally out of character clothing! But ohhh, how delicious he was going to look! Positively…yummy!
She pulled herself out of her musings as she head the crunch of tires on the gravel outside. She turned to greet her fireman and found herself face to face with—NONONONONONO! Melinda thought to herself, this positively CANNOT be happening!
Helping Johnny out of the passenger seat of a gold Porsche was his meddling partner Roy! She had seen his photo once from a newspaper clipping John had shown her.
For his part, Roy couldn't help but stare at the gorgeous blonde woman staring at him from the porch. The thing that struck him most was that, though she seemed to be smiling, she had the coldest blue eyes he had ever seen. It was also obvious in that split second, she absolutely hated him! Her expression changed so quickly, he almost wondered if he had imagined it. He could have imagined it…but somehow, he doubted it. She became warm and loving with Johnny, helping Roy get him into the house, and taking very good care of him. He left the couple, but wondered why in the world Johnny had never before mentioned he had a woman living with him at his ranch. Sometimes he just didn't understand his partner. Johnny could take "private life" to a whole new level. And Roy could respect that.
