The Spinster's Club

ROMY: Four

Driving back to the station house, David couldn't wipe the smile from his face. He had done many inspections in his time but none had been quite as entertaining as the one he had just finished. Part of him had to wonder if his work mates had set him up with some elaborate prank but he dismissed the idea. They weren't as clever as all that so he doubted it.

On many, although not all of those inspections, he had been flirted with; he simply put it down to being part of the job and it was nothing he ever took too seriously. Only on the rarest of occasions did he flirt back and even then the client was usually a little old lady and he never saw the harm. For the most part he kept it all professional as he took his job very seriously but today he had wanted to flirt back; in a big way. Not quite understanding why he refrained from doing so, trying his level best to keep it all above board.

Perhaps being thought of as a stripper had something to do with it. That had never happened before and oddly enough, rather than be offended David found he was more than a little flattered. At 41 years of age he believed he was beyond being thought of as sexy but clearly he was wrong.

Then of course there was that odd comment about salmon bars from Romy; Ms Daniels. He immediately knew what she meant as there was a set of them back at the fire house, although he himself had never used them. The mortification on her face when she had realized her faux pas was instantaneous and so he had made the comment about fish to try and ease that embarrassment, even if he couldn't understand why he would want to help her out like that.

The whole inspection had been peppered with mild flirtations on her behalf and David had to wonder if she even realized she was doing it, or if it was just a subconscious thing. Given the way her cheeks seemed to be in a perpetual state of flush, he guessed she did know and yet she hadn't been able to stop. For some reason that made him want to smile even more.

~*~*~

"How did you go?" Captain Harris asked on his return.

"Good. The shop space is just a shell at the moment but the outlets and fire equipment are all squared away. Another inspection when Romy finally gets set up is in order but I don't see it being a problem."

"Romy?"

"Ms Daniels. She's the owner of the store. From what she told me, I guess she will be selling chocolate of some sort. I already told her she'd have a good dozen customers with most of the guys here loving a bit of something sweet."

"Made a bit of an impression, did she?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind" the Captain smiled, with a smile that suggested he knew something David didn't. He wasn't comfortable with that thought. "I suppose you want to volunteer to do that inspection when the time comes around?"

He wanted to say yes but he didn't want it to be obvious that he wanted to do so. If it became known he had an interest in more than the store, he'd never hear the end of it. Since his break up with Janice his mates have pushed him to find someone new. If they suspected for even a minute that he was interested in Romy, they would bend over backwards to see it happened. He wasn't ready for that kind of ribbing or interference in his love life; especially if he wasn't sure he was all that interested in Romy to start with, all flirting aside.

"No, not really; if it just happens that I'm on the inspection rotation at the time, I'll go."

His captain just smiled again and it was definitely the smile of a man who knew more than he was letting on. "Whatever you say; now, get back to work."

David did just that.

~*~*~

Turning the corner and heading out into the parking area between the engine and the hose truck, David wondered why it was so quiet. Normally there were other members of his squad about, whether it was making sure the trucks were ready for the next call out, or playing hoops at the back of the house. It was too early for them all to be in at lunch so this quietness was a little odd.

Just as he reached the back of the trucks and walked past the proverbial fireman's pole – something that was symbolic and not actually functional, in their house at least – music started to play. David was a little more than embarrassed to realize it was the piece of music known as 'the Stripper'. From out of nowhere the rest of his squad appeared, cat-calling and waving dollar bills at him, some even suggesting in a taunting tone that he get his kit off. How the hell..?

"How about a show Davey; work some of your magic on the pole here" his about to be ex best friend Paul suggested.

David kept walking, ignoring as best as he could the jibes and jeers of his so called friends, wondering how the hell they knew about what had happened back at the inspection.

~*~*~

Much to David's chagrin, the rest of the day was fairly quiet, Midvale finally being fire safe and not requiring of their services as much as normal. Because of this, the squad were stuck in the house and that meant his colleagues had more time to rib him about being a stripper.

Paul finally came clean and told him that he had intercepted a call from Romy, who had wanted to apologize for confusing him with an erotic dancer. Of course she didn't realize that he had been fine with it; at least until it became stationhouse fodder. Thankfully he had a good sense of humour so once the initial embarrassment wore off, he mostly ignored the teasing the rest of the shift.

At one point he wanted to go back to her and tell her 'thanks for the apology but you've just made it worse' but of course he didn't. Not when he realized that the real reason he wanted to go back was so he could ask her out and he wasn't quite sure how he was meant to feel about that.