Brown Eyes

"Okay, well...thank you...Clark. Bye," she said as she pushed the big, heavy door shut.

She went to walk inside then turned and waved to him just before disappearing.

Randi had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and was only wearing a simple white shirt with the pet center's name on it with a pair of jeans, but she was quite possibly the most attractive woman he'd run into in a very long time. And Clark Nichols ran into a lot of very attractive women. She was obviously very young, but she was clearly very mature, independent, and unwilling to take something for nothing. As beautiful as she was he could easily see her batting those long lashes at some guy and getting pretty much anything she wanted and yet he was pretty sure that wasn't the kind of thing this woman would do.

Nichols also liked that Randi was also rather tall for a woman, something he found very appealing. Nichols was 6' 3" and he guessed her to be somewhere close to 5' 11". In a pair of heels, she'd be the perfect height.

Then again, she was pretty much perfect in her white tennis shoes and blue jeans. He couldn't get her pretty face and those beautiful blue eyes out of his mind as Flame's bark brought him back to reality.

"Oh, right. We need to get home, huh, boy? We've got a ton of work to do upstairs so let's get a move on, shall we?"

Nichols had slept nearly six hours the night before, something he'd only done a handful of times in all the years he'd been with the SFD. He was renovating the second floor of his house so he could rent it out, and it was getting reasonably close to move-in ready.

As a bachelor who owned his own home he wasn't hurting for money, but it would be nice to rent the upstairs out. The money he could charge in rent would all but cover his monthly mortgage payment, and that would free up a lot more each paycheck to save or invest. He had a house, a pick-up, a dog, and pretty much all the toys and gadgets a guy could want so it wasn't as though he'd be doing without by investing more money. Besides, he was at the point where living alone was getting old. He was sure he wasn't ready to settle down just yet, but he thought he might be getting close. A wife and kids were expensive, and at some point, he wanted to be able to support one of the former and one or two of the latter...someday.

Nichols knocked off at three o'clock so he could shower and change before heading back to the pet center. He also wanted to stop by Midas and pay for the tires and ask the guy to play along with his story. After learning how independent this Randi was it was even more important to him she not think he was giving her something for nothing.

Fortunately, the same guy was there and he told Clark he fully understood and would insist they had a 'free-tire' sale going on, which was true. If she was like most women, Randi wouldn't even look at the tires. She'd just put it in gear and drive off. No harm, no foul. Mission accomplished.

Nichols pulled into the pet center just before 4:30 and decided to take Flame and go have a look around inside. He wasn't ready to take home another dog yet, but it couldn't hurt to look since he was there.

The sound of loud barking was the first thing he noticed when they walked inside. Flame stayed right at his side having been told to 'heel' before entering. The next thing he heard was, "Oh, my God! Is that him?"

He looked over and saw Randi standing next to another girl in a white shirt. This other girl's mouth was hanging open and Randi elbowed her. "Sorry!" she said to Randi as she stared at Nichols.

"Hello there," she said. Her smile was so big Nichols worried she might hurt something.

"Oh, hi," he said. "I was a little early and thought I'd look around. I just lost my other dog...."

"I know. Randi's talked about you all day. Gee, I wonder why?" the girl said having not so much as blinked yet. Randi gave her another little nudge which she completely ignored. "I could show you around if you like," she offered.

Randi rolled her eyes then smiled. "Penny? There are four rows of kennels to walk down. There really isn't anything to show."

'Penny' nudged Randi back a little too hard. Nichols tried not to laugh when she nearly bent over in pain knowing she wasn't really hurt. Or at least not permanently.

"You know what? Maybe I'll take a raincheck." He glanced at his watch and it 4:30 on the dot. "You ready?" he asked Randi who'd just stood back up.

"I am," she said giving Penny the eye. "I'd say my friend here is a little bit star struck with you."

Penny was still smiling and said, "You can't blame me, right? You did say he's single, right?"

Penny was most likely a little older than Randi. Like Randi, she also had longer, dark hair, but that's where the similarities ended. Penny was maybe 5'3" and looked to be close to 150 pounds or so. She had a very sweet smile, but the most charitable way to put it was to say she wasn't very attractive.

"I am single," he said as Randi came around from behind the counter. "And I think I might finally be looking." He smiled at her and saw her turn very red.

"Oh, really?" Penny gushed. "Well, um, it was really nice meeting you...Brown Eyes!"

"Penny!" Randi said exasperatedly. "Have you no restraint at all? For goodness sakes!"

"It's okay," Nichols told them both. "I'm kind of used to that after all these years. Nice meeting you, too...Green Eyes," he told Penny with another big smile.

"They're hazel but if you want them to be green, they're green," she said dreamily.

He waved goodbye, told Flame to heel, then opened the door for Randi and Rex who'd finally come around to the front. Rex went immediately for Flame's rear end, but he was too well-trained to be distracted.

"Sorry, he's got a kind of thing for um...you know," Randi said as though she needed to apologize for a dog being a god.

"Other dogs' butts?" Nichols offered unable to resist saying it.

"Well, okay. Yes. That's the technical term for it," she said smiling at him. "Thank you so much for doing this. I know I said that a few times already, but this is just so nice of you."

"You're welcome," he told her sincerely. He opened her door and she thanked for that, too, as Rex jumped up first. He offered Randi a hand then said, "I'm working on that escalator thing for you."

She laughed and said, "No hurry. This will be the last time I climb up in here so I think you're fine."

"It doesn't have to be," Nichols told her with a smile once she was seated. She smiled at him but didn't speak. He went around to his side, opened the door, let Flame in, then pulled himself up.

"Your car is ready to go, by the way. I stopped and checked before I came to pick you up."

"How much do I owe?" she asked, her face scrunched up not wanting to hear the answer.

"Nothing. They really did have a free-tire offer."

"No way," she said. "Nothing like that ever happens to me. Come on. There has to be some catch. I know! My husband owes this guy money and he's gonna keep my car as collateral, right?"

"No, he's not keeping your car, and you don't owe him anything."

"Hmmm. If you didn't look like such an honest man...." she said looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I am an honest man," he said. "I haven't told you anything that isn't true."

"Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, we'll run with that for now. But I'm watching you...Brown Eyes."

He smiled, glanced back at her then asked, "How's the view?"

"I'm tempted to say something sarcastic, but the truth is, the view is pretty nice."

He smiled politely, looked at her briefly then said, "Same here, by the way."

He saw her look away very quickly then change the subject.

"We walk pretty close to where you work several days a week when I take Rex out to do his business before I go to work. We don't go passed the fire station, but we get pretty close before we turn around."

"Why don't you stop in sometime?" he suggested. "Rex would be a big hit. Just be careful, though. The other guys—and gals—might just adopt him on the spot."

"No way," she said. "Rex is my buddy. No, he's the only male—other than my father—who hasn't hurt me or broken my heart. He's a keeper." She reached back and nuzzled his snout and Rex licked her ear. "Eeew! Except when he does that," she said.

Nichols laughed and said pointing to the Midas sign, "We're here. Unless you need me to wait, you're all set."

"No, I'm good," she said smiling at him. "I really can't thank you enough."

"Hold on," he said. He jumped out and ran around to her side and opened her door then offered her a hand.

She took it and let him help her down.

"So I guess this is it then," Randi said as Rex jumped down, too.

They were less than a foot apart and looking into each other's eyes as he said, "I guess so."

"Okay, well, um...thank you again...Clark." She stuck out her hand and Nichols took it.

"Take care, Randi," he told her as she grabbed Rex's leash and headed inside.

As he watched her walk away he realized she was the first woman that good looking he hadn't hit on in....ever. Normally, he'd have made his move early on and charmed her into his bedroom directly or at least indirectly via dinner at some nice restaurant. But he also realized she wasn't like all those other women. For some reason he saw her as somehow unique. Well, at least to him. She was...special...in some way he couldn't quite put his finger on. She was also still married—at least technically anyway. Nichols didn't date married women, but in a circumstance like this....

Then again, he probably wouldn't even see her again so he let it go and got back in the big Silverado 2500HD and said, "Okay, boy. Time to go home and get some dinner. You gonna actually eat tonight?" Flame barked and Nichols smiled. "Well, okay then. Let's get us some grub, pardner!"

Inside, Randi was met with a pleasant smile and her car keys.

"You're all set, ma'am," she was told.

"And I don't owe you anything?"

"Nope. You're all set," he assured her.

"So you put on one new tire and it's...free?"

"Yes, ma'am. We did in fact put on one new tire for free."

Randi took her keys and thanked the man who looked down at Rex but didn't say anything about bringing a dog inside.

"Your car's right out front," he told her pointing to it.

Still not sure what to think she thanked him and took Rex outside. She opened the car door and let the dog get in without looking at the tires. So far, so good.

When she pulled into her apartment complex, she looked around for any signs of Mrs. Crowly, the manager, and one of the most unpleasant human beings she'd ever met. Seeing no sign of her, she went to sneak Rex inside to her 'no pets allowed' apartment when she saw the notice.

"Shit!" she said ripping it off her window and hurrying her dog inside. It was a 2nd Past Due Notice as though she wasn't already painfully aware she was behind on her rent. Way behind. She'd made a partial payment last payday, but Mrs. Crowly had warned her if Randi didn't pay her in full by the 1st of the month, she'd be evicted. This was the second of three required legal notices. "Shit!" she said again before throwing it in the trash.

Not having to buy the new tire meant she could make another partial payment on the 1st, but there was no way she could get caught up unless of course, she stopped eating. She could avoid paying car insurance—again, but she risked being cancelled and that was a risk she wasn't willing to take. She could also float her cell phone bill and expect to have her service turned off. Same with the electric bill.

She looked in the fridge and saw a half-empty jar of black olives and some ketchup. She had just enough kibble left to feed Rex until payday. Feeding herself was a different story.

"When it rains, it pours, right, boy?" she said putting his food in his dish.

She did have some saltine crackers and peanut butter in the pantry so she wouldn't starve. The big question was how much toothpaste she had left until payday—the day when she'd be completely dead broke again a couple of hours after cashing her check and still likely to get evicted.

She had six days left until payday and maybe just enough food to make it. Maybe. She could probably scrounge a piece of fruit or two here or there to avoid getting some exotic disease like scurvy, but being proud and independent was getting old. And hard.

Two days later Nichols was back at the fire station and Flame had been doing better. He'd started eating again after his short time with Rex and as far as Nichols was concerned, that was well worth the price of a set of four new tires—for the cost of just three, of course.

It was just after 6:30am when he went outside to take care of some maintenance with Flame in tow. He'd only been out a minute of so when Flame barked and bolted.

"Hey! Where are you goin'?" he hollered as the dog tore off.

He looked up and saw what got Flame's attention. It was Rex.

He saw Randi being pulled hard as she fought to hold onto his leash. "Easy, boy!" she called out as Rex dragged her toward his new buddy.

Nichols headed toward her and tried not to laugh.

"Who's walking whom?" he asked when the dogs finally met and the tension was released.

"No kidding!" she said.

"How are you?" he asked her. "And what brings you by the finest firehouse in the city?"

"I told you we walk pretty close to here so...I thought we might mosey on by and see if Brown Eyes was working today and...look! Here you are!"

"In the flesh," he told her. "You wanna come in for a minute? We just finished breakfast but there's plenty left. Enough for Mr. Rex here, too."

Randi was starving, but too proud to say so. "Um...are you sure it's okay?"

"I'm sure. I made it, by the way, so if you don't like it, you'll know who to blame. Come on. I'll introduce you and Rex to the gang."

Randi couldn't ever remember feeling so at home anywhere in her life outside of the house she grew up in with two loving parents and an older brother. Every firefighter treated her and her dog like they were family. She wasn't sure who was better received, her or Rex, but she loved the way being there made her feel. And she loved being full for the first time in weeks.

"That was so good!" she told Clark.

He smiled at her then said playfully pointing at her stomach, "You don't have a tapeworm somewhere in there do you? I've never seen anyone eat that much before." He turned his head toward a very large man in uniform then said, "Except for Rizzo over here."

"Hey! I resemble that remark!" the big man said as he reached for another slice of bacon.

Rex had also eaten a ton of scraps and polished off most of a large bowl of fresh water before going from room to room and engine to engine with Flame.

"I'm gonna make you a little care package to take home with you," Nichols told her.

"No! You don't need to do that!" she said hoping and praying he would. "I won't be able to eat again for a week!"

"Come on. You can't possibly resist my biscuits and gravy, can you?" he said with a smile as he put several in a plastic container and gravy in another one.

When he handed it to her, Nichols was pretty sure he saw her eyes glistening.

"Was it really that bad?" he asked jokingly. "I mean, Rizzo will eat all of that by noon if you don't take it with you."

"Hey! I'm standin' right here, you know, Superman," Rizzo said as he stabbed a sausage link with his fork.

"Sorry," she said wiping the corner of her eye with a napkin. "I'm not used to anyone doing anything nice for me, and all you've done is be nice to me since we met."

"Here to serve," he said quietly and politely. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

Randi called Rex but he didn't come. Nichols whistled and said, "Flame? Come!"

Two seconds later, two black and white dogs came flying around the front of a fire engine. "Good boy!" Nichols said bending down to pet him. "Looks like these two have bonded."

"No kidding," Randi said in full agreement.

"Maybe they could play together sometime," he said while still petting Flame.

"Oh...sure. Yeah, I think Rex would enjoy that," she told him.

He wasn't looking at her, but she was most definitely looking at him. He was obviously gorgeous and yet he was as nice as he was good looking. Randi was trying to remember having ever met anyone, male or female, who had that much of both qualities and was coming up blank.

Life with her husband had really put a damper on her self image, but not to the point she didn't know she was still an attractive woman. Even so, she couldn't imagine a man like Clark Kent/Superman/Brown Eyes-Nichols being interested in someone like her. Even if he was, one look at her financial situation would scare any sane man off. She was was so deeply in debt she was seriously contemplating bankruptcy and yet she couldn't afford the attorney fees to file for it let alone her divorce. And that didn't include the money her husband owed to some very shady, very physical people. But even at 35 or however old he was, Brown Eyes really was 'all that and a bag of chips'.

"So what do you say?" he was asking.

She could tell it was the second time he'd asked by his tone of voice. She'd been so lost in dreamland she hadn't heard a word.

"I'm normally a very good listener, but my mind was somewhere else. Could you say that again, please?"

"I was thinking about maybe getting together—the dogs, that is—this weekend. If you're free, of course."

"Oh, sure. Yes, I'd...I mean...Rex...would love that. Yeah, that sounds great."

"Okay. Well, how about I give you a call and we'll set something up?"

He stood up and pulled out his phone and handed it to her and she tapped in her name and number. "Randi Kelly. So you do have a last name," he teased.

"That's my married name. I'm thinking about going back to my maiden name but for now, yes, I'm still a Kelly."

He walked out front with her then spent some time petting Rex. "You come back and visit again, okay boy? And bring your human with you."

Randi found herself laughing once more and along with not being hungry, she was feeling very good.

"I can't thank you enough for breakfast—for both of us—and for the care package as you called it. Or the new tire or the ride or...."

"I'm just glad I was there to give you a hand," he said.

"I truly appreciate it. So...I guess I'll see you...and Flame...sometime this weekend?"

"You can count on it," he told her.

When Randi got back to the apartment complex, she saw Mrs. Crowley standing right next to her car waiting for her. There was no way to avoid her because she had to get inside and get ready to go to work.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" she said, her arms crossed and her left foot tapping the pavement. "Is that a dog I see? A dog in an apartment complex that specifically prohibits pets of all kinds?"

"Mrs. Crowley, please. Rex is all I have left and...."

"Uh-huh," she said cutting her off. "And gee, how nice is it to have four new tires on your car when you can't even pay me your rent! I guess we all have our priorities, right?"

Randi was getting ready to tell her it was just one tire, but as she looked down, it was obvious both of the tires facing her were new. She didn't even bother going around to check the other side as she knew what she'd find. Brown Eyes had had all four of them replaced.

"Mrs. Crowley, please...." she began.

"Here's your third and final notice. The police will be by in 72 hours if you haven't vacated the premises by then." She shoved the paper into her chest then said, "You and your dog have yourselves a nice day!"

She took Rex inside, put the food away, then changed to go to work. She took him out to pee one last time then headed for the pet center. Focusing was impossible even with the limited amount of thinking required at such a mundane job.