Brown Eyes

She was out of time, still out of money, and would soon be out of a place to live. Her parents would always take her back but they'd moved to Florida two years ago and in spite of the weather, Randi really loved living in the Seattle area. And she did not want to give her father the satisfaction of telling her he'd been right about her loser of a husband all along.

That evening, she was sitting at home listening to the radio that was part of her alarm clock when her phone rang. She forced herself to smile so she'd at least sound cheerful when she answered.

"Hey, Brown Eyes," she said, her voice shaky from so much stress.

He could tell by her voice something was wrong. "You okay?" he asked.

"Oh, sure. Why wouldn't I be?" she said trying harder.

"You sound...sad. Are you?"

"Maybe a little. I just found out we're going to have to find a new place pretty soon. But it's no big deal," she lied.

"How soon?" he asked.

"Like by this weekend soon?" she said, her voice rising as she spoke.

"Hmmm. Okay, let me run something by you then," he said.

When he finished explaining, Randi said, "Are you some kind of saint or something?"

Nichols laughed then told her, "No, no one's ever accused me of that before."

"Oh, okay. Good to know," she told him without judgment as she assumed he'd been with more than his fair share of attractive women over the years.

"I still have some work to do, but it's very livable right now. You'll have electricity, heat, running water, a stove, a new refrigerator. We'll just need to move your personal items in and you'll be all set."

"We?" she asked. "Clark, you've already done more than enough. I can't possibly ask you to...."

"You're not asking," he said politely. "In fact, the guys at the House will be happy to help out. You and Rex made quite an impression. Based on little we're talking about, we can move you in a couple of hours whenever you're ready."

Randi was so overwhelmed with gratitude she felt like crying.

"I don't know what to say, Clark. Do people really do these kinds of things for strangers anymore?"

"You're no longer a stranger, Randi, and yes, some of us do still care," he told her.

"I want you to know that I'm being evicted because I'm way behind on my rent and well, I can't get caught up. I don't have a lot of money to pay you so...."

"Who said anything about money? The place is just sitting there empty and I can't rent it out until everything's done anyway. This helps you out and gives you some time to catch your breath, financially speaking. Besides, I wouldn't take money from you anyway. But I would like to see Rex and Flame get together to play every now and then. Speaking of which, I believe that's the reason I called."

His voice was so pleasant and cheerful and his kindness was off-the-charts amazing. Randi had been fighting it the entire conversation and she felt it coming.

There was a lengthy silence before Clark heard the first sobs. "Hey! Come on. You're supposed to be happy!" he said cheerfully hoping it would work.

"I...I am," she said, her breath ragged and unsteady. "I was literally a day or two from living in my car. The car with four new tires on it, by the way." She wanted to thank him for that, but she couldn't say another word.

Clark was so moved all he could say was, "You're welcome."

He let her cry for a few more seconds then said, "When would you like us to come get your stuff?"

Clark had to work again that night but was off for three days as of the next morning. Randi had to work all day so they agreed he and the gang would be by Saturday morning around 9am to move her. From what she told him, his truck and one other could move everything she owned in no more than two trips. He was pretty sure Rizzo would be willing to volunteer his rig in order to have the chance to spend some more time around this very attractive young woman.

Clark still had no idea how little food Randi had so he couldn't have known how thankful she was when he showed up with an egg McMuffin and a cup of coffee for both of them.

"If you're not hungry, Rizzo will eat it, I'm sure," he said smiling at his friend who had jumped at the opportunity.

"Um...I think I could eat a few bites," she said, her stomach growling loudly. It was growling, but it had stopped hurting. At some point, it evidently adapted to hunger. She couldn't ever remember anything tasting so good before in her life. Well, except for the bacon and eggs she'd gorged on at the fire station.

Rex and Flame really had bonded. They were running in and out of the apartment and all around the front of the apartment when Mrs. Crowley showed up.

"It's not too late for me to call Animal Control, you know," she said tersely to Randi.

Clark stepped in and showed his badge. "Good morning, ma'am. I couldn't help but wonder just how many fire code violations you have in this old building. From my quick look around Ms. Kelly's apartment, I'd say you could find this place shut down for several days. So...are you sure you want to go to war with...us?" he said smiling the whole time.

She glared at both of them then said, "Just make sure you're out of here by 3 o'clock."

Randi hated snide people, but she just couldn't help herself. She smiled and said, "You have yourself a very nice day, Mrs. Crowley!"

As they finished moving her things outside, Randi was alone with Clark inside, taking a last look around.

"It's none of my business, but I didn't see much in the way of food in here. Human or dog food," he said. "Are you eating regularly, Randi?"

She was angry for not being able to control her emotions when she felt the tears coming again, but she couldn't stop them.

"If peanut butter and crackers count, then yes, I'm eating regularly. I'm more worried about Rex, though. I fed him the last of the kibble this morning and...." Once again, she couldn't speak.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Clark said. "Come here." He motioned for her and she took a step forward as he pulled in close for a hug. "Everything's gonna be just fine from now on."

"That's easy for you to say," she said, her slender body still shaking.

"Come on, let's get you out of this dump and away from that evil wench. What was her name?"

Randi managed a smile but couldn't laugh. "Judging by the way she hates Rex, I think her real name is Cruella Deville."

Clark couldn't help but chuckle and Randi laughed, too, although laughing just made her cough due to the crying.

Clark let go of her then held out his hand for Randi to take. "Come on. Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

On the way down the sidewalk he smiled then started skipping. "Come on, sing along. We're off...to see the wizard...." as he pulled her along.

Randi actually laughed a real laugh and joined in with him. "The wonderful Wizard of Oz!"

He walked her to her car then said, "Okay, just follow me and I shall lead you to the promised land!"

"Yeah, okay, Moses. Lead on!" she said finally smiling a genuine smile.

"My God, he's gorgeous!" she said to herself as he walked away.

It took a little longer to get her things moved in and set up than it had to remove them, but by 1 o'clock, Randi was all set.

Clark offered to take everyone to lunch, but they said, "No thanks. You can just bring us each a six pack next time you come to work."

Randi thanked all of them and gave each man a hug, even nasty, sweaty, very-rotund Rizzo. As she held him, he said to Clark, "Never mind about the six pack. This is payment enough for me!"

When she let go Rizzo told her, "If you ever need help moving again, just give me a holler, okay?" She promised him she would then gave him another hug knowing how much it meant to him.

When they were finally alone in her new place Nichols said, "Okay. You and I are going out for lunch, then we're going to the store to buy groceries. Rex can stay downstairs in my place with Flame until we get back."

He saw her on the verge of crying again then said to her, "You know, we should bring you along to our worst fires. Yeah, you could single-handedly extinguish any of them with the way your waterworks run all the time."

"Stop!" she said trying to laugh and not cry. "I can't help it."

She looked up into his eyes then said, "I can't even imagine how bad things would be if my tire hadn't gone flat when it did. Or if you hadn't been there."

"All in a day's work," he said trying to dismiss it as no big deal.

She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Clark. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you."

"Geez, now you're gonna make me cry," he said only partly teasing. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat. And I know just the place!"

The dogs were playfully romping through Clark's place as they left them behind. Clark helped Randi into his truck then fired it up.

"Have you ever been to Zippy's?" he asked as they backed out.

"Zippy's? Um...no. What's at Zippy's?" she asked him.

"Only the biggest, best burgers in the entire Seattle area," he told her. "You may not eat the rest of the weekend after one of their meals. I love burgers, but they also make the best charbroiled chicken breast sandwich on God's green earth. They even have these amazing black bean veggie burgers for the tree-hugger types."

Randi laughed a real, heartfelt laugh for the first time in many days.

"Tree huggers. Yeah, we have a lot of those around here, don't we?" she said knowing Seattle was one of the most liberal, progressive places in the country.

"Second only to the wing nuts in Berkeley, California," he said. "Don't get me wrong. I love trees and the environment. I even pick up trash everywhere I go. I just don't like the idea of beating the hell out of the fossil fuel companies as though that's gonna save 'Mother Gaia'."

"You don't believe in global warming?" she asked not sure what he believed.

"Believe?" he replied with a big smile. "I don't much care for that word. I prefer to ask, 'What evidence is there to support any particular claim'? The climate has always changed. The question is how much is man contributing and what are the implications? I see no evidence to support the worst-case, doom-and-gloom scenarios, and it's always the political far Left promoting them."

"Oh, so you're a Republican?" she asked now totally confused.

"Nope," he said not offering any more information. "I'm a...free thinker. I prefer to examine claims very carefully with a healthy dose of skepticism before accepting them. For example. Physicists claim that the universe is mostly made up of dark matter and dark energy. They may be right. I just don't know. So rather than 'believing in dark matter' I look for evidence supporting its existence and to the degree I find it, I accept the premise. If it turns out later they were wrong, I'll examine the new evidence."

"Wow. You're not just a free thinker, you're also a deep thinker," she said not sure what he'd just told her.

"Me? No. No way. I just don't buy into anything people tell me is the 'truth' until I have evidence it is. So I accept that the earth has warmed some tiny amount. I just don't buy into the worst-case scenarios that get all the hype. I love science, by the way, and if that makes me a 'science denier' then so be it, even though I don't deny anything about science."

They were pulling into Zippy's when he said, "So in other words, you shouldn't think this place really does have the best burgers around until you see—and taste one—for yourself."

His enthusiasm was infectious. Randi didn't really care that she wasn't following the discussion all that well (she'd never even heard of dark...whatever before...but then she was finally feeling like she wasn't about to have to run back home and live with her parents in several months.)

Forty-five minutes later, Randi's stomach was killing her, but for very different reasons.

"Oh, my gosh! That was the best burger I've ever had!" she said. It was the most massive thing she'd ever seen and she'd only eaten half of the burger and a small portion of the home fries. "I'm taking the rest of this home to Rex," she said.

"So you enjoyed it then?" Clark asked.

"Oh, yeah. That was better than sex!" she'd said before realizing what she'd said and to whom she'd said it.

Clark laughed as Randi covered her mouth with her hands. "I can't believe I just said that!" she told him before laughing with him.

When she lowered her hands, there was glob of ketchup on her face. Clark pointed at it and she still went to the wrong side with her napkin.

"Here," he said reaching up with his. When his finger reached the corner of her mouth, she felt something for the first time. Her hunger gone and her brain free to think and her body to feel, she definitely felt something. Something very pleasant and distantly familiar.

"There you go," he said after dabbing the red stain. "Good as new. Okay, how about we hit the grocery store?"

Her smile faded as she said, "Clark? I don't get paid until Monday and I think I've got maybe a buck left to my name. I can wait on the groceries."

"Again, I wasn't asking," he said flashing that amazing smile her way. "Come on."

He extended his hand which she accepted with some hesitation. He tossed their mess into the trash then set the tray itself down on their way out.

An hour and a half later, they were back home with enough groceries to feed both of them and their dogs for the next two weeks.

"I'll pay you back for all of this, Clark. I promise," she said as they stocked her refrigerator and her pantry. She smiled at him then thanked him yet again.

"As Rizzo said, you just paid me back," he told her. "You have this really amazing smile, by the way."

He was smiling at her when he said it and she felt herself starting to blush again. She looked away and emptied another bag.

"Well, you do," he said. She thanked him without looking at him for fear she'd turn a brighter shade of red.

"Actually, you're pretty awesome, Randi," he said more quietly.

His words not only warmed her heart but touched her deep inside. Rather than acknowledge what he'd just said, she told him, "The least I could do is cook dinner for you." She still hadn't looked at him.

"I'd like that," he told her. "It might be easier, at least for now, if you used my kitchen, though."

"Oh, okay," she said as she busied herself with another bag.

"I'm free tonight," he said just as quietly as before. "I mean, if you don't have plans, that is."

A wave of something—something very pleasant—washed over her body as she listened to him speak. It began in her tummy or perhaps somewhere a little lower and radiated throughout her body.

"No, I...I wasn't planning on going anywhere. Although I do still have that dollar left I could blow."

Clark's booming laughter not only startled her, it broke her out of her thoughts or feelings or whatever it was that was happening to her. She finally looked at him then said, "Don't laugh. I've really learned how to stretch a buck!"

They finished putting everything away in her place as the dogs came running back upstairs. They sniffed them both, wagged their tails like crazy, then took off back down to Clark's.

"I guess I'll get out of your hair and let you get settled," he told her.

"I can come help you put your stuff away if you'd like," she offered.

"No, that's okay," he said. "I've got it. Oh, as far as the dogs, do you want me to put up a baby fence to keep Flame out of your place?"

"Oh. Um, gee, I hadn't even thought about that. I think I kind of like them being able to hang out together. How do you feel about it?" she asked.

"I agree. I was just thinking it might give you some sense of privacy, you know? I have to create a separate entrance in order to rent this out and well, we really are kind of living in the same house until then. Is that okay?"

"Are you kidding?" she said smiling happily. "You rescue me over and over, you feed me, you buy me a set of four brand new tires, you buy me groceries, then give me this beautiful place to live in, and I'm gonna complain because the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen can walk in without...."

And there it came again. She felt the redness creeping up her neck and prayed it wouldn't hit her cheeks.

"Randi? Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asked now very concerned.

"Oh, um...no. Not at all. I just meant...I was thinking...well, what I was trying to say was...." She forced herself to look at him again and Clark smiled. "Your totally amazing, Clark," she finally blurted out.

He got ready to go downstairs then said, "I think you're pretty amazing, too, Randi."

Her cheeks began to glow and she felt not only helpless but ridiculous.

"Clark, I swear I haven't blushed since I was 16. I feel so...silly," she said looking down as though something important was on the floor.

He waited for her to look at him again before he spoke. "I'm really glad you're here, Randi."

Just then, they heard the sound of paws and panting followed by two black and white blurs romping back upstairs.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's happy about it!" Clark said.

Randi was petting Flame when she said, "No, you're definitely not the only one who's happy about it." She let Flame go and immediately his spot was filled with Rex. She roughed him up a little then remembered her burger.

"Rex! Here, boy!" she said. She pulled out the burger, found the rest of the monster-sized patty and held it out for her dog. He took one quick sniff then snatched it whole and chomped on it three times before swallowing.

She and Clark both laughed as he stood there looking for more. "That's it until dinner time, buddy. Go play!"

He and Flame bounded back down the stairs as Randi asked, "What time do you normally eat dinner, Clark?"

"Unless I'm at the Firehouse, I kind of just graze or end up going out to eat. I guess whenever you're hungry will work."

"Hmmm. Well, after the deluxe mega-burger I ate, I may not need another meal until Monday," she said with a smile.

"That's okay. I have some frozen yogurt in the freezer. You could come down and have a bowl with me. If you'd like, that is."

"I would," she said sweetly. "How about around seven for just the yogurt?" She really didn't think she could eat a full meal again no matter how hungry she'd been for weeks.

"Sounds good," he said smiling back. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Me, too," she told him. "And yet again, please let me thank you for everything, Clark."

Clark smiled but only said, "See you later?" before heading downstairs.

Halfway down, Randi heard, "Comin' through!" as both dogs tore back up the stairs. His loud, happy, laugh made her smile as did the way Rex finally had a friend to play with. She smiled again when she thought how she too, might just have a friend. A very handsome, very nice friend, at that.

Right at seven Randi walked downstairs and realized what Clark was talking about as she found herself looking into his living room without having opened a door.

"Clark? I'm here. May I come in?" she called out not knowing what else to do.

"Yeah, I'm in here," he called back.

She followed his voice to the kitchen and saw him trying to feed Flame, but Rex wouldn't back off.

"Rex! No! Come!" Randi called but he wasn't about to move. Clark had food and her dog was still hungry.

"Do you mind if I feed him here? Just for tonight, of course."

"Well, since I already feel like a total sponge, I suppose it couldn't hurt to um...sponge one more time."

Clark got out another bowl and the problem was solved. At least until they'd finished wolfing down their food and needed to go outside to poo.

Unlike the apartment complex Randi had lived in, the back yard was actually a real yard and the dogs could run and play and take care of their business without getting a neighbor—or a Mrs. Crowley—upset.