Catering Girl Ch. 06

"Come on dear, let me help you up and get you to bed." Jenn helped me from the couch and, taking my hand, led me upstairs.

"I need to return the favor," I pouted.

"Some other night, my love. I think you're more tired than you realize. At least more relaxed."

After getting her sleep shirt on, Jenn went down the hall to check on Madi, who was sound asleep as usual. I was in bed when she got back and felt her spoon up to me. Warmth rushed across me as an arm draped over me and she continued the caress from on the couch. Tomorrow I would resume being the big spoon, but tonight I reveled in being the little spoon for once.

_|/_

Jenn reached up and clicked the garage remote closed after turning off her Subaru. The remains of my racing bib from the Pride Five and Ten race was in my hands as I climbed out. My legs ached a bit, but it was a good ache. My time was close to what I wanted it to be, and I was feeling good about the marathon in November.

"I'll take a shower and change; then we should probably get going to the company picnic," I said to my girls as I continued to the top floor of our townhouse while they went into the living room.

The warm water felt good, washing the sweat and dust off me. As I entered our bedroom, I noticed Jenn had set out the special company tee shirt for today's picnic. The blue shirt had a rainbow silhouette of our new tug with Whitney Pride underneath, with the Whitney being in our traditional Green, but the Pride was rainbow. Most of the staff and families would be handed one when they parked at our offices and got on one of the shuttle vans we hire every year to transport people to the park.

We got to the office parking lot early enough that we caught the first shuttle for the day to Gas Works Park. It's just a short hop down the ship canal from our office to the park, which is on the shore of Lake Union. The weather was perfect, and we had a great view of the city skyline. The Space Needle sticks out above everything, and on such a great summer day, the lake was filled with boaters of all types.

Moored to the sea wall was the Whitney Pride with pride pennants going from bow to mast to stern. It was, at least to me, a stately sight. My parents and uncles had all been on the shuttle with us, and we all stood admiring our newest addition to the fleet. While it wasn't our first hybrid tug--we had added a couple in the last few years--this one was by far the most special to me.

I had been to many of these, which in the past had all been at our shipyard or tug docks. This was the first time we were making a big deal about it, but it wasn't the recognition from my family or that they were being so public about it that made today special. It was that my girl was with me, the one I privately hoped would be my life partner someday.

"What's that, Mommy?" Madi was pointing to the temporary post with an outrigger erected on one side. From the outrigger hung a line that would soon hold the bottle of champagne.

Jenn pointed out how it would work. "See, a bunch of people are going to pull on this line over here and that will raise the bottle. Then Miss Whitney and I are going to cut the line which will let the bottle swing below this platform and break against the Pride."

Madi studied the setup and then noticed people flying kites. She pulled us over to explore them as we watched people fly all kinds of kites from what was known locally as Kite Hill. We saw colorful stunt kites, kites shaped like animals and many others. It was fun to see the world through her eyes for a moment.

When she got bored, we went over to where the company had set up a big tent for the food. Surrounding it were bounce houses going up and a bunch of booths with different activities at them. Madi beelined for the face painting booth and soon had a rainbow heart painted on each cheek.

"Mommy, you and Miss Whitney should get hearts on your faces too, 'cos you love each other."

Jenn and I looked at each other. I couldn't argue with logic like that. Jenn went first, and as I was finishing up, it was time for us to go over to the Pride.

Most of the company had assembled on the balcony platform with the rigging on the side, so it could use the full ten feet of clearance above the gangway below that led to the tug.

There were a few other people besides those from our company, some of our key suppliers, a couple customers, and a few I found out later were members of the local media.

A couple of toots from the Pride's horn got everyone's attention, and then Silas welcomed everyone and gave a small speech. It was a boring corporate rah-rah speech, one of those whose details are so memorable, you can't remember a lick of them as soon as it's done. It was the next speech that was the important one to me.

"Normally I conclude a speech like this with the background of the new tug's name and what it means. But this time I thought we should ask the person who suggested the name to come forward and explain it. From Whitney Maritime, please welcome our Director of First Impressions, Jennifer DeLuca."

There were a few polite claps, and Jennifer took the podium. I held up Madi so she could get a good view.

"When I first saw the 'Name the Tug' contest, I was having a terrible day. Perhaps the worst of my life until that point. You see, that was the day after I got home from seeing my mom for the first time in over a year, and I brought someone special with me. I hadn't known my girlfriend for long, but she had helped me to realize who I was. I was proud to bring her with me, but well, let's just say coming out to my mom didn't go like I had hoped. It was a disaster."

Jenn paused and wiped a tear from her eye. It was all I could do to not lose it myself.

"But I was proud of who I was, who I am. And that's what first prompted me to suggest this tug be named the Whitney Pride."

"As time has gone on, I've realized that there's more to pride than that. We can take pride in a lot of things. I'm proud that I'm no longer a scared teenage mom. Or a single mom living in a homeless shelter. I'm proud that I completed my community college degree, and this fall will be continuing my education at the University of Washington."

"I'm proud that I have the freedom to be with the person I love. That our society, while not perfect and has a long way to improve, has become much more accepting of gay people like me. I can go to the supermarket or the park and hold hands with the woman I love and no one bats an eye. Who knows, maybe someday we will even get married."

Jenn looked at me and smiled. That was the first time in months either of us mentioned that. I didn't have to look behind me either, but I could tell my mom was smiling as well.

"Most importantly, I'm proud to work with all of you. Everyone I have come into contact with here at Whitney Maritime, and all the companies, have been the nicest group of people. You all have accepted me for who I am."

"We all should be proud that we work for a company that accepts you for who you are: gay or straight, male, female, trans, or there's not a box for you yet. Regardless of the color of your skin, what your religious beliefs are, or if English is not your native language."

"I know I'm proud to work here, and I'm proud that my girlfriend does as well. Whitney, will you join me up here?"

With Madi still in my arms, I joined her.

"Now will the rest of the Whitney Enterprise LGBT community please help us prepare for the christening."

We walked over to the edge of the railing while the team pulled the rope to raise the bottle. Jenn helped me hold up Madi while Silas handed us a giant pair of scissors. The three of us held them and Jenn said, "I name this tug the Whitney Pride."

Then Madi Counted us down, "three... two... one..." and we cut the line. The bottle made a graceful arc and smashed against the hull.

I think people began to applaud, but I didn't hear them. I was too focused on the pair of lips that had decided to find mine at that moment.

"Mommy, you're kissing Miss Whitney again!"

Later in the afternoon, we were standing looking at the Pride, Jenn holding my hand on her right and Madi on her left, when we heard someone coming up behind us.

"Jennifer? Whitney?" The voice was from an older man, one I recognized a bit from over at the shipyards. Like many of our employees, he has been here a long time, maybe since before I was born. Next to him was a younger man. Both had a rainbow Whitney Pride tee shirt on.

"Yes," both of us answered at the same time.

"I don't know if you know my name, I'm Karl. I've worked at the shipyards for 34 years, this is my son Peter. Thank you for what you did today, and for what you said up there Jennifer. I'm ashamed to say this but when Peter told me he was gay a couple years ago, I didn't treat him well and said some things I regret. We didn't speak for nearly two years."

"Oh wow, " Jenn said, and I felt her squeeze my hand.

"Yeah," said Peter glumly.

"But there was hardly a day I didn't think about him and wished I could take my words back. I just didn't know how. But when I saw the announcement about naming our new tug, the Whitney Pride, I knew this was my opportunity to begin to repair our relationship."

"When dad called at first, I didn't answer the phone. I didn't want to get a lecture or anything. But I listened to his voice mail and called him right back. We've spent the whole day just talking. It's not been easy, but it's been good."

Karl put his hands on Peter's shoulder and gave him a fatherly side hug.

"I love you, son. Even when we weren't talking, I still loved you."

"That's..." Jenn tried to come up with the words, but I saw her lips purse together and her eye twitch. I could only think that her thoughts were going to her mom right now.

"I'm glad you two could use this event to reconcile." I jumped in to help my girl. "That makes today even more special. Every time I see the Pride, I'll think of you two."

As the two of them headed down a sidewalk, I checked in on Jenn. I could tell she was trying to keep it together, but wasn't going to last much longer. I gave her a hug, and Madi hugged her leg.

"It's going to be okay Mommy."

"We've both got you Jenn."

"I just wish she would take a voicemail or a text from me. Something."

I wanted to say something to fix it. Make all her pain go away. But I couldn't. There was nothing I could do. We hung around for a bit. The munchkin burned off a bunch more energy in the bounce houses before we headed home. Jenn was quiet for most of the afternoon. I helped make sure Madison was taken care of while Jenn just processed her feelings. That night when we went to bed, she held my hand while I spooned her. Her chest heaved a few times before she fell asleep. I brushed her hair with my fingers and fell asleep myself.

_|/_

Jennifer

"Hold my hand Madison while we cross the lock gate." Little fingers curled up in my hands as we jostled with the oncoming foot traffic going across the closed gate of the Ballard Locks. A few weeks had passed since the company picnic. We had come down to spend a quiet summer Sunday afternoon at the locks, roam the flower gardens there and listen to whatever live music was playing that day.

The three of us had crossed the locks and gone over to look at the fish ladder and the salmon viewing windows as the annual Sockeye run was nearing its end. We were crossing back to eventually head to our car when eagle eye Little Miss spotted something.

"Look Mommy, Miss Whitney, a tugboat. Is that one of yours Mommy?"

"Well, is it blue and green?"

A hand shot up and hovered over her eyes to block the bright sun as she squinted to get a good look at the tug coming our way. Sure enough, it was one of ours. I figured it would be, since our dock is just a little down the ship canal.

"Can we stay and watch it go through the locks?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." Life was good. I had a Madison in one hand and a Whitney in the other.

We watched the Whitney Voyager enter the locks and tie up in preparation for the lowering. I waved to the crew and got a wave back from a couple of them.

"Ahoy, Jennifer, nice to see you out and about. You too Whitney. Is that your little one?" the captain shouted to us from the wheelhouse. Madison waved, and the captain gave a little toot of his horn. As the locks began to lower, I saw the captain pick up his radio in the wheelhouse and saw his expression go from happy to serious. Moments later, he came out and started to shout at his crew to get ready for a quick getaway.

"Jennifer," he yelled up to me. "Get to dispatch if you can. They just activated Emergency Plan Hotel."

Whitney and I looked at each other like 'Oh shit.' I scooped Madison up in my arms, and we beelined out of there.

"Which plan is Hotel again?" Whit asked. We had a series of emergency plans covering different scenarios, each with a different letter. F or Foxtrot was one of our fueling ships with a major spill, C or Charlie was a container ship with a Mayday call. H or Hotel was similar but a cruise ship. Somewhere a cruise ship in the Puget Sound was in distress, and all available ships were being asked to assist.

Whitney drove us the couple miles down the canal to our offices and we walked in the door. She took charge of Madison while I headed into dispatch.

"Jennifer, glad to see you." The head of dispatch barely looked up from her screens. On the wall was a large digital display showing all the traffic in the Sound. I could see the red dot where the cruise ship was, up near Ben and Edith's island house. Six of our tugs, including the Whitney Voyager, Whitney Pride, and the Whitney Endeavor, were in orange, indicating they were responding to the situation.

I rolled the front desk phones over to a free workstation and sat down. My role in these was to be the communication node between Maritime and the outside world, and to back up the dispatchers. Mainly it was my job to run interference with our clients, to, as best as possible, gently let them know that we would be late to appointments with them.

I began calling a couple of the container companies, to relay to their ships that the tugs scheduled to meet them in the next few hours were responding to the mayday. I began to listen in on the radio chatter as the various ships began to respond.

Best I could tell, there was a major fire in the engine compartment of an older Panamax cruise ship headed for Alaska. It had just left port and fortunately all the passengers were already at their muster points, doing their mandatory, start of cruise, safety drills.

I saw Whitney holding Madison and poking her head into the dispatch room. "Jenn, call my mom. I just got a text from her. She and dad are on the Miss Whitney and heading over to assist if needed. I'm taking Madison home. Call me when you need a ride home, and we'll come and get you." They waved goodbye to me as I began to dial the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Edith, it's Jennifer, I'm in dispatch. Whitney said you were heading to help?"

"Yes, we were already in the water and then saw the smoke coming from the cruise ship. Ben is saying he is seeing them lower the lifeboats. Mark the Miss Whitney as responding in addition to our tugs."

"Copy that." I could see one of the dispatchers waving to me to get my attention. I saw him flash a few finger signs to me. "Dispatch says our tugs are coordinating on channel nineteen, and to stay off of sixteen and leave that open as the emergency unfolds."

"Thanks Jennifer, I'll let Ben know." I heard the phone click off.

After making contact with all our scheduled appointments for the rest of the day, I sat back in my chair to watch the drama unfold. We had a television in the corner of the room, and I tuned that to one of the local TV stations that had a helicopter up and broadcasting footage of the incident. In a number of shots, we could see our tugs assisting with the rescue. One was shooting its water cannon up into an open hatch on the cruise ship. Two others appeared to be connected to the cruise ship, to keep it upright and under control. The others were around, along with some other tugs and responding craft, helping to collect up the various lifeboats. I could see a number of people on one of our tugs, all with their bright orange life vests on.

My heart went out to these poor people, some of whom I'm sure had planned and saved a long time to go on a cruise just to have it ruined like this. I could see on the tv a Coast Guard helicopter lifting a basket from the deck. That was probably not a good sign. I wondered if Dallas was responding to this and figured he probably was. Something like this got everybody out and responding. I did something I hadn't done in years; I said a quick prayer for his safety.

My headset warbled, and I glanced at the caller ID. It was the TV news desk for the channel we were watching.

"Whitney Maritime," I responded. I was flipping to my notes in my emergency binder, where I had my pre-planned responses to the media. "Yes sir, thank you for your inquiry. As you can see from your live feed, which we are monitoring here in our office by the way, Whitney Maritime has responded with all available vessels."

The reporter prattled on for a minute. "Yes, Whitney Maritime is deeply concerned with the life and safety of all on the water, and as soon as the emergency unfolded, we activated our emergency plan. Many of us here in the office came in from our day off to assist." I looked up at the board and saw seven orange dots around the big red one on the board. I had an idea that popped into my head. The idea made me nervous, but I thought it was the right thing to do. "Even our CEO and her husband are responding. They're in their personal boat and were in the area. We show them on our situation board, in addition to our tugs, as being on site and assisting as directed by the Coast Guard."

The reporter was a bit surprised at this. I responded to his follow up question, "Yes, Whitney Maritime is a family business. We value all our employees and treat everyone as if they were part of our personal family. I know firsthand that this is important to the leadership of the company. I'm sure they're caring for everyone they encounter and treating them as if they were their own family member."

Flipping the page on my notes, I gathered my thoughts as the next question came in. "Yes, we will be assisting until released by the Coast Guard and the cruise ship is safely back at a dock for repairs. We have a long history with this cruise line, and they have been a great business partner with us over the years. We are saddened by this incident and are hopeful for a safe outcome for all involved."

The head of dispatch caught my eye, and I rolled my eyes at her as the reporter continued. "Yes, thank you for your inquiries. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have further questions." I hung up the line.

Moments later, another call came in from another station. I ran through the same questions and answers again with them. As I did so, I could see the local newspaper and the local NPR affiliate trying to contact me as well. I ended up spending the next hour on the phone with various news outlets. Slumping into my chair, I hung up at the end of the last call.

"Good job, Jennifer." I looked up and saw Silas and Ruben both in the back of the room. When did they slip in?

"Thanks guys. Next time, I'm just going to call a press conference and answer all these at once."

"You can try, but these reporters are just going to try to get a personal interview anyhow. They all want some type of scoop."