Jamie - The Journey Begins Ch. 27 - The Open Highway

"Hey, Ben." A gentle whimper escaped from my sleeping prince. "Gonna make that call, okay? I'll bring you a coffee once I'm done." Kissing his cheek, I quietly walked out to the kitchen where Dave was already up and about.

With the coffee machine on ... ummm - that unmistakable smell ... the kitchen bench was all cleaned up from the fun of last night. The only real give away was the various pitch and rhythms of the gentile snores coming from the family room. As I walked up to the countertop, Dave's handwork caught my eye: not only was I looking at a cleaned-up counter, but a notepad and pen had been placed in front of my iPad that was receiving a transfusion of electricity -- 'Jamie you're blessed,' I remarked quietly. "With nothing more than dragging my ass outa bed, my buddy has gotten me ready for my interview. Dave, thanks for all of this - it's awesome mate!" I grabbed Dave's shoulder and pulled him into a side hug. "Really, thanks man! I appreciate it." My eyes took in the small breakfast spread of fruit and cereal that was laid out. I had food, coffee, stationery, and my charged iPad - I was all set.

"All good. I wasn't sure what state you'd be in - was a big night last night hey." That understated smile from Dave, his signature response to most things, said it all. He's always been an amazing guy from pre-k days through to now. It's a special bond too when you've been friends with someone the majority of your lives - it's a strong sense. You don't need to see each other every day, but you're never far from each other's thoughts. "Sing out once you're done ok? You can help me get these deadbeats up. And hey, good luck mate, but won't need it." With that, Dave grabbed his coffee and bowl of fruit and disappeared into the warm sunshine that was coming in through the backdoor.

"Yep, will do." And with that, I clicked on the link to the meeting room. "Good morning, Mr. Spence... Welcome-"

..o0o..

As it turned out over the next few days, I lined up three more interviews with Dallas, Boston, and Phoenix FD's. The guys at Tucson were extremely keen to get me on board, so I was going to head over there on the following Thursday to do a sit-down interview.

The rest of my week in Texas was split between seeing Ben's family and my uncle and aunt, who were in town checking in with Lucas and Hailey. It's weird, right - when I'm with uncle Reid, it's like being with dad, just a little different: the mannerisms are common between those two so I get to almost see my dad and no lectures on stuff... who am I kidding - I've been on the busy end of a few 'No, listen here conversations' with my uncle, but, thankfully, not for a while now. It just was awesome seeing them again.

We had one more night of fun before the boys left, filled with takeout Mexican and a few drinking games. The boys finally flew home to Oz on QF8, DFW to Sydney direct, on Tuesday night. It was so hard to say goodbye to them, made me wonder how I'd go living here with all my friends back in Australia, let alone my family too.

The following morning, I had a few final remote interviews to get through in the morning. Ben was on shift till 1700h, I think.

My mind rolled back over the past few days. I was feeling a little selfish: over the past few days, I felt like I'd almost ignored Ben, organizing for interviews, applying for other services. Generally being caught up in organizing myself, chasing down people, you know this stuff, can be pretty time-consuming and self-absorbing. It wasn't my intention, though. It didn't help much with him being on-shift and me online - we'd not had much quality time, yet he didn't complain or get pissy at all. Just took it in his stride and was being super supportive, that's who he is I guess, I'd do the same if the roles were reversed.

Wrapping up the last call for today, I checked the time, it was 13:00h. Ben was due off shift at 17:00. With 30 minutes of faffing about at the end of shift and driving back from the station, he should be home by 17:45-18:00. 'Ok Jamie, time to get your butt into gear.' Ben's shift partner, Billy, picked him up, so I had Ben's car... 'you never know you might need it' was Ben's reasoning... which came in handy now.

I had a plan. I headed out the door. First stop, the florist on West Anderson, Freytag. As I walked in the door, standing at the counter was an older lady who had just finished up with a customer. She looked my way and smiled as I headed over. "Morning, Ma'am. I'm after a dozen red roses, please." it was obvious by the warmth of her smile and demeanor she'd seen all types customers over the years. I felt instantly calm around her - I think it was the sweet smile about her. She waved me over to the side where there were a few bunches. "Take your pick, sweetheart." She pointed at the selection.

"Wow, they're all so nice, ma'am...I'm struggling to-" then I saw... the perfect bunch. I leaned over and grabbed these beautiful ruby red roses. "Yes, these." I turned hd porno back toward the counter, quite impressed with my flower picking skills for today when I spotted out the corner of my eye a burst of yellow. Looking closer, they were a bunch of small yellow flowers. They looked so much like Australian paper daisies, enough to give me pangs of homesickness on the spot.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are these for sale?" I hoped, pointing at what I later found out were native wildflowers -- hill flower or something.

"Yes Sir. Aren't they so beautiful?"

"They remind me of home." I smiled.

She nodded her head/ "I' ma try'n to place your accent - are down from Boston, sweetie?"

I guess my accent was blending a little. It's almost automatic, I guess. From my childhood, we (me and my siblings) learned on holidays to round out our vowels, combatting the Australian trait to flatten out our vowels. Tuna for instance, back home is Tune-Nah, here in the states we say tu-nerr, it becomes a habit.

"No Ma'am - my name's Jamie, Jamie Spence. I'm over from Australia." For some reason, I felt the need to introduce myself. "Working here in the States for a few months," I glanced down at my chucks for a second, looking back up with thoughts of Ben running through my mind. 'Jamie what-the... '- my mouth was running like a tap. "It might end up being longer, or not... I'm not sure." Ok - whoever has control of my mouth and brain, please, shut up! I could feel my face turn bright red now with embarrassment - I'd let my mouth and thoughts run away with me. "I'm try'n to work out the work-situation and have been a little caught up,"

"Well, it's lovely to meet you, Jamie Spence from Australia. I'm Jennie. This is our family's store." There was that disarming smile again. "The special person you're giving these to, I'm sure deserves those flowers and that gorgeous smile."

"Thank you, ma'am. They're deserved. My fiancée means the world to me. I've been a little caught up and I want to make sure he knows how special he is and how much of a goose I've been."

Jennie smiled that warm mom smile. "I'm sure that you're being too hard on yourself, I'm sure," I don't think she understood the 'goose' statement or maybe most of what I just said. I could even tell I'd switched to the good old Aussie fast-talking blur we do, me particularly when I'm nervous.

"Well, I'm punching above my weight, well outta my class." Jennie looked a little confused, too many Australian terms in one hit. "I'm batting outside my average, maybe?" That did the trick - she got that one, I think. "Ma'am, could I ask for you to add the yellow flowers in with the roses' please?"

"Sure honey, it would be my pleasure. I'll be a moment." With that, 'Jennie', having finally looked at flower-shop mom's name tag, walked back to the bench, and started to add the yellow around the red roses. The result was amazing: it made them stand out even more.

Sweeping up the flowers and thanking flowers' shop mom, I jumped back into Ben's car and headed back home, via the store. I wanted to cook us dinner, something my mom had taught me as a kid - you know, a simple but deeply a part of who I was - and no, not fried chicken, Raman noodles, or mac and cheese, but a simple meal of oven-roasted vegetables with loads of crushed garlic and olive oil, with pork spare ribs and homemade sweet sauce. I could have saved myself a load of time, I'm sure, if I'd just bought some store sauce, but no, mom had a recipe that was pretty easy to follow - I'd made it enough times that it was committed to memory and ready in 50 minutes. This is going to be fun - look at me all domestic!

.o00o.

The house smelled amazing, even if I do say so myself: the sauce was nearly done, the 'veggies-ok vegetables' were in the oven and roasting away, the spareribs were on the rack above, dripping their pork fat on the veggies beneath. I was just finishing up cleaning down the counter when my cell beeped...

BR: hey skip, almost home cant wait to c you