Page 21 of Deck the Fire Halls

What had he called it?

Disillusioned catastrophic burnout.

So yeah, he was left reeling and had come to Hartbridge to find some peace. To see if he still wanted to be a doctor. To find himself, and a sense of community.

So instead of offering him a mind-blowing orgasm, I offered to take him to the annual tree lighting night. Because if he wanted to find a community, he’d definitely find that here in Hartbridge.

“That’s not even,” Chuck said from the bottom of the ladder I was currently standing on.

I looked at the string of tinsel I was hanging. “Yeah, it is.”

“I’m telling ya, it’s not even close. It needs to be up another two inches.”

“Is that what your girl says?”

He grumbled and shook the ladder and I laughed as I stuck the stupid tinsel up another few inches. Why we decorated the fire hall was beyond me, but Doug insisted we get into the holiday spirit with the rest of the town.

Clay Henderson’s red truck pulled up out front and I climbed down the ladder to go greet him and Rusty.

“Morning,” I said.

They got out of his truck and Clay gave me a nod. “Morning.”

I’d met him more times cleaning up fallen tree debris off roadways than I had in any get-togethers with the queer group. He was a big burly bear of a guy, wore plaid and coveralls, and swung an ax like a machine. But he was soft as a kitten for his boyfriend, Gunter.

“Christmas tree time,” I said, nodding to the back of Clay’s truck where there must have been a hundredsmall, netted trees. They decorated Main Street every year, and damn, if they didn’t look amazing.

“Sure is,” Clay said, dragging a tree down.

“Hey, Rusty,” Chuck said, giving Rusty a familiar bro handshake.

“Chucky,” he replied.

“Perfect timing,” Chucky said. “We were just getting some decorating done. We’ll add some baubles and tinsel to the tree.”

“I was getting the decorating done,” I said. “You were holding the ladder.”

They looked up at the front of the fire hall, to the sign that read Hartbridge Fire Department 1910 and to the tinsel that now underlined it.

“The tinsel’s crooked,” Rusty said.

“It is not!” I said, looking at my handiwork. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t perfectly straight. I tilted my head to the side. “You need to look at it like this.”

Chuck gave me a shove. “Dipshit.”

Clay laughed as he cut the netting, and the little tree shaped out nicely.

Chuck, with his arms crossed, nodded to the new tree. “So if this little guy goes missing and accidently ends up in my living room, no one will be suspicious, right?”

Now it was my turn to shove him. “Dipshit.”

Rusty laughed at us. “Well, we better keep going. Only got another hundred to do. Town has to look like a Christmas movie before the tree lighting tonight.”

“Oh, Clay,” I said. “That reminds me. Will you and Gunter be there tonight?”

He gave me an odd look before schooling it away. “I believe so, yeah. Why?”

“Oh, it’s just...” I don’t know why I felt so nervous for asking. “I was talking to the new doctor in town and thought maybe he’d like to hear about Gunter’s start-up. Could be something he might be interested in helping out with, and if you’ll both be there tonight, I could introduce you, that’s all.”

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