Page 69 of The Complication with the Best Man

“Speak up, I can’t hear you,” a plump man in the back calls.

I raise my voice and continue with what I was saying. “My name is Finn and?—”

“Louder,” he calls.

A quick glance at Harper, and her lips are pursed together as if she’s trying not to find the humor.

“My name is Finn, and I’ve been a firefighter for—” I feel as though I’m yelling at a rock concert.

“Too loud,” the man in the back says, then he and his buddy to his left laugh. “We’re just messing with you. I could hear you just fine the first time.”

The entire room dissolves into laughter at my expense.

After inhaling a cleansing breath, I start over. “My name is Finn, and I’ve been a firefighter for almost a decade. I’m here tonight to go over some basic safety and fire prevention tips that will help you at the retirement home, and also some basic first aid tips should you need to administer them until someone else arrives to help. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions as I go, or I’m happy to take them at the end.”

When no one says anything, I nod and start my presentation. I go through why space heaters can be a problem and why those who smoke have to do it outside of the building in the designated areas, then I get into first aid. So far, everyone in the audience has been attentive and quiet and no problem at all.

Maybe Harper and Leann were just trying to spook me or something.

“Now we’re going to move into the first aid portion of the presentation, but before we do, does anyone have any questions about what we just talked about?”

“Aren’t you the same guy who was here with his fiancée a while back?” an elderly lady with dyed red hair says from the front row.

I remember meeting her the day Harper was showing Tamra and me around. I think I remember her name being Alice.

“I, um…” I glance at Harper, unsure what to do. “I’m no longer engaged.”

“No doubt since you knocked this one up,” an elderly gentleman seated beside Alice says. He gestures to Harper at the end of the row.

“If we could stay on track, that’d be great.” I bend down to grab the first aid kit to pull out some things to use for demonstration purposes.

A man calls from the second row, “I have a question.”

I straighten up and nod in his direction. We also met him the last time I was here. Melvin maybe? “Sure, what’s your question?”

“If my little blue pill makes big Melvin stand at attention all day, what can I do about that?”

I clear my throat and glance at Harper, eyes wide. I thought she was here to help me. Based on the looks of things at the moment, she’s just here to enjoy the show. She looks as though she’s trying her best not to laugh.

“Well, I’d definitely speak to a doctor about that, if it’s a problem for you.” I clap my hands together in front of me. “Okay, let’s move on to some basic first aid. Things that are good to know and can help someone until the paramedics arrive.”

I go through the basics of applying pressure to a wound and, if it’s bad enough, tying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Then I tell them about the signs of a heart attack or stroke and how they can differ between men and women.

“Is anyone familiar with CPR?”

A few hands go up in the room.

There’s no denying that it would be hard for a lot of the individuals here to effectively deliver CPR, but even a small intervention can be the difference between someone living and dying.

I begin to explain the basics of how to deliver CPR effectively, but a woman with dark gray hair stops me. “I think you should demonstrate on someone. That would make it easier for us to understand.”

“Great idea, Jean. She’s right,” Alice says.

I nod. “All right. Would you like to come up and help me?”

She scowls and shakes her head. “None of us can do it. We’d never get up off the floor. Harper, dear, go help the poor boy.”

I blink at Jean, taken aback by her referring to me as a poor boy.

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