Still later the same day, Buck’s at a club with his sister Maddie as they grab their drinks from the bar, walking through the crowd.
“Now tell me.” Maddie says suddenly. “When are you gonna let me fix you up?”
If it were anyone else asking, Buck would’ve rolled his eyes. As it is, he just whines,
“Why do people with a partner and kids always have to drag the singles into it?”
Maddie shrugs, “Misery loves company. Isn’t that how the saying goes?”
Now Buck does roll his eyes, “Nice try.”
As they take a seat, Maddie starts going full force, “What about Dirk? He is cute, and into guys.”
Buck gives an incredulous look, “He’s a pill popper.”
At that, Maddie backtracks, “Okay, maybe not then.”, then after a cursory glance, points, “What about her?”
Buck turns around to look, then says, flabbergasted, “She’s definitely a lesbian."
Frustrated, Maddie takes a sip of wine, “Well who meets their soulmate in a club anyway?”, then moves on, “Have you tried dating apps?”
Buck laughs, “Oh stop. I’m not even looking to meet someone! Complete wrench in the plan, remember?”
It appears she doesn’t, once she asks, “Plan? What plan?”
Buck sighs, “The only thing I can afford to take up all of my time and energy is getting that promotion.”
Maddie’s not buying it, “Oh don’t even go there. You’re just saying that so you don’t have to go looking.”
“No it’s not!” Buck immediately defends, then throws a curveball of his own, “And I’ll have you know, I actually did meet someone. At the wedding.”
He knows he shocked her by how she immediately asks, “Uh, hello! Dish. Now.”
Buck replies simply, “He’s a firefighter.”
Maddie gushes, “Oooooh, not too far off from paramedic. That’s gotta be a sign.”
Buck reminisces before he can stop himself, “Yeah, the uniform definitely did not look out of place on this guy.”
Maddie squints, “He was a player, wasn’t he?”
Buck shakes his head, “Surprisingly, no. He was nice, and hilarious. And he has this smile that looked like it could light up a whole room.”
Maddie agrees, “Sounds incredible.”
“I know! He’s exactly the kind of guy I’ve been looking for.”
Maddie turns the tables, “You mean if you were looking for someone.”
Buck sighs again, “I know, I know.”, but before he can say anything else, his phone goes off, and when he checks the caller ID, his heart sinks.
“Joy, joy, joy.”
Maddie guesses, “Taylor?”
Buck denies, “Worse, if that’s possible. Jake the Groomzilla.”, then stands up. “Back in a flash.”
Maddie calls out, “Good luck!”, right as Buck answers the phone.
“Hello?” A beat, then,“Nononononono, you’re not supposed to send out your save-the-dates this week.”
Just as he finishes saying, “I told you before, your wedding’s not for a few more years.”, he bumps into someone, who’s nice enough to hold up his hands so they don’t bump into each other again, and apologize, “Sorry, sorry. My fault.”
And when Buck looks up, he’s pleasantly surprised to see who it is.
“Eddie! Hi!” Buck greets him, as Eddie replies, “Oh, that’s right. Buck, right?”
Once Buck nods in confirmation, Eddie admits, “Can I be honest here? I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”
Buck replies with a smile, “Oh have you?”
Eddie nods, “Yeah, that whole thing you said about lists? That really got to me.”
Now Buck’s a little embarrassed, as he chuckles, “You actually remembered that?” Wait, what about it?”
Eddie recalls, “You know how you said you have a list for everything?”, and when Buck nods, Eddie continues, “Betting you got one for all the things you’re looking for in a person, don’t you?”
Okay, Buck can admit as much. “Actually, I do. And you know something?”
Once he’s got Eddie’s attention, Buck admits, “That’s a veeeeeerry long list.”
Eddie’s got a big enough sense of humor to where he can laugh at that,
“Oh I have no doubt. But do you think there’s a tall, dark, charming-on-a-good-day, takes-himself-too-seriously firefighter on that list?”
“Sweetheart! Where’s my drink?” comes a call out of nowhere, and a familiar woman walks up to them, and once he sees who it is, he has no idea what to make of it.
“Kayla?” Buck guesses, and when she looks back, it’s clear she can’t believe it either.
“Burt? Hi!”
To make it even more confusing, Eddie’s the one that corrects her, “It’s Buck.”, and she quickly backpedals, “Oh, right. My bad.”
Buck tries to smile it off, but truthfully he’s getting more uncomfortable by the second.
So when Kayla asks, “How do you two know each other?”, Buck’s too quick to let Eddie off the hook, “Just today, actually.”
Eddie agrees, “Yep, it’s true.”, right as Kayla wraps an arm around Eddie, leaving a hand on his shoulder. “Well isn’t that great?”
There’s a lot you can say about this whole situation, but great would decidedly not be one of them, so Buck says quickly, “You know what? I’m just gonna get back to my sister.”, eager to put as much distance as he can between them.
But Eddie’s either dense or purposely not reading the room, as he invites, “Come join us!”
And wouldn’t you know it, Kayla’s the one that objects, “Aw, you said you’d dance with me! Come on.”
Buck takes the escape route for what it is, as he jumps on it, “It’s fine. Nice seeing you two.”, and starts to walk away, as he hears Eddie call beyond him,
“You too!”
He finds Maddie in no time, who demands the second she sees him, “Where the hell did you disappear to?”
Buck completely ignores this, as he says, “You will never believe what just happened to me.”
Hearing Buck’s tone, Maddie asks, “What? What is it?”
“Remember the firefighter I said was everything I was looking for?” Buck asks, and when she nods, Buck confesses, only slightly whining,
“He’s engaged to everything I hate about being a wedding planner.”
He gestures to the dance floor, where they can both see Eddie dancing with Kayla.
After a moment, Buck turns to Maddie, “Can we just leave?”, and thankfully, Maddie knows better than to push her luck after that revelation.
“Yeah, of course. Let’s go.”
As they leave the club, all that’s on Buck’s mind is one ugly, bitter thought,
First spark I have in a long time, and it gets put out by an actual firefighter. What’re the odds?
YOU ARE READING
I Do, But Do I?
RomanceBuck can't believe it when he falls head over heels in love with the guy of his dreams, the only problem is, he's employed him to arrange his marriage to another woman.
