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Grace had been working at the food truck for about a week and a half when some of the crew of Ladder 126 showed up after their shift. Grace offered everybody a wide smile and took their orders, the two older guys slapped the younger one on the back and said the Probie was picking up the tab. He grinned good naturedly, and tried to make a little small talk with her. Grace grinned again, hoping for a decent tip, and quickly dismissed him for the next customer in line.
Judd walked back to the little tables set up a ways from the truck. He leaned over Tommy’s shoulder to say kinda low, “Tommy, you didn’t tell me y'all hired somebody new to work the truck.”
“Judd, I’ve been talking for weeks now about how good we’re doing and that we’re losing Tara in a few weeks because she’s having a baby… everybody’s out here making babies..” she mumbled back at him, sounding a little salty.
“Well, yeah, but you din’t tell me you went and hired a -- freaking model .” Judd was being polite. He wanted to say ‘the sexiest woman this side of the Mason-Dixon line'. “Who is she?”
“That’s Grace. She started coming to our church a few months ago.”
Tommy turned her attention back to the guys, laughing at whatever Parks was going on about and left Judd trying not to stare at the woman in the window, glowing as she took orders and passed folks their food.
“Orders ready, Probie!” she called out, and the boys laughed at that and walked up to get their food.
“Thanks for that, I’m never gonna live that down,” he teased.
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be making fun of you for something else soon enough.” she bit back with a sweet little smile on her face.
“...Ouch,” Judd didn’t have any comeback for that. She'd just roasted him alive and all he could do was watch her with a stupid grin on his face.
“Next! What can I get for you?” She moved on that quickly while Judd’s head was still reeling from how she kept knocking him off his game. He couldn’t seem to get his feet underneath him. For the rest of the evening Judd tried to hold a conversation with his friends and keep an eye on Miss Grace at the same time. He left without speaking to her again.
Judd spent the next three days thinking about the girl in the food truck, and how she was so sweet, until she wasn’t. And even then she’d just sweetly handed him his balls and casually kept it moving, like she didn’t think she could possibly affect him. Or likely she just didn’t care.
Later that night, Tommy mentioned needing a ride out to the food truck and Judd told her he had a hankering for some of those brisket tacos that Charles does so well, and he offered her a ride. Tommy said to him let’s hit it, and they were off.
As they were walking up, he nudged Tommy with his elbow, “Hey, introduce me,” he said, trying to be cool.
Tommy rolled her eyes at him, “Who are you, the Pope? What d’you mean ‘introduce you’?”
“You know what I mean. To Grace, introduce me to Grace.” He was playing with his bottom lip. He looked kinda sweaty.
“No.” Tommy shook her head.
“Comeon, whatchu mean ‘no’?”
“I’m not introducing you to any more of my friends. I been there done that, Ryder.”
“Okay, Sherry won’t my fault, you could’ve warned me she was crazy.”
“I absolutely warned you, you just don’t listen, Judd.”
“Well, I’m listening now. What’s her deal anyway?”
Tommy just laughed and said under her breath, “Trust me, Grace is not your type, she does not have time to fool with you.”
“Tommy, come on. I’m asking you nicely, so I don’t come off as a creep when I go up there to talk to her. So just help me out here. I’ll owe you one.”
“Boy, you already owe me TWO! Get outta here,” she brushed him off with a laugh.
Judd clutched Tommy’s elbow and pulled her around to a stop. He lowered his voice, “I swear, Tommy, do not make me get on my knees and beg right here in fronta all these people. Please just help me. I think I blew it the other night.”
“You’re for real?” Tommy looked at him fully. She’d known the guy for a few years now, every since he started at the fire station, and she knew him to be the typical bachelor firefighter that she’s seen a dozen times over: cocky, bad boy, runs through women like he goes through underwear. But she had never seen him like this, he’s never needed help talking to girls before.
Judd just raised his eyebrows at her, like ‘yeah, I’m not sure what's happening either’. The look was so out of character for him that Tommy just shook her head, and surrendered.
“Okay, fine. But do not come whining to me with your feelings hurt.”
“Fine, just tell her… I don’t know, to gimme a chance.”
“Alright, we’ll see. You want to let go my arm now?”
“Sorry.”
Tommy sighed, “Don’t you make me regret this, Judd Ryder.”
“Sherry was crazy crazy, T, and you knew it, too!”
“I tried to tell you!”
They got up to the front of the line and Grace smiled at them, and Judd damn near forgot his own name.
Her shoulder length dark brown hair was tied back in a sleek side ponytail with a swoop of bangs low over her forehead, pinned back with a shiny clip. She wore giant door knocker hoops with her name on them in her ears and her full lips were covered in a clear lip gloss that reflected the flourescent lights of the truck. Her eyeliner had a bit of a flare to it, but she wasn’t wearing much more makeup than that, not that Judd could tell anyway. She wore a simple black scoop necked t-shirt tucked neatly into a pair of khaki shorts that showed off her long dark legs even from inside the truck. Judd consciously tried to keep his eyes on her face and not all the curves she was sportin’.
“Hey there Tommy, how you doing tonight? How was your shift?” Grace’s grin was a little wicked, like she couldn’t wait to hear the juicy details of Austin’s emergency medical services.
“Well. We pulled a kid out of a well, had a dicy encounter with a rattler, and a intimate incident with a baseball bat that I can’t even talk about in polite company.”
Graces’ eyes widened in delight as she imagined the scenarios Tommy spoke of. “Your job is so insane, I don't know how you do it,” Grace gushed.
“You think I had it bad? Who do you think they made go after that rattler?” Tommy slapped Judd on the back as he stood there blushing and praying she didn’t bring up how he hopped around like a chicken with its feet on fire before the boys finally spared him and got him the snake hook from the rig. “Grace Williams, I’d like you to meet Judd Ryder, he works with me down at the firehouse. Judd, this here is Grace.”
“Hi, nice to meet you.” Judd said, with a smile that he’s used on so many women he’s lost count.
“Hi, so you’re the snake charmer, huh?” Grace asked, looking him up and down and not seeming impressed at all.
“Oh, I don’t know about all that, but I tell you what, that snake we pulled outta that drain today did not appreciate being removed from its home.”
“Well!” Grace laughed. “I will leave the snake charming to you then! Y’all eatin’ tonight? What can I get you?”
Judd ordered a few tacos and Tommy just climbed into the back of the truck to speak to her husband.
Right after Grace passed him his food, Tommy told her she would cover the front while she took her break. Grace hopped down out of the truck and walked a few feet down the sidewalk to cop a squat on the curb, checking out her phone the whole time.
“Grace?”
She looked up, way up, to find Judd standing over her. He took a quick step back out of her space.
“Hey there Cowboy,” she smirked.
Judd cocked a little grin and quickly pulled his hat off and wiped his hand on his jeans before he ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t think it would be polite to eat in front of her so he’d wolfed down his 3 tacos in the time it took Grace to leave the truck and get comfortable.
“You mind if I join you?” he asked.
“By all means, pull up some curb.”
Judd lowered himself to the ground and stretched out his legs.
“So you work with Tommy? Are you a medic, too?”
“Oh, naw,” Judd told her. “I’m a… firefighter.” He usually used that as a pick up line- usually that was all he had to say to catch and hold a girls attention. But with Grace he wasn’t interested in using any lines, he could tell it wouldn’t work anyway.
“Firefighter, woooow,” she said. Unimpressed. “So you do all the dangerous stuff, then.”
“It can be pretty dangerous, sometimes. Sometimes it’s just standing around watching Tommy do her thing.”
“Tommy’s kinda awesome, isn’t she?”
“Oh, she’s the best, I’ve never met anyone like her before. Fearless. Badass. And smart as a tack, too. I’ve seen her do some incredible things.”
“Oh, like what?”
Judd launched into a story about the time Tommy crawled into a overturned tractor trailer and revived a man. He was so happy to be holding a conversation with Grace, bragging on his Tommy and some of her miraculous saves, that he didn’t even notice anything wrong til Grace pointed it out.
“Are you feeling alright? You look a little.. uh, clammy?” she said, pointing at the sweat falling off his brow.
Judd rubbed his fist into his chest and tried to take a deep breath. “Me? No, I’m just fine. I mighta ate that last taco a little too fast,” he chuckled, quickly feeling the heat rushing to his face.
“What, you can’t take a little heat to your meat, Cowboy?”
“Heat?” he coughed. “The brisket tacos ain’t got no heat.” He was tomato red by now, and he fanned his face with his hat.
“They do when you order ‘em fully loaded! Are you sure you’re alright?” Grace twisted the cap off her bottle of water and shoved it into his hand. “Here, drink this.”
Judd took the water and chugged the whole thing in a few gulps, crumbling the bottle in his fist.
“You’re not allergic to anything are you?” She slapped him on the back a couple times.
“Naw I jus-” BEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLCCCCHHH!
Judd let loose a belch so loud it echoed off the cars around. It was so loud it vibrated inside Grace’s chest as she was assaulted with a facefull of his hot onion-peppers-and-bar-b-q-sauce breath. Sheeit, she even smelled the peanut butter sandwiches he had for lunch. It was enough to burn the hairs off the inside of her nostrils. Enough to make her eyes water.
“My gawd,” was all she said while fanning her hand back and forth in front of her face, trying to clear away his noxious fumes. “That was mmhm.”
Judd sighed in relief that he could finally breathe again- until he noticed Grace was looking like she was gonna be sick herself. He slapped a hand over his mouth way too late to do any good.
“I-I am soo sorry!” Judd was horrified. “I can’t believe I just burped in your face like that, I didn’t mean to, it just happened!”
“That is alright,” Grace coughed as she stood to her feet still blinking and subtly holding her breath. “I’m gonna take it as a compliment to the chef, you take it easy there.” Grace practically ran back up to the open door of the truck where he could see Tommy holding her sides and roaring with uncontrollable laughter before she pulled the door shut behind her.
Judd sat there slack jawed for a moment before he sunk his head into his hands.
He’d been doing so well. They were smack in the middle of a conversation and he just erupted like a damn redneck volcano, right in her gorgeous face. One minute he was fine, the next he felt like he was dying, his chest was on fire and then the next second- BOOM! There went any chance of that woman ever speaking to him again.
Behind his closed eyelids all he could see was the look of repulsion on her face. The utter disgust. She must think he was no better than some barnyard animal, belching in her face like that. He hadn’t even said ‘excuse me’! His mama raised him better than that!
Judd sat there in misery for another minute or two, hiding his face behind his giant cowboy hat, contemplating how he would have to find a new late night snack spot because no way could he ever show his face around here ever again.
Just when he thought it couldn’t get no worse, his stomach growled so loud you’da thought it was trying to mutiny, and that’s what it felt like.
“Oh, god you gotta be fuckin’ kidding,” he swore, grabbing his poor stomach.
As gently and calmly as he dared, Judd grunted and climbed to his feet, dusted off his jeans, and tucked his hat securely on his head- admittedly a little lower over his face than when he’d started the night. He took a couple quick, shallow breaths, standing as tall as he could while clenching his ass cheeks as tight as possible, not trusting even a whisper of gas at this point.
He strolled as calmly as he could back by the front of the truck where Tommy called out to him through the window, “Thanks for the ride, g’night Judd!” and cackled again.
The poor guy couldn’t even speak to say you’re welcome or bid them all goodnight, he just tipped his hat at them and waved once and kept his focus on his steps, on his breathing, on the damn fully loaded brisket tacos currently lighting his ass on fire from the inside out! He made it to his truck, shaking, managed to climb in, start it, and take off down the street in total silence. He made sure he was out of sight of that damned food truck before he put the pedal to the metal and floored it home.
….
Grace was dragging her sock covered feet up the steps of her mama and daddy’s mid century colonial home, her black on black Reeboks dangling from one hand as juggled her house keys trying to find the right one.
She wasn’t sure what made her think working on a food truck would be easy peasy, but boy was she ever wrong. Her body ached from head to toe. From her sore cheeks, exhausted from wearing a fake smile for two shifts, all the way to her toes, begging for mercy from being pinched in her sneakers all day. Her shoulders and lower back were stiff from constantly bending over in that window and her neck had a crick in it.
Work was torture. Why would anyone want to do this every single day?
Oh, yeah, that’s right. She lives in the real world now.
Grace was only four months out of college and was eager to put new dual degree in psychology and social work to use. Only problem was no one was hiring.
When she wasn’t working the food truck she was at her other part-time job at The Pines Senior Living Facility where she worked the security desk. Or she was working at the church’s summer day camp. Or the million other little side jobs she’d picked up over this summer in an effort to stay so busy she didn’t have time to think about the fact that didn’t have a job in her field. Or that she was still living at home with her parents. Or that her boyfriend of two years had moved across the country to his dream job on the east coast. Grace preferred to stay busy. Idle hands or whatever the saying is.
Grace set her keys in the dish on the table in the entryway and dropped her shoes at the foot of the stairs to her left. She shuffled down the hallway, passed the formal dining room and the formal living room to the kitchen at the back of the house where she dropped her bag on the counter and let out a huge sigh.
She couldn’t decide if she was hungry or not. It was 2:30 in the morning, she really should just stick these left over potstickers that Charles insisted she bring home in the fridge and call it a night.
They were really good potstickers though.
With another soul weary sigh Grace turned and went out to fridge in the garage where her dad kept her beer and grabbed two Miller High Lifes. The first she cracked open immediately and swigged from as she put a few of the appetizers on a plate and stuck em in the microwave. She stared in a daze as the numbers counted back from :30. She blew on one of the dumplings a couple times before sticking the entire thing in her mouth whole and washing it down with another gulp of her beer. She finished her food with an impressive belch and couldn’t help but think of the random Cowboy wannabe that’d had the nerve to full on belch right in her face earlier.
The whole thing was ridiculous, she was still wheezing everytime she thought about it. One minute he wasn’t kinda cute, bragging on Miss Tommy like she was his big sister or something and then all of sudden he looked like he was dying. His whole face was red and sweat was running down his face, for a second Grace thought he was choking on something and was worried she’d have to try to give giant dude the Heimlich. She thumped him on the back a couple times and then he belched so loud and long Grace was sure he’d be puked up his guts by the time he finished. It was the nastiest thing she’d smelled all day and she spent her mornings working in an old folks home where the patients rarely ever cared whether or not they could hold a fart in public. You get to be that age and you could break something besides wind doing that.
The thought of breaking wind reminded Grace of that firefighter struggling to get to his truck with his butt squeezed tighter than gnats behind- Grace nearly spit her beer out trying not to laugh again. Tommy had clutched at her hand going “Look, look at him. He knows good and damn well his stomach can’t handle nothing spicier than his mama’s spaghetti sauce.”
Grace slapped at her with the towel she used to wipe down the countertops, “Leave him alone, that is obviously a man in pain.”
“Oh, he’s definitely in pain. He looks like he’s trying keeps guts inside him through sheer force of will and clenched butt cheeks. Look at him walk,” Tommy said under her breath. To be fair Grace was already looking at his butt, it was nice- filled out his jeans very well, even if it was trying to hold in the last bit of pride the boy had left.
“Thanks for the ride, g’night Judd!” Tommy called out to him, before slapping her hand over her mouth trying to stifle her uncontrollable laughter.
He didn’t even break stride, just tipped his and waved over his shoulder. Tommy burst out laughing, loud and obnoxious, and it set Grace to laughing too, until they were standing there with tears rolling down their faces, struggling to catch a breath.
Damn. Two hours later, that shit, pun intended, still had Grace cracking up.
……
True to his word, Judd stayed away from the Vegas’ Food truck for 2 whole months. Every week he hoped maybe he pride would be healed enough to face her again, and then he thinks of the disgust on her face the last time he saw her and he knows he can’t risk it.
The boys in the 126 would not let him hear the end of it. They roasted him every chance they got. Tommy had spared none of the details of his humiliating attempt to talk to the new food truck girl. She spent two days telling everyone she saw, doing hand motions and impressions, she had the whole bit down pat.
Now, Judd was used to taking shit from just about everybody. He’d grown up the youngest of four boys, he could take a ribbing and dish it right back better than anyone. For the last 7 years he’d been the youngest member of the 126, the Probie, literally the low man on the totem pole, and these men had roasted and hazed him nearly every day of those 7 years. Took more than a poo joke to get Judd Ryder down.
And he had nearly shit himself in front of the girl of his dreams. It was undeniably hilarious, and he couldn’t begrudge these men a good laugh. He’d earned it.
No, he was bummed because he couldn’t even bring himself to see her again. It was like all his game had gone out the window over night. He couldn’t think about other girls, he couldn’t talk to other girls- didn’t want to. He wanted to wallow in that perfect moment they’d shared while he was making her laugh with stories about some Tommy’s more incredible saves. Her eyes were all bright and shiny, even under the orange glow of a street light. And she’d leaned in close to listen to him talk, and he could smell a hint of whatever perfume or shampoo she used- it wasn’t floral and it wasn’t fruity like every other girl he’d ever talked to. No she smelled like...spice. Hell, maybe it was the barbecue sauce.
Whatever it was, Judd couldn’t stop thinking about her. And replaying the event in his mind over and over and over again.