Stella's Diner

JACK

After ending the call with Lucy, I hop in the shower to get ready for work. I know she worries about me, but I come from a long line of firefighters. It’s in my blood. Yes, there is always the fear of something happening, but I love what I do, and I’ve learned things along the way to help keep myself as safe as possible.

As far as the proposal goes, that girl is a stinker. She knows I want to marry her. We’ve gone ring shopping and I know exactly what she wants. I’ve even asked her dad for permission to marry her. I may have fibbed about that to her to throw her off the other night. We both come from traditional families and feel that it is important to respect her father in that way. He was elated that she found a “good, solid young man,” and gave me his blessing.

I have the perfect plan in place for the proposal. I wanted her to think I slipped some surprise information to her about dinner with our parents, but I’m really planning on taking her away for the weekend. I even talked to Stella to clear her schedule.

I have to admit I think we were both looking down at our phones that day we met, and I ended up with coffee all down my shirt. I’m still chuckling at the memory of her shocked face while I finish getting ready.

My place is a decent size for me. I have a large bedroom with an attached bathroom, a living room complete with a wall-mounted TV above a gas fireplace with a wood mantle, and small kitchen. I don’t have to cook much so I was more focused on the living and sleeping space when I picked it.

I sit on a kitchen chair while I lace up my work boots then I grab my phone, wallet and keys from the tray on the counter and head for the door. I glance at Lucy’s photo on my mantle. Her long brown, wavy hair trailing down her back and her big brown eyes stare at the camera while she’s laughing at something I said. I had to take the shot because she looked like an angel that day with the way the sun was shining down on her.

“Wish me luck today, beautiful,” I say to the photograph like I do every day for luck as I walk out the door. In just a few short days, she’s going to be my fiancée.

“Hey, man. I didn’t know you were coming in today,” Matt says, looking up from a pile of papers on his desk as I walk through the door of Station 59.

“Hey, Matt. Yeah, Will asked me to cover for him. He wasn’t feeling well,” I say.

“Well, good to have you on our squad today.”

“You bet. So, what’s everyone doing?”

“Chris’s in the kitchen and most of the other guys are checking equipment. I’m just going over some paperwork I need to do from yesterday. Man, I hope it’s a quiet day, so I can catch up. We had quite a few calls last night and everything’s got to be documented. I sure didn’t think I’d be doing all this when I signed up,” Matt says with a laugh.

“I know what you mean. I’ll go check my station and make sure everything’s ready to go.”

“Okay, man. I’ll be here.” He points to the papers and lowers his head to get back to work.

Just as I’m walking to my station to double-check my equipment, a call comes in. There’s a bad car accident on the corner of Azure and Light.

The squad jumps into action and we all hop into the truck. The other guys greet me as I get into Will’s position and we head out.

We pull up to the scene of the accident and I start my usual assessment when suddenly I can’t breathe. In the middle of the intersection a huge dump truck is completely embedded in the driver’s side of…a…navy blue Mini Cooper. My heart plummets to my feet. I can’t move. The guys are hopping off the truck and approaching the scene, but I’m rooted in place. I’m sure there are plenty of other navy blue Mini Coopers, but I know this one is hers because of the bright pink hibiscus sticker still clinging to the only solid piece of glass left in the back window.