“Here, let me hold those for you.”
She eyed me. “And don’t you try to sneak any.”
I gave her an innocent look.
“Don’t even,” she reiterated. She grabbed her purse from the couch and her keys, which were hanging in their usual spot on the wall, and minutes later, I held my car door open for her. She insisted on holding the platter of tarts in her lap to keep them from sliding around the backseat for the duration of the thirty minutes it would take to get to my parents’ house.
“Tell me about what your father does again?” she asked as we drove.
I glanced over at her. “He’s the Chief Financial Officer at Townsend Industries. Meaning, he’s the top finance guy at the company. All the finances run through him.”
“That sounds like a huge responsibility.”
“It is.”
“And you worked for Townsend for a while after college, right?”
“Yup.”
“Was he your boss?”
“No, not directly. He was my boss’ boss at the time.”
“I bet he liked working with his son. My dad was so proud of Sean when he completed the fire academy.”
I nodded. “My dad was proud.”
“Do you ever miss it? Working in an office, I mean.”
I stopped at a red light and turned to her. “Never. Every day I go to work at the station, I pause and read the top of the marquee that tells everyone who we are, and I just know this is what I was meant to do.”
“Even on the hard days?”
“Especiallyon the hard days.” Reaching up, I moved a curl of her hair that fell over her eyes. We stared at one another, reading each other without words. A horn sounded behind us, alerting me that the light had turned green. I had half a mind to tell the person behind us to fuck off, but instead, I moved my foot from the brake to the gas and pulled off. We talked about my parents the remainder of the ride. I could sense Angela’s nervousness, but she was putting up a good front. I didn’t feel nervous myself, which was sort of strange considering this was only the second woman I’ve ever brought home to meet my parents. I’ve had girlfriends in the past, a few of which were long-term, but most haven’t been serious enough that I considered anything permanent.
“How come your parents decided to move outside of Williamsport?” Angela asked.
I chuckled. “It took my dad years to convince my mom to leave the city.”
“What finally did it?”
“One night my mom was leaving work, around seven-thirty, but it was winter, so it was dark out. She was mugged. Right outside of the building where her office is.”
Angela gasped. “No!”
“Yup.” I nodded, my hands tightening around the steering wheel. “They took her wallet, phone, and the tablet she had on her.”
“Was she hurt?”
I shook my head slightly. “No, but she was shaken up.”
“I bet she was.”
“Yeah. After that, my father insisted they move and that she only work during the daylight hours. Since she’s tenured, she’s able to change up her schedule and reduce her teaching time.”
“That’s scary. Did the police ever find out who did it?”
“Yeah, the dumbass used her phone to take selfies. He uploaded to her cloud, and the police used the images to track him down. He was a young sixteen-year-old kid. He’s on his second stint in juvie last I heard.”
