I paused with the toothbrush still in my mouth and peered over my shoulder at my soon-to-be wife. It was early morning, and I was up getting ready for my day shift, while my woman continued talking about wedding plans. The previous day she and my mother went out with the wedding planner—my mother insisted on paying for one, looking at locations and decor and all that shit. I was more than relieved to leave them to it. Just as long as I knew where to show up, what to wear, and what time, I’d be fine.
“Oh, and we have to decide between the carrot, vanilla bean, or the red velvet cakes for the reception. I loved the vanilla bean, but the carrot cake was pretty good, too. What did you think?”
I turned back around but raised my eyes to look at her in the mirror, behind me. Bending down, I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth out before answering.
“Whatever you think is best, Angel.” I place a kiss on her nose, noting the frown she wore. Moving from the bathroom, I made my way across the hall to the bedroom, grabbing my work T-shirt and placing it on before proceeding down the hall to the kitchen, Angela hot on my heels.
“That’s what you always say, babe,” she whined. “I know you wanna be hands off with most of the wedding stuff, but I want you to at least have a say in what we eat. Especially, since the wedding cake is a big deal and we’ll be eating it a year later on our anniversary.”
The glass of freshly squeezed orange juice that she kept in the fridge stopped halfway to my mouth.
I screwed my face up. “Why would we eat year-old cake?”
She rolled her eyes, lifting her face toward the ceiling. She looked so adorable, I was tempted to take a step forward and peel off the white camisole and boyshort panties she wore.
“It’s a tradition. The couple freezes the top layer of the wedding cake in the freezer for a year and eats it on their first anniversary. It’s for good luck. Don’t give me that face!” she continued, when I stared, bewildered, having never heard of such a thing.
“Anyway,”she droned, “that’s why it’s important you have a say in the wedding cake.”
I finished my glass of orange juice, cursing myself for drinking it right after I’d brushed my teeth since now the taste was off. I woke up late…or rather, got out of bed late due to early morning activities with my fiancée. Now, I was rushing to get to work on time.
“Angel, I don’t care what type of cake we eat.” I pulled her into me with one arm and stopped her reply with my mouth on hers. I took her chin up between my thumb and forefinger. “As long as you’re there looking beautiful and we both say I do, I’m good. I gotta go. Love you,” I hurried, kissing her once more and grabbing my duffle, breezing out the door to my car across the street.
I let out a snort once I was on the road thinking of all the details Angela and I talked about while discussing this wedding. More like, she “discussed” while I listened—partially so. I knew my mother wanted to be as hands-on as possible and Angela was hesitant, but eventually agreed since she wouldn’t be able to share this occasion with her own mother, a fact that saddened her deeply. And while they bickered on place settings and other dumb shit I couldn’t care less about, they hadn’t had any major fights, so I was fine with the arrangement as it stood.
Climbing out of my car, I looked up at the station’s marquee and the feeling that puffed my chest out that always overcame me was there once again. I felt on top of the world. Not only was I moving up the ranks in my career, but the woman I loved even more than fighting fires would soon wear my wedding band on her hand. Hell, she was even working with my mother to plan our wedding. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing and no one that could bring me down.
“Morning, Lieutenant.”
I turned to see the guy we referred to as rookie number one, smiling. “Hey, Jack,” I greeted. He’s since moved past the no-name stage of his hazing.
He looked up, too. “Does it ever get old?” I heard the wonder, excitement, and awe in his voice.
“No,” I simply answered. Because it never did.
We turned and headed inside, welcomed by Corey, Carter, Don, and Sean who were all laughing and joking in the kitchen.
“Roll call!” I called out, clipboard in hand. Although I’ve been doing roll call for some time, now that I was officially a lieutenant, I took even more pride in the simplest of things.
“Hey, you and Angela looking at houses this weekend?” Sean asked, once roll call was over, and we began the usual routine of cleaning out our equipment. Angela and I agreed to buy our own home to start our lives together. I put my condo on the market a month ago, and it sold within two weeks. Since then, I moved into Angela’s place. She was still torn on whether or not she wanted to sell her current home or rent it out. I pushed for her to rent it knowing she’d be too sad to sell the house her parents built for their family. We could keep it in the family and pass it to our children or Jeremiah, Sean’s son.
“Yeah. Our realtor has a couple of houses in mind that are close to both the station and the bar.”
Sean nodded. “Sounds go?” His mouth clamped shut, eyes rolling toward the ceiling when the station’s alarm started sounding off.
In typical Rescue Four fashion, a flurry of activity began with guys grabbing their gear and throwing it on, sliding down the pole, and lockers slamming shut. I had my gear on in less than two minutes and was running toward the driver’s seat of the rig. Relief flooded my body when I felt the keys in the ignition.
“Ten-forty-nine in progress at a two-story warehouse,” the voice of the female announcer came through our radios.
“Ten-forty-nine,” Captain Waverly snorted. “Small,” he commented. That was the code for a relatively small fire. Probably only two trucks would show up to this one, ours and another station. Nonetheless, I stepped on the gas, pushing us closer to the fire. We didn’t know how many people were inside or if anyone was trapped, injured, or worse.
When we arrived, we learned from the truck that was already there that the fire had mostly been contained to the second floor. It was Rescue Four’s duty to go in and check to make sure no one was inside. Captain Waverly stayed outside, allowing me to take the lead, followed by Corey, Carter, Don, and Jack. Sean and a few other guys remained at the station.
Each of us scattered once we entered the building. The smoke was thick in the air, causing us to keep our masks on to keep from inhaling it.
“All clear over here!” I recognized Carter’s voice.
Then came Don and Corey’s all clears, at which point I continued farther down the hall. It was longer than I suspected upon first entering the building, as it wound around the side of the building.
