“We’re here every once in a while. Marchy over there”—I point to where he is standing with his arm wrapped around his new girl, Haley—“is Joey’s brother and co-owner of this place, so if we do go out as a group, we come here.”
“How long have you been a firefighter?”
“Not long. I’m still the probie of the station.”
“Probie?” She giggles at the name. “Is that a good thing?”
“Just means I’m the new guy, so I’m on probation for the first year, almost done though.”
“Ah.” She nods her head slowly. “So, were you the kid who grew up wanting to be a firefighter?”
“Guilty as charged.” I smile with pride.
She matches my expression. “Is it everything you imagined?”
The mom’s scream from three months ago pops in my head, but I instantly grab my drink and take a sip, pushing it back down to the depths it came from. “Livin’ the dream,” I say out loud, hoping she believes me even though I don’t believe it myself.
Joey approaches us again, motioning to Kara. “Here, come on back. I’ll save you from Fed here, and then we can discuss getting you on the schedule to play again.”
“Really, dude? Save her from me?”
He laughs. “Yeah, save her from you talking her ear off all night.”
Kara grabs her water and stands. “See ya, Fed.”
“It’s Silas,” I yell out, making sure she knows my real name.
She turns and gives me a beautiful smile. “I know. I just like Fed better.”
I nod my head her way. If she smiles like that at me again, she can call me whatever she wants.
3
Kara
“Here, come on in.”Joey leads me to the back room, where they have an office set up. “Have a seat.” He motions to a chair on the opposite side of his desk.
I sit down and place my hands in my lap, trying to hide the nerves racing through me.
“Great job tonight,” he says, making me smile.
“Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to play.”
“Yeah, I’m glad you called.” He opens a book calendar he has on his desk. “I have some slots that I want to officially book you for.”
“Really?” I nearly jump out of my seat, making him laugh.
“Yeah. I thought you did a great job. I have a few open slots we can try out. They’re on our slower nights, so I don’t want you to get your hopes up too much, but if the crowd continues to like you, then we can look at some busier nights in the months to come.”
“That would be amazing. I really appreciate you giving me this opportunity.”
He explains how the compensation works, but honestly, I’m so in shock that I don’t even register what he’s saying. I played today for free and didn’t really expect to get anything, so the fact that I’ll be getting anything is huge.
He gives me two dates, and I put them in my calendar. We say our goodbyes, and I walk myself out as he stays back. When I exit the back room, the first person I see is Silas standing there waiting for me to come back.
When he looks my way, he raises his eyebrows, like he’s waiting for me to say something. When I don’t, he raises them even higher, saying, “So …”
His expression makes me look around as I wonder what he means. “So … what?”
