Somehow, I’ve already acquired five arrangements which are perched on hospital tables and the windowsill.
The guys leave after a while and Hallie and I are finally alone together.
She smiles over at me, grabbing my hand again. “That was something—what Mia said about you.”
Hallie’s beaming, almost looking refreshed. She gives my hand a squeeze.
“That she loves me, or that she wants me to be herdaddy?” I ask with a short huff of laughter followed by a coughing spell.
“Are you okay?” Hallie asks.
“Yeah. I guess my SCBA got knocked loose in the fall. I’ll be fine. Did they test you for inhalation?”
“Yes.” She nods. “I passed with flying colors. Otherwise we’d be roommates with matching oxygen masks.”
“I don’t think they’d put you in the same room as me.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing my mask did the job,” she says. “And yes. Mia saying she wishes you were her dad. She’s never said that to any other man.”
“She means a lot to me,” I say, honestly. “All I’ve wanted since you came here and we started seeing one another is you.” I pause. “You and Mia. She wasn’t an afterthought. When I allowed myself to imagine us living a life in the future, she was always in those thoughts, the three of us, together.”
Hallie beams as if she shares those dreams. From the conversations we’ve had, I’m sure she does.
“But after this,” I wave a hand over my leg and around the machines monitoring my vitals. “I’d be irresponsible to let Mia build a life around me when I might disappear. You’ve been right all along, Hallie.”
Her smile falls slightly.Doesn’t she see the reality anymore?
I look her in the eyes, “I could have died back there, Hallie.”
She nods.
I stare out the window. I might not have Hallie alone like this again for the coming few days. We’re talking about the future. She needs to know.
“And there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Anything,” she says, her voice soft.
I take a breath, holding her hands in mine.
“I was going to ask you if we could meet in the kitchen—before the tone rang and we were called out.”
The tone that changed everything.
“Before you came to Waterford, I got a call from a guy I knew in Afghanistan. He’s working in DC with FEMA. He offered me a job.”
Hallie pulls her hand away slowly, clasping both her hands in her lap.
“I went through with applying. Why wouldn’t I? I can do a lot more good if I’m serving my country at a national level instead of a local fire station.”
She nods. Her face is a mask. I can’t get a read on her.
“Well, they put me through a panel interview.”
“When?” She swallows, but then sits up straighter.
“A little over a week ago or so.”
She nods again. I can tell I’m overloading her, but she needs to know everything. This is our chance to talk about this. I can’t wait any longer. The email said five days. That was yesterday.
