“You’ll knock it outta the park, Mav,” Finn tells me with a confident grin. “Make sure to mention the medal.”
“They know about the medal,” I say.
“You sure you don’t want to wear it?” Nova says. “Don’t Army people wear all of them when they attend big events?”
“It’s not the Army and I just … would feel like a douche,” I confess.
Terra walks around the counter and takes my hand. “You don’t need to show off your accomplishments. You’re great and they will see it.”
I smile at her. “Here’s hoping you’re right.”
“Don’t kiss. Do not kiss!” Finn warns and covers his face with his hands. “I’m not ready yet.”
“Oh my God, grow up,” Nova laughs. “How you did not see this coming, is beyond me. It was written in the stars long ago.”
“My wife, the unbreakable romantic,” Declan rolls his eyes and heads back into the kitchen. His parting words. “Kiss my sister if you want, but just get going. You’re distracting everyone, and they have work to do.”
Every single member of his family rolls their eyes in unison. Everyone knows we’re dating now. The night after we told Charlie and Lucy, we told Declan and Nova. She squealed with delight and Declan being Declan just nodded. The twins kind of already knew, so we never had an official conversation with them. Logan texted me once and simply said:do not fuck this up.Finn had yet to react at all. Until now.
Terra rocks up on her tip toes and kisses my cheek. “Good luck.” Then she pulls a perfect, soft gray sand dollar out of the kangaroo pocket on her hoodie and holds it up before slipping it into my left pocket. “My lucky sand dollar will help you nail this.”
“You have a lucky sand dollar?” I ask with a confused smile.
She grins. “Who doesn’t?”
“Thanks,” I reply laughing and then grow serious. “And if you’re still working when I get back from this, I’ll be pissed. The doctor didn’t say you could go back yet. And you can’t be mingling in giant crowds yet. Risk of infection.”
“Are you Doctor Leclerc or my boyfriend? Pick a lane, Jake,” Terra teases but then uses her index finger to make a cross over her heart as she promises. “I’ll be hiding alone in my office just fixing the payroll Finn screwed up, I swear. When the lunch rush is over, and the restaurant is dead, I might grab some lunch but that’s it. I know the rules.”
“Good, Tink,” I kiss the top of her head.
Mr. Hobbs finishes his soup and slowly rises off his stool. He shrugs into his raincoat, leaves a ten on the counter, and picks up the flowers wrapped in plain brown paper beside him. “You want a lift, Mr. Hobbs? I have to drive right by Resting Pines.”
He looks up at me. “That would be lovely, what with the weather as it is.”
I glance outside. It’s throwing down rain that is on the verge of being ice. It’s official, winter is knocking on the door, trying to get in. I escort Mr. Hobbs out of the restaurant and make sure my umbrella is also covering him as we make out way to my Jeep. He gets in without much struggle, despite it being high and usually difficult for older people.
I wait until he’s got the flowers on his lap and his seatbelt fastened and then I drive out of the lot. “I wish I could stay and drive you home too.”
“I already have a reservation with Uber Jay,” Mr. Hobbs explains. “He lets me call him from my landline and reserve ahead of time. Lilah was his favorite teacher in high school, so I get special treatment. Even after she’s gone, that woman somehow still finds a way to look out for me.”
I smile at that but also ache a little because you can feel how much he misses his wife like it’s a fog that permeates the air around him. I know that feeling. I would have felt that way if something happened to Terra.
“What medal was everyone talking about at the Shack?” he asks.
“I was awarded the medal of valor when I was positioned at a different fire station,” I explain. “I rescued an infant from a fire. I was just doing my job.”
“Well, there must have been a little more to it, son.”
I shrug and turn the windshield wipers up higher. The rain is getting harder. “I happened to be driving home and saw smoke pouring out of the windows of this house. I called my station and found a garden hose to try and slow it, because I’m not supposed to go inside without gear or backup. A woman came stumbling out of the house. She was high on drugs and she was too out of it to tell me there was a baby inside. But as she dropped onto the front on the lawn coughing, I noticed a pacifier fall out of the pocket of her bathrobe so I ran inside and found her infant daughter on some cushions on the floor in the bedroom. My co-workers had arrived by the time I got back out, thankfully, and they could save the infant who had some serious smoke inhalation.”
I hate remembering that whole night. I am very well aware that could have been me when I was a kid. I like to remember the stuff after that night and the medal ceremony. “Just before I left that station to come back here, the mother showed up at my work. She was clean and working and taking online classes for an accounting diploma. She was allowed visitation with her daughter, who was also doing well and living with her grandparents. That meant more to me than the medal.”
“I understand that,” Mr. Hobbs nods and smiles at me. “You know what you did for little Terra Hawkins should get a medal too. But I suppose you’re going to say seeing her healthy is enough.”
“Yup.”
I pull up to the gates of Resting Pines. “Do you want me to drive you in?”
