“You’re amazing. Have I ever told you that?”
“Yes, many times. Sixteen in the last month.” He ran his hand over my forearm, being incredibly careful not to bump the IV needle in the back of my hand. “When Devon called me, I was sitting in my car. I’d been in the maternity ward. I wanted to come up straight away, but I got super stimmy, and I couldn’t speak very well because Devon said you were in an explosion. I… there were things… on the news… I thought you were blown up. Bits of you. I just… hmmm.”
He began humming. Self-soothing. “I’m not in bits. I’m good. Just a little banged up. I’ll be back on the job in a week or two.” I wanted to touch him to reassure him, but he wouldn’t appreciate that right now. So, I let him regulate as he rubbed my arm steadily. Then my wonky brain caught up. “Wait. You were here? In maternity? Did your sister-in-law have her baby?”
“Yes, mm-hmm, a girl. I held her. She’s small with a puckered face. Her name is Iris. I was going to bring her yellow outfits. Lena likes yellow, and it’s a gender-neutral color.”
“Wow, we’ve both had busy days. Congratulations, Uncle Chip.”
A twisted sort of smile played on his tight lips. “I hope you don’t ever get hurt again.”
“I hope so too, but there are no guarantees in life, babe. Look at what we do. I run into burning buildings, and you skate around on blades and get knocked into boards. We’re both in high-risk jobs. All we can do is be as careful as we can be.”
His head bobbed, curls bouncing. “I will be. You be careful too.”
“Cross my heart.” My belly roared. “Guess that’s a good sign. Maybe I should see if the nurse will bring me something to eat. I don’t feel quite as sick.”
“I donotrecommend a burrito.”
That made me chuckle. It hurt my thick head, but it was totally worth a little pain. Much like the love I felt as I gazed up at Chip. I loved him. Now all I had to do was find the courage to tell him. After I told the rest of the world about us. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about my dangerous job after I came clean to Sully.
I was enjoyingmy hospital breakfast the next morning when Sully peeked into my room.
“Come in,” I called, making sure not to let the twinge in my head show on my face when I spoke too loudly. He eased into the room to present me with a bouquet of flowers he had obviously purchased in the gift shop. “You’re supposed to give flowers to your wife, Cap, not to some fool who got himself blown across town.”
“She’s a sure thing. No need for flowers after twenty-some years of marriage.”
“I’m telling her you said that at the Fourth of July cookout,” I said with a waggle of my spoon at him. He waved it off with the bouquet of mums and baby’s breath.
“You look good,” he said, placing the flowers on the windowsill. The curtains were drawn tight, and the lights were low. It was like resting in Dracula’s den sans the coffin in the corner.
“You can tell me the truth,” I replied as I spooned up some yogurt. The food was good. Scrambled eggs, oatmeal, yogurt,toast, and coffee. Last night, I’d only gotten a snack of some Jell-O and ice water since I’d been feeling sick beforehand. That stayed down so today I was ready for real food.
“Okay, you look like you were blown off your boots then flew ten feet or so to kiss a brick alcove.” Sully took a seat on the left side of the bed.
“Cool. Chicks dig that look.”
“Since when do you care about what chicks think?” He sat back, coat still on, and rested his ankle on his knee.
“I don’t really. My brain is bruised. That just came out. I think I was looping an old video game or some testosterone-fueled movie.”
“Tim is taking a few days off. You’ll be given two weeks and an evaluation by a doctor before you can return to duty.”
“Figured.” I sighed as I poked at the remnants of my eggs. “Any casualties?”
“No, amazingly. Some burns and smoke inhalation. Lots of physical damage to the surrounding buildings. We still have teams out. Overhauling the sites to ensure no flare-ups. Portnoy and his crew from the fire marshals are on scene now. All utilities are off in a four-block radius until clearance is given from the investigators.”
“Good, no loss of life. Any of our men hurt?”
“No, just a few injuries. That explosion could have killed a lot of our people if you hadn’t yelled out beforehand. Don’t pish posh it off. Those few seconds gave our team, and a few others, the chance to duck and cover. So, take the accolades. Speaking of our people, they’re itching to visit you, but I told them to wait until you’re home to drop by. No one needs to hear Morgan talking nonstop about soap when they’ve got a crushing headache.”
“True.” I took a sip of coffee. It was strong as hell, but man, was it delicious. The door opened slowly. I expected it tobe Mom, but it was Chip sticking his head through the crack. Bouncy curls and bright green eyes. I felt my heart do a flip-flop as I gazed at him. “Hey, come in.”
The rush of emotion I just had upon seeing Chip was the nudge I needed. Life was too damn short to hide a huge part of what made life so worth living. If Sully suspended me, then so be it. I was in love, and I wasn’t going to conceal it any longer. I’d been ready to tell Sully yesterday, then things went sideways. If not now, when, to quote Eli.
He pushed through the door, Sable at his side, and stood just at the foot of my bed like a robot. “Chip, this is Sullivan Wright, the station captain at Station Eight. Cap, this is Chip Cornish. We were called out to a fire at his gym about two months ago. We met, got to know each other, and are dating.”
There. It was out. Chip’s attention darted from me to Sully to me to Sully while my captain chewed on my announcement like it was boot leather.
