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Climbing out of the car, she helped her mom unpack the food. She was walking a little behind, so caught up with taking in the scene, that she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and walked slam into a solid body.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going and…” Her voice trailed off when she realized who she was looking at.

As prepared as she thought she was to see him, Danica realized she was nowhere near it the minute she laid eyes on him. She had no idea how it was possible, but he was even finer than she remembered. His bulging arms were solid muscle leading up to a broad chest. His smile was still the same, and so were his eyes. The same ones that eons ago managed to capture a piece of her.

“Hi,” she greeted breathlessly, suddenly nervous.

“How you doing?” Tucker nodded, and Danica immediately noted that there was something different about him. The easygoing nature he’d possessed when they first met was now gone, and left only an empty vessel behind. There was a coldness in him that sent a chill down her spine.

“Um,” she licked her lips, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know if you remember me, but a couple of years ago, just before Christmas, I was in a bad accident. You were the one who pulled me out of the car before it, um,” Danica momentarily got choked up, and he jumped in right where she left off.

“I remember,” his eyes narrowed. “Danica, right?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, flashing all thirty-two teeth.

This time, when Tucker smiled, it reached his eyes. “It’s nice to see you again. How have you been?”

Glancing down at the ground to pull herself together, only when she was composed did she look back up at him. “I’ve been okay. Taking life one day at a time. How about you?”

“The same. That for us?” He gestured towards the container she was holding on to for dear life.

“It is, actually.” She held it out to him. “I know that no amount of thank you will be enough for what you did for me, but I thought that I could at least bring by a small token of my appreciation.”

“You don’t have to thank me, I was just doing my job.”

“You just doing your job is the reason why I’m standing here right now.” She argued, noticing a flicker of something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite make out. “And seeing as how this is the first time that I’m able to show my gratitude in person…”

She trailed off, and whatever it was she thought she saw in him faded as he came back to reality.

“Well, since you went out of your way to throw something together that I’m sure will taste delicious, I guess it’s only right for me to offer you something to drink, huh?”

“It is a little warm out here,” she confirmed, and the two shared a laugh, making a pit stop at the overflowing food table to find a place for her cake before moving on to the cooler to grab something to battle the heat.

“So, what kept you?” Tucker commented, popping open the top to his soda.

Dragging her eyes away from the multitude of kids running around and mock turnout gear or playing some sort of sport, Danica glanced up at him with confused eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you said that this was the first time that you’ve been able to come since the accident, so, what kept you away?”

Taking a swing from her soda, Danica shrugged. “Life, I guess. I landed my dream job, moved, and spent the past couple of years living the plan that I’d had put together from the time when I was like five years old.”

“Not too many people are lucky enough to be able to follow whatever path they laid out for themselves.”

“Yea,” Danica nodded absently. “You’re right about that. I was very fortunate. Things were damn near perfect.”

“If you had all that, then what the hell are you doing back here?” He questioned with a snort.

“It’s home,” she looked up at him with a smile.

“It is, but it ain’t all that.” He chuckled, leaning up against a tree as they came to a stop.

“You don’t seem to mind being here.” Danica pointed out.

Nodding slowly, Tucker finished off his drink. “My dad died when I was ten. He caught a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting when our neighborhood was locked in the middle of a war between rival gangs. After his funeral, I made it up in my mind that I was going to make a difference in my city. Over the years, it’s gotten better, but Brighton Heights still has a long way to go. I could never see myself in a police uniform, so the BH Fire Academy was my choice of poison.”

“And I’m oh so glad that it was.”

The two shared a laugh, followed by a short moment of silence before Tucker spoke up again. “Don’t think that I haven’t noticed that you’re deflecting, either.” He commented. “But I can tell that you aren’t comfortable talking about whatever it is that landed you here, so I won’t press the issue.”