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She gave it to him and he keyed it in. He quickly sent her a text.Sunday at two.Where do you live?
She looked at him and laughed, texting back,In Carmel Valley, Twenty Mira Mar Unit #4
“I’m impressed,” he said. “That’s a nice area.”
“You don’t have to drive down,” she said. “Too much back and forth. I’ll come up.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It doesn’t feel very chivalrous.”
“I’m sure. Where should I meet you?”
He put up his finger in a “just a second” position and sent her a text of the location for the library.
Sunday morning after mass, he enlisted the help of his mother.
“I’ve got a date, Ma,” he said.
“Is she Italian?” Mrs. Saint asked.
“Aisling Murphy,” he said, laughing.
“Oh, God, Irish. Your father will have a fit.”
“Big Mike will be fine,” Mike replied. “She’s so cute. And she’s gonna be a nurse.”
“Is that right? A nurse is good,” Roberta Saint stated.
“So I need your help. We’re going to the concert at the library. I want to bring a picnic basket.”
“Leave it to me,” she said. “It’ll be a surprise.”
At the prescribed time, Aisling met Mike at the library parking lot, and they walked to the lawn together, Mike carrying the basket and an old woven blanket.
“Wow, you went to a lot of trouble,” Aisling said. “I’m impressed.”
“My mom,” he replied, holding the basket up. “She couldn’t believe I really had a date.”
“Oh god, that’s funny. I didn’t have time to eat either, so this is great.”
“She said she was going to surprise us, so it could be peanut butter and jelly for all I know.”
He opened the flaps on the basket and pulled out an Italian sub, coleslaw, pickles, chips, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.
“Aw, my mom came through,” Mike said.
So that was how it started. She graduated from nursing school, and while waiting to take the state boards, Devon and Mike were hired at the fire station in North County. They were indoctrinated quickly, fighting one of the worst fires southern California had seen during one of the worst droughts, long before the official fire season started. The fires would continue to pop up, and by the end of that season, they were experienced fighting wildfires.
The Army Reserves scheduled his two-week training for September that year.
“I don’t even want to leave you,” he said. They sat on the couch in her condo, Aisling on Mike’s lap. “I think we should get married.”
“You do?” They’d only known each other for four months, not even that, but she didn’t want to bring that up, not wanting to question his devotion. But she wasn’t sure she was ready to marry him yet.
“I do. You’ll get my benefits if anything happens to me while I’m in training.”
“Where are you going? What could happen?” she asked, terrified.
“I’ll just be up in Camp Pendleton,” he answered, smiling. “And nothing is going to happen. But if it did, I’d want us to be married.”
