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Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit with a white shirt and a tie, Big Mike was not an off-the-rack kind of guy. Seeing them together for the first time took Bridget’s breath away. They were so obviously in love it was like looking at private intimacy in a public place. It was the kind of love she wanted. She was glad her parents went to church on Saturday evening, because her mother, who wore yoga pants and a blouse to church, would be jealous of Roberta.
“Ma, Pop, this is Bridget and Flynn.”
Roberta let go of Big Mike’s arm and homed right in on the baby. “Oh, how cute. Can I hold him? We haven’t had a baby in a while, have we, Mikey?”
She was so good at making small talk, she put Bridget at ease right away, asking her about the baby’s schedule, and giving Bridget ample time to thank her for the van and the stroller, the baby car seat and the picnic lunch. They were in the middle of an animated female conversation when the men’s phone alerts went off.
“Figures,” Tony said. “I’d better go in. Dad, what about you?”
“I’ll go.” He looked at the women and explained, “There’s a fire and they’re calling for all hands. Bertie, you take the Jag.”
“What about the car seat?” she asked. “Tony, let us take your truck. You guys go in the Jag.”
Big Mike kissed his wife like it might be the last kiss they’d have, and Tony looked into Bridget’s eyes and smiled when he saw tears there, knowing that she was probably overwhelmed.
After handing his mother the keys to the truck, the men dashed off, well, as much as Big Mike could dash, and that left Roberta and Bridget and baby Flynn to fend for themselves.
“I don’t feel like going to breakfast dressed up. Do you mind if we head back to my house so I can change?”
“Not at all. I have sneakers in the truck, along with his diaper bag, so I’m good to go.”
Roberta handed Flynn back to his mother, and they walked to the truck, chatting comfortably.
“I have all boys and no girls,” Roberta said. “Joey is probably going to marry Candy. Have you met her yet?”
“No. I saw Joey the day I started. He was coming off a three-day, so I didn’t see him again until Friday.”
“She’s a medical student. UCSD. Real shy. Mike, Mike Junior that is, he started dating Aisling right after graduation. She’s a nurse. They’ll probably get married. He’s in the reserves. Did you know that?”
“I think Tony told me.”
She drove Tony’s big monster pickup truck like she was born to it, in her white gloves and high heels. Their house was up in the foothills surrounding the lake, and the truck labored as it climbed the steep incline.
“Here we are.”
The house wasn’t what Bridget expected. She’d been raised in a classic California ranch, with board and batten siding with some gingerbread moldings and a cedar shake roof, in a neighborhood of similar homes.
The Saints’ house was white stucco with a red tile roof. A huge fountain out front bubbled away. Even though it was Sunday, a man in a straw hat trimmed flowering bushes delineating their lot. It didn’t seem like the house of a poor firefighter. Maybe she’d gotten the wrong message from Tony. The thought occurred to her that perhaps the parents expected their boys to go to the fire academy because everyone in the family did that, and that they’d pay their own way through community college, so a big college savings wasn’t necessary.
“This is really beautiful.”
“Thanks. It’s just a house. It was once the main house to the ranch, and then they subdivided the land. That’s why all the houses around us are new, but they’re the same Spanish style.”
They climbed out of the car, and the gardener came right over.
“Jose, you shouldn’t be here on Sunday.”
“I needed to get the roses trimmed before the heat starts.”
“Get home to your family as soon as you’re done.”
Roberta got the diaper bag and assisted with unbuckling the complicated straps on the car seat. “It’s amazing any of us survived in the flimsy car seats we used to use.”
“My mother said the same thing.”
“How are your parents with the baby?”
“Surprisingly good,” she said, admitting that they weren’t happy in the beginning.
