Page 102 of Never Forget
They rolled the stretcher to the ambulance. Melissa stayed against her father's chest the whole way. The doors closed, the rig pulled away down the residential street, and the sound of the siren came on about a block out.
I stood on the road and watched it go.
Cole was at the rig. He hadn't moved. He was watching the corner where the ambulance had turned, the way someone watches a thing they've just learned they can't unlearn.
Sean and Tyler wanted to go out for drinks the next evening.
I'd come off shift that morning and slept through most of the afternoon. My phone had three texts on it when I reached for it.
Sean
bar tonight. You don't get a veto. Sutton's coming.
Tyler
please come. I need a buffer.
Sean
wear something that doesn't smell like a firehouse.
Me
I'll be there.
I called Jamie before I got in the shower.
She picked up on the second ring. Rosie was on the phone a second later, out of breath, launching into a story about clouds before I'd gotten through saying hi. I listened. I asked her what they'd looked like. I told her I couldn't wait to hear the rest of itin person. When Jamie came back on she was a little breathless too, in a different way. I stood in the middle of my living room with the phone at my ear and didn't trust my voice to do what I wanted it to do.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
I could hear her smile.
I hung up and stood there for a second longer than I needed to. Then I showered, dressed and drove to the bar.
Sean had claimed our booth before I got there.
Same bar. Same chalk tally on the board by the dartboard. Same crew from Engine 7 at the pool table. The beer was cold, the wings were hot and Tyler was across from me, quieter than usual.
Sean was telling one of his stories. A call from earlier in the week, told for the third time, each version a little more exaggerated than the last. I was half-listening when his eyes caught on something past my shoulder and went bright in a way I recognized.
A group of women at a table by the window. Scrubs under their jackets, which meant they'd come off a shift at the hospital. One of them—dark hair, sitting at the end of the bench—kept glancing over.
Not at Sean. At Tyler.
Tyler noticed. Looked away fast. Took a long drink of his beer.
Sean caught it. Grinned.
"She's looking at you, kid."
Tyler shook his head. "No, she's not."
