Page 73 of Never Forget
"I appreciate it." I met his eyes. "But I'm staying."
Graff studied me for a moment. Something in his expression shifted. Respect, maybe. Or just acceptance.
"Fair enough." He nodded. "You're a good firefighter, Reeves. We're lucky to have you."
He clapped my shoulder one more time, then walked off to finish his rounds with Cap.
Sean didn't miss a beat. "College, huh?" He grinned, tossing his rag over his shoulder. "What's wrong, Reeves? Fighting fires not good enough for you?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
Tyler smirked.
"Good." Sean's grin widened. "Because we don't need guys who think they're too good for the job."
I got back to work. I'd made my choice. I was exactly where I wanted to be.
But the weight of what I hadn't said stayed with me. The arson. The note. The possibility, however small, that someone I trusted could be responsible.
I carried it alone. For now.
The apartment smelled like bacon when I walked through the door.
Rosie spotted me first. She abandoned her crayons and launched herself across the room, wrapping her arms around my legs before I'd even set down my keys.
"Uncle Sam!"
I crouched down and hugged her back. "Hey, Rosie. What are you drawing?"
"A fire truck." She grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the coffee table where her crayons were spread out. "It's red. Like the real ones."
"That's a good fire truck."
Jamie turned from the stove. She was wearing one of my shirts, the sleeves rolled up past her elbows, her hair pulled back. She had a spatula in one hand. She smiled when she saw me, and something in my chest loosened.
"Pancakes," she said. "I hope that's okay. I found the mix in your cabinet."
"More than okay."
It had been a few days since the fire. A few days of Jamie in my kitchen, Rosie's crayons on my coffee table, the sound of small feet padding down the hallway in the morning. My apartment had never felt like this. Not even when Amber used to stay over. This was different. Warmer. Like the walls had been waiting for something to fill them.
I knew it was temporary. I knew they'd find a new place eventually. But I wasn't in a hurry to remind anyone of that.
We sat at the table together. Rosie attacked her pancakes, syrup dripping down her chin. Jamie cut hers into small pieces, eating slowly, while her mind floated somewhere else.
"I've been thinking about the proposal," she said.
I looked up from my plate.
"We need more voices. Not just firefighters." She set down her fork. "Other first responders. People who see how Havensworth handles emergencies from the outside."
"Like who?"
"ER nurses. Paramedics." She paused. "Jenna. The woman Jack saved. She's an ER nurse. She sees what comes through those doors."
I thought of Jenna at the hospital after the fire. The way she'd appeared at Jamie's bedside and taken care of them both.
"She already knows what the system costs," Jamie continued. "She might be willing to talk. And she might know others who would too."
