Page 61 of Never Forget
"We just need to get more firefighters to back us." She said it like it was simple.
"Yeah," I said, even though I knew how difficult that was going to be.
"So that's what we do," she said.
CHAPTER 15
Jamie
"That's what he said?"
Megan refilled my mug and sat down next to Danny across from me.
"He said he wasn't going to put his name on it." I traced the rim of my mug. "But he wasn't going to stop us either."
Megan looked at Danny with an expression that said she didn't know what came next and was hoping he did.
Danny was quiet for a moment. He rubbed a hand over his jaw before he said, "I'll talk to some of the guys. Sullivan's been grumbling about the radio issues for months. Might be open to hearing more."
Danny was seven years older than Sam and had been in the department long enough to have standing. He was up for Lieutenant. If anyone could get firefighters to consider backing the proposal, it was him.
"Thank you, Honey." Megan pressed a kiss to his temple. Her hand lingered on his shoulder.
I watched them together. They made hard conversations look easy, and they always came out the other side still reaching for each other.
Something tugged in my chest.
Sam was on shift. But sitting at this table without him felt incomplete in a way I hadn't expected.
When did that happen?
I picked up Rosie from school after.
"Auntie Jamie!" She spotted me in the doorway and ran across the classroom, her backpack bouncing against her shoulders. I crouched down and caught her in my arms.
"Hey, sweetheart. Ready to go home?"
She nodded and slipped her hand into mine.
"It's called oh-rig-ah-mee." She chattered the whole drive home about her friend Gigi and how Gigi had taught her how to fold paper into shapes. "You fold the paper and it turns into animals."
"Origami," I said.
"That's what I said." She held up a crumpled paper shape that might have been a bird. "See? Gigi says I'm really good at it."
"It's beautiful, sweetheart."
I smiled. Despite everything she'd lost, Rosie was still a happy kid. That was Jack. He'd given her a stable home, surrounded her with people who loved her, and built a world where she felt safe enough to make friends and get excited about crumpled paper birds.
I hoped I could keep it that way.
Sam's voice drifted through my head.Mark isn't New York. Everything you built for yourself is still there. You can still go back if you want.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I could go back. But what about Rosie? Taking her to New York would mean uprooting her from the only home she'd ever known. A strange city, new people, aschool where she didn't know anyone. Would she make friends as easily as she had here? Would she even like it there?
And if we left Havensworth, I would miss?—
I shook off the thought and turned onto our street.
