Page 93 of Never Forget

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The quiet stretched. His breathing slowed. Mine followed. And as my body came back to itself, so did my head.

"Sam."

"Mm."

"I told my boss I'm staying."

His hand paused on my back.

"Yeah?"

"I called her today. I wanted to do it before I could talk myself out of it."

He was quiet for a moment. I could feel his breathing against the top of my head.

"How did she take it?"

"Sad. She said the door's open whenever I want to come back. She supports what I'm doing here."

"She sounds like a good boss."

"She is."

His arm tightened around me, just a little. I let myself feel it.

"I still need to go up for a couple of weeks," I said. "To clear my desk, pack up my apartment."

"When?"

"I’m thinking sometime next month?"

I looked up at him and rubbed my thumb on his cheek. "Can you come with me?"

He covered my hand with his and turned his face into my palm and kissed it.

"I want to."

I felt the hesitation before he said anything else. "What's wrong?"

"The probies start right around then. Cap asked me a couple of days ago to take point on them."

"Sam." I pushed myself up onto my elbow to look at him properly. "That's amazing."

He looked up at me. A little sheepish. Like he still wasn't sure what to do with it.

I studied his face for a long moment.

I thought about how far he'd come, from the boy who used to slip in through our back door when his father got loud, to the firefighter who'd carried me and Rosie out while the house was coming apart around us. His captain was trusting him to shape the firefighters who came after him.

"I'm proud of you," I said.

I leaned down and kissed him.

He kissed me back, slow and careful, and when I pulled away he kept his forehead against mine for a moment.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

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