Page 5 of The Firefighter’s Forever

Harmony picks up the menu, but her eyes lift over the top of it. “Did you choose this place because it’s the only decent restaurant in town or because you remember I used to love their milkshakes?”

“Both.”

“You remembered?”

“You say that like it’s more impressive than you remembering my favorite kind of cookie.”

She smiles. “I bet I remember more about you than you remember about me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t make that bet.”

She leans her elbows onto the table. “Try me.”

“Okay. One, you hate mushrooms.”

“Easy.”

“Two, you’ve always loved thunderstorms.”

She shrugs. “Still easy.”

“Three, you’ve got a scar on your left knee from crashing your bike behind the elementary school. Should I keep going?”

She sits back in the booth and waves a dismissive hand. “You know, I’ve suddenly lost all interest in this game.”

I grin. “No, you’ve suddenly realized you’re going to lose.”

“I prefer to think of it as making a graceful exit.” She takes a sip of water. “So, what made you become a firefighter?”

I chuckle. “Nice segue.”

“Well?”

I lean back, hooking one arm over the back of the booth. “I wanted work that mattered. Didn’t want an office. Didn’t want to spend my life making rich men richer.”

“That sounds very you.”

“Yeah?”

She nods. “You were always taking care of people. Half the time, that person was me. Pulling me out of trouble.”

“I remember putting you into trouble more often than pulling you out.”

“That’s also true.”

“You followed willingly.”

“I was impressionable.”

“You were bossy.”

Her mouth falls open. “I was not.”

“Harmony, you once made me build a fort to your exact specifications, then fired me from the project when I put the entrance on the wrong side.”

“That was a serious architectural failure.”

I laugh, and she smiles back at me across the table, warm and bright and so familiar it hurts. For a second, I can see the girl she was and the woman she is at the same time, and the want that rises up in me is so blunt that I have to look away to keep from reaching across the table for her.