Page 35 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

“AJ,there is no way I can work under Bransford’s leadership. None. I will relocate first,” I said to the mayor pro tem.

“First of all, you’re delusional if you think I will allow you to relocate. You’re one of the best firefighters we have. Secondly, I would never appoint Bransford as the new fire chief. He’s way too biased in his beliefs, and that’s putting it nicely. He doesn’t care for all citizens equally. So get ready for the backlash, because you are the best candidate for that position. I’ve watched you put your life on the line repeatedly to save others. Your own safety is an afterthought most times.”

I lowered my head, grateful that we were on the same page concerning Bransford. While I meant what I said about relocating, I didn’t want to have to. My family, the only family I knew, was here in Beaumont. Besides Micah, my mama was my best friend. I wasn’t great at making friends. I was always friendly and in a good mood, but I didn’t let people in on mypersonal life easily. People couldn’t be trusted. Unfortunately, Kyrie had reminded me of that.

I missed him so damn much, but I had to make peace with the situation and move on. The holidays had come and gone, and we were embarking on a new year. My goal was to make it better than last year and focus on elevation in my career. Being fire chief was the next step. Our fire chief had retired, and we had a retirement party for him right before the new year rolled in. It was a great time.

“Thank you, AJ. Are you going to run for mayor?”

“Absolutely. I didn’t come all this way to go down in the books as only mayor pro tem. I’m going to make my appointment tomorrow at the city council meeting. Do you have to work?”

“No. I’ll be there. I go back to work day after tomorrow.”

“Perfect. See you tomorrow then.”

I shook his hand. “Yes, you will. Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

When I walked out, I took a deep breath. The last time I was in the courthouse, or even in the vicinity of it, was when I’d rescued Kyrie from that courtroom. I swallowed hard and made my way to my car. It had been months, and I was still pining after this man. I didn’t understand why God was allowing me to go through this. It was like I was grieving our relationship and what it had the potential of being. I was so childish and naïve.

I was literally daydreaming about us being a family. We’d have a destination wedding, and I would get pregnant a year later. We would live at his house since it was bigger than mine. Eventually, we would have up to four children that all looked like him. My dreams were crushed. However, I seemed to be in this loop pattern, where I was easily triggered. Everything from the sight of flowers to TV court shows had me feeling incompleteand lost in this world. I was trying to be strong and trudge forward, but it was hard. It took conscious effort.

The worst part about all of this, I knew if I were to see him, I would give him a hard time. I’d make him stand on his decision in my face, just like I did when we pulled him from his SUV. It didn’t help that he’d been all over the news. He was taking a leave of absence. So I didn’t have a clue of where he was.

Getting into my car, I drove to Dairy Queen to get a crispy chicken salad, then I would head home. I had a lot of housework to do, plus I needed to check on my grandma. She was still coming over on Wednesdays to do my laundry, until yesterday. That wasn’t like her to miss, especially without calling to let me know. My uniform shirt was at her house anyway. She’d picked it up from the cleaners for me a while back, and I never got it from her house.

I needed it tomorrow to wear to the board meeting. I was almost sure Bransford would be there. His off days started tomorrow, on what would be my last off day. Like AJ had said, I had better be prepared for the fight. While he would make the appointment, the council members would have to be convinced that I could handle the position better than Bransford.

After getting my salad, I made my way to Grandma’s house. When I got there, I noticed her car wasn’t in the garage. She always parked in her garage. That was strange. I got out and immediately smelled food.God bless it.She was cooking or had already cooked. I walked up the stairs to the back door and turned the knob to find it locked. She rarely locked the back door during the daytime.

She probably had a boyfriend! That had to be it! That was the only reason she would miss Wednesday at my house. I could hear her laughing, and then I heard a man’s voice. I froze. That voice sounded a lot like Kyrie’s. I heard his voice in my dreams. Iwould never forget it. With a shaky hand, I knocked on the back door.

It got extremely quiet, and I could hear footsteps walking in the opposite direction of the door. Then I heard them coming my way. I plastered a huge smile on my face as the door cracked open. “Woman, why are you cracking the door open like you’re hiding?” I yelled.

She rolled her eyes and opened the door. She was still blocking the door though and said, “Hey, baby! To what do I owe this visit?”

“You didn’t come over yesterday. I was off, but you still normally come over anyway.” I frowned slightly. “Are you gonna let me in?”

“Umm… yeah. Come in.”

She seemed so damn nervous. “Grandma, I know you got a man in here. I heard y’all talking and laughing. Let me meet him.”

She seemed so nervous, and that only made me more nervous. “I don’t think it’s a good time for you to meet him, baby.”

“It’s okay, Grandma,” a male voice said.

I closed my eyes because I knew it was him. When I opened them, he was standing in front of me. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

Before he could answer, I realized this was probably where the police hid him out at.How convenient.I slowly shook my head and said, “Never mind. You don’t even have to answer that.” Turning to my grandma, I said, “I came to get my dress shirt. I have to go to the city council meeting tomorrow. AJ is going to appoint me fire chief at the meeting.”

My grandmother’s eyes widened. “Congratulations, sweetness! I’m so proud of you!”

She hugged me tightly as Kyrie stood there like he was in wet cement, staring at me. When my grandmother tried to pull away, my hair had gotten caught in one of the buttons of her shirt. Just that quickly, it had gotten good and tangled. I grabbed her hand and walked to the kitchen. Grabbing her shears, I cut it off.

Her mouth opened in shock. I’d been growing my locs for years. They hung to the middle of my back. My nose twitched, along with my lips as I cut off another one. “Genesis! What are you doing?”

I frowned hard, holding in my emotions and cut every last one of them off, leaving only a couple of inches of hair. I went and got the broom and dustpan and swept it all up as she and Kyrie looked on in shock. After I dumped it in the trash, I said, “Let me go get my shirt.”

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