Page 127 of Engulfing Emma

“Your daughter is gorgeous,” I say to Ivy. I’m looking at a picture on her phone. Then I look at Sara’s phone. “Joey is super cute, too.”

I pull out my phone so they can see a picture of Evelyn. Sara looks at the picture and then back at me. “Emma, she could be your sister.”

I laugh. “I was a teenager when I had her.”

I look across the table and catch Brett’s eye. He winks at me before going back to his conversation with Denver and Bass.

Brett wanted me to meet his friends. Technically I met them at the firehouse, but this is different. We’re out to dinner with them and their wives. We all have kids so there is no shortage of conversation.

“Brett tells me your family owns a chain of flower shops, Ivy. That sounds heavenly.”

“My parents have three shops. My sister Holly and I run the one here in Brooklyn.”

“Is that how you and Bass met?” I ask. “Did he go into your shop to buy flowers?”

She shakes her head. “We met in Hawaii.”

“You met in Hawaii and you both live in Brooklyn?”

“Nice little coincidence, huh?”

Almost as odd as Brett and I living across the street from each other for years before meeting.

“Have you been to Hawaii?” Ivy asks. “It’s amazing.”

“No. I don’t fly. Well, I didn’t until very recently.”

“How come you didn’t fly?” Sara asks.

“I was afraid to. I lost my dad on 9/11.”

“I’m so sorry,” they both say.

“He was a firefighter. A lieutenant like Brett.”

Ivy and Sara take a moment to absorb that. It makes me wonder if they’ve ever really thought about what Bass and Denver do on a daily basis. Do they know that one day they could run into a building and never come out? My heart begins the descent into my stomach.

Sara puts a hand on mine. “It takes time to get used to it. You never really get over that feeling when they leave for work, but it does get easier.”

“I’ll have to trust you on that one,” I say. “I can’t imagine ever getting used to it. Not when I’ve experienced firsthand what can happen.”

“I know this doesn’t help much, considering what happened to your dad, but statistically, you have more of a chance of getting into a car accident than he has of getting seriously injured in the line of duty,” Sara says.

“Believe her,” Ivy says. “She knows.”

“You were in an accident, Sara?”

She bows her head and parts her hair, revealing a long scar on her scalp. “It’s how Denver and I met. He saved me.”

I look at Brett. He lifts his chin and gives me a smile. He seems to sense every time I look at him. It’s like he’s having a conversation with his friends but at the same time, he’s making sure I’m okay.

“Brett savedme,” I say. “In fact, he saved me and the four other people I was with.”

“We know,” Ivy says. “Our husbands told us. How scary that must have been for you, being held hostage.”

“It was, but I’m not mad it happened, because if it hadn’t, I’d never have met him.” I remember Carter. “I’m not sure if you know this, but in a few weeks, there is going to be a benefit for the kid Brett saved. They’re raising money for Carter’s prosthetic leg. Evelyn and I will be selling baked goods there.”

“We’ll be there,” Sara says. “I’ve been working on a collection of paintings, and Ivy’s family is donating a ton of floral arrangements.”

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