Page 26 of A Very Grumpy Firefighter

“How is that possible? You’re gorgeous.”

Her eyes widen, and I hate that she doesn’t see or realize how perfect she is. That’s okay. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure that she realizes how amazing she is.

“My mom wasn’t exactly a great influence,” she admits, and I nod.

“You’ve mentioned before that you two aren’t that close.”

“We’re not. At all. My dad was someone that she had a one-night stand with, or that’s what she said anyway. Growing up, she was always more interested in dating or the newest man in her life than in being a mother to me.”

“I’m sorry, Lilou.”

“Yeah. She’s still like that. All she cares about is herself and her newest boyfriend.”

“And you didn’t want to be like that,” I fill in for her, and she nods.

“What about you?”

“Why haven’t I ever dated before?” I ask, and she nods. “Because of my parents. They were so in love and my dad always said that he took one look at my mom and just knew in his bones that she was it for him. I guess that I was waiting for that feeling too.”

“That’s really beautiful,” she says softly, and I smile.

“They were great.”

“How did they die?”

“Robbery. They were in a convenience store. They always bought each other cheesy Valentine’s Day cards. They’d go together and find the funniest ones and then check out and go home and write a note in them to each other. They had a whole collection.”

“And they were there when the store was robbed?”

“Yeah. The police came to my apartment and told me. I had to call Luca and break the news to him. He was away for bootcamp. He ended up graduating a few days later and flying home for the funeral.”

“That must have been hard on you. Having to plan and bear all of that alone until he got back.”

“It was. It sucked.”

We’re silent for a minute, and then I clear my throat.

“Tell me something good about your childhood.”

“Something good?” She says, and when she smiles, I know that she’s remembering something.

“I have this best friend,” she starts, and I nod.

“Lymric.”

“Yeah! How’d you know that?”

“You’ve mentioned her before.”

“Oh. Yeah, anyway, Lymric is like my sister and has been since we met. We spent all of our free time together, and one summer, she came down to spend a few weeks with my grandpa and me. His apartment building had a pool, and he taught both of us to swim that year, and it was scary at first, but doing it with Lymric made it better. Some of his neighbors would sit by the edge and yell instructions at us. It was pretty funny seeing them argue over what was the best way for a beginner to learn to swim,” she says with a giggle. “My grandpa was a good teacher too. He made it fun. Then, the next summer, he took us to the beach, and we snorkeled for like a week straight. You couldn’t keep us out of the water.”

“Do you still like swimming?” I ask her, and she grins.

“Yeah, I love it. It sucks that I haven’t really been able to do much of it in the last few years.”

“We could find a place with a pool,” I offer her. “Or have one built.”

“Maybe,” she says shyly.

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