Page 38 of The One Who Changed Everything

"Something with action, I hope," I mused, handing him the bowl before settling down beside them. I didn’t think I could handle anything too romantic.

"Action it is." He smiled, and there was that humor in his eyes that always seemed to make the room brighter. "Let's see if we can find something that won't have us covering Sophia's eyes."

"Hey, I'm thirteen, not three," Sophia protested playfully, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "I can handle action." She yawned through the last several words, and I met Evan’s glance over her head. It was already after eight on Friday night, but I’d foolishly agreed to a movie before dinner took twice as long as I’d expected.

We settled on a spy movie with good reviews. With a click of the remote, the movie started, its opening credits rolling across the screen. The room was bathed in flickering light. I nestled closer to Sophia.

About ninety minutes later, the movie had reached the climax, but Sophia's breathing had taken on the deep and even rhythm that signaled she'd drifted off to dreamland. Her head, hair in a messy bun, rested against my shoulder. I glanced down at her peaceful face, feeling a surge of love for this tiny person who had weathered life's storms right by my side.

Carefully, I reached over and pulled the fleece blanket up around her chin, tucking it gently under her arms. She murmured something unintelligible and snuggled deeper into the warmth. I smiled. There's something about a sleeping child that just made the world seem right, even if just for a moment.

With the room now quiet except for the quiet dialogue of the film, I turned my attention back to the screen. But not for long. My gaze was drawn to Evan, his profile illuminated by the TV's glow. He caught me looking.

"Maybe I should go," he whispered, motioning toward Sophia. "Don't want to wake her."

I shook my head, a little too eagerly. "You can stay. It’s… kind of nice.” The words hung in the air between us, simple but heavy with meaning.

"Alright," Evan said, settling back into the couch. His presence filled the space with a comforting energy that I hadn't realized I'd missed until just then.

"Thanks for coming tonight, Evan," I continued, my voice a murmur matching the tranquility of the room. “I’m sure there are other things you could do on a Friday night as a single guy.”

He offered a half-smile, the kind that didn’t quite reach the eyes but still managed to convey warmth. "There’s nowhere else I’d rather be."

I let myself ask the question that had been on my mind since I first saw him at the Spring Sparks Auction. “How did you end up in Minden anyway? We’re a long way from Chicago.”

His lips lifted in a half-smile. “Well, I’m starting to think it was all a God thing, you know. If I hadn’t moved here, I might never have found you.”

I responded with a low hum, not sure how else to respond.

“I’d been with the Chicago Fire Department for about ten years. I moved up through the ranks quickly, and I was in line for a promotion to a station chief, which is a pretty big deal. But I knew that part of the reason I was even in the conversation was because I was a Mercer. I hated the idea that I was getting something I hadn’t earned. So I started looking outside Chicago. When I saw the posting that MRFD was looking for an assistant chief, I decided to apply.” He shrugged. “It’s worked out so far, I guess.”

I shook my head. “That’s crazy. Whatever happened to getting your MBA? When we were in Florida, all you talked about was what you were going to change when you took over your dad’s business.”

His eyes flashed with an expression I couldn’t name.

“You know my brother had Long QT?”

I frowned at the change of subject, but shook my head. “No, I didn’t.”

I turned my body toward him, folding my legs beneath me on the couch. Sophia's steady breathing was a comforting rhythm in the quiet room. I nodded for him to continue, my heart already bracing for the weight of his words.

“That was how I knew so much about it when we picked up Sophia that day. I didn’t know until later, but that was what killed him in the fire.” His eyes locked onto mine, a raw vulnerability shining through. "He didn't stand a chance, not with the crowd, the smoke... And his heart just couldn't take it."

My own heart dropped at the revelation. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

“After his funeral, I decided to join the fire service. Mason was a better person than me, by far. And I just… I wanted to do something that would make him proud. I decided that adding a few zeroes to the family bank account wasn’t really all that noble.”

I gripped the blanket a little tighter around Sophia, feeling a surge of protectiveness for both my daughter and the man beside me who had suffered so much loss.

"That's why you became a firefighter?" My voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried all the admiration and sorrow I felt for him in that moment.

Evan nodded, a shadow of a smile flickering across his face. "Yeah. I think I thought, if I could save someone else's brother, maybe it would..." His voice trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished, but I understood.

My heart ached for him, for the burden of guilt he'd shouldered all these years. Watching him closely, I saw the strain in the set of his jaw, the way his hands clasped and unclasped as though trying to release something intangible.

"Evan," I began, my tone deliberate, choosing each word as if it were a lifeline I was offering him. "You didn't let your brother down."

His gaze wavered, a storm of doubt and sorrow threatening to spill over. The silence stretched between us. “I wish I could believe that,” he said.

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