Page 84 of Chasing Fireflies

“Are you tired now?” I ask her as I grip her moving toes.

“Never too tired to hang out with you.”

“Good.”

I turn the radio up and roll my window down. The ride’s only about twenty minutes, and as I turn onto the road, I look over at Sara who is sleeping. I don’t wake her, because I know when she says she couldn’t sleep last night, it means she probably didn’t sleep at all. I drive on down and park the truck in the shade in front of the water. I gently move her feet off my lap, open my door, and step out. I grab my tackle box and fishing pole from the back and walk down to the water. After I put my bait on, I toss the line and wait for a bite. I watch the horseflies buzz above the water and the sun start to sink in the sky. I didn’t plan to fish today, but with Sara I’ve learned you don’t make plans because you never know what her mood will be. I’m okay with that, and really it’s a good evening for fishing.

An hour later, the sun has completely set, and I’ve caught a few fish but threw them back. I hear the truck door open and look behind me.

“Baby, why didn’t you wake me?” Sara says, stretching.

“You didn’t sleep last night.”

“But I wanted to spend time with you.” She walks over to where I’m sitting on the grass and takes a seat on my lap. I wrap my arms around her and rest my back against the tree behind me. The oil lamp I bring with me for night fishing sits in the grass beside us and lights up her sleepy face. I look into her eyes, and it’s as if the world stops spinning and nothing and no one but us matters. Her eyes are a pretty blue, her hair messy from sleep, and in this moment my heart feels completely full. She is all I’ll ever need, all I’ll ever want, and without any thought, I say something I had no intention of saying today.

“Marry me.”

She smiles and leans back to search my face. After a moment, she says, “You don’t want to marry me.”

“I’ve loved you almost my whole life, Sara. If there is one thing I want to do, this is it.” I tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “Marry me,” I say in a rough whisper, almost pleading. She looks from my eyes to my lips, pulling her lips between her teeth before she looks back into my eyes.

“Okay,” she whispers back.

“Okay?” I ask, unsure if I heard her.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

*

I step onto the stage after the mayor recites a long, nice speech in remembrance of Chief Drew Rogers and calls my name. The town cheers, and like my wife, I don’t care for the attention, but I take a breath and look for her in the crowd. I find her and feel more at ease when she gives me a small smile and a little thumbs-up. I give her a wink and look back to the mayor as he says some more things about the town of Green Ridge and me. He then turns to me.

“Please, everyone welcome our new chief of police, Chief Cash Williams.” I shake his hand, and he places the badge on my shirt. As the crowd cheers, I give a small awkward wave. He looks to me to say something, and I clear my throat as the crowd grows quiet.

“Hello, I’m Cash Williams. I’m honored…”

“Speak up, son,” the mayor says, grinning at me. “They can’t hear you.”

I nod and clear my throat again, leaning into the microphone.

“Hello,” I say louder. “I’m Cash Williams. I’m honored to be the new chief, and I’m proud that Chief Rogers picked me to follow in his footsteps. Thank you,” I finish and hear one single person start to clap. I look and see it’s my wife. Everyone soon follows, and I’m shocked Sara even singled herself out like that. I’m sure I’m grinning like an idiot, so I nod to the mayor and make my way off the stage, trying to get to her through the crowd. I spot her as she’s making her way toward me. The mayor starts speaking again, and the town forgets about little ol’ me. When Sara gets to me, she jumps into my arms and I kiss her hard, like no one is around. Pulling away, I smile at her. “You clapped first.”

“Well, I couldn’t leave my husband hanging after that awkward speech.” She smiles. I think she’s joking. I think. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You’ll never know how proud I am,” she says, holding my face in her hands. I kiss her again because I love this woman more than I love anything, and I don’t care who sees us.

*

Chirping crickets, kids’ laughter, and adult chatter fill the town of Green Ridge, along with hanging outdoor lights and candles lit on white table-clothed tables. It’s been a beautiful night and the cleanup crew has started to pick things up.

Mark stands and taps a plastic fork against his bottle of beer as we sit outside Banner’s Bar and watch the candles being blown out and smoke drifting upward into the night sky.

“That’s not very loud, babe,” Leigh says to her husband.

“It got your attention, though.” He winks, and she shrugs, likegot me there.

“Are you going to say something or not?” Ben says with a smirk.

“I’m getting to it,” Mark fires back, but takes a sip of his beer. “Ahh, okay, where was I?”

“You were getting to it,” Maci says.

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