Page 77 of Up In Flames
I decided to entertain him and answered his question. “You. It’s always you. It’s always going to be you.”
Will cracked his eyes open and a smile so content and happy it was blinding greeted me. “It’s always going to be you too.”
Maybe forever wasn’t so nebulous after all.
Will
EPILOGUE
Oren told me to wait for him outside our apartment, but he didn’t say why. I knew we were going on a date. Oren had taken care of everything, he’d said. All I had to do was wait for him and look pretty.
When I’d mentioned doing something for our anniversary, Oren had grinned at me, kissed me sweetly on the mouth, and told me he’d already planned it. Was I worried? No. But curiosity was eating me alive.
Oren had moved his things into our apartment months ago and given up his other place. It wasn’t a hardship for him to move into a location that didn’t require him to use an elevator. He swore he was fine, though, and that he even took the elevator at work again. Sometimes. Just not that specific elevator.
A vaguely familiar car turned the corner and pulled up to the curb. I watched as Oren stepped out from the driver’s side and crossed the distance between us, his lanky legs carrying him swiftly to me.
“You drove? You’re driving?” I took Oren into my arms and kissed him soundly. He hadn’t driven since the accident that took his friends from him over a year ago.
“I’ve been working on it with Hal for months. I wanted to surprise you.” Oren’s happiness made him glow. “I’ve been dreaming of picking you up for a date for months.”
“Oren, I’m so proud of you. I would have helped you if I’d known you were wanting to get back behind the wheel.”
“I know you would have, but I wanted to do this my way. I wanted to see your face when I pulled up, and it was worth it.” He brushed his lips against mine, teasing me with a taste of him before pulling away. Color rose in his cheeks and motioned to the car. “Let’s go, because if you keep looking at me like that, we’re going to miss our reservation.”
He walked me to the car, even opened the door for me before jogging around to the other side.
I watched him as we pulled away from the curb. His confidence behind the wheel had changed him in some not insignificant way. The accident had taken so much from him, but it was like he’d finally reclaimed all that he could in spite of his loss.
The way we’d met hadn’t been ideal, and more than anything I wished that we could have met some other way. That his friends were still alive. That he didn’t still sometimes get migraines because of the accident. I wished I could have known Byron and Rita, but Oren had started talking about them more often now.
“Are you going to stare at me the whole way?” he asked, a cheeky grin tugging at his mouth.
“You don’t seem to mind the attention.” I let my gaze drift down his form, taking in the dark gray Henley he wore, paired with slacks of a similar color. He’d recently cut his hair, but I missed having something to run my fingers through. Only the top was long now but, God, he looked amazing. He looked happy, and my heart—and my ego—swelled because I knew I was a large part of that.
“I had to pull some strings, but I wanted some extra privacy for our date while still making sure it was going to be special.” Oren’s words didn’t confuse me until he pulled into the fire station where I worked.
“Oren? Um. I’m confused.”
He turned the engine off and looked at me, mischief dancing in his expression. “Trust me.”
Oren got out and jogged to my side of the car to open the door for me.
After coming out, the guys at the station had gone out of their way to do little things to show me that I was accepted. The first step had been the rainbow flag that had mysteriously appeared outside the fire station one morning. When I asked who put it up, no one confessed, but the captain had a certain sparkle in his eye that suggested he might have been the one.
Then the guys decided that our next community fundraiser would go to support a local LGBT organization dealing with youth homelessness. To further my surprise, when my parents heard about it, they rallied members of their new church and joined in on the cause.
Oren took my hand and tugged me forward and into the station. A few of the guys smirked at me, but it wasn’t malicious. Mostly, they looked pleased that I likely looked so fucking befuddled.
Then Oren took me up the first flight of stairs to the second level where the living spaces were. He led me down the hall to the last door, the one with the sign indicating it went to the roof. Oren opened a door that should’ve been locked and he beamed at me, probably the hugest smile I’d ever seen on his face.
“I told you I know a guy.” He dropped my hand and went up first. I followed, admiring the way he filled out a pair of slacks.
“Your ass is delicious in those pants.”
Oren’s laughter echoed in the stairwell. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
He twisted a second doorknob that also definitely should have been locked, and he stepped through, holding the door open for me. “Right this way, please.”
