Page 78 of Up In Flames
The roof of the station had been transformed. A table, with a white tablecloth, a centerpiece of roses, and two place settings sat off to the side. The place settings had those silver domes over them to keep the food hot. A bucket of ice sat to one side and there was a bottle of something chilling. Oren didn’t drink—he probably would never drink again. It was one thing that he had no interest in resuming, but he never stopped me from doing it.
“Oren,” I said, finding my voice. “This is unbelievable. You did all this? For me?”
He tugged me over to the table and pulled out my chair. “I always imagined picking you up for a date, but everywhere I could think of to take you wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t special enough. I wanted to bring you somewhere we could also have a bit of privacy.”
I didn’t have to wonder why Oren wanted privacy. Already I was as hard as a brick, and the way he looked at me certainly wasn’t helping.
Oren leaned in and kissed me sweetly. “Sit, please. We need to eat before the food gets cold.”
I waited until he had taken his seat across from mine before lifting up the dome.
“Breaded pork cutlets, twice-baked potato, and corn ribs,” Oren supplied with a smile.
“Did you make this?”
He nodded. “Downstairs. The guys let me access the kitchen.”
Oren and I had started cooking together soon after he moved in. It was kind of our thing now. I loved sharing that space withhim, and he loved it when I taught him things. Like how to bread a pork cutlet and twice bake a potato, the sneaky bastard.
He reached for the bottle that was chilling in the ice and lifted it out. “Sparkling cider?” he asked, his smile dimmer and a little sheepish.
“That sounds perfect.” I didn’t care what we drank. I’d have happily sipped on tap water.
Oren filled our glasses and motioned for me to start eating.
Soft music started to play, and his shoulders relaxed a bit as he tucked his phone away. Clearly someone had a few tricks up his sleeve.
Everything was cooked to perfection, and I did my best to pay as much attention to the food as I could, considering all the trouble Oren went to cooking for us.
“You know, usually when I’m on a roof, I have to worry about it collapsing. This is much nicer. No open flame.”
He laughed, then balled up a napkin and threw it at me. “I don’t like to think of you on burning rooftops. Way to ruin the ambience.”
“The ambience is fine. The company is even better, though. I wonder if my date has planned a nice dessert, or if he is a nice dessert.”
Oren had clearly wanted privacy for some reason, and my lizard brain could only conjure up ones that involved us getting naked together. Or at least semi-naked.
He glanced away as though he were shy. “There might be plans for after dinner,” he hedged and delicately scooped out a bite of potato with his fork. The music in the background was some sort of love song playlist, each song was soft and sentimental.
“Thank you for this, Oren. For everything. It’s beautiful.”
“Have you been up here before? It has a great view.” He took another, smaller bite of potato.
“I haven’t, not that I can think of. It’s not like we have a lot of reasons to be on the roof.”
“The view from the other side is the best. Did you want to see?”
The firehouse was an old building, the kind with a wall that went around the roof’s edge. It wasn’t quite waist height, but it offered some kind of security against accidentally falling off.
Clearly Oren had something he wanted me to see.
“I’d love to.” I stood up from the table and followed him to the side of the building that he’d talked about. The city did look a bit different from up here, and it was rather nice to be on a roof that wasn’t burning underneath me.
I scanned the horizon, keenly aware of Oren’s gaze fixed on me and not on the view. And then I saw the fire truck pull out of the station and my gaze dropped down to see what was going on. Even up here, I’d have heard the alarm, but there hadn’t been one.
The truck made a wide turn, and I saw a banner with the words‘say yes’strung along the side of the vehicle.
“They insisted on being part of it.” Oren sounded apologetic and I turned as he lowered himself down on one knee. “It was the only way I could get their blessing. William Allan Dorsey, will you marry me? I had this whole big speech planned, but the only thing that matters is your answer.”
