CHAPTER 8
Amy
I pull into the parking lot of Mel’s Diner, the meet-up place he suggested. I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want anyone else to see us, or he has something else in mind. There’s a park just out back of the diner and everyone in town knows that park as one thing and one thing only…the place where you go to make out in high school, and often lose your virginity.
Does he have a fetish for younger girls like me? I don’t consider myself that young, at twenty-one, but I’m definitely a lot younger than he is.
But that’s not the biggest thing on my mind. I considered not accepting his invitation, but I have to meet with him to so we can set one thing straight before this becomes even more awkward.
He’s my best friend’s dad, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen him that I forgot what he looked like. She always came to my place in high school, and now that we’re in college we just meet out somewhere. We couldn’t go to her house because her dad was often there sleeping, or there was no-one home. He didn’t want two girls home alone with no adult supervision back then. I remember that he’s a protective guy, and he’ll do anything for Laura, but that’s about all I remember. I haven’t seen him for years…until last night.
The last thing I need is him telling Laura that he’s met a girl that’s my age, only for her to realize it’s not just some girl, it’s me.
I open the door and see him immediately. He’s in the corner with a glass of water sitting in front of him, and two menus. I try not to giggle that a firefighter has a long, tall glass of water, or the thought that all I want to do is drink him up right now…which I do with my eyes.
It’s the first time I’ve seen him out of his fireman’s suit since Laura’s thirteenth birthday. Has it really been eight years? You certainly can’t tell by looking at him. He’s aged well, if in fact he’s aged at all. I guess rescuing young damsels in distress from fires keeps you in shape. It certainly has him.
The moment he sees me he stands. Everything’s happening so quickly, and I’m still a little bit nervous about meeting him, but I do file that away in the back of my mind. I don’t remember a guy ever standing when I showed up for a date, let alone just when I walked into a room or public place. I guess chivalry isn’t dead just yet.
“Thanks for coming,” he says. “You look beautiful.”
This is not going to be easy. What would be easy would be to sit here and take in a few more of these compliments. I know I don’t look beautiful, as a matter of fact I was barely able to sleep last night and I know my eyes are puffy and I look like a hot mess. It’s nice that he didn’t say I look, “tired,” or one of those other comments people make when they think you look like hell.
“Thanks. You look…fit. And awake. Very awake after finishing what I guess was a long shift.”
“Forty-eight hours,” he says.
“I know,” I say.
“You know?”
“Yeah,” I begin. This is the part where I tell him because I know just how he is and how Laura used to say her dad was on “for the next forty-eight.” Her dad of course being him. Does he even recognize me?
I think back to that party and realize he was off with the adults most of the time. He may have never even seen me before yesterday, come to think about it.
Surely Laura mentioned my name before, or maybe she just referred to me as her friend, her bestie, her BFF, or who knows what other word she used for my name in place of Amy.
Regardless, he doesn’t seem to remember me.
I know I’m going to have to tell him who I am, if he hasn’t already figure it out first. I thought he might have already if there was some sort of paperwork, but even then it might be tough.
We’d just moved into that house where we live now, so the location wouldn’t ring a bell with him. Not to mention the house was in my mother’s name. She was a real estate broker and had been the one who closed the deal. It was easier for her just to register the house under her name, and also she mentioned something about it saving the family money on taxes and home improvements. I can’t believe I just remembered that.
So he definitely doesn’t remember who I am, and he didn’t invite me here to tell me we have to keep this to ourselves.
I was expecting him to be the man, and to admit what we did was wrong and that we couldn’t do it again. Well, he’s definitely a man, but he’s a man with no understanding of the significance of our pasts and how they intertwine. Then again, I guess our pasts don’t really cross paths much at all.
So wait a minute then…why did he invite me here?
“So you know a thing or two about how a fire station runs?”
“Not much really,” I say. “Just a thing or two.”
There’s a long pause before he says, “About yesterday.”
“Yeah, I—“
“That was out of character for me,” he beings.
Perfect, I think to myself. I’m going to get out of this scot-free. He’ll never know who I am, but he’ll end it now all the same. What a relief. And it’s not like I’ll be going over to Laura’s place anytime soon, which is a shame now that I know who’s sleeping in that back room.
It should feel relieved right about now, knowing what’s about to happen…but I don’t. There’s something about those hazel eyes of his, and the intensity with which he looks at me. I walk around most days feeling unnoticed, and when I do talk to somebody it feels like they spend half the time looking over my shoulder. It’s like they’re passing time with me until the person they really want to talk to shows up. Not him. He’s only focused on me. You can even see it by the way he sits. How he positions his body directly towards mine. How his body language says he’s confident and he’s here to see one person and one person only…me. And not only is he here to see me, but he wants to be here with me. He’s proud to be here with me. And I’m definitely excited to be here with him. But I guess this can’t continue, whether I think it should or not. He’s about to set things straight, so I prepare for the blow and play the role. At least it’s how I expect these type of things to go. I’ve never had an experience like what I had last night, and certainly not an experience like the day after which I find myself in at the moment.
“Me too,” I say.
“I could tell,” he says.
“You could tell?” I’m not sure what to make of that comment.
“Yeah, I mean, I was the one who came up to your room. I could see that you were shy and nervous. The thing is that there’s just something different about you. Something that made me climb those stairs, when I shouldn’t have. To do a lot of things I technically shouldn’t have.”
“Technically?”
“At least not in uniform,” he says.
I look across the table and remind myself not to let my eyes drift down too much to that massive chest of his which is busing out of his white button-down shirt, as he is currently not in uniform. Gulp.
“I’m responsible. I’m older than you. I’m a professional, well, I guess I wasn’t acting with much professionalism at the time, but I’m supposed to.”
“Okay,” I say, feeling he’s considering wrapping this up again and sending me on my way.
“But experience has taught me that it’s not always about what you’re supposed to do, it’s about what you want to do. You can’t deny yourself what you really want.”
“Uh huh,” I say, realizing the train is right back on track.
“And what I want is you.”
“Me?”
“At least to give it a shot,” he says. “I’m the type of guy who knows what he wants and goes for it with everything I’ve got. I can be too intense for most people at times, but I’m working on it.”
“It’s best just to be yourself, right?”
“I think so, but it’s also important not to hurt those who are close to you and to rub everybody the wrong way.”
“Right, you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone who’s close to you,” I say, visualizing Laura throwing a vase across the room if she ever got the news of what went down between her father and I.
“Of course not.”
I don’t say anything. I’m treading on thin ice here and I don’t want to fall in. He’s rescued me once already, and I’m not about to press my luck.
“But experience has also taught me that you often don’t get a second chance. When you get an opportunity, you’ve got to take it. It’s likely not going to come around again.”
“And you see an…opportunity?”
“I see an opportunity for something more. Last night was last night. I don’t regret it at all. But what I will regret is if we don’t see where this can go. We only get one shot, and I want to take it, with you.”