EPILOGUE
Tank
August
“I didn’t expect to see you here today,” I lean over kissing Blaze, who looks gorgeous in her sundress and sandals. The turquoise color she’s picked makes her look like The Little Mermaid with her red hair.
“I gave a talk at the high school about mental health awareness,” she explains, putting a bag on my desk. “Then I went and got a piece of pie from The Café, because when your arms aren’t available, chocolate and coconut make it all better.”
I get up from my seat, enveloping her in my arms. “Why have chocolate and coconut when my arms are yours whenever you need them?”
She burrows her head into my chest, and like always, it makes me feel like I’m the strongest man in the world. To know this woman counts on me to be her anchor in the storm that’s sometimes our lives is the biggest blessing I’ve ever received. “You okay?” I kiss her on the forehead.
“Yeah,” she whispers. “Sometimes it’s hard to talk about her, but I’m really proud of the work I’ve been doing in the past few months.”
I’m proud of her too, more than proud of her. She took something that would have broken a lesser person and is making a difference in the community. There are open forums now on mental health, where people who are suffering can come to speak to counselors without fear of repercussions. She’s being the change when before she didn’t know how to be. “You’re doing amazing things, and I’m beyond proud to call you my girlfriend.”
“Anyway,” she runs a hand over her face. “I stopped by The Café to get my pie and figured you and Ryan might like some lunch.”
“You’re going for girlfriend of the year. Did you bring us pie, too?” I start rifling through the bag she’s put on my desk.
“Did I hear pie?” Ryan asks, rubbing his stomach as he makes his way into the squad room.
“You did, I brought you two lunch and pie.”
We sit down to have lunch with her. I enjoy my time with her now more than I ever have. We’ve been through a lot, she and I. Finding our way back to each other, living through a medical emergency, and doubts that could have torn us apart. We’ve thrived through all of it, after that first hiccup. She’s stuck by me and I’ve stuck by her. One day soon I’m going to give her my last name and make it legal, but for now I love the life we have. It’s got to be right for the both of us, and it’s not right for her yet. She has work to do, people to save.
More than anything I realize now, that’s what Blaze was put on this earth to do – to save people. Regardless of whether it’s from the back of an ambulance, my sister’s living room, or giving a speech to a high school gymnasium full of kids. She’s got a calling, and she’s fulfilling that calling like the amazing woman she is.
“I’ll see you at home tonight?” I ask as I finish eating my last bite of pie, rubbing my stomach as I groan. “Damn, that was good.”
“Yup, I don’t have to go in tonight. I switched with the new recruit out of Birmingham. She wants to get a few more hours in. I think she wants a few more hours with Logan, but that’s just me,” she gives me a grin.
“You think so?”
“Ohh yeah,” she nods, standing up to hug me bye.
As we’re breaking apart, Leighton strolls into the squad room, her eyes connecting with Holden’s. Without a word they go into his office, shutting the door.
“Wonder what that’s about?” Renegade asks as he looks at me.
I know exactly what it’s probably about, but I don’t say anything because it’s not my place. “Who knows with those two, all I know is he’ll do anything to protect her, and none of us knows how far he’ll go.”
Since Blaze and I got together, we’ve somehow escaped the Laurel Springs rumor mill and they’ve moved on to Holden and Leighton. No one knows for sure what’s going on, because they’re both tight-lipped about it.
“I’m gonna go, glad you guys enjoyed your food,” she leans in, kissing me on the cheek before she gives Renegade a hug. “We’ll be over to see Stella this weekend.”
“Maybe I can talk you into letting me and her mom have a date night?” he gives her the smile he uses when he wants to get his way.
“I think that could be arranged as long as Trevor’s okay with it.”
I’ll do anything for my sister, and they both know that. “Order us a pizza and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
Blaze leans in for another kiss, and I take the opportunity to grab her ass, pulling her closer to me. Have I mentioned how much I love it when she wears dresses. I’m leaning against my desk, laughing as she keeps trying to leave, but I keep pulling her back in. If anyone had told me a year ago this would be my life, I would have said they were crazy.
But my Blaze has shown me more than I ever imagined. I’ve pushed her away, loved her, worried her, and said some things along the way I didn’t mean. She never let any of it get to her, never believed anything other than the truth that we should be together.
When I grasp her around the waist one more time, whispering in her ear, Holden’s office door opens. Every eye in the room goes to where he and Leighton stand. He’s wearing a suit, and she’s wearing a white sundress. None of us know where they’re going, but she’s carrying flowers and he’s got a ring box in his hand. Mouths hang open as we watch them leave, neither one of them saying a word.
“Did that just happen?” Blaze asks, looking up at me like she’s seen an apparition.
“I think so, don’t ask me what it was, but I think that just happened,” I move my lips down to her ear. “That’ll be us soon.”
“Only if you can keep putting up with me,” she fires back, sass in her voice.
“We do pretty well putting up with each other,” I clasp our fingers together, bringing our hands up to my mouth, kissing her fingers. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, and I think you know that. You’re everything to me, Blaze.”
“Right back at ya,” she leans her forehead against my chest.
And just like that, right in the middle of the squad room, I’m at home and at peace because she’s with me. She never gave up, and she never let me down. Because if there’s anything that can handle the steel of a tank – it’s the heat of a blaze.
THE END