Page 65 of We Can Forever

“Thank you. Want some tea?”

We settle onto her couch, where she pours us each a mug from her ceramic pitcher. It’s cozy in her little home, piano music playing softly in the background and birds coming to the window feeder.

“I want to say thank you again.” She gazes at me over her mug. “For being at the hospital with me. It felt good not to have to go through all of that alone…again. My ex used to go with me to all my appointments, but since we broke up…”

“I get it. It’s hard to do that alone.”

She smiles ruefully. “It takes some getting used to.”

“I’ll go to any of your appointments with you. Any time.”

“Same.” She bites into her smile. “Although, do you really need it? With what’s going on with Michael, I don’t see him ever missing an appointment.”

I press my fingers against my smile. “It feels like a daydream. I never thought I would be in a relationship this amazing.”

“You deserve it. You both do.”

I sigh happily and glance out the window before turning back to Maya. “I want to live with him and Katie. Is that crazy?”

“No. Not at all.”

“I know it’s kind of early, but maybe we could move in together this summer. I don’t just love him. I love Katie too.” My chest warms. “I want to be a family.”

“Hannah, that’s beautiful?—”

My phone rings from inside my purse, cutting her off.

“Sorry.” I reach in to see that it’s an unknown, but local, number.

“Want to see who that is?” Maya sips her tea.

“Yeah,” I mumble, hitting the answer button. “This is Hannah.”

“Hannah. Hey. This is Jenny! Michael gave me your number in case I ever needed to call. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not.” I glance at Maya, who can hear the conversation.

“I wanted to let you know that Michael and his crew have been called in to help with a fire on the mainland. It’s at the high school, an all-hands-on-deck situation.”

My heart flutters. “Okay.” Why is she telling me this? Michael has gone out on calls multiple times since we met. Is there something different about today’s fire?

“He’s safe. I just thought you would want to hear this before people start asking you about it or anything like that.”

I want to feel relief over her explanation, but it doesn’t come. “Thank you. I do appreciate the heads-up.”

“I’ll let you know about any updates.”

“Okay. Thanks, Jenny.”

“Bye.” She hangs up.

Even though her call was meant to comfort me, I can’t help but feel the opposite. Clearly, she’s concerned, or else she wouldn’t have reached out to me.

“Is this a big deal?” I ask Maya. “A fire at the high school? Why would she tell me?”

Maya shakes her head. “I don’t know,” she breathes.

I put my phone down, feeling nauseous and out of my element. Is this what life is like with a firefighter? Random calls about their being in danger?

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