I called Dylan as soon as I left work, but he didn’t answer. Damn. I wanted to share my good news with him. My first day back was an even bigger success than I could have imagined.
Inspiration hit me as I almost drove past a grocery store. I quickly hit the brakes and turned in. What better way to celebrate than with cookies? I could bring them to the station for Dylan, and to thank all the firefighters who covered his shifts so he could be with me, and for his friends who’d been calling and visiting us. They were an amazing bunch of men and women, and I understood why Dylan thought of them as family. I’d bring some over to Station 7 too, with extras for Sledge to bring home to Beth. I owed them all so much. I owed them my life.
I rereadthe chocolate chip cookie recipe for the third time. I usually used a mix and just added butter, an egg, and extra chocolate chips. I trusted Betty Crocker more than myself. But still floating on a high from work, I’d stopped in the flour aisleof the grocery store, looked up a recipe, and bought all the ingredients.
I was regretting that now, as I stopped to Google how to cream butter and sugar. Five precarious minutes later, I had a bowl full of beautiful fluffy, yellow creamed butter and sugar. I did it! Amazing.
I finished baking dozens of cookies, tasted one from each batch, just to be sure, and proudly packed them to bring to the fire stations.
I pulled up to Station 9 first, eager to see Dylan and tell him about my day in person, but before I even parked the car, I saw the bays were empty. I went in anyway, calling out as I did in case anyone stayed back. Empty. They must’ve been called out during dinner, judging by the mostly empty dishes on the table and the pans of baked ziti and chicken parm on the counter. I quickly covered the leftover food and put it in the fridge and rinsed and loaded the dishwasher. I didn’t start it, though. I’d leave my dishwasher on unattended, but I didn’t know if the firefighters would approve of that. I left the cookies on the table with a note and headed out, a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see Dylan, but also excited imagining his reaction when he found the cookies.
I headed over to Station 7 next. It looked like they were there, and I knocked hesitantly, hoping it was the crew that I knew. It would be awkward to explain who I was and why I was there if it wasn’t. Dylan said they usually worked the same shifts, but I didn’t know if that was always the case.
Just as my nerves threatened to get the best of me, the door opened, and I breathed a sigh of relief to see Taco.
“Juliette, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
“I’m good. I made cookies.” I held the Tupperware out to him.
“My second favorite food,” he said.
“Sorry it’s not tacos.”
Taco laughed. Hard. Happiness bubbled through me.
“Hey guys,” he called out. “Juliette’s here with cookies.” He put a friendly hand on my shoulder and led me into the station.
Penelope ran up and enveloped me in a hug. “I’m so happy to see you. How are you feeling? I’ve been so worried about how you were coping after what happened!”
“I’m okay. I feel fine, and I know Kayla can’t hurt me again. Dylan’s been amazing. I had to talk him down from his guilt though.”
“Yeah, these guys protect us hard, don’t they?” she said with a look at Moose.
Moose kissed me on the cheek and settled a hand around Penelope’s shoulders. “When you love someone, their happiness and safety is everything.”
The rest of the guys came over and I was hugged by everyone. I was blown away by their warm welcome. They all said that their women would be so happy to hear I was doing so well.
I wanted to tell Sledge to thank Beth for me, but it was too much with everyone there all together. I truly appreciated how she’d helped to get Leo out of the picture—imagine if we’d had Kayla and Leo both after us—and I wanted to make sure she felt good about it and wasn’t taking on any misplaced responsibility, but that was a lot to say. I swallowed back the disappointment in myself. I was here with cookies I’d baked for them. That was enough.
A few minutes later, we said goodbye, and everyone said they were looking forward to seeing us in a few days at the Sloppy Cow.
“Don’t be surprised if the women smother you a little when they see you. They’ve been worried,” Crash said.
“That’s sweet. I’m excited to see them too.”
I started walking out when I saw that Sledge was still close by, and I quickly turned to give him a hug. He looked surprised for a moment before he hugged me back. I leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Bring Beth cookies. Tell her I said thank you.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell her. She’s so glad you’re okay. We all are.”
“I’m okay. It could have been so much worse if Leo was there. Make sure she knows that.”
Sledge’s arms tightened around me, and I wondered if I was right in thinking she needed to hear that, or if he was thinking about what Beth had been through. “Dylan’s a lucky guy,” he said, then he released me and walked me out to my car.
I drove home feeling proud. I’d never be the person to barge into a room and shout out what was on my mind, but I didn’t really like when people did that anyway. I just wanted to be the best version of myself that I could, and I was already at a point that I couldn’t have even imagined before. Today alone, I started the morning feeling so loved by my amazing boyfriend. I’d killed it at work, baked homemade cookies for the first time, delivered them to the fire stations, and talked to everyone there. Even if I had to wait to talk to Sledge alone, I’d said everything I wanted to say. Who was this girl? I liked her. I liked her a hell of a lot.
My phone rang as I pulled into my spot at my apartment building. Dylan. I hesitated for a moment, a feeling of deja vu washing over me.
“Hello?”