Chapter 53 Warren
FIFTY-THREE
WARREN
When I arrive at the firehouse, I keep my head down and go about my usual routine. I did the same when waking up today.
Harriet made us breakfast, cereal, but it was like cardboard and left a sour taste in my mouth. We spent the morning adding the finishing touches to the nursery and lounging on the sofa until I had to leave. From her point of view, nothing was amiss.
She was napping when I left, so she didn’t witness the five minutes I spent staring at the front door, debating if going to work today was smart.
It’s just another day, I told myself before eventually climbing into my truck and heading to the firehouse.
The route from the cottage to work was muscle memory.
I’d hardly spent any nights at my house in the past month, and I hoped to eventually never see the same street names and stop signs from my old neighborhood again.
Saying goodbye to the house is long overdue. It stopped being a home years ago, now more like a mausoleum. It isn’t healthy, and it shouldn’t have taken Kevin’s insight for me to realize that.
There’s no rest for the wicked, and the second I clock in, we’re inundated with calls, and Marcus is too busy to check in on me every minute like he usually does. I welcome the busy chatter in the truck and the joking around the kitchen.
It grounds me.
Keeps me distracted.
No one would know what today is, which is exactly how I need it to be.
It’s just another day.
Nineteen hours remain of my twenty-four shift when we get a call to a large fire at an abandoned lot of storage units.
On the ride over, all I can think is that it isn’t long until I’m back with Harriet, wrapped up in her rosy scent and gentle kisses. The perfect way to end a busy shift.
It’s just another day.