817 Fireman Ln. (Cherry Falls)

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I open my mouth and close it again. I take another breath and finally say the words that I’ve never said before. “I’m a widower.”

She gasps, and her hand covers her mouth. She’s staring back at me with pity, and she shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Kent. I had no idea. No one said anything.”

I’m not surprised. Most of the people at the station were there when Kendal died. They saw what I went through, and I know it affected them too. Kendal was well loved by all of Cherry Falls.

I wrap my hand around the back of my neck as emotions start to roar inside me. “Yeah, they wouldn’t say anything.” She nods, and I ask her, “Can I come in?”

She still looks like she may say no. I stand perfectly still and wait. I don’t want to push her. I need her to choose to talk to me. It would make this so much easier. Finally, she steps back and opens the door wider. “Sure, come on in.”

I walk into the house and am surprised by how put together the house is for how short of a time she’s been here. There are wall decorations and rugs, and the whole place looks cozy.

“Do you want something to drink?” she asks.

I shake my head, and she gestures to the couch. I sit down, and she takes the chair across the room as I lean forward with my elbows on my knees. “I can imagine what you thought last night, and I’m sorry. I just never thought about taking off my ring,” I tell her, holding out my bare hand.

She looks at my ring finger and cringes. “You didn’t have to...”

I nod. “Yeah, I did. It was time to take it off.”

“You don’t have to tell me...”

I nod. “You’re right, I don’t have to, but I want to, and I’ll be honest: I’ve never talked about this before, but I need to say it to you.”

She pulls her feet up on the chair and sits with her arms wrapped around her legs. She’s waiting patiently for me to begin, and I take a deep breath. “Kendal and I were high school sweethearts. She was my best friend. We married as soon as we graduated. She attended a two-year college in Syn City while I went to training at the fire academy.”

Ava nods and encourages me to keep going. “Well, the one thing we couldn’t get along about was where to live. We were both born and raised in Cherry Falls. I loved it, and I thought Kendal did too, but once she started college in the city, she wanted a bigger life – as she called it. She begged me actually. And I could’ve gone. I can fight fires anywhere, but I never thought about moving from Cherry Falls. We argued about it quite a bit, and well, I loved Kendal, but I didn’t want to move. I felt like she was changing our plans, and I was mad about it. She got her associates degree and started a job at an accounting firm in Syn City. She commuted back and forth and...”

I stand up and start to pace across Ava’s living room. I can feel myself going back to that horrific night. It’s the one night that I’d give anything to forget. “I was on duty at the fire station. We got a call about a bad wreck out on Cherry Street. It’s the road that leads to the city. We go, just to offer assistance to the police and medics, and it was Kendal. She fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into the oncoming lane of traffic. She was pronounced dead on the scene.”

I stop pacing and look out the big bay window on to the street. There are kids riding their bikes, families in their yards working. It’s such a peaceful scene compared to what I’m thinking about right now.

I don’t hear Ava until she’s right next to me, her hand on my back. I don’t turn around; I try to just seep in the comfort she’s offering.

“Look at me, Kent.”

I turn, and she’s searching my face. “It’s not your fault.”

She says it with such passion there’s no doubt she believes it. “I know it’s not my fault. I do. But I also know that if I’d just given her what she wanted-“

Ava shakes her head and squeezes my shoulder. “That’s not how it works, Kent.”

I nod, knowing she’s right but still sometimes questioning myself. “Anyway, that was three years ago. I haven’t dated... I hadn’t been interested in a woman – until now.”

She pulls her hand back, and I know that I need to take this slowly. There’s still so much I don’t know about her. She walks back over to the chair and sits down, and I follow her, doing my best not to stare as her ass sways, and I sit back on the couch across from her. “Tell me about you. Why a firefighter? Why Cherry Falls?”