Firefighter's Virgin

She gave me a pointed look, and I knew she was expecting that I would say I realized I’d made a mistake and that I would give Allie a call right then and there. But I had already broken up with her; I wasn’t going to call her up and say I changed my mind. Even if there was a very large part of me that wanted to do exactly that, I wasn’t going to because that just seemed ridiculous.

“My decision’s already been made,” I said to my mother. “It’s not something that I’m going to walk back on now. I appreciate you sharing that story with me, and I know that no parent is perfect.”

“Then why are you holding yourself to some unreasonable expectation? I’ve been around you and Allie together—the two of you made a great couple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy than I did when you were with her.”

“I know,” I said. “She did make me really happy. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, though, okay, Mom? It’s already hard enough as it is, without having to rehash it every time I see you.”

Luckily, my dad and Declan came back over, Declan asking if I wanted to try flying the airplane.

“Sure,” I said, pushing myself up out of the chair. “Let me give that thing a try.”

I walked out into the middle of the yard, Declan trailing after me. I stood there and pushed the controls, moving the little joystick around to steer the plane.

“Let’s see how high this thing can go,” I said, guiding the plane up, up, up.

Declan stood next to me, eyes wide. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “Look how high it goes!”

But then he wanted me to give him the controller, so I handed it over, and stood there next to him as the plane zoomed around us. Across the yard, I could see that Allie had come out of her house and into the backyard. The foliage had grown in enough that we could all pretend that we weren’t aware the other was out there, but I knew she’d be able to hear us. I glanced down and could see that Declan was aware she out there too; he was still pressing the controls but was looking right at her.

And then the plane took off, sailed right over my head, going higher, clearing the maple tree, and nosediving right into Allie’s yard.

“Oops,” Declan said.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Uh-oh,” my dad was saying. “Where’d it go?”

Declan was already taking off, running into Allie’s yard. I just stood there.

“It went next door,” I said.

My father started to go after him, but then stopped. “Do you want me to...?”

“Why don’t you let Cole do it,” my mother said, giving me an encouraging look.

I followed Declan, really not looking forward to having another awkward interaction with Allie. I knew she wouldn’t be looking forward to it, either. I pushed past the blueberry bushes. Declan had retrieved his plane and was showing it to her. She was wearing a pair of cut-offs and a white tank top made of some very soft-looking material that conformed to her every curve.

“Sorry about that,” I said. She looked over at me, her mouth tightening.

“That’s all right,” she said, and her voice sounded a little too bright, a little too forced. “Declan just wanted to show me this airplane of his. It’s pretty great.”

“You want to come over and fly it with me?” Declan asked.

“I’m actually going to do some work in the garden right now.” Allie pointed to the plot where we could see some things growing. “Look. Those daisies are blooming. Aren’t they pretty?”

Declan walked over to the flowers, which were an array of whites and pinks. Allie and I both stood there, watching him.

“I’m sorry he came over here like this,” I said.

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

“He’s been asking about you a lot. In fact, he was just asking my parents earlier today if you would be able to go fishing with them next week.”

A tiny smile curved the corners of her mouth. I tried not to look at her mouth, because when I did, all I could think of was how badly I wanted to kiss her.

“That’s sweet of him.”

“It’s hard on him, you know. I haven’t really been quite sure what to say. I think he’s probably confused about it all, more than anything else. Which sucks.”