Page 67 of Up All Night
“Exactly. Our Sean is happy.” My mom came back into the room wearing giant Disney oven mitts. “And there’s mac-n-cheese for an army of Murphys.”
Declan crossed the room toward the dining area and kitchen, dragging Stacey with him.
“Love you all, but I need a drink.” Almost out of the room, he turned back toward me. “You need one, Dad?”
“I’m good.” I glanced over at Denver. “Well, I suppose that could have gone worse.”
“Give him time.” My dad used the same sage tone he used for all parental advice. “And speaking of time, have you filled out any job applications yet?”
“Job applications?” Denver’s expression went from stoic to confused.
“The firefighter I’ve been covering for is coming back from maternity leave. I can apply to stay though. And Dad wants me to apply for the chief position.”
“Help me convince him.” Dad gave Denver a conspiratorial grin. “The wife and I are going to be snowbirds. Winter in California, summer here. Ideal retirement. Just need my ideal replacement.”
“Like you said earlier, Sean needs to be happy.” Gaze going tender, Denver squeezed my hand. “And he’s a damn good firefighter.”
“He is,” my dad agreed.
“I’m honestly happiest on the line with the crew right now.” Voice not wavering, I met my dad’s gaze. “And right now, I want to do the things that make me the happiest, so I put in for the firefighter opening. And told Suzy to apply for both captain and chief. You want someone who’s excited to lead.”
“I can respect that decision.” Dad didn’t sound particularly joyous, but at least he wasn’t fighting me on the job issue. “Now, let’s eat.”
He headed toward the dining room, leaving Denver and me more or less alone. Well, as alone as one could be in a house full of Murphys.
“Doing okay?” I asked.
“I was about to ask you that.” He chuckled and tugged me a few steps closer. “You’ve got a good family, Sean.”
“I do.”
“They love you, and they want you to be happy. Like me.”
“Like you.” I was dying to ask whether he meant to imply he loved me, but my earlier nerves over being enough for him kept me from asking. “You do make me happy.”
“Good.” He smiled, glancing down at my mouth. We didn’t kiss, but the promise was there for later.
Later. Time was a beautiful thing. Like my dad said, none of us knew how much time we’d get, but I knew I wanted to spend mine with Denver, wanted to take time to get this right, make it last.
ChapterThirty-One
Denver
Sean’s text came right as I was finishing cleaning my station and turning things over to the day crew.
Meet you at home.
I still wasn’t used to that word and what it did to my insides. Busy few weeks, what with moving into the carriage house and taking over the diner, but Sean was at the center of it all. And that word.Home.Each day, I grew a little more secure in what we had going.
“Have a good one, boss,” Tammy called from the break-room door. The transition of ownership wasn’t quite complete, but Tammy took great delight in calling me boss and letting me handle any chore she wasn’t in the mood for. As we went through the process of taking over the daily running of the diner, we worked out a pretty good division of labor. She sweet-talked all our suppliers while I handled unruly employees. Honey’s was running smoother than ever, and Tammy’s wide smile said it all.
“See you later, Tammy.” I waved her on. “Enjoy your night off.”
“I will.” She was taking an overnight trip to Portland, meeting her daughter in-person for the first time after several long phone calls. “More jumpy than a pot of frogs, but I’m excited.”
“I’m happy for you,” I said, and I meant it. I may never be ready to do my own DNA looking, but her experience gave me hope that healing was possible.
“Thank you, sweetie.” She waved back. “Now you get on home to your man.”