Hurricane

Nightmare

"I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know. It was my first night in Chicago and I didn't want to remember what I had been through."

I looked down at the ground kind of ashamed of how I had treated him.

"You lost your husband."

How the hell did he know? Wait fucking Josh. No use of lying now or trying to hide it. I look up to meet Kelly's gaze.

"Yeah I did. I lost him and my son to a fire."

There it was. The look of sadness and pity. Please don't say I'm sorry. please.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I know I must of had a look of shock on my face because the first words someone always said was I'm sorry. I had had enough of I'm sorry's to last me a lifetime.

"uh sure but I'm gonna need something stronger than beer."

"You don't have to tell me but I am all ears if you want too."

It honestly brought some warmth to my heart how nice Kelly was being. Not pushing me to relive the worst day of my life but willing to listen if I wanted to talk.

I stood up from my chair. "Whiskey?"

"Sure." A warm caring smile spread across Kelly's face.

I nodded and headed back inside to grab a bottle of whisky from the cabinet in the garage and two glasses. I went back out to join Kelly and poured us both a glass of Jameson 18 years Batch 1 Irish Whiskey. I heard Kelly chuckle.

"What?"

"Isn't that like a $200 bottle of Irish Whiskey?"

"Yeah. Is that not okay?"

"No it's perfectly fine. Just surprised is all."

"Good because I don't have anything that's cheap."

"Noted."

I raised my glass. "To new friendships."

"To new friendships." We clanked our glasses together and took a drink. "You don't have to talk about your husband and son if you don't want too."

"It's okay Kelly. I want to. It's what I've been saving this bottle for. Telling what happened while drinking his favorite whiskey seems perfect."

I finished off my first glass and pour myself another.

"Alright but at any moment if you want to stop you can."

Wow this guy was seriously the sweetest. I couldn't help but smile.

"Okay. Thank you." I took a deep breath. "It was a normal warm evening in Houston, TX. Luke, my husband, was home with our son Nicholas because he was sick...

Flashback

Luke and I had just walked back into the firehouse from a call. We were all joking around. Luke was lieutenant on truck 37 and I was lieutenant on squad 4. Life was wonderful and we had a very happy 5 year old little boy named Nicholas.

We were all sitting down for lunch when my phone started to ring. It was our sons school.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Lane?"

"Yes?"

"Hello this the nurse at Park Place elementary. Nicholas came into my office not feeling good. He has a temperature of 101.00. He will need to be picked up."