No missed notification.
Nothing.
I parked out front, balloons bouncing against the roof of my car, and walked up to the bay doors with the cake balanced carefully in both hands.
I expected someone to notice immediately.
They did.
Just not the way I expected.
Nobody smiled.
That was the first thing I noticed, before I even said a word.
A few of the guys looked up, then looked at each other, then looked away from me entirely, like they were waiting for someone else to speak first.
For a second, I wondered if I’d interrupted something serious.
The station wasn’t loud like I remembered.
No television blaring in the background.
No one calling across the room.
No stupid joke flying in my direction.
The air felt strangely still.
I tightened my fingers around the cake box.
Maybe they’d had a difficult call.
That happened.
Tyler had told me before that sometimes the station stayed quiet afterward. Everyone processed things differently.
I told myself that was all this was.
Then I noticed one firefighter glance at the balloons and immediately lower his eyes.
Another man cleared his throat and walked toward the far side of the bay.
My excitement started slipping.
Not disappearing.
Just changing.
A small nervous feeling began forming in my stomach.
I looked around for Tyler.
I didn’t see him.
Maybe he was in the kitchen.
