I Surprised My Firefighter Husband at His Station for His Birthday – What His Captain Told Me Made My Stomach Drop
“Amanda, why don’t you put the cake down?”
That sentence terrified me more than his question had.
“No.”
“Amanda.”
“Where is Tyler?”
My fingers tightened around the cardboard box.
Captain Reyes took one careful step toward me.
“He’s not here.”
“I can see that.”
My voice came out sharper than I intended.
“Where is he?”
One of the balloons slipped from my wrist and floated toward the ceiling.
Nobody moved to grab it.
Captain Reyes rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“There was an incident this morning.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What kind of incident?”
“He was on a call.”
I stared at him.
Tyler had been on hundreds of calls.
He’d come home with bruises before.
Once, he’d needed stitches in his forearm.
Another time, he’d spent two days complaining about his ribs after part of a ceiling came down near him.
He always told me afterward.
Usually much afterward.
“What happened?”
Captain Reyes hesitated.
That hesitation made my knees weak.
“Is he alive?”
His eyes widened.
“Yes. Amanda, yes. He’s alive.”
I finally breathed.
It wasn’t relief exactly.
