Erin, who stood with her hands over her face. He dropped to one knee and opened a small box.
“Erin. I have loved you from the minute I set eyes on you. I want to wake up to you every day for the rest of my life. I want all the good times and the bad times with you by my side. I want to dance in the kitchen with you until we’re both using walkers and remembering when we were both young and crazy.”
Dameon felt a lump forming in his throat when Matt choked on his words.
“Erin, my love, my life, my everything . . . will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Erin was a mess of tears as she nodded and reached for him.
Matt set the roses on the ground, got to his feet, and pulled her in for a kiss.
Dameon looked around to see Grace’s family all smiling and crying. One of the firefighters had a cell phone camera pointed at the happy couple.
When Matt let Erin up for air, everyone started clapping. Matt whispered something in Erin’s ear as he slid a ring onto her finger.
Dameon never considered himself much of a romantic, but he had to admit he was pretty impressed with how Matt handled the whole thing.
There were hugs and cheers. When it was Dameon’s turn to congratulate the happy couple, he hugged them both. “Way to set the bar high, Matt,” Dameon said with a laugh.
“Let’s see you beat that,” Matt challenged.
Dameon looked over to Grace and saw her blushing.
The reporter snapped pictures and then interviewed Matt and Erin. She took down everyone’s names in the family, including Dameon’s. He was fairly certain a picture with him and Grace in it would make its way into the paper.
The bell inside the fire station went off, and Matt’s colleagues moved into action.
Colin and Matt scrambled to take the sign down.
“Do you have to go?” Erin asked over the noise.
“Nope. I’m not on today.”
They backed out of the way when the engine pulled out of the garage.
With the noise of the siren fading as it left the station, Dameon turned to the crowd. “If it’s okay with you, I booked the private room at The Backwoods to celebrate.”
Matt shook his hand. “Let me change real quick, and Erin and I will meet you there.”
The two of them slipped into the station while everyone else watched them go.
“Anyone wanna lay bets on how late they’ll be?” Colin asked.
“Leave the lovebirds alone,” Grace scolded.
Emmitt walked up to Dameon and patted him on the back. “I hope you took notes, son.”
“Dad!” Grace yelled.
Instead of feeling the pressure, Dameon smiled.
They made the second page, not the fourth.
Grace woke at Dameon’s canyon home the next morning to text messages from both family and friends.
“Your phone is buzzing off the hook,” Dameon said as he brought her a cup of coffee in bed.
She pushed into a seated position and accepted the coffee with a kiss. “Good morning.”
Dameon was already showered and dressed. “Good morning.” He sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on her leg over the blankets covering her.
“What time is it?”
“Almost seven. I have to get out of here if I’m going to beat traffic.”
“You’re not beating anything if it’s seven,” she told him.
He kissed her again. “Maybe I’ll just stay.”
“Someone has to work.” Grace sipped the coffee before setting it aside. “Thank you.”
He brushed the hair out of her face. “This is a great look.”
She knew she was a mess. They’d gotten back relatively early but spent the evening exploring each other’s bodies in very satisfying ways.
Her phone buzzed again. “What’s going on?”
Dameon pulled his phone out of the breast pocket of his suit. “The local paper.”
Grace rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took his phone. She expanded the pictures and the memories of the previous day came back.
Erin was emotional, Matt was teary-eyed.
Then there was a picture of Dameon holding her from behind and saying something in her ear. The caption was “Love is in the air.”
“Slow news day,” Grace said.
“This should do the trick.” Dameon took his phone back and put it away. “I hate to run.”
She started to get out of bed. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“No. Don’t rush. Stay as long as you like.”
She relaxed. “I’m starting to get lazy.”
Dameon shook his head. “I’ve seen the drawings and site plans. There isn’t a lazy bone in your body.”