by Kara Hart
“If they didn’t, I feel bad for everyone using that steam room,” I say.
“Well, I’ll never be going back in there,” he says.
“Not even on our ten year anniversary?” I ask.
“Okay. You’re right. We can repeat the night on our ten-year anniversary,” he says.
We fall asleep with each other, arms around one another. There is only a nod toward the future and the feeling that things are starting to change for good.
He doesn’t take his hands off me the whole night.
Chapter 29: Cole
I stretch my arms and legs, and roll right out of bed. The crunching sound of some chips can be heard under my back. “I’m dying,” I mumble.
“Fuck you,” Eric says. “Time to wake up.”Apparently, he has shown his way inside the house.
“Fuck you both,” Olivia says.
“I feel like crap,” I say.
“Same,” Olivia says. “I think I overslept.”
“We shouldn’t have drank all that whisky,” I groan.
Eric claps his hands enthusiastically and says, “Come on. We’ve got the whole interview happening soon. Gotta look our best, right?”
“It’s only two PM,” I moan. “Wait a minute.” I instantly close my eyes.
“We’re going to be late,” Eric reiterates. “Up, up, up.”
I look at my phone. Dan has called me over ten times.
“Shit, I missed Dan’s calls,” I mutter. I call him back and he answers within seconds.
“Where the hell’ve you been?” he asks. “I’ve been calling you for hours. The guys want to get their gear and set it up.”
“We’re almost ready,” I lie. “Give us less than an hour. We’ll be good. Need my morning coffee first, you know?”
“I’m sending my guys over to you in thirty. See ya, brother.” Click. That’s that.
I look at Olivia. We both are disheveled. Maybe he tried to wake me up. I have no clue.
“Quick shower and then we have to go,” I say. I run to the bathroom and don’t even wait for the hot water to start. I jump in, freezing my ass off as Olivia calmly waits for it to heat.
When she gets in, I have to grab that ass of hers. I kiss her body and pour the body wash all over her. She spreads the suds around her fine tits and in between her legs.
I reach out and brush her pussy. “Save it,” she says. “Later.”
“Screw the interview,” I say.
But she’s right. I have to take big, deep breaths to quench my thirst for her and remain calm. We wash the soap away and get the hell out of there.
On the way to the station, I’m smiling to myself. “What’s so funny?” Olivia finally asks me, once I let out a small laugh to myself.
“Nothing,” I say. “Just feeling free, is all.”
I’m excited because she has no clue about what I’ve decided to do today. I’m going to ask her to marry me today, right after the interview.
The truth is, I think I’ve been waiting for this day ever since I saw her again. It’s a huge step, but I’m ready to move forward.
And if she says no? Well, I am willing to lose it all.
“You’re so weird,” she says, eyeing me cautiously. “You’re nervous aren’t you?”
Nervous about proposing? Hell yeah, I am. I can’t afford to have her say no. It would be a huge shock.
I have it all in my head. Our future. It’s so fucking bright. It could be incredible.
“A little bit,” I say. “But I think it’s going to go over well. It’s a no pressure thing. We just state the facts and move on.”
“You’ll be great. I just know you will,” she says.
We pull up to the station and walk inside. The chief makes eye contact with me. I feel my stomach drop.
“Hey,” I say.
He nods. “Been a while since you’ve addressed me,” he says.
“Yeah. We had a falling out, remember?” I ask him.
He’s leaning against the truck. Dan is in the corner, talking to his crew.
“I remember you slugging me in the face. Is that what you mean by a falling out?” he asks.
When he laughs, I know he holds no grudge. Shit, I’ve known that all along. That night, I went crazy. I think I slugged about three other people.
“I, uh.” I can’t get the words out right. I’m not sure how to apologize for what happened.
“It’s okay,” chief says. “It’s like I told you both. When you’re ready to confront everything, you can come back. I’ve been in your shoes now at least fifty times. I know how hard it can be.”
I put out my hand. He takes it, but pulls me into an embrace.
“We’re brothers here. Don’t ever forget that,” he says.
“I won’t,” I mutter.
“Good. Now go do your thing,” he says. “Make peace with yourself this Christmas.”
Setting everything up takes a mere 20 minutes, and everything is running smoothly. We go over the plan, which is redundant and pointless, but necessary to them.
One of the guys tells me, “The PR team wants everything to as smooth as possible. Otherwise, the paper pulls the plug on the whole thing.”
I shrug. “Easy as pie,” I say.
“We’ve got 15 minutes, guys. And then you’re on. Is Eric coming or what?”
Dan is starting to get annoyed. I check my phone, but he hasn’t texted me or anything.
The team starts to get restless and so am I. Eric lives like two blocks away from the station, but leave it to him to sleep in all day.
“He’ll be here. He’s never been late in his life,” I lie. “In the meantime, I need to take a piss.”
I need to prepare this proposal, dammit. I’ve had no time to think this through and I feel sick to my stomach. I need to show her just how good I feel about her. I need to—wait.
In the bathroom, I reach into my pocket to look at the ring one more time, before giving it to the love of my life. My fingers fumble against the cloth of the pocket, but I don’t feel the box.
My heart immediately starts pumping fear and anxiety into my brain. I clutch at the tops of every single pocket. I reach in, but there’s nothing.
“Shit!” I could punch something right now.
I run out of the bathroom and out of the station. Olivia can barely get the words in, “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”
I scramble for a lie, anything to buy me some time. “I need to grab a drink,” I tell her, making sure none of the team hears me saying it. “I’m going to the store real quick. Need anything?”
“Okay,” she creases her eyes. “Uh, no. I’m good.”
Dammit. She knows something is up. I can’t focus on that right now. I need to find the ring.
“I bet it’s right under my nose, honestly,” I say to myself.
I run outside the house. I unlock the car and I search for my life. Nothing. My car is utterly spotless and I don’t see anything inside.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I hit the steering wheel and nearly collapse. Did I really lose the very symbol of our love?
Fuck no. I have to find it. If I lose it, what kind of a man does that make me? I’ll tell you: a fucking loser.
I call up Eric. He’s the only one who can help me without making it seem like something is awry. “Hey, I’m just around the block. Sorry it took so long,” he says.
“I don’t care, man. I need you to do something for me. This is life or death.”
I’m completely out of breath and exhausted. I feel like the whole world might fall apart soon. Somehow, Eric is my only hope.
“Alright, what do you need?” he asks. “We have to start soon, right?”
“They’re saying 15 minutes, but it’s more like 30. Look man, I need you to go to my place. I need you to smash my window open. Do whatever you need to do. I need you to look in my top drawer. Under my socks should be a small box. Grab it and bring it,” I say.
It’s the last place I remember keeping it. I jus
t hope to God that it’s there.
“Wait a minute. Back up a second. You want me to break your window? Are you out of your mind?” he asks.
“Yes!” I nearly scream. “I’m most definitely out of my mind. I didn’t want to ruin the secret, but I’m proposing to Olivia today. I need the ring. If it’s not there, then I’ve lost it.”
“You’re getting married?” he asks, while completely ignoring the severity of the situation. I’m getting really impatient.
“I’m going to ask her permission,” I say. “Yeah. And I need your help because you’re going to be my best man. You’ve always been the best man in my life. Now, do what good men do and help your friend out.”
“Best man,” he says. “I do like the sound of that. But you’re not moving, are you? You’re not going to settle in Providence or something, right?”
“We’ll talk about that later. Right now, I just need you to find the damn ring,” I say.
“Alright,” he says. “I’m on it. But you owe me one.”
“Eric, I saved you from Sandra’s Ex. This is your repayment,” I say. “But I thank you for saving my ass.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll find the damn ring.”
Chapter 30: Olivia
The room is full of tension. Eric is nowhere to be found and Cole is acting extra strange today. Part of me actually wonders if he’s hiding something big from me, but it’s hard to pin down since everyone seems to be stressed out of their heads.
I knew this interview was a really important thing, but is it really losing your head over?
“Fuck me. Where is he?” Cole mutters through his teeth.
One of Dan’s team members shouts out.“We’re going live in five minutes!” The technical team stands by, off to the side, waiting for his cue to go live.
“Shit,” Cole sighs. “We’re fucked.”
“You can do this,” I say. “Eric will show up. You called him, right?”
“Yeah, I called him. He said he was on his way, but who knows with that guy? He’s been really late before,” he says.
“You’re worrying too much. I don’t get it. What’s the deal?” I ask him.
I really have no clue why there is such a rush on this, but I can’t let him fumble. He’s starting to psych himself out.
I want to inspire courage in him, but he’s right. Eric has been taking way too long to get here.
“We’re going to roll without him,” Dan says. “It’s been hours.”
“Can’t we just wait it out?” Cole asks.
Dan looks stressed out too. It’s beyond obvious he doesn’t want to be here, in this town, any longer.
“I’m sorry. No can do. We have a deadline,” he says. “I could lose the story.”
“One minute!” they yell out. “Get ready to go live in 60 seconds.”
Cole sits on the couch and closes his eyes, like he’s meditating. The seconds count down, as he nods to himself. I want to tell him that he can do this, that he can do anything, but I think he already knows it. When he opens his eyes, he looks determined.
“You’re on,” they say.
Dan reads his script. He paints the picture of a quiet town with no problems. All of a sudden, one electrical spark sets things in motion.
“A team of hot shot heroes, known as the Dream Team, came to conquer that fire…” Dan goes on to share the tragedy. “What happened that night, Cole?”
Cole responds effortlessly, explaining the scene he walked into. “There was fire everywhere. You know, we get a quick briefing on what’s going down, but you never know how bad it’s going to be until you get there. The devastation was just beyond awful.”
The ease of the situation impresses me. Then, mid-interview, the door swings open and Eric comes running in with a case of beer in his hand. Everything stops for a moment and everyone in the room stares his way.
“I’m…I’m here,” he chokes, nearly falling to the floor.
Chapter 31: Cole
“Sorry to interrupt, but Eric here is the man who saved my life,” I tell the cameras. “I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe. I collapsed inside that building and woke up in an ambulance bed. If he wasn’t there, watching my back, I wouldn’t be here today.”
“It just happened,” he says. “People want to say we’re heroic, but we’ve always stayed away from those terms. Yeah, we get the job done. But it’s because that’s our job. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone.”
“And you both lost people that were close to you in that fire,” Dan says, with a calm voice. “Would you like to touch on that?”
Eric takes a deep breath. There are no tears. We sit down, under the cameras and lighting, and just stand strong.
“It’s been painful,” Eric says. “But I think Cole would agree with me when I say that you just have to keep your loved ones close to you. You never know what can happen out there. Just make sure you let them know that you love them.”
This is my cue. If I had my way, I’d be proposing to her right now.
Eric doesn’t have the ring. If he did, he would have handed it over to me by now. And every time I look over to him, he’s got this guilty look in his eyes.
My heart plummets and it honestly makes me want to kill the connection to the cameras. I’m already proving myself to be an absentminded partner.
I fumble with my phone and accidentally drop it on the carpet. I bend down to grab it and look to my right. There it is. The box!
It’s right behind one of the table legs. I reach down and grab it, opening slightly. Olivia squints her eyes to see what I’m doing.
My heart is racing. I have enough energy to fight 100 bulls in the heart of Spain. I can do anything. I’m going to propose to the woman of my dreams.
“So, you just moved on?” Dan asks. “That’s all it takes?”
I look at Dan and shake my head. “No. You never move on,” I say. “You carry all of your experiences with you, until you hit that grave. The only thing you can do is try to fill your life with joy. That winter was one of the worst winters in history. Which is why we need to make this Christmas wonderful.”
“How do we do that?” the chief chimes in.
Olivia is sitting in the corner, smiling. She has no idea that I’m going to drop this onto her lap. I fumble the ring box in between my fingers and smile.
“Uh, for a while, I had no idea what to do. I was just trying to block everything out, ” I say. “But then I met a special someone who inspired me to be better.”
“A girlfriend?” Dan asks.
“More than that. Olivia, will you come here,” I say.
Dan looks confused, but the cameras turn to her. I drop to one knee. Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at the scene.
“Every since I met this woman, things have started to turn around for me,” I say.
She turns red and stiff. Tears are forming in her eyes. Her hands are clasped together, tightly.
“It was as if fate brought us together. I don’t know how to explain it, but she has pushed me to accept the past, while also moving forwards,” I say. “Now, it’s time to start fresh. Olivia, will you light my fire and marry me this Christmas?”
I honestly nearly choke up when she starts to cry. She stand there trembling before me, clutching at her face and wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Cole, you bastard!” she shouts. “I can’t believe you proposed to me like this.”
“Is that a yes?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says. She sniffles and nods her head quickly. “Yes! Of course, I’ll marry you!”
I stand up. I grab her waist as she throws her arms around my neck. She jumps into my arms, her legs around my own waist and my hands fall to her ass.
“I love you so much,” I say, as our lips meet. I close my eyes and it’s as if fireworks are going off. I’m so fucking happy.
“This is the best day of my life.”
“Mine too,” she whispers. “Mine too.”
“Uh…” Da
n sits there, speechless.
I slip the ring on her finger and it feels like my life has changed for the better, in that one short instance.
“Get a room you two!” the chief yells.
“Congratulations,” Dan says. “I think we got everything.”
“We’re good?” I ask. I’m currently getting accosted with kisses from Olivia.
“More than good. I think it’s going to come out perfect,” he says, extending out a hand. “I just want to say thanks for everything, and sorry for that one mixup. Won’t happen again.”
“No worries. This was good,” I say.
Eric is standing next to me, drinking a tallboy. He’s in good spirits. Even the PR and technical team is clapping for us.
“If anyone wanted to know, I’m the best man,” Eric announces.
The chief walks over to us. “So, you ready to come back?”
I look at Olivia. She knows how hard this job can be, but she’s nodding before I can even.
“Let’s talk after the honeymoon,” I say.
Chapter 32: Olivia
How are you supposed to feel when the love of your life proposes to you in front of the entire world? Right now, it feels a little like the best day of my entire life.
It also feels like it’s the first day of my life. It’s as if everything has led up to this one moment. Now, I can start fresh. We all can.
When the show is over, we can’t stop kissing each other. I can’t even close my eyes. I just want to see him. I want to feel him. I want him, him, him!
Eric, of course, is sitting across from us, rolling his eyes. I can’t even imagine what Sandra’s expression will be when she finds out I’m getting hitched.
“You guys aren’t moving, are you?” Eric asks. “You can’t leave me here alone, bro. We have to be a part of the station again.”
Cole shrugs and looks at me. I do just about the same. I say, “I can stay here for a bit longer if you can.”
“I think I can handle it,” he says. “No Pennsylvania?”
I think about that for a moment and smile. “Three years. Then we go to Pennsylvania,” I declare. “I’m sure there is a place up north that will take you in.”
