“There is no reason it shouldn’t,” Randy pointed out and Macy nodded.
“No reason at all.”
“Good. Then tell me you’ll do it,” Randy said and Macy bit her lower lip. “Come on. You know you want to.”
“I do…I really do.”
“Then go for it.” Randy held her hand. “The only person who can stand in your way is yourself.”
Macy took a long deep breath and nodded.
“That sounds great,” she said and Randy gave her a high five.
“It is great. I can’t wait to have you part of the official family.”
“Leo is going to hate this,” she pointed out and Randy laughed.
“That’s your roommate?” she asked.
“More like my brother than my family.”
Randy downed the remaining contents of her glass and put a few bills on the counter.
“Well, if he is your family then he is going to be happy about this whole thing.”
Macy nodded. “Yeah, he will eventually,” she said.
“Say goodbye to Victor for me,” Randy said and Macy nodded.
“Leo better be happy for me,” she thought as she turned back around and reached put for her glass. She took a sip of her chardonnay and put the forms back into the envelope just as Victor walked back to where she was.
“Sorry I took so long,” he said as he held her waist from the back. “Where’s Randy?”
“She said to tell you she had to leave. You actually just missed her.”
“Really?” he asked and she nodded.
“Literally. Like two minutes ago or maybe even less.” She smiled when he kissed her cheek. “Everything okay?”
He took a long deep breath and sighed.
“It is never a good day when one of your parents decide to call you for the first time in three years.”
He sat down next to her and reached for his now flat beer.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked and he shook his head.
“I don’t know…there isn’t much to talk about. All my father said was that he was giving me a month to figure out if I still want to keep my legacy or not.”
“Legacy?” she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
He took a sip of his beer and drummed his fingers on the counter.
“Remember when I told you about the whole my parents being against me being a fire fighter?” he started and she nodded. “Well, according to them, they wanted to give me time to think about things. Figure out if I wanted to be back with the family.”
“Back with the family,” Macy echoed.
“Yeah. Maybe join them at the family business. But I really don’t want to be a lawyer. I have never wanted to be a lawyer….my life is not at RFH. My life is out here. Helping people who really need it not some billionaire who is trying to get some poor residents to move out of a building so that he can put up a shopping mall.” He shook his head. “That is definitely not me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. You would think that after all this time, they had gotten used to the fact that I might never come round to doing what they want but…they are still trying to get me to change my mind and join the family business. But the fact that he actually offered to give me access back to my trust if I went back to law school…”
“He what?” she asked, surprised and he nodded.
“Yup. You’d think I would be used to him pulling such stunts, but honestly, this was a stretch even for him.”
“So, how did the two of you leave things?” she asked and he shrugged.
“I am not about to leave SFFD and he is not about to admit that his son dissed the family business for a hobby…as he calls it. So, I am still cut off from my trust fund and still a proud member of the SFFD,” he said raising his beer. She smiled at him and raised her own glass.
“If you had a choice, would you do anything differently?” she asked and he shook his head.
“Not at all,” he said smiling.
She took another sip of her drink and looked at him.
“Well, I have good news,” she started as she waved the envelope in his face. “Randy just gave me these.”
He shook his head.
“What are those?” he asked.
“Forms to become an official member of the SFFD,” she said and he raised an eyebrow. “I would no longer have to be just a volunteer,” she went on excitedly, but the more that she spoke, the more concerning his look was. He was not happy or anything. Heck, he didn’t even have any facial expression. He was just blank and she could not really tell what he was thinking.
“What?” she asked when he didn’t say anything. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
“It’s not that, babe. It’s just that…” He shook his head.
“Just that what?” she asked.
“Babe, this is a dangerous thing that you want to get yourself into.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t you think I know that? I mean, I have been a volunteer for the better part of my adult life. I know exactly what I am getting myself into.”
“Macy…I really don’t think this is a god idea.”
Macy’s smile faded as she looked at him. There was no telling what he was thinking at that moment. But as far as she was concerned, it seemed and sounded like Victor was not happy for her.
“What is really going on here?” she asked and he took a sip of his beer.
“There is nothing going on here. I’m just concerned for you,” he said.
“Concerned for me?” she asked. “Could you be a little more specific?”
“You are not going to be safe out there…” he started and she put a hand up.
“What is going on with you? All this safety talk…it’s more than just talk. And you know it,” she said and Victor shook his head.
“I never said anything…it’s just that I would hate for you to be out there in danger all alone. That’s all.”
As Macy sat there looking at him, it finally dawned on her. It was not that he was afraid of her being out there all alone. It was simply that he wanted to be the only ‘real’ firefighter in the relationship. He wanted to be the one who called the shots as far as professionalism was concerned.
“Macy…” he started but she didn’t want to hear it. She already knew what he was going to say. He was going to try and validate himself or worse, try to convince her that she had misunderstood everything.
“You’d asked me to drop the volunteer gig earlier. Was this what it was about?” she asked and he shook his head.
“Macy, please. You got it all wrong,” he said, but she was already on her feet ready to leave.
“Don’t,” she said in a soft voice cutting him short. “Whatever you want to say, I don’t want to hear it.”