Something Worth Saving Read Free Page A

angle. Not quite a cowlick, but just messy. Usually he kept it short and cut close, but lately he’d let it grow.
    As Jace held our son, my beautiful little boy grabbed at him when he reached for his coffee, trying desperately not to be put down but instead in his daddy’s lap where he wanted to be. He loved to be held.
    And our daughter, bouncing thick dark curls that cascaded down her tiny frame, laughing, her arms locked around his shoulders, enjoying her time with him.
    It was days like this when I wanted to stay there with them.
    If only, right?
    The reality was quite a bit different, because there’s this thing called money. And everyone needs it in order to live.
    It was also days like this that I worried where our relationship was heading. Like this morning, the interruptions we had, they came often these days. Back when we first started dating, it didn’t matter if we had time. We made time. And being interrupted didn’t matter because it made life that much more exciting.
    Sometimes I missed the newness that came with those first few months. Where did it go? I missed the butterflies and the teasing. I missed the “can’t wait to see you” and the part where we ripped our clothes off at the door.
    Where did it go? Oh, right. We had kids.
    Part of me didn’t think it was all that.
    After a while you get comfortable, words and motions get familiar, and before you know you assume that they know and feel the same way, and you stop saying what needs to be said.
    I could tell you a story here about a couple and what they went through in a matter of just a few months. But those few months were a small fraction of what our life really was.

 
    Station 10 to dispatch.
    Station 10 . . . go ahead.
    Ladder 1 en route.
    Engine 10 responded.
    Engine 10 on location.
     
----
     
    Aubrey
     
    I RAN my own business, Wicked Wonders, something I loved. There’s just something about owning your own business that makes you feel independent, and for once, I enjoyed going to work because I felt like I was creating something special.
    When I got to the shop, Shanna, my co-owner at Wicked Wonders, was there waiting with a mocha for me. She knew the way to my heart. Or at least she knew how to put me in a good mood.
    Leaning against the side of the building, I had to laugh. It was the middle of November, and she was wearing flip-flops. She hated shoes and refused to wear them. Unfortunately for her, she had to keep real shoes in the back for when OSHA came so they wouldn’t realize she was working around chemicals and hot wax with flip-flops.
    “You’re late,” she said, eyeing my outfit of skinny jeans, a black sweater, and mid-calf boots. Shanna wasn’t exactly what you’d call a fashion snob, but she was pretty close. You’d never catch her shopping at Wal-Mart or even Target, but instead at the high-end shops in downtown Seattle. “Hot date later?”
    “Shut up. I was trying to get some.” After unlocking the door, we both shuffled inside, flipping on lights and the heat.
    “And how’d that work out for you, Mommy ?”
    “You know what? Just leave my sex life alone.” Shanna and I constantly had this debate over the passion in a relationship after children. She had no kids, been with Rusty for probably six years, and still had passion. So she said. I had a feeling Rusty just didn’t put up a fight. Shanna was all feisty and didn’t take shit from anyone. I bet if he said no, she’d knock his lawyer ass out. As if to tease me, she’d go on and on about them having sex in all these public spots around the city, but if you asked me, I’d say that was just asking for a police record. Not that sex on the pier didn’t sound great, but I wasn’t into getting arrested for it.
    Shanna laughed, moving from the display windows to the back to get the pots warmed up. We had about ten custom orders to fill today, and our doors opened in about ten minutes. Though we didn’t have an ideal location and drug deals transpired