The Firefighter

Chapter 6 - Rebuilding

It would be a few months before all the fires had been put out. By the end of summer, the rains had fallen heavily, and the fires were all out. The green grass and shoots began to grow back again, and Charlotte was busy returning to the farm. They had built a new farmhouse over the next two years and it was larger and more elaborate than the previous one. The insurance pay outs had been generous to them and this had helped Charlotte's family build the farm up to what it was before the devastating fire. When she stopped to unpack the photo album and look more closely at it, she remembered the brave firefighter who had captured her heart. For some reason, she hadn't called him as he had spent months putting out fires and then he had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.

It was five years later, when she travelled to the neighbouring State of Queensland that she walked into a bar in Brisbane with her boyfriend, that she caught site of a familiar figure standing at the bar, with his arm around another blonde woman. She immediately recognised him as Oliver, her firefighter. Charlotte had always wondered what had become of him. She debated whether to walk over and catch up but then remembered that her boyfriend, Dan, might not take kindly to her fraternising with an old friend. How would she explain what Oliver was to her, a life saver, a friend with benefits, a firefighter extraordinaire! It was too complicated and probably best left alone.

They ordered seafood for starters and steaks for main course in the restaurant alongside the bar. They had just started on their steaks when a soft voice whispered behind her head,

"Well, hello there! Fancy seeing you here." It was Oliver and his female companion. He must've seen her through the window.

"Um, hello Oliver. I didn't know you were here," she lied, trying to cover up her discomfort.

"I moved up to Bris Vegas last year and met Sue, my lovely bride to be here," he explained as he smiled and pulled Sue into a casual hug.

"Hi, Sue, I'm Charlotte," she replied, "I was saved from a fire by Oliver in New South Wales." Charlotte felt a need to explain. Her feelings were all over the place. She felt jealous at seeing the close relationship between Oliver and Sue. In fact, her feelings surprised her as she had moved on from the fiery event of years before. Every now and then, she would think of the handsome fireman but never act upon it. She had cut out his photo from the Calendar, before recycling the Calendar. She kept his photo in her special shoe box of mementos. She realised then that maybe the reason she had kept it was because she still had hidden feelings for this man.

Suddenly, she remembered that her boyfriend, Dan, was sitting across the table from her. He had stopped chewing on his steak and looked from Charlotte to Oliver and back again. He had never heard the story of the fire on the sheep farm and looked a little confused.

"I'll explain it all to you later, Dan" she added. That seemed to calm Dan down. After some more chatting, Oliver and Sue said their goodbyes and wandered off from the restaurant.

Charlotte then proceeded to explain the whole fire story to Dan. He was very understanding and stood up to give her a hug. Then he unexpectedly went down on one knee and pulled out a huge diamond ring and asked her to marry him. Charlotte was taken by surprise and sat their astounded and not knowing what to say as her first thought was about if she married Dan, she wouldn't be able to get together with Oliver.