I Surprised My Firefighter Husband at His Station for His Birthday – What His Captain Told Me Made My Stomach Drop
Firm when he needed to be, but easygoing around families.
Whenever I stopped by, he usually greeted me with some version of, “What did Tyler do now?”
Not this time.
He looked at the balloons in my hand, then at my face.
Something inside me went cold.
Captain Reyes stopped a few feet away.
For one strange second, neither of us spoke.
The balloons shifted behind me.
The cake suddenly felt heavier in my hands.
“You don’t know yet?” he asked.
For a second, I thought I’d misheard him.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Captain Reyes’ expression changed immediately.
He looked past me toward the other firefighters, almost as if he wished one of them would step in and rescue him from the conversation.
Nobody did.
My heart started pounding.
“Know what?”
Captain Reyes lowered his voice.
“Amanda, why don’t you put the cake down?”
That sentence terrified me more than his question had.
“No.”
“Amanda.”
“Where is Tyler?”
My fingers tightened around the cardboard box.
Captain Reyes took one careful step toward me.
“He’s not here.”
“I can see that.”
My voice came out sharper than I intended.
“Where is he?”
One of the balloons slipped from my wrist and floated toward the ceiling.
Nobody moved to grab it.
Captain Reyes rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“There was an incident this morning.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What kind of incident?”
“He was on a call.”I stared at him.
Tyler had been on hundreds of calls.
He’d come home with bruises before.
Once, he’d needed stitches in his forearm.
Another time, he’d spent two days complaining about his ribs after part of a ceiling came down near him.
He always told me afterward.
Usually much afterward.
“What happened?”
Captain Reyes hesitated.
That hesitation made my knees weak.
“Is he alive?”
His eyes widened.
“Yes. Amanda, yes. He’s alive.”
I finally breathed.
It wasn’t relief exactly.
It was enough air to keep me standing.
“Then tell me where my husband is.”
Captain Reyes pulled a chair away from the table.
