My husband was working on his birthday, so I surprised him at the fire station with cake and balloons — no one smiled when I walked in, and his captain asked, “

My husband was working on his birthday, so I surprised him at the fire station with cake and balloons — no one smiled when I walked in, and his captain asked, “You don’t know yet?”

My husband, Garrett, had been a firefighter for nine years.

Being married to a firefighter meant getting used to a schedule that didn’t care about holidays, anniversaries, or birthdays. Christmas dinner might happen at two in the afternoon. Valentine’s Day might be celebrated the next morning. More than once, I had fallen asleep waiting for Garrett to come home, only to wake up and find a text saying they had caught another call.

His 42nd birthday landed right in the middle of a 24-hour shift.

Normally, we would have celebrated the next evening.

But that year, I wanted to do something different.

Garrett had been quieter than usual for the past couple of months. He still kissed me goodbye and asked whether I needed anything from the store, but there was something tired behind his eyes that I couldn’t quite reach.

Whenever I asked about it, he blamed work.

“Just a rough stretch,” he would say.

So I decided a surprise might cheer him up.

I ordered a small chocolate cake from the bakery he loved, bought a dozen ridiculous red and yellow balloons, and drove to the station around three in the afternoon.

I had surprised him there once before, years earlier.

Back then, the guys had made such a big production out of it that Garrett threatened never to tell them his birthday again.

Someone had put a plastic fire helmet on my head. Someone else had found candles shaped like the number thirty-five. Garrett’s face had gone bright red while everyone sang badly on purpose.

I expected something like that again.

Instead, I knew something was wrong before I even asked for him.

The bay doors were open.

Three firefighters were checking equipment near one of the engines. Another was sitting at a table with a cup of coffee.

They all looked at me.

Then they looked at one another.

Nobody smiled.

The balloons bumped against my shoulder as I stepped inside.

“Hey,” I said. “Is Garrett around?”

One of the younger men lowered his eyes immediately.

My stomach tightened.

Captain Holloway came out of the office at the back of the station.

I had met him dozens of times. He was normally the kind of man who greeted everyone as though he had known them for years.

That afternoon, his face went still when he saw me.

His eyes moved from my face to the cake in my hands.

Then to the balloons.

“Nadine?”

“Hi. I’m surprising Garrett.”

He didn’t answer.

“Is he out on a call?”

Captain Holloway took two slow steps toward me.

“You don’t know yet?”

The cake suddenly felt heavy.

“Know what?”

He looked over his shoulder at the others.

Nobody said a word.

Then he turned back to me.

“Garrett hasn’t been working active shifts for almost seven weeks.”

For a second, I thought I had misunderstood him.

“What?”