The Fire Station

Chapter 3

The next day, Sidney was on duty for a full twenty-four hours. Thankfully, when he wasn't on a call, he was able to talk to me. We talked on the phone for most of the day while I edited photos. He told me more about his family and why he and his brothers all work for the fire station. Turns out there was a long history of Parker men who have been firefighters. His father was a retired firefighter as was his grandfather and two uncles. His sister, whom I didn't even know about until he brought her up, was also a firefighter in a different city. When she married a fellow firefighter, they moved to his hometown and just had their first child. Tom was also married and had four children with his wife. Arthur was the loveable uncle that had no intentions of ever marrying. His family seemed very close and welcoming. He asked if I'd be interested in meeting all of them sometime. The thought thrilled me, knowing he wanted me to meet the rest of his family, but another part of me was terrified. We were moving rather quickly, and I kept waiting for it all to fall apart. I agreed to meet his family at some point, but not yet.

For now, we agreed to go on another date. He said there was a place he wanted to take me for dinner, but it was a classy place and they had a dress code. He said I just needed to wear a dress but didn't give me much more than that.

Every time the alarm would go off at the station, he would quickly tell me he had to go and hang up, regardless of what we were talking about. A couple times it got annoying, but I tried to be understanding. As soon as he would get back from a call, he would call me right back. I looked forward to him calling me back. Something about being in an official relationship with him, made me worry more for his safety. I looked forward to his calls just to ease my mind that he was alright.

I fell asleep that night with Sidney still on the phone. I didn't realize it until the next morning when I saw a text from him telling me he went ahead and hung up so I could get some sleep. I felt so embarrassed and hoped he didn't think I was bored with our conversation.

I had to work at the bookstore that morning, but Clara was supposed to meet me when I got off work to help me find a dress. Once I looked in my closet, I realized I didn't have a dress suitable to wear to a classy restaurant in the city. I had to depend on Clara's expertise to help me find something to wear.

The bookstore was extra busy, which was expected considering the seasons were changing and more books were bought as we got closer to Christmas. The busyness made the day go faster, thankfully.

When I got off work, I met Clara out front and we headed to a dress shop. When we walked in, I felt entirely out of my element. I didn't know a thing about buying a fancy dress. The last dress I even wore was for a friend's wedding and I didn't have to pick it out.

"Where do we even begin?" I asked, looking around nervously.

"Relax, Charlotte. I'll find you something," Clara assured. She led me over to a rack of dresses and started flipping through them. "If you see anything you like, pull it and we will try them on." I followed her instructions and started looking through the racks, only pulling two dresses while she had at least a dozen. A sales associate came over to help us bring the dresses to a dressing room and get me started. I closed the door and grabbed the first dress to put on. It was a black dress with gold trim and a plunging neckline. On the hanger it was rather pretty. Once it was on, I looked in the mirror and knew instantly it wasn't right. My boobs looked like they were going to fall out, the hem was too long, and it was so tight around my hips, I could barely walk. I could hear Clara yelling for me to show her even if I didn't like it. I walked out with a frown on my face. She quickly shook her head and twirled her fingers indicating I needed to turn around and go back in the dressing room to take it off.

The next dress wasn't much better, nor were any of the other ones I tried on. I was getting exhausted from trying to find the right dress and was almost tempted to call Sidney and ask if we could go somewhere else. Every dress had something I didn't like; too many sequins, too much ruffles or tulle, tea length dresses made me look short, long dresses were too long. It was impossible to find the right dress.