Branded: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

date conversation, so I settle for telling him the CliffsNotes version.
“I was living in Southern California for a while. When I was younger I always wanted to live there, so when I was old enough, I left home and moved there for college. After a while, a change was needed so I looked for somewhere new and easy. So… I googled.”
“You googled somewhere and just decided to move here? Sunnyville, of all places?”
“I know it sounds crazy,”
“No, not crazy, just surprising is all.”
“It’s paid off so far,” I tell him, before flashing him a smile. “What about you? Have you always lived here?”
“My whole life.” He adds the salmon, avocado, and cucumber to his rice and begins to carefully and slowly roll his sushi. “A tried and true, born and raised Sunnyvillian. Where were you from before you came to California?”
“Tennessee. Southern girl to my core, but now I have that little bit of Cali flair.” My cheeks redden almost immediately. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
“I thought it was adorable,” he nudges me a bit, “I like Southern girls with Cali flair.”
After I’ve finished rolling my sushi, I dab my fingertips in the small bowl of water and seal the edges of the nori.
“You never wanted to escape the small-town lifestyle?” I ask.
“Never.”
His answer is simple and to the point, leaving no room for questions regarding it.
“I envy that actually; the contentedness with where you are.”
I slice through my roll, making individual pieces. I finish and glance over at him, catching him just staring at me. “What?”
He blinks quickly, like I’ve snapped him out of a thought. “You’re very good at this.”
“It’s my favorite food.”
“Lucky guess on my part then, huh?”
“I don’t know. You are showing stalker tendencies. Maybe you knew.” I stick my tongue out then shriek a little when he dips his finger into the water bowl and flicks it at me. I’ve missed being playful like this. It’s my favorite part of getting to know someone.
We continue to prepare our meal, when a nice-looking older man with an equally as attractive older woman approaches Isaac and places a hand on his shoulder. He looks over his shoulder and stands straighter when he sees who it is.
“Chief Malone. Mrs. Malone. It’s been a long time. How are you?”
“Oh, Isaac, you know you can call me Betsy. None of that Mrs. Malone nonsense.” The woman presses up to kiss his cheek. “You look good, dear. How’s the station? Are you keeping my son in line?”
“I don’t think anyone is capable of keeping Grady in line, ma’am, but things at the station are great. Nothing too catastrophic as of late. I’m hoping that trend continues.” He looks back over to me and extends a hand to ask me to come closer. “This is Sawyer Westbrook. She’s an English teacher over at the high school. Somehow I convinced her to keep me company tonight. Sawyer, this is Police Chief Malone and his beautiful wife, Betsy.”
I quickly and aggressively wipe my hands off on my apron when they reach out for a handshake. “It’s so lovely to meet you both.”
“Sawyer. That’s such a lovely name,” Betsy says.
“Thank you.”
“And don’t sell yourself short, Isaac dear, you’re one of the good ones. Anyone would be lucky to spend time with you.”
He looks down as a blush tints his cheeks. “You can’t flirt with me like that here, Betsy. Not around my date and your husband.”
She just laughs and covers her mouth.
Chief Malone speaks up with a chuckle, “On that note, I better take my date over to the next room for the dessert class before this one steals her away.” He claps Isaac on the shoulder again. “Stay safe out there, Black, and it was lovely to meet you, Ms. Westbrook.”
“Same to you.”
They say their goodbyes before leaving us alone once again.
“You’re a popular man around here.”
“Nah, Chief Malone has a son in the station with me, a son on the police force, and a son who flies for Mercy-Life. I’ve naturally had to have a lot of interaction with all of them from time to time, given what I do.” He clears his throat.
“Did you always want to be a fireman?”
Isaac
She’s asking questions about my job. That’s a good sign, right? Because I really fucking like her, even more so now that I’ve spent some time with her like this.
Don’t fuck this up, Black.
“I did, yeah. I like to help people.”
“A bit of a hero complex?”
“You could say that,” I laugh, placing my hand on the back of my neck, squeezing a bit then letting my hand drop away. “I have always wanted to keep people safe. This allows me to do that.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“I don’t have time to be afraid. I have time to focus on making sure everyone is safe.”
“What happens when you don’t?”
It’s impossible to hide the way my smile falls and the way my body goes a bit rigid. It’s not an easy question to answer.
My stomach sinks to my feet. Those moments, thankfully, don’t happen as much as you’d think, but when they do, they stick to your heart like thorny vines.
“When I don’t… I process it as best I can and make sure I did everything within my power to save them. If I tried, really tried, but I just couldn’t get there in time, I have to live with that. It’s hard, yes, and I don’t ever truly get over it, but I have to move forward for the sake of the next person I have to save.”
She takes a breath and releases it slowly. “Heavy first date talk,” she giggles. “I’m sorry for asking about it.”
“You can always ask me anything you want, Sawyer.”
We finish up preparing our food with easy conversation about movies, music, and television shows so when it’s time to take our food out to the balcony seating to enjoy the meal, conversation is flowing easily between us.
I make sure to pull the chair out for her, which seems to