The Grandfather Who Carried Me Through Every Fire Life Ever Set

He reached back and squeezed my hand.

“Told you,” he said softly.

I laughed. “You did.”

“The most handsome date there.”

“And the best one I could ever ask for.”

As I pushed his wheelchair toward the car, I thought about that night seventeen years earlier. About a man who did not hesitate. Who ran toward the smoke instead of away from it. Who signed himself continue reading …