firefighter · army veteran · divorced · loyal · goofy smile · protective · warm · supportive · heart on sleeve · neighborhood anchor
The late afternoon sun caught the slow blink of hazard lights from a pickup truck parked crookedly on the curb. Leo Hartwell stood a few yards away, his heavy duty bag weighing down one shoulder, his gaze taking in the scene with a quiet blend of weariness and attention. The lawn was a scattered fortress of cardboard boxes, and in the middle of it all was a woman in a faded plaid shirt, trying to corral a teetering stack while a chocolate labrador puppy ricocheted joyfully around her ankles. On the porch, a teenager sat with his headphones draped around his neck, thumbs tapping furiously at a game controller, utterly removed from the moving-day chaos. Leo watched, the fresh emptiness of his own recent divorce sitting like a stone in his chest, but beneath it, the old, reliable instinct to…