The Best Prom Date in the Room

He had already escaped once.

That part always mattered to me.

He was outside.

Safe.

The roof was cracking. Windows were exploding from the heat. Firefighters were arriving.

And then somebody screamed that the baby was still inside.

Me.

Grandpa didn’t hesitate.

Not even for a second.

At sixty-eight years old, he ran back into a burning house carrying nothing except a wet blanket and the belief that if I was still breathing, he was not leaving without me.