Tom looked across the living room to the little girl who was colouring in. Her curly, blonde locks fell around her shoulders. Her little fingers clutched the crayons; her face was plastered with concentration. He smiled as she poked her tongue from the corner of her mouth, which was exactly what he did when he drew. Then she looked up. Her big brown eyes sparkled.
"Daddy..." she said.
"Yes?" Tom said.
"Why do I have a boy name?" she asked.
"You don't," Tom replied.
"But..." the little girl looked confused.
"Come here," Tom said. The blonde girl stood up and ran over to the couch, climbing onto Tom's lap. "You're Mum and I were saving this story for when you got older but...I think you can hear it now,"
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's a story about your name, and how you got it," Tom told her.
"Ok," she nodded.
"Well...Once, I used to be in a band," Tom started.
"With Uncle Harry and Uncle Dougie!" the girl smiled.
"That's right... But there was one other person...He used to play guitar and sing, just like I used to," Tom said. Memories began to flood his mind. He stared into oblivion. He wanted to smile at the memories that came back. He wanted to cry about some of them. He wanted to laugh. He wanted to scream and kick.
"Daddy, keep going..." the little girl said as she patted his chest.
"One night we played some songs...And when we finished we started walking back to our hotel..." Tom stopped and swallowed hard, fighting back tears. "But on the way..."
"...Nice night tonight," Danny said as he turned his face to the sky.
"Sure is," Tom replied.
"Hey guys, check this out!" Dougie called and ran up to them. He thrust his phone into Tom's face. Tom pulled the phone back and looked at the picture. Danny shook his head and with a smile continued walking ahead. He glanced back to see Tom laughing at whatever it was Dougie had shown him. Harry was walking a bit behind them and he too was on his phone, probably texting Izzy was Danny's guess. He stopped at the curb and looked up and down the street. Stepping out onto the road he smiled, the laughter from Tom and Dougie was getting closer so they must have run to catch up a bit. He crossed the road and stepped onto the footpath again. He turned to see the other three had stopped and were checking the road for traffic.
Tom checked the street but before he could step onto the road there were several a loud noises, like a bang, and all he saw was Danny fall to the ground.
"Daddy?" the little girl asked, concerned. "Daddy...Don't cry,"
"What? Oh...I'm sorry princess," Tom said as he quickly wiped away his tears.
"So what happened on the way to your hotel?" she asked, confused about why her Dad had stopped telling the story and was now crying.
"There were some bad people...And they...They sent our friend away," Tom said, trying to compose himself.
"Where to?" she asked, her head tilted to the side.
"Heaven, sweetie," Tom said.
"Hey, what are you two doing?" Tom and the little girl looked up to see Giovanna standing in the door way. Giovanna looked at Tom and quickly said "Danny, how about you go and wash your hands, I've brought dinner home,"
"But Daddy hasn't finished his story," Danny said.
"Maybe Daddy will finish it another day, now go wash your hands please," Giovanna said.
"Ok Mummy," and with that Danny ran off.
"Why did you do that?" Gi asked as she walked into the living room and sat down.
"She wanted to know why she had a 'boy's' name," Tom said.
"Babe, you could have told her something else, a little white lie won't hurt while she's five..." Gi said and took Tom's hand. "All you've done is made yourself upset,"
"I know but...I thought..." Tom choked back a sob. "I thought it might help with the pain..."
"Tom, you know..." Gi was cut off.
"We should get dinner," Tom said standing up.
"Tom..." Gi held him arm. Slowly he turned around. "It's going to be ok...It will get easier,"
"Ok," he nodded. Gi leant in and kissed Tom.
"Danny, have you washed your hands?" Gi called down the hallway as she and Tom walked into the kitchen.
"Yes Mum!" Danny called back. Seconds later Danny ran in.
"Daddy," Danny whispered and motioned for Tom to bend down. "Was your friends name Danny too?"
"Yes, it was honey," Tom replied.
Tom stood back and watched as Giovanna started to get dinner ready. Danny ran up to Giovanna and begged to help. After a minute of playful denying Gi picked up their little girl and sat her on the bench, letting her open containers and pour sauces on things, with Mum's help of course. He couldn't believe just how lucky he was to be so happy. To have such a beautiful wife like Giovanna and such a precious daughter like Danny. But, of course, there is an opposite of everything. And his opposite to his happiness was that inside a part of him was unhappy. He was unhappy because he had lost a very close, very special friend. And now he is left with a corner in his heart that is empty and will never be filled. The corner aches, it longs for his best friend to be back. But it will never happen. So now he only has memories of the wonderful Danny Jones, his best friend.