Chapter 13

Tom opened the door with a spring in his step. His second night in the house had been easier than the first. He'd slept better and woke up early. In the early hours of the morning, he'd gone for a run, packed up Darien's things from the bedroom and taken down some photos putting them into storage.

It hadn't been easy, it had been terrible but also cathartic, a sense of closure as he acknowledge that Darien was truly gone. He still felt a stab of pain and guilt at her death and him not being able to be there when she died but it wasn't as intense and all consuming as before. It was just a low thrum that faded into the background as he kept to the task at hand.

Once the bedroom was stripped of Darien's belongings; he'd left it to eat breakfast and then headed to the hardware shop. He picked up drop sheets, other supplies he needed and picked out a paint colour.

He'd only been home for about ten minutes when Sasha knocked on his door. He grinned as Sasha looked worse for wear. He would've been concerned if he hadn't known she'd had a girl's night last night. She had a grey pallor, her hair was tied back but she had lots of tiny hairs springing out at odd angles. She wore oversized sunglasses and blew out a breath like she was fighting not to vomit.

"You ok there?" Tom asked, she pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and winced.

"Fantastic." Sasha lied, she looked like she was about to vomit halfway through saying the word but managed to keep herself contained.

"Do you need a bucket?" he asked as she looked like she was going to vomit. She shook her head which didn't reassure Tom but he was going to accept her at face value. He also figured that he owed her at least a few vomit clean ups given what she had to put up with when he was in withdrawal.

"No, but some advice from me to you. Don't ever drink with Daniela. I swear that woman has a second liver. Azima and I were trying to find out who her new man is." Sasha said before they shared a brief kiss.

"Oh, I think I'm drunk now." Tom joked with a chuckle as there was an alcoholic edge to her taste along with the minty tang of her toothpaste.

"It's not that bad and I brushed my teeth." She grumbled missing the humour entirely.

"I got the paint upstairs." Tom said, welcoming her in. He didn't bother to ask her if she wanted to rain check but knew her well enough that she'd not appreciate the offer.

"You've taken down photos." Sasha said as she noticed the wedding photos were gone all except two black and white photos of him and Darien close up and smiling at one another, the other was of him, his father and groomsmen laughing at a something; the photo looked like it was before the wedding candid shot.

"Yeah, I wanted to. For me." he told her.

"So upstairs?" Sasha asked, she was taking him at face value instead of reassuring him that he didn't have to do anything for her. She knew like her; he had a past and that was something they both had to acknowledge and accept.

"Thank you and enjoy your Sunday!" Daniela said with bright smile as she handed over two piping hot mocha lattes in take away cups to the last customers of the morning.

"You are very chipper." Her boss Edith said from her chair at the register. She was a woman in her mid 60s who had inherited her café called 'The Missing Piece'. It had been in the family since the formation of the city as Edith liked to claim.

"I'm always chipper." Daniela told her as she moved into the sitting area of the cafe and started wiping down the tables and collecting tips as the morning rush had cleared out. If she were honest, she was still a little drunk from last night and hyperactive from one too many espressos.

"No, you're smug and happy." Edith told her.

"Am I?" Daniela asked innocently.

"Yes, unless you're bemoaning some drama about a man like when you told me about what happened with Luke." Edith said with a mocking grin as she kept herself perched on a stool by the register.

"Who does that? Am I ugly by American standards?" Daniela asked her in a low voice.

"No, you're fine." Edith assured her as she opened the paper and started reading. Her usual ritual as Sundays were fairly quiet but she didn't have the heart to close the cafe for the day.

"So any new photos on the wall?" Daniela asked as she moved over to the far wall. She was told it used to be covered in posters of bands playing to wanted ads for roommates and tutors. Now it was a large collage of photos. People from all over came to place a photo of a loved one or to look for someone they recognised. Apparently it was a theme in many cafes to have a wall such as the one Daniela stood in front of.

"Yeah, you know you can't just find everyone on the wall." Edith told her.

"I can try, every girl needs a hobby." Daniela said with a grin over her shoulder. She looked back to the wall; she scanned the photos for people who stuck out to her or gave her a good feeling.

"Yeah, I feel like you need to get a hobby that isn't soul crushing." Edith said as she flicked through the newspaper.

"You started the wall." Daniela pointed out.

"Yes, but it used to be a notice board not a memorial wall." Edith remarked.

"I reunited the Flannigans." Daniela argued.

"They got divorced." Edith reminded her.

"Which worked out great for both of them, I got Butch a dog and he was ecstatic." Daniela said, Edith looked up from her newspaper and smiled at her.

"You have no concept of happily ever after do you?" She asked her, Daniela shook her head.

"No, happiness is transient state. So you just got to take it where you can get it. Contentment is something I can get behind." Daniela said, she tilted her head as she spotted a couple familiar faces on the board. She was tempted to pluck the photo off the board but left it alone; only to save herself from Edith's lectures.

"You've never painted a wall in your life." Tom said as he and Sasha split up the work. He had been painting the edges and letting Sasha take the easier part of just filling in the bulk of the wall with a roller. When he looked over he found her dragging the roller every which way instead of a methodical up and down pattern.

"There's paint and it's on the wall." Sasha said, she looked a lot brighter than she had when she arrived but then she'd been drinking water and stomached one of Tom's green smoothie concoctions. So she was going well.

He just smiled as he moved behind her and placed his hands over hers. Sasha shifted slightly as she tried not to lean back into his arms. They had a job to do, paint the walls even though her body and memories were telling her to give it up. His body warmth seeped into her back and his skin brushed against her own; sending pleasant tingly vibes through her. How easy it would be to just turn around and kiss him.

"It has to be even strokes, up and down. I want the paint evenly applied to the wall." Tom said, his warm breath caressing her neck, "Think you got it?" he asked her in a low voice.

"Yeah." Sasha lied as she had completely forgotten everything he'd just said. She licked her lips and pretended to be unaffected by their close proximity. "So you didn't go with Navy blue." she said changing topics as she hoped to cool her libido.

"It looked too dark. So I went with this colour. It's called Ocean Deep." He told her, he cleared his throat and moved away much to both their disappointment. Taking it slow was a real bitch but at least they wouldn't have to deal with paint splatter.

"It's a great colour." Sasha told him as she dipped the roller in the tray and then rolled the paint on the wall.

"I like it, it's soothing." Tom told her as he looked to the painted wall.

"So who are your next victims going to be?" Edith asked Daniela as they were going steady through the lunch time orders that were coming through.

"One couple divorces and you think I'm the enemy." Daniela quipped as she finished making a couple mocha lattes and a hot chocolate for table in the cafe.

"So?" Edith asked.

"I'm not telling." Daniela told her, she smiled as she looked over at the board to see a teenager pull photos off of it. "Hey!" she shouted, the kid jumped in surprise and dropped the photo on the ground and raced out of the cafe.

"He brave coming here. If Bear heard Red Circle came in here- oh there'd be a stick." Edith remarked.

"Excuse me? Did you say Red Circle?" Daniela asked her, the name sounded familiar to her but it couldn't be possible. A customer came over the counter with the pictures handing them. "Thank you." Daniela told him, he gave a nod and returned to his table. She looked down at the photos noticing a theme in photos. All of them were girls under 18 with brown hair and blue eyes.

"Local gang. They all got those stupid tattoos on their necks. Looks like a hickey. Don't get mixed up with them. They do not treat their girls right." Edith told her.

"I won't but how come I haven't seen them around here?" Daniela asked her.

"They stick to the industrial area It's no man's land down there as there was a chemical spill; contaminated the whole area. No one's bothered to clean it up and Red Circle took it over. They used to get inked up across the road until Prowlers MC moved in. You know how those boys are." Edith told her, referring to the biker gang that owned a large piece of territory in Norfolk and majority of it surrounding the Naval base. It was due to the MC being big on all it's member shaving served some time in the military, so they felt it was their due to protect it and the people around it. The cafe sat smack bang in the middle of said territory, not that Daniela cared as the bikers were well mannered and tipped.

"Territorial." Daniela replied innocently.

"Mmm, if only I were 30 years younger. The men in that MC, I would climb every one of them like a tree." Edith told her with a grin before she went to serve the next customer. Daniela chuckled as she went back to coffee machine.

"So, I have to bring up a sensitive subject." Sasha warned Tom as they stood in the kitchen making sandwiches.

"About what?" He asked, worried she was going to talk about addiction or the military or even his next move career wise as he had no answers in that department yet.

"Your kids. They are okay but-" She paused as she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it and placed it on the bench. It was clear from how deep the creases were in the paper; that she'd held onto it for a long time. "Ok, I'm not telling you what to do and I know it's not my place but I think maybe you should call them." she told him in a careful tone.

"I don't know-" Tom stopped as he didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"I know, it won't be easy but it won't be long until everyone finds out that you're no longer missing. I think they deserve to know before the rest of world." Sasha told him.

"You haven't told them?" Tom asked surprised as he figured she, Mike or Andrea would have talked to his kids about it.

"Andrea knows but we decided it was best to keep it quiet because what were we supposed to say?" Sasha asked, he realised that she and the others had kept quiet to allow him dignity and to preserve his reputation. "The truth was too harsh and I think it would be worse telling them that you were ill but didn't want them around which we both know isn't true either." she said.

"I wanted to get back on my feet." Tom murmured as he picked up the piece of paper reading the phone number and address. He ached to call them but Sasha was right about many things. Mostly that his kids deserved better from him, he needed to learn to live again and take over his parental duties.

"You're doing that as we speak. I understand that you gotta do what you need to be a father for them but I do think they'd love to hear from you." Sasha said.

"Yeah," Tom said, he too would love to hear their voices and see them. But he knew he needed more time to settle within himself before he was able to function in the real world again.

"You really going to eat barbecue sauce and mayonnaise together?" Sasha asked him changing the topic completely, he smiled as he saw her expression of disgust.

"It's good. Want to try?" he asked, he picked up a knife and carved his sandwich.

"Oh no, I'm still too hungover for that concoction." Sasha informed him.

"The woman who ate pig's intestines soup and fish balls from the most unhygienic street vendor in Hong Kong is refusing a healthy sandwich piled with vegetables and chicken topped BBQ sauce and mayo." Tom teased, Sasha gave him an amused smile even though she did look a little green around the gills.

"I was in my 20s, drunk and hungry. Right now, I'm hungover, older and somewhat wiser but maybe next time." Sasha offered, as right now the idea of mayo made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

"You know, I got a tonka toaster in my camping gear. Leftover lemon and herb chicken, cheddar cheese with mayo and BBQ sauce. It's the best." Tom informed her.

"I'll take your word for it." Sasha said as Tom grinned at her squeamishness.