Part Five

The darkness drew in around Rae as she made her way towards the restaurant. Tugging her hands inside her coat's sleeves, she shivered as a strong gale of wind swirled in around her. A week had passed since her trip with Finn, she'd heard nothing and seen nothing from him which surprised but pleased her at the same time. She was still avoiding Archie, not impressed with his loyalty towards Finn rather than herself.

Walking into the restaurant, her body relaxed into the warmth that welcomed her. It was the monthly girl's meal that Izzy, Chloe and she had started shortly after Izzy had given birth to AJ; a time of the month where the girls could come without any kids, men or work worries and just have a laugh. They took it in turns to choose a cuisine and Chloe had chosen Italian this time around. Spotting Chloe and Izzy sitting at a small table in the corner, she made her way to join them.

"Hey!" Chloe grinned as Rae approached.

"Can I take your coat?" A waiter asked her and Rae gladly shred her coat, handing it to him before taking a seat.

"I took the liberty of ordering for you." Chloe smiled. "Seeing as you were late."

"You're always late…" Izzy giggled.

"I know, I know… It was a busy day at the café ok girls?" Rae smiled fondly at her friends. "What did I miss?"

"Well…" Izzy started and Rae's focus drifted away as Izzy began to talk about whatever the latest drama with the kids was.

Rae had found she'd become demotivated of late, finding it hard to concentrate on anything for too long. Her mind was elsewhere, it was with Finn. She kept replaying their trip to the pub over and over again in her head, wondering if she'd missed anything or misheard him in the first place. Clearly, he was married or had a partner or something… While she didn't want him back in her life, she felt an aching within her that needed to know everything. She had always wondered 'what if' and now he was back, a part of her felt it was her last chance to find out. She would never cheat with him but she needed to know why he'd left all those years ago… she needed to know what had changed to make him come back.

"… It's been really hard…"

Rae's attention snapped back to the girls as a waiter placed a bruschetta dish in front of her.

Chloe was a little tearful, trying to hold back the emotions and Rae suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she realised her best friend was opening up emotionally about her fertility problems; not something she did very often.

"… I was late for my period the other day, three days late and I got my hopes up even though I knew I shouldn't have…" Chloe whispered, staring at her plate.

"Oh hun…." Izzy reached over and rubbed her friend's arm in an attempt to provide some comfort although Rae and Izzy both knew it wouldn't provide any.

Nothing could.

"Anyway," Chloe looked up after a prolonged moment of staring at her plate with a fixed smile on her face. "Rae, have you told Iz yet what happened with Finn?"

"Yeah, we caught up in the café last week." Rae smiled gently at her friend and a look lingered between Chloe and herself.

It was a look of understanding, a look they'd shared several times since they were young and only one that they could share. They had each other's backs through everything.

…We accept that some birds are high flying birds and some are not, but that doesn't mean they can't fly together…

"I can't believe he can be such an ass!" Izzy exclaimed as she speared a piece of ravioli with her fork.

Rae took a bite out of her own bruschetta and swallowed it quickly, "Does Chop know anything about Finn's reasons for going and coming back yet?" She asked.

"No! He doesn't and he's just as annoyed as we are." Izzy replied. "Especially at Archie for treating Finn bloody Nelson like the prodigal bloody son."

"I'm surprised Chop knows what the prodigal son is…" Rae giggled.

"He's decided that he wants to read bible stories to the kids at night for some reason. Summat about morals…"

"Speaking of Archie," Chloe spoke up, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Rae, have you spoken to him yet?"

"So Izzy, what other new things is Chop trying out with the kids?" Rae ignored Chloe's question.

"Well he's talking about him giving the kids haircuts rather than going to the hairdressers, save some money or something." Izzy shrieked.

"Rae, stop avoiding the subject!" Chloe complained.

"That's hilarious!" Rae laughed, ignoring Chloe's comment.

"I know, I'm worried he'll do it tonight and I'll come back with one kid with a bowl cut… the other with a pair of scissors tangled in his hair!"

Rae laughed with her friend, but still very aware of Chloe's stare as it bore into her. She wasn't about to admit that she hadn't spoken to Archie since they'd argued in her café and she wasn't ready to be tackled about it so she kept quiet for the rest of the meal, avoiding the question whenever it arose.