Conner was just setting down the omelettes when Tia and Angela stroll in.
"Just in time ladies. Dig in." Conner considered himself a decent cook, he worked in a restaurant to pay for rent.
"Yum, looks great." Tia smiles at Conner when she sat down. "Angela, what do you say?"
"Thank you." Angela said quietly.
Both exchange looks. Angela was improving, but had a long way to go.
"So how did the interview go?" Tia needed to take her mind of things, she was too worried about her daughter who was back to seeing her doctor.
"It did well, the old music teacher is retiring after Christmas, if I get this job I start my new position right after school starts." Being a teacher at SVH, Conner wouldn't have believed it. He left Sweet Valley to leave the past behind.
"I'm glad you're staying, we missed you so much." Tia smiles shyly at Conner.
Conner smiles back, he was looking forward to spending more time here. Their friendship was mostly platonic, even though Conner spent the night, he slept on the couch. Both were taking things slowly, neither wanted to rush things.
"Angela, how's school?" Conner was trying to get Angela to open up again, she withdrew into herself after that incident in her after school club.
"Fine." Angela said softly.
Tia sighed. She pushed her plate away, she wasn't hungry anymore.
"Ange, get your book bag, I'm gonna drive you go school today."
"Okay mom." Angela polishes off her plate. She went to brush her teeth.
Once she was gone, Conner asks Tia how her interview went with the detective.
"Not good." Tia sighed. Angela's breakdown at her school, seeing that drawing once again broke down Angela's progress. Her fragile mental state was even worse than ever, she was even more quiet now. "I brought the painting to the police station and they pretty much laughed me out of there." Tia tried telling the detective to ask questions about the witness, his child was the one who drew that picture. The detective pretty much brushed her off, saying the witness was wearing old glasses and only took a glimpse of the robbery. Even with Tia showing the picture with a crude reenactment on what happened, he pretty much brushed her off without looking at the picture.
"Bastards." Conner never cared for cops, he and Alanna had runs ins back when he was a teen. "Sorry to hear that." Angel was one of his best friends. "Justice will be done."
"I just want Angela to get better." As much as she wanted Angel's murder solved, her first priority was her daughter. "I gotta get to work. Want a ride?"
"Sure." Conner's home was in Tia's direction. Once he was home, he went to look at old articles about the robbery.
Robbery At Convenience Store, One Man Dead
Conner's eyes were dull reading the article. Diapers. Angel was there to buy diapers for his daughter when that robber came in. And for what? A few bucks from the cash register. Angel's high school picture was featured along with a snippet about him having a newborn daughter.
A local man is dead after a robbery at East Market Convenience Store, he was shot after a attempted robbery goes wrong. The owners of the small store says he was a hero, he threw himself on the robber to prevent the elderly couple from getting hurt.
"Always have to be the hero, hey Angel." Conner sighs. "Tia, Angela. They miss you so much." He shuts off the computer. Angel was trying so hard to fix up his life, he had that gambling problem during freshman year at his college, then went back to work to provide to a then pregnant Tia.
He walked over to his bookshelf and took out his high school yearbook. Looking at the pictures he smiled.
There was himself and Tia holding each other. Neither were interested in dating one another, but were BFFs back in the day. Flipping the page he saw his old classmates from El Carro, half the school got transferred to SVH, most were seniors from their former school. Melissa and her cohorts were posing in their ball gowns at the prom, all three were smiling. When he looked at the next page, he saw a picture of his sorta ex Elizabeth Wakefield.
Their brief relationship, if that, was capricious. Always on the edge, both butted heads often. Conner never met anyone like Elizabeth before, she was nothing like any girl he ever dated. Conner didn't know what to do, Elizabeth was Miss America, Conner a mess. He often wondered why he did what he did, running back to Alanna's arms didn't save him any, it drove him backwards.
He closed the book. He didn't know why he bought this, he never bought any yearbook from his high school back in El Carro. He sighed. High school seemed so simple. He puts it away. He hoped he got this job, but until then there was bills to be paid. He goes to take a shower, his shift at the Dairy Burger was at noon, then tonight at the The Lagoon, aka the former Beach Disco. He was playing the guitar tonight for a local band. He prayed Angela got better, especially Tia. He cared deeply about both of them.
Tia kisses her daughter on the cheek and wanted goodbye when she got out of the car.
"Have a good day! Love ya!" She smiles as Angela waves back. After driving away, she wondered if she could take the next step with Conner. She was a decent cook, maybe she could arrange to have Angela to have a sleepover at her cousins.
"Tia McDermott." Tia blushed. She rarely dated, not many guys wanted a relationship with a single mom, especially one that was a widow. But Conner, it felt right. Tia smiles as she drives to work, thinking about what to cook for their first date.