As they waited for their food to arrive, Tom told Ralph about his bizarre morning on, and off, the bus.
“Only you,” he said, shaking his head when Tom was done. “Of all the reasons to get hit for the first time, it’s a good one, I guess. Sounds like those guys needed putting in their place.”
“I think if I’d actually achieved that, I wouldn’t have this,” Tom said, pointing at his cheek.
Ralph shrugged. “Sometimes you have to take a hit to land a hit.”
“Is that what you say when you arrest people?”
“Pretty much.”
“She just... she looked sad. Sad and afraid,” Tom explained, thinking back to why he’d stepped in to stand up for a stranger. It absolutely wasn’t his usual style. You didn’t get to his age having never been hit without being a true master of avoiding conflict. He got lost, for a second, thinking about the fights Sophie used to try to pick with him and how quickly he’d diffuse them. He wasn’t enjoying this, the way things he’d never noticed at the time kept rising up in him.
“No wonder you were drawn to her. The Daisy woman. A fellow sad person to match Mister Gray Cloud over here.”
“Look at this,” Tom said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his phone, unlocking it to the photo of Sophie. His mind was still on what he’d missed.
“What?” Ralph asked, running his eyes over the image. “That’s a beautiful shot.”
“Zoom in.”
Tom watched as Ralph stretched his thumb and forefinger across the screen. “Shit.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“You didn’t notice that when you were taking it?”
“I noticed it... today.”
Ralph stared at it a moment longer before handing it back. “Isn’t it sort of your job to be observant?”
“Isn’t it sort of your job todetectthings, such as my girlfriend’s unhappiness?”
“Fair.”
“We hung out enough. Most Friday nights in fact. A heads-up would have been great if either of you had noticed anything. It’s frightening.” The waiter put down two matching plates—omelets and salad. “Like, if I missed that, what else did I miss? How long was I walking around oblivious to it all? Assuming we were going to spend the rest of our lives together?”
“I don’t think it was just you. Tina was shocked. We all were.” He cut up a giant slice of omelet, forcing it in.
Tom was glad to hear it, even if it didn’t fix his current state. “Just the weekend before we’d all gone for that lunch in Hampstead.”
“We said the same thing. She seemed great then. Loving life. Although...”
“What?”
“Well she’s an actress, isn’t she? I guess if anyone’s going to be able to play a convincingly happy girlfriend, it’s her. I won’t give up the arms though. Just in case.” He paused, staring at the salt in the center of the table. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without Tina,” he added, and his eyes filled with tears. “Sorry. I know that’s really insensitive; it’s just all this... it got me thinking about what I’d do if she... She’s everything to me. I think I’d sort of forgotten that, until you guys.” He continued staring, and then shook his head, returning his focus to Tom, whose own eyes were moist.
“You’re... welcome?” Tom said. “Actually, I’m glad some good’s come of it all. And mate, you’ll never be without Tina.You’ve been in each other’s pockets since you were fourteen years old. You’ve somehow done that incredible thing of growing as people, separately, but together, you know? Turns out it’s a lot harder than it looks.”
“Thanks.” He nodded. “It doesn’t feel hard.”
“That makes it even more rare, I think.” He looked down, cutting into his omelet. “Now, what’s going on with that case where the burglar was hiding upstairs and then got caught because he laughed so loud at someone’s joke?”
Every Wednesday, if he could organize his work around it, Tom collected Martha from school while his dad and Laura worked late. He and Sophie used to do it together sometimes and Tom tried not to focus on her absence now—it wasn’t fair on Martha. There really wasn’t any better company than her. In fact, if he could bottle the best feeling he’d experienced since being happily in love with Sophie, it would be the moment Martha spied him amongst the crowd of parents and childminders, dropped her Pikachu backpack and ran at him with full force, wrapping her skinny arms around his legs.
“Can we get ice cream?” she shouted, as though it wasn’t what they did every week.
“Yes, but only if you eat this first and then tell your mum I brought it.”
