Thomas & January (Sleepless 2)

“I think you’re incredibly suited for this job, Tom. It may not be what you had imagined yourself doing, but fate has a way of stepping in and guiding you the direction you need to go even when you yourself had no intention of creating that path.” I sighed deeply.

A chorus of engines started as the lift to the ferry opened up and Holyhead’s blue sky greeted us.

“We need to feed you,” he said out loud, not really talking to me.

“Thanks, I’ll just get my bib and rubber-coated spoon then.”

“Shut up,” he said, laughing and surprising me.

“I just meant that if we’re going to be on the road for a while and what with your little issue, you probably need to eat something to keep you from feeling ill.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said, genuinely touched that he even thought past the minute with me.

“Yeah, don’t mention it.”

Our little rental putted down and out into the fresh sea air.

“Pass this way with a pure heart,” I said, reading an inscription on a bit of concrete just off the port.

“Holyhead’s motto.”

“Very pretty.”

Tom grunted his reply. I suppose it was better than nothing.

“I know of a fish and chips shop just off Cambria in the city proper. Cherry found it when The Ivories were here a few years back.”

“Sure,” I said. “Cherry, from The Ivories Cherry?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God, she is so freaking cool. I love the crap out of her.”

“She is cool, my Cherry Bomb. She’s a sister to me.”

“Tell me about your friends.” I knew this was a subject he wouldn’t shy away from. It was the one topic that made Tom’s eyes light up like the Fourth of July.

“They’re my family. You probably know all about The Ivories, but there’re a few more of them who don’t take a stage at all but are so extraordinary they should.

“For instance, besides Cherry, Callum and Harper are my best friends. I hang or hung, before I moved to Austin, with them almost every other day. January,” he said, meeting my eyes for a moment before moving them back to the road, “they are so freaking amazing. Both of them grew up in the foster system and were kicked out at eighteen with nothing but the shirts on their backs. They met, worked themselves up from nothing and are becoming some of the most accomplished people I’ve ever met in my entire life! And they never asked for anything. They became extraordinary all on their own.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “I miss them so much,” he said, his neck and face heating up at their memory. He was fighting with emotion so badly it was affecting his heart, I could tell.

“I want to meet them,” I said, trying to keep him there with me, to keep him from reverting back to his closed-off normal self.

“So do I,” he said, shocking me mute. “They’d love you.”

“Thank you,” I barely whispered as we pulled up to the chip shop.

We walked into the tiny little shop and bought an order of fish and chips to share. Turns out, we both liked vinegar and salt on our chips so I lucked out there. With drinks in hand, Tom and I sauntered across the street and set our food on the wall between us and a very beautiful cemetery.

“What’s with your name, January?” he asked.

“Oh,” I laughed, rolling my eyes, “my parents.”

“Oh, really, that’s fascinating. Your parents named you, did they? What a conversationalist!”

“Shut up, rude ass. My parents named each of us after the months of the year.”

“Starting with you, then.”