“I always talk about it.” She shrugged before her lips bunched to one side. “He also said his dad talks about her sometimes when he’s with Aunty Ember.”
What in the hell?
Just as he opened his mouth to prod her about it, the doorbell rang. Charlotte, who had been doing work in her office, went to answer.
“Why didn’t you give me a heads up?” she asked a moment later in disapproval.
“I couldn’t help myself. I gotta see the big guy.”
Thames whipped his head to the side at Jem’s voice.
“It’s Uncle Jem again,” Penny whispered excitedly just as footsteps approached.
Jem poked his head in, smiling brightly from the threshold of the living room. “Hey, buddy.”
A surge of excitement shot through Thames as he stood up from the floor and greeted him with a bear hug.
“Hi Uncle Jem,” Penny exclaimed from the floor.
“Hello Penny, my little unicorn.”
“Dad’s been awesome!”
“Yeah, he’s sort of great, isn’t he?” Jem redirected his gaze to Thames, looking suddenly sheepish. “Sorry for dropping in like this. I decided to take the night off work and couldn’t get you outta my head, man.”
“Have you eaten?” Jem asked before looking over his shoulder at Charlotte. She was standing not far from him, smiling softly. “I can order something from my pub. They’ll deliver, no problem, and free of charge too.”
Charlotte beat Thames with a response. “Wings, Jem. Lots of wings.”
Jem was already pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Alright, wings. Anything else?”
“Fries.”
“Okay, any beer? Or you guys already have that in the house?”
“Mom doesn’t drink beer,” Penny said, wrinkling her nose.
Jem chuckled, glancing briefly at Thames. “You know, Penny, your dad was big on beer once upon a time.”
“I’ll pass,” Thames replied lightly.
Jem shook his head. “You two have gone soft. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you can down in that little belly of yours, Char.”
Charlotte laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t mind some beer then.”
“Now we’re talking.”
“Just while I finish up some work.”
Jem feigned a groan, looking disapprovingly at her. “Work? At this hour?”
“I haven’t been at the firm –”
“Locke will live,” he cut in, though his tone was far more serious than expected. “He’ll understand.”
“I can’t neglect my work.”
“It can wait, just for tonight.”
Thames watched the two of them as they interacted, sensing the level of comfort between them. It made him feel good Charlotte had had Jem by her side. There was nobody he trusted more, aside from Megan. He also felt a knot in his chest. It wasn’t jealousy, per say, but more the desire to have witnessed their friendship blossom, to have been present over the years.
He shelved the emotions aside and plastered a content smile on his face.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” Jem went on to say.
“We were just colouring,” Penny said. “Nothing else. Right, Daddy?”
Her eyes widened in warning as she looked at Thames, and he suppressed a laugh. “That’s right,” he agreed. “Just colouring.”
He would not betray Penny’s trust.
Certainly not over Dozer the Pitbull.
The food arrived fairly quickly. They sat at the table and ate. Conversation flowed easily, like it always had with Jem. He’d always been easy to get along with, and he was always such a storyteller.
Thames ate and listened more than he spoke, smiling on cue, even feeling a bubble of laughter at the pit of his chest as Jem recounted hilarious bar tales of Blackwater’s finest.
At some point, Thames found himself retreating into the background, neglecting his food, watching from the head of the table as Penny dived into her food, as Charlotte took small sips of her beer, laughing along with Jem, as Jem animatedly raised his hands up and spoke in vivid detail of who did this and, oh my fuck, who did that.
As the laughter erupted, as Penny nearly choked from laughing too hard, Thames felt a sudden panic strike his chest. There were so many opportunities for him to open his mouth and say something, anything. Jem had even looked directly at him, waiting for some sort of response, but Thames couldn’t move his lips.
He couldn’t smile or laugh anymore because all he thought about was prison and the cold cell and Dominic and Holden and the pleas in the dark corners of that confined abyss.
The table fell into sudden silence, and he didn’t know how long it’d been that quiet because he’d found himself submerged in haunting thoughts. When he came