Running Northwest

by Michael Melville

  As he walked slowly towards the ocean, he began thinking about Tracie and their night together, and everything that had happened. He still had no clue what he was going to do or what to think yet. He glanced to his left towards a small rocky cliff and smiled. He could see Layla about 20 yards away running from place to place smelling all the new things that had washed up on the beach. He turned left slightly and kept wandering as he waited for the young dog to get done.

  As Thomas walked for some reason he found himself thinking about Sarah, Daniel mother. He thought of her more often these days as he watched her son, their son, get older and bigger without her in their lives. In all reality she was on his mind more than he would ever say to anyone including Derrick. As hard as it was on Daniel when his mother died, it was also hard on Thomas in a different way. More so than he had ever let on to anyone, his best friend Derrick included. It took a long time for Thomas to really accept the fact Sarah was gone. And it took him even longer to show it, Derrick did his best to be there for Thomas when he could. But some things Thomas just had to work through in his own private way. He had to be strong for Daniel, so he kept a lot in for a long time, maybe longer than what he should have.

  When Sarah died, Thomas and Daniel had just begun to form their own bond with each other, before that Sarah was the unifying bond for the three of them. And when she passed away in the car accident, Thomas was just beginning to feel confident in his abilities as a potential step father for Daniel. And since Thomas didn’t have any other children he was nervous to say the least. Sarah was very supportive of Thomas; she knew that it would take some time for Daniel and Thomas to form their own unique bond. Her love for her son and her love for Thomas made them a family before they technically were.

  Although Thomas didn’t have the chance to officially ask Sarah to marry him, something he regretted everyday not doing sooner. They had already been planning on getting married and starting a life together with Daniel eventually anyway. And after the accident, Thomas and Daniel were thrust into a life alone together that they still hadn’t yet figured out all the way. Sarah was the only thing outside of Thomas that Daniel had in his young life. And Sarah was Thomas’s best friend, the woman he loved and his future. Sarah and her son were the most important part of Thomas’ life in Oregon; he had waited a life time to find that kind of happiness. Thomas fought incredibly hard with the state of Oregon to keep Daniel and not let him be put up for adoption. The boy had no other family to Thomas’ knowledge, his mother and eventually Thomas was all he had.

  It took months of hard work, money and lawyers. There were articles written in the papers and they both had massive support from friends and the entire community of Tillamook where they lived. Thomas had to very quickly and carefully change his life in order to even have a chance in hell at keeping Daniel and adopting him. It was a change that had already begun to happen even before the accident because it was the right thing to do. But after, it had to be done faster than Thomas had ever expected, and he had to do it alone along with some help from Derrick. But during the whole process he never regretted or questioned what he was doing. And now a few years later, he didn’t regret it either. It was one of the best choices he had ever made in his life.

  He loved his life, and he loved the boy he was now able to call his son. But every time something with Daniel came up big or small, Sarah was always on his mind and in his heart. He would wonder if she would think he was making the right choices, doing the right things concerning her son. It kept Thomas on his toes and made him careful. Because in his heart he felt it was doing the best thing for his son and as well as he possible could, then he was doing right by Sarah. To this day he still loved her, and that love kept him doing all he could to be the best father he could figure out how to be.

  He wondered now, because of the events of the night, if Sarah would even be okay with Thomas having someone like Tracie in her son’s life. He wondered if Sarah would have even liked Tracie and what she would have thought of her. It was the same unspoken reason why Thomas never tried moving on after Sarah passed away. Because whenever he thought about it, he felt horrible, he felt like he was cheating on her. And he worried especially about how it would come across to his and Sarah’s son.

  As Thomas walked lost in thought about Sarah and his life in general, he felt something brush up against his leg. He stopped walking and looked down and saw Layla sitting next to him and smiled. He kneeled down and rubbed her large face as she licked his nose. “You all done baby girl, yeah, you’re a good girl, yes you are” he said in a baby talk sort of tone to the dog who seemed to enjoy what Thomas was saying. “Okay let’s go home, wanna race” he said he to the dog as he stood up and began to jog back towards the house. Layla shot past him in seconds as she ran towards the house as fast as her legs would go.

  When Thomas got close to his home, he saw that Layla was already waiting at the slider for him and ready to go back to bed. As he got closer he thought he saw the vertical blinds in his bedroom move but he wasn’t sure. He assumed it was Harley taking a peek outside to see what was going on but could not be sure. If it was he hoped she did not wake up Tracie while she was slept in Thomas room. Thomas pulled open the glass slider as quietly as he could and he and Layla slipped inside. The large thirsty dog trotted over to her water dish and drank as Thomas took off his hooded sweatshirt and walked over to the couch and sat down. A few seconds later Layla walked over to Thomas who was sitting on the couch with his head tilted back on the cushion. She set her large heavy head on Thomas’ leg and stared at him. He looked down and smiled as he begun rubbing her neck as he talked to the dog, “all right lets go to sleep now, go lay down baby girl.” A few minutes later Thomas was lying down on the couch and covered up with a small blanket.

  . . .

  In Thomas’ bedroom on the other side of the house Tracie had just lain back down on the bed and was rubbing Harley’s stomach. A few minutes earlier she had been standing at the slider looking outside and watching Thomas meander down the beach. She was amazed at how handsome he looked as he walked down the beach with his dog; the way the moonlight bounced off of him. He hadn’t made enough noise to wake her up when he went outside but Harley heard a noise and moved causing Tracie to wake up. She didn’t mind at all, she thought as she was watching Thomas and she wondered if he did this every night. It would not surprise her if he did; it was extremely quiet and peaceful.

  As she laid there trying to force herself to fall back to sleep she couldn’t stop thinking about Thomas.

  Ten

  Thomas woke up early the next morning around 8 am and got breakfast ready for himself, Tracie and Daniel. It was nice having Tracie still there for breakfast with him and his son, it felt oddly comfortable to him. And despite his own concerns about him and Tracie and what they were going to be, he was glad she was there. It was quiet as they ate and there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation but that was normal at the table in the morning. Thomas and his son were not the typical morning people, which Tracie had known already so she wasn’t surprised. Daniel was his normal groggy self and wasn’t much in the mood to eat so he kept sneaking food to the two willing dogs that were lying near his feet. Over the course of eating Thomas and Tracie kept looking at each other and slightly smiling and giving each other flirtatious looks.

  The three of them had had left Thomas’ house on the beach at the same time. Tracie headed to her apartment to change her cloths before work since she was still wearing Thomas’ hooded sweatshirt she had slept in. Thomas and Daniel and as usual the two dogs headed off into town. They were going to spend part of the morning at the coffee shop since Thomas had some catch up work to do. And afterwards they were going meet Derrick and his girlfriend Erin Bowens for lunch. Thomas had promised his son they would drive down the coast and search the tide pools on the beach for Daniel’s science project at school.

  It was now nearly quarter after eleven in the morning and Thomas had been busy all over the shop trying to get
the place ready to open at noon. Tracie had called about an hour earlier and said she was running a bit late due to “issues at home”, which Thomas knew had to do with her cousin Alexis. He spent a while in the back office doing paper work, orders and rearranging some things. Daniel spent the time sitting in the front of the shop with their two dogs and playing on his laptop. At around 11:30 Derrick had called the shops phone to check and make sure they were still on for lunch. Thomas grabbed the phone and talked as he walked around the shop. After briefly discussing where to go they decided on a little diner just south of town that had good chicken and to meet there at 12:30.

  “Erin is really looking forward to lunch, Bro. She was telling me last night how much she misses you and Daniel,” Derrick said over the phone to Thomas.

  “Aww that’s sweet of her, we miss seeing her pretty face, too. It’s been what, two weeks or so since we got to see her? Usually the three of us get together more often than that,” Thomas answered back.

  “Yeah, well things have been crazy as hell for all of us lately. As long as I have you on the phone, Bro, there are some things I need to talk to you about fairly quickly. Do you think you can stop by the bar later tonight so we can chat, just the two of us?” Derrick said in a tone more serious than usual for him.

  As Thomas held the phone to his ear he glanced over at his son who was all business with his game. Then he looked out one of the front windows and saw Tracie pull up in her jeep and hop out and head towards the front door. Seeing her made him smile a little. Then his attention went back to the phone call, he could feel himself tense up.

  “Sounds serious, is everything all right?” Thomas asked in a low deep voice and squinting his eyes slightly as he spoke; Derrick’s tone worried him and he wasn’t quite sure why.

  “Well, yes and no. The ‘no’ part is what’s worrying me most…I think it’s a conversation we should have when nobody else is around, if you get my drift,” Derrick answered.

  Tracie walked in the front door and smiled at Thomas. She appeared to speed up her walk as she approached Thomas until she saw Daniel sitting at the table. She saw Thomas on the phone with a look of concern on his face, so she sat down next to Daniel and gave him a hug and talked with him. Thomas mouthed thank you to her, and getting a wink from Tracie in reply.

  “Gotcha. Of course man; besides, I’ve got a few things to talk to you about too. Umm…Tracie just walked in. Let me ask her if she can watch the boy for, what do you think? An hour and half or so?” Thomas asked.

  “That should be plenty of time; let’s say 9:30 or so?” Derrick asked.

  “Okay, hold on let me ask her,” Thomas said as he pulled the phone from his ear, and waved to get Tracie’s attention.

  Tracie walked over to where Thomas was standing, smiling as she got nearer. Thomas immediately thought how amazing she looked as she got closer.

  “Hey gorgeous, what’s up?” she asked causing Thomas to blush and smile like a schoolboy.

  “I need a favor. Something may have come up and I need to meet Derrick for a little bit tonight, just me and him to chat. Did you have any plans from like 9:00 to 11:00 or so?” he asked her.

  “No, not really, what’s up? Is everything okay?” she asked as she lightly rubbed his chest with her fingers, somewhat concerned because of how Thomas phrased the question.

  “I don’t really know just yet he just needs to meet with me. Would you mind watching Daniel for a little bit, I can drop him off at your place, I’ll pay you?” he said.

  “That’s fine, no problem. He just said he wanted to show me the tide pool stuff you two found at the beach today anyway. So yeah just shoot me a text when you’re on your way. And you don’t have to pay me handsome, we can figure out something else,” she said.

  “Thank you so much, I owe you big time beautiful,” he said to her as he grabbed her little hand and rubbed it with his thumb.

  “Don’t worry about it Stud,” she said as she winked at him and went past him and headed into the back room inspecting things as she walked.

  Thomas put the phone back up to his ear and said, “You still there, man? Sorry that took so long.”

  “Yeah I am, and fine, Bro. What’s up with this ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ stuff?” Derrick asked laughing.

  Thomas laughed nervously not sure what to say and just said, “I’ll tell you later when we meet.”

  “Gotcha, all right well Erin and I will see you and Jr. Stud in an hour or so,” Derrick told Thomas, half laughing as he said it and emphasizing the word stud.

  “Ha, ha, very funny; I didn’t realize you heard that,” Thomas said.

  “Oh yeah, see you soon” Derrick said then laughing and hung up the phone.

  Thomas set the phone down and walked over to Daniel who was still plugging away at his game and tapped on his sons shoulder. Daniel took the ear phones out and looked up at his dad and smiled and asked, “Hey, what’s up Dad?”

  “Hey big man, how’s the game going”

  “Fine I guess. I’m winning if that’s what you mean,” Daniel said as if Thomas should have just assumed that he was winning already.

  “Well good for you, hot shot. Are you getting hungry yet or what?” Thomas asked.

  Daniel leaned back in his chair, put his hands on his stomach and said, “I am starving Dad, seriously. Where are we going for food? Are we still meeting Uncle Derrick and Erin for lunch?”

  “Yep, we sure are. I just talked to your uncle on the phone about it. It looks like we’re going to meet them at that little diner you like a bit down the coast. I think it’s the place with the good chicken,” Thomas answered.

  “Sweet…I love Doxey’s chicken,” was the only reply Thomas got from his son who was still half involved in his game.

  “Who’s Doxey?” Thomas asked his son, not sure who he was talking about.

  “Duh, Dad…you know…Doxey,” the boy said looking up at his father like he was an insane person.

  “She’s the owner Dad, that one older lady” the boy added. “She always tells me how much I remind her of you and how handsome you and I are and stuff. I think she likes you kind of, but she’s way too old for you.”

  “Oh yeah, I remember now and yes she is a very nice lady. But why is she too old for me?” Thomas asked his son and trying not to laugh at the boy’s attitude.

  “Dad, I go to school with her grandsons! They’re in the grade above me. That means she’s too old for you – way too old for you,” the boy said.

  “Well darn, but I suppose if you say so. Give me about five minutes and then we can take off for lunch,” Thomas said to his son as he turned around and headed into the back of the shop.

  He found Tracie sitting on the edge of his desk waiting for him, her legs crossed. When he walked through the office door Tracie stood up and jumped into his arms. Thomas pulled her close to him and they kissed like they hadn’t kissed each other in weeks. Thomas thought silently about how much he loved kissing her. After a minute or so of kissing they stopped. But he held her tight in his arms, her fingers rubbing the hair on the back off his head.

  “I think I kind of missed you,” he said smiling down at her.

  “Really…well that’s good handsome because I missed you too, at least kind of. That was for the goodbye kiss we didn’t get this morning when we left your house.”

  “Well, I’m not gunna lie, I kind of liked it,” he said smiling.

  “Is everything okay with Derrick and stuff?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, I’ll find out later tonight and let you know when I pick up Daniel at your place. Are you sure you don’t mind watching him for a bit? I feel bad. I know you don’t like me asking you last minute to watch him,” he asked her.

  “Hun, its fine. Seriously. I don’t mind at all. You better let me know what’s up, at least if you can,” she said as she poked Thomas in the chest.

  Tracie had been around long enough to know that occasionally, some things that Thomas and Derrick did would not b
e talked about. She had gotten used to it from both of them over time. It was something she and Erin Bowens had long talks about when it came to both Derrick and Thomas. It was sometimes very frustrating for the women.

  “If I can I will, I promise Tracie” he said smiling and adding, “I think I got everything ready for you so you can just open up.”

  “Well hopefully you can. I noticed you got everything done, thank you so much. I’m sorry about being in late,” she said as she ran a finger over Thomas shoulder.

  “Is everything okay at home, with your cousin and stuff?” he asked.

  “Yeah, more or less; I’ll fill you in later on,” she replied.

  “Okay, well if we are okay here then me and the boy are gunna go meet Derrick and Erin for lunch,” he said.

  “We’re good stud; go have fun with Danny today. Tell Derrick and Erin I said hello. And tell Erin I’ll call her tonight,” Tracie said as she moved her arms from around Thomas.

  “Will do, I’ll text you later when we are on our way to your house okay?” Thomas said.

  “Sounds good,” she replied.

  Thomas turned around and picked up a backpack that was sitting on the floor. Then walked out to the front of the coffee shop where his son and the two dogs were waiting impatiently.

  “Dad, seriously man, I am so hungry,” Daniel said to his dad in a very serious voice.

  “Oh yeah, well then get your tail in gear Chief; you’re slowing up the party. I’m waiting on you slowpoke,” Thomas said.