Fighting Life

Chapter Twenty

When Claudia and Tana did see each other again, it was Monday evening, and both of them had a lot to talk about. Claudia explained that she had gone to see her parents, and while there Jerry had shown up. There was quite a bit of a discussion that happened and at one point her parents almost rang for the police. However, after further communication and agreements, Jerry told them he would try, he would get anger management and go see a councillor. It was going to be a long road, but he wanted to try and hoped to make amends.

While Tana was not keen on the idea, worried for her friend, she told Claudia that what ever choice she made, she would be there by her side helping her along the way. That was what friends did for each other, stand by you no matter what. Claudia was grateful, and they hugged it out a little. Tana knew it was hard on her friend, but even so, she did ask one thing, to not let Jerry near her house. Claudia understood and agreed, just in case.

At work for the week, all went well. There were no conflicts, no issues and staying back on the Wednesday and Thursday night, meant that Tana got some more learning from Clark. On the Tuesday she went to her grandfathers, where again Hugo was working. He chatted with her as they made some meals together for her grandfather. She told him about the festival and the interesting oils she had found, which he was keen to listen to. He asked her what she had planned for the coming weekend, which she explained that she would be studying as she had a work trip coming up.

Due to the work trip, Tana found she spent most of Saturday studying, trying to get a number of her assignments out of the way and then she made sure she was packed, getting an early night. She knew Clark was expecting her early at the office and she did not want any delays. It was the end of July, the twenty-eight and Tana found that the weather was not too kind. It was wet and cold and so she made sure in her overnight bag that she had some warmer clothing, not knowing what the weather was going to be.

Before arriving at the office, Tana did stop off and grab two hot drinks in thermoses. She was not sure how they were getting to Port Lincoln, but she wanted to be prepared and she did not want to just have a thermoses for herself, she felt it was rude, so she grabbed one for Clark as well. Getting to the office, he was already there, seemingly packing a briefcase up with a number of folders. He looked up as Tana approached, noting that she held out a thermos to him.

"Black coffee, raw sugar." She stated.
"Thank you." He replied with a nod. "Good timing, if you are ready, we will head off now."
"I am ready." Tana replied with a nod of her own.
"Right, come on then." Clark ordered.

She silently followed him, out of the office and down the elevator. While he had a briefcase in one hand, Tana noticed he also had a small wheeled case next to him. She had her over shoulder back pack and that was plenty. They stayed silent and when the elevator got to the ground floor, they stepped out. It seemed there was somebody in the foyer waiting for them, two people in fact. One was an office that Tana knew worked on level two, the other she did not know who they were but it seemed Clark was very familiar with them.

The group of four walked out of the building and got into a car that was waiting. The officer sat in the front of the vehicle with the other person whom Tana did not know, which meant she was in the back, with Clark. He placed the briefcase on his lap and opened it as they started moving, he was reading something and Tana was watching him, studying how he worked. He never said a word and she wondered if he was ignoring her or if he was just focusing.

Either way, the car trip was only about fifteen minutes long, before they were getting out and going through the Adelaide Airport to a small terminal and a light plane where there was about a dozen other passengers. They would be flying over to Port Lincoln, which Tana did not mind, as it meant they would only have an hour trip, instead of a six hour drive. Tana found herself sitting next to the officer and Clark sat next to the man that drove the car earlier.