Patience

Chapter 6 - You Gonna Make Me Cry Like That?

The cool breeze hits me in the face, as I make my way out the back of the house. I take a seat on the lawn, soaking in the warmth of the morning sun. With no lectures today, my other meetings cancelled and Tom at school, I can actually enjoy the quite surrounds of my backyard. Just off the porch before our large stretch of lawn sits our newly purchased above ground pool, which Tom had to beg me for, and to the left is my freshly hung out towels. There's something different about having a place that you can call your own, something almost calming about knowing no one can take it away. You know what makes today just that much better? I don't have to work tonight, I called in not long ago and got it off, Tom is due to receive an award at school this afternoon and I was asked to be there. 

Shit – that reminds me... I tap out a quick text to Hunter.

Me: I can't meet up tonight, not working. Got a family thing.

Shitface: How disappointing, I was looking forward to seeing you and your shining personality.

Two seconds later another text comes through.

Shitface: I can't do the rest of the week either tho so it's gotta be during class. :(

Me: You busy in like an hour? I've got the day free... we could meet somewhere?

Shitface: Mmm, I can make that work. Wanna just meet at the park from the other day? 

I take a moment to close my eyes and enjoy the weather before I agree. It's the park he seemed to be at for no apparent reason, lurking by a tree by himself, I remind myself.

Me: Sure, sounds good.

Shitface: See you then, Love ;)

Pulling into the parking lot of the park, I can see Hunter has already set up camp on one of the picnic tables. Laptop, notebook and food placed on the table, ready to go. Why does that seem incredible adorable to me?

He looks up as I close the door to Manny's Jeep. "New car?" he asks, eyebrows raised and eye's scanning the car as I make my way over to him. His short black hair is a mess atop his head, probably from the slight breeze around. He looks different today, more laid back, dressed in a singlet and board shorts.

"Nah just borrowing it, mines out of action." I dump my bag on the table as I set my phone to silent.

"Too bad, so no work today?" He asks, offering me a water bottle as he turns his attention back to his laptop.

"Nope, thank god really. River – my manger, has been driving me a bit crazy." Grabbing some fruit from the container in front of him, I continue. "You have much on today?"

"Oh, help yourself, love." He swats my hand away. "Nothing important, you know that fun stuff when you live by yourself like, washing and dishes and paying rent. You still live at home? I know you said your dad wasn't around but you still with your mum and brother?" he pushes the fruit in between us as I finish pulling out my things.

I look up at him briefly, searching his face. He's not really paying attention though, already typing away, pen sticking out of his mouth as he goes. This is the least obnoxious he has been around me.

"No actually, both of my parent's kind of split so it's just been me and Tom since I was 19." I pull out my notes, skimming through our proposed structure.

"Oh wow, I didn't realise. Your brother's lucky he has you." His attention now completely back on me.

"Mmm." I agree, unsure of what more to say, what more is there? "So, I started on our introduction, figured you could have a look at it and make any changes that you think. I trust your judgement."

A huff of air leaves his mouth as he stares at me. "Holy shit Sage, did you just say you trust me? Have we reached a new milestone in this friendship?" He smirks, pretending to wipe a tear from under his eye.

"Oh, shut up." I chuck a grape at him as he laughs and grabs my laptop to go over the introduction. We sit in silence for a while as he reads through the page and a bit that I've written, occasionally typing a few things here and highlighting a sentence or two.

"I think this is really good, just changed a couple things to make it flow better and highlighted some of the points we may need some more research on. I'll get started on some more of the material we need if you want to continue on with that. I was thinking about this last night and we have what? Five weeks left? We should see if we can find abuse victims and interview them? Put some real-life examples in here that we've done ourselves?"

"That's not a bad idea... alright. You know anybody? I think I'll have one if I can convince her." I say, pulling my laptop back.

"Cool, I think I'll be able to find someone." He says with his eyes on me. That familiar chill nowhere in sight.

***

I make my way through Thomas' school grounds and towards the outdoor sitting area at 5pm that afternoon, settling in for their first awards night of the year. Majority of the speeches drone on and I'm sure I would be less bored if there were someone here with me alas, I sit alone in the middle of a crowd of parents, enthusiastically chatting about their children. Sigh.

"Now we have a few awards to hand out for our Grade Four class but the first goes to a young man that always applies himself and tries his hardest no matter how difficult the work is. This boy has told me some interesting stories over the years and helped bring one of our most recent tasks to life." Thomas's teacher begins. "I recently asked my kids to come up with a Hero, someone that inspires them and asked they write about them for me, explaining the reasons these Hero's are so special."

There are a few whispers within the crowd as the parents around me realise they have heard their children mention this to them, the same way I remember Tom telling me.

Tom's teacher shuffles a few papers before she continues. "Now, I'm going to read a bit of this paper out to you so you can understand just how moved I was by this and just how much this boy deserves this award. Alright, 'I don't have a mum. I don't have a dad. I have someone much better; I have a Sage. Sage is my big sister and my best friend, she cooks for me, she reads me stories, she takes me to the park and she taught me that the bravest thing you can do is keep learning because you can never know too much, you can never be too prepared. Sage has lots of jobs, she looks after me, she works late at night and she is always learning too, she goes to school almost as much as me. Sage is my Hero because she just keeps trying and always makes me smile.' Now I don't know about you guys, but I wish I had a Sage."

Spotting Tommy in the crowd of kids through my blurry eyes, I can see he's smiling at me as he makes his way up to the podium to accept his award. Wiping away a stray tear and sniffing, I snap a few photos before taking my seat again. It's moments like these when I remember the reason why I'm working so hard, it's not for me, in most ways, I couldn't care less about the things I do for myself, its for that little boy, to make his life better and in this moment right here, I know I'm doing it right.

Tom and I make our way home after the awards are finished and I get the copy of the paper Tom wrote from his teacher, she congratulated me on my hard work and couldn't seem to stop praising how much of a good student Tom is. A smile lifting the side of my mouth as I realise how far we've come; we have been Adam free for years, Tom is able to live his life like any kid can, I have a house that belongs to me and we've made it almost a whole week without any issues. Maybe we really can get through this, at least until I graduate.

Just as I put Tom down to bed and get ready to lock up for the night, my phone begins to ring. An incoming call from Manny, flicking my finger across the screen to answer it and shoving it under my ear as I go about my before bed routine.

"Hey-"

"Sage, we've got an issue. One of Adam's men must have been following me, he jumped us, landed a few good hits before the junior pulled him off." He huffs. "You should get over here if you can, we've got him in the back room."

Jesus Christ.