Looking to fix a shattered Life

The Long Way Back

Monday morning, Patrick sat at the table in his kitchen staring at the box of cereal in front of him. He had managed to have three miserable days feeling sorry for himself, laying around the house eating crap and pissing everyone off. Agustine had abandoned him to stay at Eddie's and Dom wasn't returning his phone calls. Patrick decided a round of personal apologies were in order for his latest shitty behavior. He took a quick shower, threw on his clothes, ran a quick brush thru his hair and headed over to the restaurant with a stop by the barbershop later in the afternoon. Patrick dreaded both excursions but he knew he needed to confront, repair and move on from the damage he constantly inflicted on himself and others. He knew his relationship with Richie was a emotional crutch, a haven from the pain of losing Kevin that he now knew he needed to face, deal with, sort out and let go. Nine months of grieving was unbearable but he had to put it to rest or he wasn't going to survive. Patrick left the house more determined than ever to straighten his life out, to find joy and maybe love again. He would be happy to just stop making a pathetic ass out of himself and to get a decent night's sleep. And at the end of the day, he and Dom were the best of friends again and he and Richie went back to friends again. Patrick was single, clear headed and ready for what the future would hold for him. The holiday weekend finished on a upbeat note.

Patrick rolled over in his bed and squinted at his alarm clock. It said 6:10 am. He had almost another hour before it would go off so he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep. What seemed like mere seconds later, his phone on the nightstand was ringing.

"hello?"

"Patrick, hey its me Owen"

"Is Everything alright? Are you OK?"

"Yea, I'm OK. Listen, how long before you get to the office?"

"Owen, it 's not even seven and I haven't showered yet? What the fuck are you doing there so early?"

"I came in to get a jump on a few of our designs and there is something weird going on here."

"What do you mean weird Owen? Can you give me a little more than just weird'?

"Patrick, there are guys in three piece suits walking thru MDG and that is never a good thing and to make it worse, they're carrying clip boards and taking notes"

"Guys in suits with clipboards. That is bad. I'm skipping the shower and will be right in."

By the time Patrick had arrived at the MDG offices, most of the employees had filtered in and gossip was running rampant. Patrick and Owen sat at their desks, laptops opened, programs running but neither were doing any work. Both were focused on the fishbowl office where the men in the suits had gathered. Serious faces, stacks of paper and coffee cups were scattered on top of Kevin's former desk. People spoke while others listened, heads nodded and papers passed back and forth. The meeting went up until lunchtime when the door of Kevin's office swung open and everyone exited in single file and silent.

"What the hell was that all about?" Owen asked, swinging his chair around to face Patrick.

"It has to be a management shake up but I thought our sales and output were good, better than good."

"It's more than sacking some management, with this many suits sniffing around, I'm gonna say its a merger" Meredith interrupted as she walked over to Owen's desk and perched herself on the corner.

" Could be a merger. I think management has been looking to buy some small tech firm to bolster our own division" Joe added to the conversation wheeling his chair over next to Patrick and chewing on a ham and cheese hotpocket. " It's going to be very interesting to see who they bring in and who they let go."