The Backbone

Chapter 13

Tim's POV

As Ant and I were out shopping with Addy and Tommy and Edna we had a few bad encounters that have made Tommy go down again. What with the guy at the phone store being rude not only to Adam and Tommy but also Ant when he called him a short arse? I straight away went up and put my arms around him as I know he would be savage. I have witnessed it.

Then the waitress at the café how she kept trying to hit on Adam under Tommy's nose.

I saw the look on Tommy's face when she was told to go away. He looked down at his hands and I know that is when he starts to close in. He won't talk to anyone, but I see Ant put his hand on Tommy's arm and mouth "do you want to talk"? Tommy looks up and nods his head. Ant gets up and walks out of the café with Tommy.

I look up at Addy and say, "do you think he is ok"? Adam shakes his head, and he says "no he is not he put his head down and that means he is closing in on himself and if he does, he won't talk to anyone for a few hours. I get really worried when he does that". I nod my head and say "yeah I know I have seen you when he has done it before hopefully Ant will talk to him. How about tonight we all go on a double date after we pick Tommy's car up and dropped it back? We will go to a nice restaurant maybe centre point as I know Ant has really wanted to go up there and I want to spoil him tonight". Adam thinks for a bit then nods his head and I say, "I will drive".

We talk for a bit longer then I look up to see Ant and Tommy walking back in. I hold my hand out to Ant and he sits down, and I look at Tommy and see that he is a bit better. Adam puts his arm around.

We go to the car yard and when we hop out, I see Tommy walk straight over to the Range Rovers and Adam follows him. We stand back a bit and just let them look and deal with that. Until curiosity got the better of Ant and he goes up and I have to follow him, so he doesn't get into trouble. I hear Edna say that she won't be able to drive it and I hear Ant say, "its ok you can drive mine". I know every time we go out Ant hates driving that why I was surprised that he offered to drive my car this morning.

While we were waiting for Adam and Tommy to finish signing the papers, I turn to Ant knowing that Edna had walked away and I say, "babe is Tommy ok or not"? He looks at me and he says, "yeah he will be we just need to have a chat with him tonight when Edna is not there". I look down at him and say, "ok that easy as Adam and I have a surprise for you and Tommy tonight". He looks up at me and he says, "what surprise babe"? I say to him "not telling you but you need to dress really well for me tonight". He nods his head and I pull him into my arms and say, "so why do we need to talk to Adam tonight without Edna there"? He says to me "he feels like sometimes Adam doesn't care about him. He only feels like he cares when Adam calls himself daddy which I know isn't true Adam really cares about him. The day that Tommy was in hospital I could see that he really cared about him and I had never seen him so scared when we thought something had happened to him. So, we need to find another word that Adam can use that will make Tommy know he cares. What that word is yet I don't know I haven't been able to think of one". I think for a bit and say, "I can't either, but I might later". Ant nods his head, and we watch as Adam and Tommy walk out arm in arm. I can see that Tommy has brightened up a bit which is good.

Once we got home Edna ran up the stairs to get changed as Andy was going to be here soon. I think back to the last night when I had the talk with him. I told him that he had better not hurt our baby girl, or he will have more than me on his back. He will have Adam, Tommy, Ant, and I as well as Addy's brother Neil he has fallen in love with her just like we all did. She is such a precious girl, and she was even more precious when she was younger when we first got to know her after Adam race to Tommy's side the week that we met him. When Ant had gotten close to Tommy on the phone. I know he told Edna what I said but I did it to protect her and to also warn him against it.