Roman Holiday

Distanced

Luke had done his best, had done what any rational PA - and friend - would have done.  Got his friend home and safely into a hospital where he could be looked after away from prying eyes.  Not that you could tell that from Tom's reaction.

"Bloody hell Luke why? Why would you DO that?" he'd pretty much roared at him the minute Luke had walked in the door.  Luke stopped and stared, white faced.  He'd never seen Tom this angry - well not at him anyway.

"I - I - just wanted to get you out of there, get you somewhere quiet to recover?" he stammered, suddenly feeling very under pressure.  All the calls and decisions over the last couple of days suddenly weighing heavy on his shoulders.  When he'd been contacted by the hospital his first - only - thought was for his friend.  Not his employer - his friend.  Now he felt sure he was being crucified for his concern. "I wanted you to be safe Tom.  Jesus man, you could have been killed! I'm sorry if I let you down, I was just relieved you needed a nurse to bring you home,  NOT A BLOODY BOX!"  His voice almost broke with emotion, rising several octaves until he too was shouting.  This wasn't Luke Windsor PA speaking, this was Luke, his buddy.  The buddy that had come within a hair's breadth of burying him.

Luke hardly ever shouted,  and certainly not at Tom. The sudden explosion made Tom stop and look.  He suddenly realised just what Luke had gone through and felt ashamed at his own selfishness. He rubbed his face with his hands and got up from the chair he'd been sitting in.  He pulled Luke into a warm hug and they held on for a minute, each calming down.

"Man, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have done that" Tom pulled out of the hug and sat back down, Luke perching on the bed beside him. "It's just, well, there's a complication you don't seem to be aware of." he looked up at him and sighed. "I wasn't on my own." 

"Jesus Christ man, they never said a word." Luke's face paled into a greenish grey. "A woman?"

"Yeah, a special woman.  A VERY special woman,  about as special as they come." Tom's face, his eyes bright with unshed tears told Luke everything he needed to know about her.

"Oh God. I had no idea, I'm so sorry Tom.  Made you look a right prick haven't I?  Scooping you off and leaving her for..." He almost said dead but managed to stop just in time.  Pulling  his phone from his pocket,  he said "I'll make some calls, see what I can find out." He stood up to leave. "Tom ... I'm "

Tom, now looking out the window trying to keep a lid on his swirling emotions, put a hand up and silenced him "I know.  You're sorry.  So am I.  Sorry doesn't fix this though. Do whatever it takes, I mean it WHATEVER it takes.  Her name is Jess, Jess Munroe. And Luke?"  he looked round at him again, " thanks man.  I mean it. Thanks."

Luke walked out the room dialling as he went.  He would move heaven and earth for Tom, he had to.  If she had died, Tom would be inconsolable, if she had lived but he couldn't find her, Tom would be inconsolable. Either way, he had to try.  As the phone rang out, he leant against the corridor wall and ran a hand through his hair.  Today was going to be a long week!

After the initial euphoria of Tom being alive wore off, Jess started to come to terms with the reality of what had happened.  Not the accident, there had been a broken rib and some pretty spectacular bruising but nothing life threatening.  No, what she had to come to terms with was the fact that Tom had quite simply gone.  Whisked away back to the UK and she had been left behind.  She'd always suspected that she didn't, couldn't belong in his world, but this had just brutally reinforced it.  She was nothing, a nobody.  In all the reports on the news, in all the snippets on the internet, it was as if she didn't exist. There had been one brief mention of a companion, but nothing specific.  It was as if she had been erased from his life.

She was home now, well, her new home.  Mama and Papa had brought her home from the hospital, waited while she packed and checked out from her hotel and made up their spare room for her.  She could stay as long as she liked.

"But Mama..." she tried to say she couldn't just live off them, it wasn't fair.

"No, no! Jess, you listen to Mama" she sat her down on the bed in the cosy little room and took her hand. "Your young man is gone home yes?"

"yes" she sighed and looked at her hands, tears welling.

"Until he comes back, you stay ok?  Not, how you say, charity?  " Mama shook her head, "No. Charity is not for family Cara" they had both taken to calling her that, Cara - dearest- and it made Jess want to cry.  They had been better parents to her in the times she had known them than her own.  "Cara mia, you can get better yes? Then you can work here.  Papa isn't so young anymore and isn't so pretty.  Customers like pretty!" Mama winked and Jess smiled.

"Ok, I will stay, but you must promise me if I get to be a burden you will tell me?" she took Mama's hands and looked at her "I mean it Mama, you MUST" Mama smiled indulgently, 

"Of course Cara," she absolutely no intention of any such thing.  As she looked at the young woman in front of her, who over the years had come back time and again until she loved her as much as her own family, her heart ached for her.  So young to be so sad.  If only the handsome actor would come back and make good on the promises she knew he had made.  That night in the restaurant, as she watched them start to fall in love despite themselves, she had seen a reflection of herself and Guiseppe so many years before. Sadly, she realised, history was unlikely to repeat itself but she prayed for a miracle. Until that happened, it would be up to her and Papa to care for Jess now.

Tom came home a couple of days later.  He was pretty much fully healed, but couldn't have cared less.  He'd had a brainwave in the first days - phone her!! Why hadn't he thought of it before?  But her phone was off.  Or broken. Or she simply didn't want to speak to him.  After almost 2 days of solid texts and voicemails he had accepted that wasn't the way.  If she was angry - as she should be - she wasn't about to speak to him.

Luke had gotten in touch with the hospital and they had confirmed that Jess had been discharged, he was overjoyed, but they had no forwarding address.  As she was technically a tourist, her address was simply the one in the UK.  Tom's face had crumpled when Luke told him and he'd simply stood up and walked out of the house into the garden and stared into small pond at the end of it.

"I can try there if you like?" he said gently, coming to stand next to Tom, looking at him in the reflection below them.

"No, no point" he sighed "She was escaping them when she went to Rome."  Jess's story wasn't one for Tom to tell, he knew that but in telling Luke, it helped him make sense of it all.

"Aww man.  That's shit.  Poor Jess" Luke scratched his head.  "What about the restaurant?  Would they know?  Do you know what it was called?" he had a brainwave.

"Oh god YES! " Tom's face lit up.  Of course PAPA!!!  Then he came to a crashing halt, he had absolutely no idea what it was called.  He'd just stumbled on it that night and the rest, as they say was history. "No, no I don't.  I have absolutely no idea. Papa's??" he winced as he said it knowing it was the weakest of the weak.  Luke shook his head.  

"Without a name we're struggling.  Look, we know she's safe." he paused "and you HAVE to do these press things in the next couple of days, sorry mate, contractual stuff" he side eyed Tom who, to his relief, was nodding slowly. "BUT when that's all over, I could arrange a ticket for you...." he smiled at his feet as he saw Tom turn towards him.

"You are an utter GENIUS Luke Windsor!" he hugged him and they almost tipped into the pond!

"Hey steady on man! Don't drown us before we get you sorted.  How would I explain that one!"

The walked back into the house and Luke set to work.  He had a lot of arranging to do.  What he hadn't told Tom was that he had planned to send him back all along, from the moment he realised Tom was head over heels in love with this woman.  Nothing less than a miracle would do.