Return to New York

Old Friends

Newt carefully approached his living room. He could hear whispers and giggles. They sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it.

"Just give me the vase," one voice said. 

"I got it," a second voice said, speaking before the first finished.

"Just give me the vase. Honey, if you could just give it to me," the first voice begged. It was clearly a woman. "Just give it to me."

"He doesn't care," the second voice laughed before the woman finished. It was a man's voice.

"Just give it to me. If you could just give this to me. Sweetheart . . ." 

Newt rounded the corner to see two familiar figures on the other side of the room. Jacob was laughing, a broken vase in his hands. Queenie was leaning over him, her coat halfway off, trying to take the broken ceramic from him. They looked up and saw Newt standing there. He entered the room, gasping quietly. The couple's faces lit up.

Jacob dropped the vase on the floor where the ceramic broke into several more pieces. He started towards Newt, his arms outstretched.

"Heeeeey! Newwwwt!" He called, continuing towards the startled man. "Get over here, you maniac." Laughing, he pulled Newt into a hug which the latter awkwardly returned.

Queenie had picked up her wand and mended the vase. Then she had pulled off her coat and was hanging it on a hook.

"We hope you don't mind, Newt. We let ourselves in," she breathed. "It's raining out there, cats and dogs." She flashed Newt a winning smile. "London's cold."

Newt was smiling for the first time in months. It was wonderful to be seeing his friends again.

"Do you remember everything?" he asked Jacob.

His friend let out a happy laugh. "Like you said, I didn't remember any of the bad parts." He had pulled off his coat and dropped it on the ground. Queenie had moved to pick it up. "But this angel--" Jacob turned, looking for Queenie. "This angel over here, she filled me in on all those parts and -- uh -- here we are, I guess." 

Jacob pulled Queenie into a hug, resting his head on her shoulder.

"This is wonderful!" Newt exclaimed as the pair giggled happily. As he watched them clinging to each other, he felt a pang of jealousy. He wished he could be hugging Tina at that moment. Wait . . . Tina.  Newt's heart gave a giant leap. "Wait is--" He stepped past the hugging couple. "Tina?" he called. "Tina?" he repeated, looking into the hall, searching for the dark-haired woman. "Darling?" he added in a whisper.

"Wha- It's just us, honey," Queenie told him. "Me and Jacob."

Newt felt his heart sink. She's not here. She's really gone. 

"Why don't I make us some dinner, huh?" she continued.

"Yes!" Jacob agreed quickly. They began giggling again and Queenie moved to prepare the food. 

Newt slowly made his way to the table, sinking into a chair. 

Tina's not here. Why isn't she here? 

Newt knew there were reasons. She could have been working. He knew how busy her job kept her, but he also knew that she had earned herself quite a lot of vacation time and it would have been easy enough for her to get off work. But Queenie had seemed to expect that Newt knew she wasn't coming. She had seemed surprised to see him looking for her.

Did they write me a letter telling me they were coming and Tina wasn't? Did I just not get the letter? Has Tina been sending me letters this whole time and I just haven't been receiving them?