Alex didn’t look around. He seemed to have no curiosity about who their guest might be.
“Hey, Alex.” Ted walked over to the sofa, and Alex turned his head, slowly, to look at him.
“Ted?”
“Hey, buddy, yeah, it’s me.” Ted pulled a chair over and sat in front of him. “I hear you’ve been in the wars.” His gaze raked over Alex’s pale face, his broken arm, and his skinny body. “I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s not fair, after all you’ve been through already.”
Alex stared at him. “Isn’t it? I think maybe it is. You know I’ve always been a pretty shitty person. You saw me at my worst.”
“And your best.” Ted patted his good arm. “I’m just glad you’re still alive. When you walked into my shop, I could hardly believe it.”
“I heard you agreed to testify. Tyler will cut off funding to your shop. My fault. I shouldn’t have asked.” He looked utterly defeated.
“Yeah, he did that already. It’s fine. We’re getting by. We might move into a room above the pub where Trudy works if we can’t make a go of it.”
“Give up the shop? I’m sorry. I walked back into your life and ruined it, like I always do.”
“Alex.” Ted took Alex’s good hand in his and looked him square in the eye. “Listen to me, mate. It’s not your fault. If anyone should apologise, it’s me. I gave you her photo. I told you to seek justice for her. It shouldn’t have been on you.”
“Why not? She’s dead because of me.”
“No, she’s dead because Tyler got riled up and killed her, and damn near killed you, too. Listen, what you’ve done has been nothing short of a miracle. You’ve been very strong, very brave, to keep going all these years in order to bring Tyler to justice.”
Alex stared at him, blinking rapidly.
Josiah leaned against the doorway, watching.
“I want you to know that. I don’t think anyone else could have kept going the way you have. If I’d known, back then, what I was asking you to do… well, it was wrong of me. You’ve carried all this alone while I’ve been getting on with my life. So don’t you dare apologise.”
Alex leaned back on the sofa cushion. “Thanks, Ted,” he said in a small voice. There was a long pause, then he spoke again. “Tell me about Trudy,” he said softly. “And the kids.”
Ted’s face brightened up. “I’d love to.” He took out a battered old nanopad held together with tape and showed Alex some photos of his family. It was the most interest Alex had shown in anything in weeks.
“Now – remember that god-awful show we used to watch while we were bored out of our minds at Vertex Tower?” Ted said. “Well, it’s still going strong. Wanna watch a few episodes with me?”
Josiah bought them fish and chips to eat in front of the screen and they all watched it together. The programme was every bit as awful as Ted had promised, and while Alex didn’t say much, he did at least watch it and smiled occasionally at Ted’s running commentary. He barely ate more than a couple of chips, but Josiah hadn’t exactly expected him to suddenly feel better because of one visit.
“I hope you can come again,” he said a few hours later on the doorstep as Ted was leaving.
“I will. I meant what I said to him,” Ted said fiercely. “Poor bastard. I’ve seen him low before – there was that time when Tyler gave him to this awful fucker who did horrible things to him. Then there was after Solange… he was in a bad way then, too. He always stops eating when he’s low.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“He bounced back every time, though. He’s a tough cookie – tougher than he looks. He’ll bounce back from this, too.”
“I dunno. He’s shattered, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I’m not sure we can paste him back together this time,” Josiah said.
Ted gripped Josiah’s arm firmly. “Well, we have to, ’cause what’s the alternative? Don’t give up on him, Joe. He has a habit of surprising you.”
Josiah returned to the living room to find Alex staring into space again.
“Was that okay, seeing Ted?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was nice. Just thinking… all these years I’ve been sort of frozen in time, seeking justice for Solange, and he’s just moved on. Found another woman, had some kids. I thought he and Solange were so in love, but…” He shrugged.
“I’m sure they were, but he had a chance at happiness and took it. You can’t blame him.”
“You didn’t. You never had anyone else after Peter until me.”
