To Be Alone | Tommy Shelby

Chapter 7

Celia didn't see Tommy for a straight week after that night at the Garrison. Although she was happy seeing Arthur and John again when they came to pick up their suits at the tailors, she'd be lying if she said that her ears didn't perk up each time the door's bells rang in hopes that he'd entered the shop.

Today, she had been entrusted with a special task. Edith had given her a garment bag and an address, which she realized belonged to Ms. Polly Gray when she glanced down to see where she'd be going. Edith also told her that it was important that she get this piece today, as she needed it for an event she would be attending that very night. So Celia set out, traversing the streets of Birmingham until she got to Watery Lane.

After glancing down at the card in her hand and back up at the number beside the wooden door several times, she fisted her hand and knocked on it. Only seconds passed before the door opened and Arthur stood behind it. "Celia! To what do I owe the honor of seeing you today?" he was as chipper as ever, a smile on his face. Celia smiled just looking at him.

"Hi, Arthur, is um..." was all she was able to get out before he interrupted her.

"You're probably looking for Tommy, right? Oi, Tom! Celia's here!" he stated, screaming for his brother before Celia could say otherwise. Her heart started to beat faster as footsteps were then heard, and she subconsciously clung tighter to the garment bag in her arms as Tommy Shelby appeared from the stairway. It all happened so fast, she didn't have time to prepare. The sight of him dressed down for a change made her mind swirl. In only his dark trousers that were being held up with a pair of suspenders and a white undershirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, he didn't look like the commanding gangster that could have his way with anything he so pleased. He looked...human. Like some normal man whom Celia had stumbled upon when he wasn't thinking she would. "I'll leave you two to it," Arthur grinned then, probably sensing the air between them as his cue to get out of the room.

Celia was pulled back from her thoughts when she realized that she would need to make conversation with him because she was currently standing in his doorway. "I have something for your Aunt Polly," she mustered out, still inwardly gawking at the sight of him. He had his hand gripped onto the door now, the piece of wood holding his weight as he stood a few feet from her.

"Polly doesn't live here," he responded simply, his eyes trailing over her before they fell to the garment bag. She felt shy under his stare. Like she had done something wrong. Had she?

"Oh? Well she gave me this address on the card that was left at the shop," Celia stated, holding out the card with the exact address they were currently at printed on it. Tommy squinted his eyes to look at it before nodding his head.

"Fair enough. I guess she'll be over later to pick it up," he said as he took it from her arms and set it on the table in the house. Then he came back over to her with a few bill notes in between his fingers.

"Oh no, I can't," Celia tried to deny the money he was giving her, but he was insistent.

"Please, take it. For coming over here," he pushed her and she listened, taking the money and putting it into her purse. It got quiet between the two, Tommy standing with his hands in his pockets and Celia standing with hers clasped in front of her. "Do you want to come in?" he asked then, looking at her once more.

"I shouldn't. I need to be getting back to the shop," Celia turned his offer down, jerking her thumb in the direction opposite of the home.