A Second Chance

Long Day At Work

Chapter 17

It was about 6:00 or 7:00 am.

By now I'm sure everyone knows Caden's not normally up at this time but today he was. He still needed to get to work but he had something he wanted to do before then.

So here he was, standing out in the cold morning air, not even wearing a jacket to keep warm.

It wasn't completely dark still but the clouds made the daylight dull and gray.

He looked down at his shoes the thought just accruing to him that the mud would ruin them.

He looked back up without a care knowing shoes were just objects and were the last thing Caden had ever worried about in life.

He bent down kneeling about the same height as the headstone.

Caden placed down the flowers, red roses of course, because that is what she loved, or use to love he should say.

The dirt in the grave was still fairly new and grass has not grown back completely yet.

The name Victoria Wells didn't look right to Caden on a gravestone but now there was nothing he could do to change it.

"Tori.. Anderson has assigned me a new partner now."

Caden paused and thought about what to say.

"She's really nice and I know you two would have gotten along great."

He smiled at the thought of Victoria meeting Tammy.

"I want you to know though I'm not going to forget you." He told the grave.

It might have seemed crazy to talk to a gravestone as if you were talking to the person them self, but people do it all the time. Caden knows Victoria can't really hear him but it brought him some comfort to say these things.

Looking at his watch he knew he should leave.

"Bye Tori."

With that he stood to his feet to leave. 

When he reached ARRO he parked in his normal spot and recognized a familiar orange car parked a few spaces down from his. He questioned if he would ever show up first.

Caden walked inside and greeted Daniella and before he could even unlock his office door Tammy was beside him.

"Morning partner!" She said joyfully, as she always did sound that way.

"Good morning Tammy." He greeted her back.

He opened his door and took a seat down.

"You alright?" She questioned, looking closely at his facial features.

He was silent, of course he was fine, he just didn't understand why she thought he wasn't.

"You look like you have been crying or something." She noted.

He looked at her not even thinking he looked like he had been crying.

"I'm fine promise. Just visited an old friend this morning." He assured her with a small smile.

She took his word for it but she wasn't sure why he would cry over a friend, it didn't even cross her mind that he went to Victoria's grave.

"I have good news for us!" She told him back on subject.

"Ok?" He was waiting to see what it was.

She was smiling and seemed extra happy as if she had already achieved something.