DISCONTINUED

Chapter 41

"Hey. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?"

Garreth looked up to see the mother of the girl from the beach standing next to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Oh... hey. Hi there. Yea, yea. Please... have a seat." He motioned her to the empty chair beside him as he shuffled his over a bit to make room.

"Thanks. So, you want a warmer there for your coffee? On me. I feel I owe you at least that much" she said, smiling.

Garreth threw up his hands and nodded. "Sure. Why not. Thanks."

The woman sat down next to Garreth and immediately covered her face with her hands, tilting her head slightly to peak out through her fingers at him. She shook her head. "Ugh. I'm SUCH a horrible person."

Garreth scratched his head, grinning slightly. "I doubt that's true." He paused then shrugged his shoulders. "But I suppose it could be. True that is. I mean, I don't really know you so I'd need more information before I could offer an informed opinion."

G, look at you flirting with the pretty bathing suit woman. Way to go! I'm so proud of you...

No! Jules, no. I'm not flirting. Hardly. I'm just being, you know... friendly.

Ah, ok. I see. Well, you just keep on being 'friendly' there honey...

The woman exhaled deeply. "It's been 2 days and I still haven't properly thanked you for saving my daughter. I mean, sure, things were pretty crazy that day at the beach, and then we had to get Meagan's arm taken care of, but still... I should have found time to thank you. I mean come on, you saved my kid's life! So yea, I'd say I'm pretty horrible."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Like you say, things were pretty crazy that day and you've been busy since then."

"That's no excuse. I should have made time and I'm sorry. I can't believe it, but I don't even know your name?" She buried her face again.

"Garreth. My name's Garreth Timmons."

"Hi Garreth. Lynn. Lynn Avissi."

"Nice to meet you Lynn."

She reached for Garreth's outstretched hand and held on to it with both of hers. "It's very nice to meet you Garreth Timmons. And thank you. Thank you for saving my Meagan. I'll never forget what you did for her. Never. And I want you to know that if there's ever anything I can do for you, any way that I can help you, please just let me know. After what you did that day at the beach for me - me and my daughter..." Her voice trailed off as she stared intently into Garreth's eyes, hers filling with tears, and squeezed his hand before letting it go.

Ooooo... I like her G. Very passionate! And Italian too. That's a bonus. Make sure you tell her I'm dead ok, and that you're available.

Garreth squirmed a little in his chair, happy to have his hand back. He'd never been much of a touchy-feely kind of guy.

"Well, you're very welcome Lynn. But it was no big deal, really... nothing anyone else wouldn't have done if they were in my shoes."

"Yes, yes it was a big deal Garreth. It was a VERY big deal" she said emphatically. "And it wasn't anyone else that saved my Meagan. It was you. You saved my little girl."

Garreth fidgeted with his coffee cup. He'd wasn't very good at accepting compliments. "So, how is your daughter doing anyway? How's her arm?" he said, happy to move the focus of the conversation away from himself.

"She's good now, thanks. She did break her arm, but we got it in a cast and the doctor says she'll be as good as new in a few months."

Garreth nodded. "Good, good. I'm glad to hear that. Not that she broke her arm of course, but that she's doing ok." Then he narrowed his eyes as he thought for a moment. "Wait a minute though. You said she got a cast, but where? How? I mean, she's obviously not inoculated, right, so they wouldn't treat her at any hospital?"

"No, no... she's not inoculated. So you're right, we couldn't go to a hospital. We're lucky though. My husband. Well, my ex-husband, Meagan's father..."

Bingo G! She's available.

"...he works as a doctor at a private clinic in town. He was able to treat her."

"Wow. Ok. That's good. Wasn't that dangerous though? For you and your daughter, and for your ex?"

"Oh yea, for sure. I mean, we had to sneak into town at night of course, but even still, yea... it was dangerous. But what were we going to do, right? She needed help. As for Ben, my ex, well, he's not too concerned for his own safety to tell you the truth. And he'd do anything for his daughter... for me too to be honest. He's actually treated a few others around here that have needed it too. It's like his form of rebellion. His way of giving the government the middle finger."

"So, he's obviously inoculated then?"

"Yea, he is. When Meagan and I ran... when we escaped the city, I tried to warn him. But he wouldn't listen." She stopped to sip her coffee. "I saw it coming. I mean, I didn't know just what was coming, exactly, but I wasn't going to wait around to find out. I knew that we had to get out of there. He was too trusting. Always has been. Stupid ass." She paused, staring blankly down at the table. "So what about you Garreth? What's your story? I've never seen you with anyone. Are you here alone?"

"Yea. Yea, I am." Garreth's face grew solemn as he slowly swirled around the bit of coffee left in his cup. He sighed deeply before continuing, speaking in a soft, sad voice. "My, uh... wife, she died just before they started giving out the shots. She was killed actually - I'm sure of that now - by the state. They tried to make it look like an accident, but it wasn't. I think she found out what they were up to, what they were planning - or at least she suspected - and, well... they killed her for it." He bit his lip, almost talking to himself now. "Bastards. They killed her. They killed her and I didn't do anything about it."

They both sat quietly for a moment.

"What was her name?"

"Sorry. What?"

"Your wife... what was her name?"

"Julia. I called her Jules though. Not like 'precious jewels' or anything, although she was - precious that is - but just like, you know... Jules. Short for Julia."

Honey, I'm not sure that lovely Lynn here wants to hear all about your dead wife. Just sayin'

Lynn smiled, sadly. "No kids then?"

"Yea. I mean no. I mean... Yes. We - I - have a daughter. Luna. She just turned 17."

"Oh. Nice! I haven't seen her, I don't think?"

Garreth crossed his arms and pulled at the stubble on his chin, staring into his coffee cup. "She's... uh." He bit his lip. "My wife tried to warn her... tried to stop her from getting the shot. But she never made it. I avoided getting the shot at first just out of dumb luck and circumstance, and then once I started to get suspicious, I was able to have my records falsified. But it was too late for Luna. She's still in the city. She didn't get out. I didn't get her out. She just turned 17 and I left her. I just left her there..."

"Garreth. Hey, Garreth... look at me."

Garreth flinched and turned to look at Lynn who had reached out to touch his arm.

"Garreth. It's not your fault."

Garreth looked away. "I know, but I..."

"Hey!"

He turned to look at her again, blinking back tears.

"It's not your fault. You didn't do this to her. They did. Remember that. And you had no other choice. She couldn't leave and you couldn't stay."

Garreth looked down and rubbed his hands together thoughtfully, his knuckles whitening.

"Hey" Lynn said with a smile. "Do you get to see your daughter often?"

"Yea. Yea... I try to see her every few weeks."

"Well I would very much like to meet her sometime so I can tell her what a wonderful hero of a father she has,"

I like this woman G. I like her a lot.