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The warmth of the pub elcome At least the little town had this, a little tavern at which to drown one’s sorrows

"Hello, Colleen," he said, because yeah, befriending the bartender was never a bad idea

"Hallo, Tom," she said in a fair iht?"

"I’ll have a whiskey, love," he said

"Not your first, I’"

"You driving?"

"No, miss" He smiled She cocked an eyebrow and poured hi Honor Holland," he said "Do you know her?"

"I know everyone," Colleen answered "I’ll send her over when she gets here"

Tom made his way to a booth at the back of the bar where they could talk about illegal matters privately There was a uniformed policeman there, but he was occupied with a pretty redhead, so the fact that Too unnoticed And let’s not forget He was also planning to commit a crime

He took a sip of whiskey and tried to relax Yesterday after Candace called, he’d looked up green card fraud on dear old Google Not encouraging Jail ti fines Deportation with no possibility of ever living in the States again

He could go back to England Visit Charlie once or twice a year And then--Tom could see it already--the visits would beco to carve out a friendship with sos and terrible ht be Toirl who’d resent the time and money it took to cross the Pond, and the memory of that small, lovely boy who’d once flown kites with him would fade into obscurity

Fuck-all

"Are you Toht Woht in front of him "Hello! It’s you!"

"Uh I have fond memories of you"

He could do worse, he noted She wasall right She was sort of pretty Also, she was here, which was nice of her Unfortunately, he seemed a bit knackered This would be a case of subliht say, if he were an aficionado of Dr Freud Yep Pissed His vocabulary and accent tended to mushroom exponentially when under the influence

She frowned "I’, and To, I hate to tell you this, but there see"

"Is it? If you say so Well, Honor Holland Lovely to meet you"

"You, too" Her expression contradicted that state and bared its teeth Ah It was a dog, he was almost positive

"So" She folded her hands--pretty hands, very tidy with clear polish on her short nails--and looked at hiht of , that wasn’t little," he said warnificent"

"Can we skip over that?"

"Absolutely! Though if you’d like to reminisce, I’m all ears Your hair’s quite different, isn’t it? Looks better That sister-wife thing was a bit off-putting Also, there’s less for people to grab if you get into another fight Very practical of you So Shall we get married?"

His char I don’t think we need to waste anyGive us a chance, won’t you? I’m a bit nervous" He smiled When he smiled in class, ot a bit swoony

She blushed Brilliant She covered by looking into her purse, where the little rat dog was still baring its teeth at hi Didn’t have quite the same effect as it had on the wee beastie’s owner

The server appeared "Hi, Monica," Honor said "Got anything special tonight?"

"We’ve got two bottles of the McGregor Black Russian Red"

"I’ll have a glass of that, then"

So Miss Holland wasn’t leaving yet "And I’ll have another of these," Tolass

"No, he won’t," Honor said

"Taking care ofwench said, giving Tom the eye He winked at her, and off she went

"Are you drunk?" Honor asked

"Please," he said "I’m British The proper word is pissed"

"Great," sheto meet me"

She didn’t answer Just looked at hi with her Blondish hair Brown eyes Nor so he could take a look Those pearls weren’t doing much for her sex appeal

Take theine her in bed Quite vividly, in fact On second thought, leave the pearls on and take off everything else

Oh, shit He rubbed the back of his neck The server brought Honor her wine and Toht," he said "Why don’t I suaps--how’s that?"

"Fine," she said

"As I understand it, you were in love with a bloke as clearly using you for sex and is now et, darling, I had a front-row seat that night So now you’ve realized your knight in shining armor is, in fact, a faithless whore of a man--"

"You knohat? It wasn’t like that So shut up"