(prologue)

The white flowers around the coffin contrasted with the gloomy air around them. The girl sitting in the front seat, staring at the smiling picture in front of her.

Johnny could notice the very few people walking to the coffin and paying their respects, giving the girl nice and reassuring words, and walking away. From time to time Johnny also noticed how she would bend her head forward and the way her shoulders were shaking, as she tried her best to stay strong while being observed by the people whom Tommy knew during his life.

Even if how very few they were.

The Lawrence man remembered when Tommy was told his father died while serving, and how defeated Kristen Cooper was in the months following his passing. Tommy wasn't that different. What Johnny didn't know was that ten years after their graduation the woman had also passed, leaving Tommy completely alone.

He wasn't quite sure when they lost contact during that time, but he could guess that came from how little he cared about those around him during his twenties and early thirties, while Tommy had to work every single day to continue living.

Johnny only found out about the girl when his old friends called on a meeting, and Tommy had to bring her along because he had no one to take care of her.

He remembered staring at the four-year-old with confusion when he grabbed the beer from the fridge of Dutch's house and when he closed the door she had asked him to grab her the jug of chocolate milk. At the end of it, he had to help her pour on the cup as she almost spilled it all over the table. Tommy would send him warning looks every time a curse word would fall from his lips, and only after the girl had fallen asleep on the couch, with her father covering her body with his jacket, he pull the other three men aside to catch them up with the situation.

Johnny couldn't remember everything, of course, but he knew enough. He was dating this one chick, she got pregnant, and when the girl was barely one year old, the woman left.

And Johnny hated how similar to his own life it was.

But he couldn't relate it, because even if he wanted to be a part of his own kid's life, he knew he would screw up. So he just gave up. He would never had the balls Tommy had to handle the situation the way he did. And he had nothing but respect for his old friend.

Years went by and it was doomed for the four to lose contact again, after all, they had their own lives to take care of, and it wasn't difficult for the big brown doe eyes and her face to become lost in the tracks of time.

It wasn't until the phone call from Bobby that he realized he should've been a better friend to Tommy.

And even with all that, Tommy still opened his heart to Johnny, telling about his long-lost feelings for his former lover, and how scared and worried Tommy was while he begged for Lawrence to watch over his daughter. Because Maeve didn't deserve to be alone — to have no one when he also left her, even if he tried so hard not to.

Johnny could only think about the tears in his now late friend's eyes when he talked about her.

And now the three were standing a few feet away from her, Bobby with a frown on his face and Dutch with his arms crossed.

"We can't just leave her like this," Dutch finally said after the moments of silence. "We can't let her get sent to an orphanage-"

Bobby scratched the back of his neck.

"She has no other family," Bobby continued. It had already been brought to the conversation the possibility of either Jimmy or Bobby taking her in, but it was quickly shut down because of their own families and they wouldn't be able to afford it. "I can try talking to one of the church members..."

"I can take her in," Johnny looked at the two, and they stopped for a moment.

Of course, no one would've expected him of all people to offer his help. They may once loved Johnny, but they also knew how unfit for it he was, mainly because he never once took care of his own son, that was also why he was never even an option.

"What?" Bobby asked while he exchanged looks with Jimmy.

"She can come with me, I can take her in," Johnny tried again, and Bobby sighed.

"Johnny, I don't think-"

"Then don't! You said she had no family, she can't go to the orphanage, you can't take her in, I'm offering," he listed, hand held in front of them as he counted his fingers. "You two discussed this among yourselves, why wasn't I even an option?"

"We do have many reasons for that, and the first one of it is listed more than once on the police station," Jimmy retorted, and Johnny's eyebrows pulled together as his hands fell to his sides.

"Look, I know it doesn't look that good, but she has no one but us now," he pointed at her with his thumb. "I already fucked up my entire life, and I know that, alright? But Tommy asked me to look over her, I can't fuck up this too."

He looked between the two, as Jimmy furrowed his own eyebrows. Bobby with his hands on his waist as he looked down thinking.

"I might not be the fittest candidate for this, but I'm also the only option we have, and you know it," Johnny continued, his right hand dropping on Bobby's shoulder. "C'mon, man. You can help with it, putting a good word for me. That's little Cooper we're talking about now. That's the only thing we have left of Tommy."

Bobby looked at his friend, then at the girl for a few moments. He knew Johnny was right, but that didn't seem to ease his mind off the worry of what might happen.

"Okay," he agreed after the long silence, nodding his head. "I'll make a few calls."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet, you might need to do an every-week welfare checkup for a little while." Johnny could handle it, Bobby thought. He would still make sure to check up on her every once or twice a week.

Johnny walked in slow steps to the first bench, while Maeve didn't diverge her eyes once from her father's picture. He could see the contrast of the deep purple eyebags and the red in her eyes from crying, the paper clenched in her fist to stop her shaking, and the obvious oversized leather jacket covering her entire frame.

All Johnny could see was a reflection of himself when his mother died.

He cleared the lump in his throat, sitting down next to her, leaving a comfortable space between them. Maeve looked briefly to her side, and the frown deepened when she took notice of the man.

When the three men walked through the hospital room's door, and her father unplugged the machines from his body, she knew. When he pulled her into a tight hug and a long kiss on the crown of her head, telling her he loved her. When he left, Maeve knew it would be the last time she would see him.

It didn't make it any easier when she had to be the one to collect the last of his belongings from the hospital. Driving back his old Chevy to their rented apartment, she laid there watching the clock, waiting.

Maeve hugged herself a little as the silence was thick between the two. Johnny didn't want to say anything, because he knew there was nothing he could say that would take away this ache in her heart, he had been there.

So he reached out his left hand, dropping it on her shoulder and giving a light squeeze, one of the reassurance, one to tell she was going to be okay, to tell that she could cry. One he wished he had when it was him sitting there staring at his mother's picture, while his stepfather talked to the guests to maintain his image.

He could feel the shaking under his hand as the girl leaned forward again, hand above her heart a sob left her lips.

Here we have the prologue!
I'm actually excited for this one!

Don't forget to vote and comment!
Drop a follow if you can!

Tiktok: shdwmgumi