Tom woke with a start a few hours later and immediately felt the pain pulsing through his body. It was still morning, but he felt he had slept through the rest of the day and the whole night. He abandoned all thought of his routine jog around to Shark Bay or working out in the garage gym.
Vic was still in the office working but the house was quiet, and he remembered that the girls were at school. He contemplated what his life would be like without them and recognised that because of his foolishness he could have lost them all—Vic, the house, and God forbid, the girls. That evening’s dinner was not going to be ordinary. Tom also knew the bedtime kisses for the girls would be long-lasting and Vic’s talk time even longer.
It had been several years after Helen’s death since he and Vic had fo
