“I will take care of it, Amber. It’s not your fault.”
“No, don’t. If you trust me at all, Frank, you will let me get it back for you. It is my fault he was here and able to take it in the first place. I should be the one to fix this.”
It sounded good, but could it really happen? Furthermore, wouldn’t it just be better for me to take care of it? I didn't have to go to the police. I could just go confront the guy, because I wasn't too worried about it one way or another. The watch did have sentimental value, the reason that I would even think about confronting someone like Tommy. It wasn't going to end well, if I had to do it. But damn, I didn’t want Amber to do it either.
“I still don't think it's a good idea. I don't know the guy, so I don't know how he's going to react.”
She told me that it would be fine and since I honestly wanted to get as far away from the conversation as possible, I took her at her word. I just hoped that it wasn't the wrong decision.
29
Amber
That night I stayed in the pool house. Frank wanted me to stay with him, but I honestly needed a little bit of time to myself. I didn't even know what to say. I had not told him that Tommy had stopped by. I didn't want to tell him because I didn't want him to know. It wasn't hard to imagine where he had gotten the information. Alice had seen Tommy and said something about it.
While I wished it hadn’t happened, I was even more mortified to find out that he had stolen from Frank as well. Tommy was that kind of person apparently. He was always looking for an angle. I had always found it a bit annoying before, but this was the first time that I was on the other side of it. Or someone I cared about was. It was the same thing.
I sent a text to Tommy, telling him that we needed to meet face to face. I was about to send it off, when I corrected myself and instead decided that I was going to go see him. It would be better if he didn't know that I was coming. I was hopeful that I could get the watch back for Frank. It was clear that it meant something to him, and he was willing to go to great lengths to get it back. I didn't want that to happen and put even more between us.
When I was able to leave, I did. I knew Tommy’s schedule pretty well and I knew where he was going to be. That's all the information that I needed. I wanted to get ahold of him before he went to work for the day. It would be easier than trying to catch him on the job. It's not like I wouldn't do it, but it would probably be a lot more trouble and there would be less of a chance of him having the watch. I hoped that he still had it, or at least he could tell me where he pawned it, so that I could pick it up.
Tommy was still at his place when I pulled up and I made sure to park at an angle behind his car. He wasn't going anywhere until I got answers or what I came for. There was nothing else to do with the situation. I got out of the vehicle and straightened myself up. This was not an interaction that I was looking forward to.
I didn't even get to the door before Tommy pulled it open and asked me what I was doing there. I thought that we could at least be semi-civil, but that did not seem to be possible. I had not done as good of a job breaking up with him as I had thought. He still had that anger about him.
“You're still mad at me I see.”
“Of course, I'm still mad at you. What are you doing here? You were the one who said that you didn't want to have anything to do with me, so why are you here?”
I knew that most of his anger was coming from the fact that I had hurt him. It was plain to see it written across his face and while I felt guilty about it, there was another side of me that did not feel anything at all. They certainly didn't make me want to run back into his arms.
“I need to get the watch back that you took from Frank.”
He didn't want to talk about it and honestly, I didn't either.
“What watch?”
“Don't play dumb, I know that you have it.”
“You don't know anything.”
“You had it on when you were leaving the house. You weren't even that good at it. It's a one-of-a-kind watch. The daughter noticed it on your wrist. Just give it back now or tell me where it is, and I won't bother you again. Unless you took something else, then I’ll have to come back here and get it. Did you?”
“Why are you even here?”
“I just told you why, Tommy.”
Tommy just stared at me. His green eyes flashed in my direction and it kind of scared me.
“I mean, really, why are you here? What does a watch mean to a guy like that? I looked him up on social media. I know what he is and what he does. Are you seriously going to tell me that he's that worried about it?”
“He’s already talked about calling the cops. That is how serious he is about it. I am here trying to stop all of that from happening, because no matter what happened between us, and no matter what we are to each other, I don’t want you to get in trouble. I certainly don't want it to be the reason that you go to jail.”
“Jail? He's really going to call the cops on me?”
I agreed and he scoffed, like everything I was saying was funny. I didn’t find it funny at all.
“So, not only do you want to break up with me and you never want to see me again, but you also want me to give you back your boyfriend's watch?”