Fifth Encounter

Lucas walked down the carpeted corridor leading back to the reception area of Chadwick’s Creations with a lot of confusion swirling around in his mind. He had a lot of questions and the meeting had not gone as he had planned in his head.

Why didn’t Flynn recognise him?

Even with a second meeting Flynn still hadn’t shown any signs of recognising him. It was disconcerting to say the least. He had hoped that with some time in between Flynn would start to recall him. Instead it seemed like their first meeting had been blanked from his mind.

There was also something noticeably going on with Flynn and it worried him.

It had been a long time since they had first met each other, but he felt like he hadn’t changed much himself whereas Flynn was a completely different person.

He walked through the reception area with a distracted mind. He didn’t notice that someone was waiting by the front doors until that person spoke.

“I want to talk to you.”

Lucas looked up to see he was being stared down by Sarah Chadwick-Brooks. She definitely had the look of someone on a mission. He just wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk to him about.

Then again she was Flynn’s cousin and probably knew him the best. She might be able to answer his questions about him. That was if she was willing to.

“I wanted to talk to you as well,” he replied pleasantly. “Should we go for coffee?”

Sarah looked furtively around at the reception area. It was bustling with people coming in and out so they weren’t being stared at. If they stayed talking for any longer, that would change.

“There’s a coffee shop down the street that’s nice. I will see you there in fifteen minutes. I don’t want any gossip about us to reach Flynn’s ears.”

***

Sarah was prompt to the minute when she turned up at the coffee shop. It was a surprisingly nice independent coffee shop with pastel colours everywhere. Lucas had taken the liberty of ordering a drink for himself and was lightly sipping it.

Ordering Sherbert Lemonade had been a shot in the dark for him, but had just the right amount of sweetness for his palate.

“I would have ordered for you, but I didn’t know enough to guess what you would like,” he informed her when she approached his table at the back.

“Anything with caffeine in,” she replied and placed her coat on the back of the other chair.

Lucas waited patiently for her to obtain her order and carried on sipping his drink. Sarah came back holding a takeaway cup that smelled strongly of espresso rather than sugar. It seemed she was quite different to her cousin.

“I knew I had seen you somewhere before,” she said after taking a sip of her espresso.

Lucas’ attention was fully on her now. Sarah had not been present at that garden party all those years ago. It had just been the Chadwick family and his own.

How did she know his face?

Something must have shown on his face and she smiled at him.

“There were photos taken at that garden party you know,” she reminded him. “I saw them and one of them survived today- Flynn wanted me to see his new friend so he gave me one of the photos and I had to promise to give it back.”

The look on her face was sad and wistful. Lucas wasn’t sure how to interpret that one.

“How come he doesn’t remember me, yet you recognised me just from one photo?”

Sarah sighed and put down her espresso cup before pulling out her phone. She unlocked it and showed him the screen a few moments later. It was a photo of him and Flynn standing by the rose bushes 13 years ago.

Flynn looked adorable with his around face and big eyes. He didn’t pay much attention to how he looked. He wanted a copy of the photo so he could see young Flynn.

“I didn’t get a chance to give the photo back so I was able to retrieve it from my own collection. Do you know what happened two weeks after your first meeting?” she asked.

Lucas’ mind threw away his desire to have a copy of the photo and focused on the matter at hand. Mr and Mrs Chadwick had died 13 years ago and it hadn’t been long after that meeting. He had wanted to visit Flynn again, but his parents hadn’t thought it was a good idea and then they had moved away.

“His parents died in a fire,” he replied.

Sarah nodded with a frown.

“That’s right. He doesn’t remember much from that time, it was a very traumatic shock to him. He saw the place in flames and he probably heard them trying to get out. It forever changed him, he’s never been the same since.”

Lucas was struck by her sad tone. She really did care for her cousin and he now realised that he hadn’t fully thought about how Flynn would be after 13 years had passed.

All he had been thinking about was fulfilling their promise and wondering what Flynn looked like. He should have been expecting Flynn to be different due to what had happened to him.

It appeared that his parents had gained a better understanding than he had. When he had told them about his job with Flynn, they had simply said to take care of him and to make sure he was okay.

It appeared that he still had a lot of learning about human nature to do.

“That’s why he doesn’t remember me,” he said tonelessly. “I realise that I was selfish to expect it.”

Sarah looked at him with sympathy.

“I don’t think it’s quite like that. You never met each other again and you were completely unaware that Flynn had become the person he has. I… hoped to be the person that would change him for the better, but that sadly hadn’t been the case…”

There was something hopeful about her tone and he could guess what she was trying to imply.

“Would you like me to be the person to pull him out from his spiral of sadness?” he asked.

Sarah clasped her hands together and took a deep breath.

“I know exactly what you promised all those years ago and you’ve done a lot of work to get to the point of fulfilling the first part. Considering your devotion, I do think you are probably the best person to do it. I’ve stayed at his side at the company to protect him, but that’s all I seem to be able to do. The other part will have to be from someone he likes in a different way.”

It was a little mortifying to know that Sarah knew the full extent of their promise especially given the content of it. It was kind of her not to say it outright.

“How would you suggest I start?” he asked. “I don’t actually know him very well at the moment. He’s keeping a distance.”

“Don’t go too fast and don’t try to force his memory to come back. He may never regain his memories from that time and maybe that is for the best. You will just have to start from the beginning,” she advised. “I know it sounds like I’m dumping this on a stranger, but I know your past and I saw the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. It would be a waste to let go of this opportunity.”

He caught the worried lip bite and could tell that she was conflicted about taking him into her confidence.

“Miss Chadwick-Brooks, I would have done it anyway without you asking me. I want Flynn to be happy and he clearly isn’t happy right now,” he assured her.

That seemed to cheer her up.

“You’re right. Please be patient with him, he’s very fragile no matter what he pretends,” she told him. “I’ve got to get going now. We will meet at a later point.”

Lucas watched her leave with her coffee. It was a lot to unpack. She had filled in a lot of gaps for him.  Technically she hadn’t told him much that he hadn’t been able to work out for himself. 

Flynn was visibly attracted to him, he had noticed that.

Flynn was also noticeably sad. He would have started work on trying to find out why if Sarah hadn’t spoken to him.

There was also one other thing that Sarah hadn’t mentioned possibly out of allegiance to her cousin.

Flynn was very far into the closet. That was something that was possibly making everything worse for him. Lucas knew he had been fortunate to grow up with parents that hadn’t minded his orientation whereas Flynn had lost his parents.

Lucas sat there until his coffee was stone cold, trying to think of the best way to bring back the life in Flynn.

He was determined to make Flynn happy again and fulfil everything they had promised on that fateful day.