Silver Linings (Andy Barber)

-1-

Switching the engine of the Audi off, Andy Barber inhaled deeply, hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had turned pale. He hadn't anticipated that leaving a town he'd spent the last seventeen years of his life in would be so hard. But he'd had no choice.

He had nothing left.

Andy had always wanted to return to Newburyport. As a kid, and after his father had been locked away, his mother had upped and moved them both around from town to town. It had never been unusual for her to simply tell him that they would be leaving two days before they actually did, but here had been where Andy had been at his happiest – his mother too. It was the longest time they'd spent there – three years to be precise, before they'd moved on once more. His mother's anxieties about his father breaking out and finding them getting the best of her. Andy hadn't wanted to leave, and had always said he'd be back one day. The only thing missing was the family he'd have liked to bring with him.

Getting out of the car he looked at the house that was to be his new home. He was thankful that Lynn had helped him to take a position within the Essex Country DA's office, and his new employers had been more than happy to take him on as an ADA. He was experienced after all, and they were in need of another pair of hands.

The street itself was a quiet suburban one, which was good enough for him. Part of him was happy to be back in familiar territory, but the other part was filled with guilt of feeling that happiness. He was a conflicted man, but he knew the move had been the right one. Newton held too many bad memories, but here? This was the only place that he'd enjoyed living, and the reason for that was because this was the place that he'd met Genevieve...

Andy had never had a friend like Gen, in fact she was the only real friend that he'd had growing up. She'd been the confident one of the pair, approaching him at the harbour one day and stating that she recognised him from school. He'd found out that she only lived just up the street from the apartment that he shared with his mother. Of course from then on, they'd spent days by the harbour or just generally walking the town when they weren't at school. Her mother had always made him feel welcome.

They'd lost contact after he'd left, and Andy had always regretted not trying to trace her. Life had simply got away with him just like it had done with everyone else. She'd probably long moved on anyway.

The movers were already in the process of taking everything from the van into the house and Andy instructed them where to put the usual things, such as the bed and couch, before bringing in the boxes he'd managed to squeeze into the car. Jacob's baby book rested on top of one of the open ones and he picked it up, staring at it for a few moments and then putting it back down. 

The box of Jacob's things would remain in his closet, memories of his son that now only lived in his mind as well as the box that the last pieces of him were crammed into. Andy had found it hard to go through his belongings. He'd kept personal things, such as Jake's favourite shirt, his phone (that no longer worked die to the accident), his watch and of course the baby book. There were some other things in there as well. Given the chance, Andy would have brought everything, but there was no need to keep clothes that would never be worn again, games that would never be played. It had taken three days for him to muster the strength do clear out the room fully.

He'd kept nothing of Laurie's. When it came to his wife he'd felt anger rather than grief. What made him angry the most was that he'd never get to know exactly why she did what she did. At first the case had been treated as accident, but the more the evidence grew, the more it became apparent that it was anything but that. Eventually the inquest ruled that the crash had been a deliberate act and thus was closed. Still with no answers as to why his wife had made that decision.

Once the removal men had left, Andy began to unpack the essentials. The coffee machine for one, however what we really needed was a beer. How he'd managed to go without one today was a mystery. Another wave of guilt washed over him. Right now the only thing he could depend on was a drink to keep him going.

It wasn't him.

He didn't want to be that person.

But he couldn't help it.

His whole life had been in a downward spiral since the day that Jake had been accused of Ben's murder, and it didn't show any signs of turning itself around anytime soon. He simply drank to forget.

Glancing down at the box of Jacob's things, he made the decision to shut them away now. Putting it on the top shelf in the closet and closing the door. Closing it on Jake and that part of his life that now he could only class as just another chapter. No matter how long.

**

"I hear some guy has moved into the house on Beacon Avenue?" Natalie said to Genevieve as she bobbed the tiny baby in her arms up and down. "Not everyday we get a bachelor in town."

"How do you even know he is?" Gen asked with a small laugh, sipping her juice as she watched her friend soothe her daughter.

Natalie grinned, still bobbing the baby up and down. "Because apparently Sadie was the one who sold him the home. He didn't even wanna look at it, just said from the pictures it was perfect and just what he needed. No mention of a family or anything. Therefore he is a bacheloooooor, and hopefully a hot one at that." 

"Wow, and did Sadie even get this guy's name?" Gen smirked, taking her daughter from her friend. Natalie had been her rock for the last two weeks. She wasn't going to lie; they'd been the hardest two weeks ever, but her best friend had ensured that she wasn't about to sit around and not come help out. Gen's mother had died just a year before, but she knew that she'd have been there. Especially at a time such as this.

"I think she said his name was Barber? That was the last name anyway..."

Gen stopped and looked at her friend. "Barber?"

"Yeah? Why?"

She only knew one person with that name. No...surely it couldn't be him? It was certainly a coincidence if it wasn't. "No reason, just sounds familiar that's all." She shrugged it off and placed the baby in the Moses basket that was next to the couch. Still she couldn't help but wonder whether he was back.

"Gen! Wooooo!" Natalie waved her hand in front of her face. "Earth to Gen! You ok? you kinda just zoned out."

Gen nodded. "Yeah, sorry – just a bit tired that's all." Exhausted was more the word, but that would work itself out once she and her daughter were in more of a routine. 

Natalie pointed to the staircase. "Well why don't you go have a nap? I'll keep a watch on Cora."

Genevieve wasn't about to decline the offer and slowly rose from the couch, "You really don't have to do this Nat..."

"You're my best friend – you'd do the same for me. Besides, who'd you rather have? Me here to dote on your gorgeous girl? Or that asshole who shall not be named?"

Gen laughed half-heartedly. "Yes well that's an easy choice to make."

"My point exactly, now go take a nap. I'm gonna watch some trashy tv and then we're getting takeout because we deserve it."

By this time, Gen was already halfway up the stairs, her mind in overdrive, quite possibly a mixture of being overtired as well as the news that perhaps her old friend was back in town. But if it was him, then why? It had been so long, and she'd never once heard from him since he and his mother had left.

Now wasn't the time to dwell upon the possibility that he had returned, but even after all this time, Genevieve had never once forgotten Andy Barber.