One Wild Night

Chapter 425: Can’t, Not Won’t?

“Did I interrupt something? I thought you were on the phone?” Tom asked when he noticed the way Harry abruptly stopped speaking and pocketed his phone.         

    

“It’s not important. Are you ready to leave?” Harry asked, choosing to take Tom’s interruption as a sign that he shouldn’t proceed with that yet. Perhaps he still needed to tread with caution.     

It seemed like every time they were close to making a breakthrough in their communication someone always interrupted. First, it had been his father who barged into the guest bedroom just when Jade was telling him how she wanted to live rent-free in his head. Next, it had been the important call that entered her phone just when he was about to ask her what she had meant the last time, and now it was Tom interrupting just when he was about to ask her out. This had to be a sign.      

“Yes. Are you not?” Tom asked as he glanced at Harry’s desk where his laptop was still lying open.      

“I am. Let’s leave,” Harry said as he shut down his laptop and placed it in his laptop bag before heading for the door with the bag.     

He had something else on his mind apart from Tom’s interruption of his phone call with Jade. Now that he knew for a fact that Jade was fine, that left him with the other option. Tom had lied to him because he wanted him out of that restaurant. Why? Or was he perhaps overthinking this? Harry asked as they both stepped into the elevator.     

Tom glanced at Harry curiously, wondering who he had been talking to and why he hung up so abruptly. Although he wanted to ask but he stifled the urge since the last thing he wanted was for Harry to start asking him about what happened earlier.      

He had done his best to avoid being alone with Harry all day because he feared he might make a blunder and say something he wasn’t supposed to say. Now he just couldn’t wait to drop Harry off at his apartment and pick up Lucy so they could go home together. He was mentally exhausted from all that worrying, and he needed to see Lucy so he could relax.     

“Why are you in a haste?” Harry who had been lost in his own thoughts, asked when he suddenly noticed how Tom was walking ahead of him towards the car.      

“I want to see Lucy. I’ve missed her,” Tom called back, making Harry scoff.      

“Whatever. Just hand over the car key and I will drive. I don’t want you driving me to my death in your haste to see her,” Harry said once they got to the car and Tom threw the key at Harry who caught it at once.     

“So were you able to talk to the head of the human resource department about putting out the ad for Lucy?” Harry asked, immediately after they were settled in the car and he turned on the car’s ignition.     

He wanted to see if Tom was going to lie to him again.      

“Yes. I did that immediately we returned to the office,” Tom looked away as he spoke, and Harry’s frown deepened.      

He not only hated that Tom was lying to him, but it also bothered him too. If it was someone else he would have been angry at being lied to, but he wouldn’t have bothered about it this much nor given it so much thought, but this was Tom.      

He knew that whatever would make Tom lie to him this much was a serious issue, and the more he thought about it the more anxious he became.      

“Are you alright?” Tom asked when he noticed how quiet Harry was.     

“If I say I’m not, will you tell me what I want to know?” Harry asked, and Tom’s brows pulled together since he understood what Harry was saying.     

“No. I can’t,” Tom said honestly, and Harry turned to him.     

“Can’t, not won’t?” Harry asked, and Tom gave him a nod.     

“You know I care about you, and if it was in my place to say this I won’t keep it from you. So please trust me as you have always done and don’t put me in a more difficult position by asking me about it,” Tom said, and Harry looked at him for a moment before giving him a nod.     

So it wasn’t his place to say anything? Whose place was it then? Jade? His dad? He paused when something suddenly occurred to him and he remembered his conversation with Tom the previous evening. Was this about that? Did Tom find out something about this Sara person? Harry reasoned.     

He took out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen when it started ringing. And he sighed in relief when he saw that it was Philip who was calling.      

He was relieved that it was Philip and not Jade since he was not sure what to say to Jade, especially in Tom’s presence, but he was also wondering why Philip kept calling him when they had met earlier in the day at the restaurant.     

Instead of connecting the phone to the car’s Bluetooth device as he ordinarily would have done if he was alone, Harry turned to Tom, “Can you help me take out my AirPods from the laptop bag?” He asked, and Tom reached into the backseat where Harry had dropped the bag and did as he was told.     

By the time Harry placed one of the AirPods in his ear, the call had been disconnected so he dialed Philip’s line          

    

“Sup, Harry!” Philip greeted immediately after he received the call.     

“Is everything alright, Phil? I’m driving,” Harry explained.      

“Sure. We were all supposed to hang out after your meeting. Why did you guys leave without seeing me?” Philip asked in displeasure.     

“You were at your workplace, yet you expect us to leave ours to hang out with you during work hours?” Harry asked with a scoff, and Philip chuckled.     

“Anyway, that wasn’t why I called. I was just wondering if your dad is around.”     

“Yes. Why?” Harry asked, wondering why Philip was suddenly asking about his dad.      

“I saw someone who looked very much like him earlier at the restaurant, and he didn’t look very well,” Philip said, and Harry’s heart skipped a beat as he turned to look at Tom.     

“What time?” He asked in an easy tone, not wanting Tom to know what he was talking about.     

“Not long after you guys left, I think. I came out to look for you and I saw him heading for the restroom,” Philip said, and Harry frowned.      

His dad had been at the restaurant? Was that why Tom had been in a haste to get him out of there? Did that mean the secret Tom said he couldn’t tell him about was his father’s secret?      

“Why don’t I call you back after I get home? And then we can talk about a suitable time to hang out,” Harry suggested, and Philip easily agreed.     

“Philip wants to hang out?” Tom asked curiously.     

“Yeah,” Harry said with a noncommittal shrug as he thought about what Philip had just said.      

Of course, he had more questions for Philip, but if he was to go by what he had just heard, it made sense if his father had been at the restaurant.     

The woman at the restaurant had known him, and she had said she was there to meet an old friend, someone he also knew. Tom had dragged him away from there after receiving a phone call.      

Was his father the old friend the woman had been talking about? How did she know who he was? Why didn’t they want him to meet her? Was that the Sara lady who had been calling his dad? Harry wondered with a slight frown as he continued to drive.      

He wondered if Lucy had gone there with his dad. He was certain she had since she couldn’t have left his father alone. Perhaps he should ask her about it? If he did so, Tom would know he knew what was going on, and he didn’t want any of them to know he was aware.     

Tom sighed when he saw the thoughtful look on Harry’s face, and although he wanted to ask him what he was thinking about, he didn’t.      

As they approached Harry’s apartment, Tom dialed Lucy’s line, informing her they were close to the apartment and asking her to get ready so they could go home.     

Neither Harry nor Tom said a word until they arrived at Harry’s apartment, and immediately, Tom got out of the car first and hurried inside.     

He met Lucy and Aaron seated in the living room, watching a show on television, and immediately he sent Lucy a discreet but questioning look. When she also gave him a discreet nod, he turned to Aaron.     

“How are you doing, old man?” Tom asked in an easy tone,      

Aaron smiled at him, “Thanks to our Jewel, I’m feeling much better,” Aaron said as he patted Lucy’s hand fondly.     

“Our Jewel? Nah. I’m not sharing her with you,” Tom said as he took Lucy’s hand and pulled her away from Aaron making both Lucy and Aaron laugh.     

Harry joined them at that moment, and he looked at all three of them before focusing on his father, “How are you, dad? How was your day?” He asked, hoping that Aaron would mention that he had left the house.         

    

Aaron shrugged, “I’m fine. Lucy made sure I ate, took my medication, and had enough rest as you wanted me to,” Aaron said, and Harry glanced at Lucy.     

“I hope you didn’t let him go out of the house. He can barely stay indoors all day,” Harry said, and Lucy smiled without directly meeting his gaze.     

“Don’t worry. We were indoor,” she assured him, and Harry gave her a nod and flashed her a smile of gratitude.      

Although Harry had said he was going to give his father time to tell him about what he was hiding, he wasn’t so sure anymore. If Tom and Lucy already knew about it, and they were willing to lie to him just so they wouldn’t be the ones to tell him what his father was hiding, then he was sure it was something very important, and it was time for him to look into it and find out what was going on.