Colin held the postcard in his hand, turned it over and re-read it for the fourth time in half an hour. He sighed, set it down in front of him on the bar. He’d only been out of prison for a short time, having spent the best part of five years there, and he was finding it difficult to believe that someone actually wanted to offer him not only a job, but a place to live, too. He lit up a cigarette, took a long drag, exhaled slowly, and stared at his reflection in the mirrored wall behind the bar.

"Five years..." he thought to himself, taking a long swig of his beer, and then setting it down again on the bar. "Christ, has it really been that long?!"

Images from the past suddenly filled his mind; he closed his eyes, tightly, trying to block them out. Five years was a long time to sit and think about the things he had done….the mistakes he’d made. Had it been bad judgment or simply bad luck that had caused his life to spiral out of control those five years earlier? It seemed like just yesterday he’d taken that bank job with Mahood – a job he wished he’d never agreed to do. He’d been desperate, though, his crash and dent shop having gone bankrupt. He owed money all over town and his debts were mounting up. Colin simply saw no other way out than to take on the job, which, his friend had promised, would be easy money and no one would get hurt. All he was required to do was drive…something Colin was good at. How the hell was he to know that everything would get so…fucked up? And now here he sat…alone in a bar…wondering why it was that the cops chose to pull him from the burning car instead of… her. He opened his eyes; the image of Midori’s lovely face smiling at him still filled his mind.

"She should be the one alive," Colin thought to himself, "not me. Not me." He sighed, looked down at the postcard again.

"Another beer, Mate?" the large, tattooed man behind the bar asked him, as he picked up the empty bottle in front of Colin and set it in a tub beneath the counter.

Shaken from his thoughts, Colin took another drag of his cigarette, nodded, "Yeah, that’d be great." The barman reached under the bar, pulled out a new bottle of beer for Colin. With one quick motion he whipped out a bottle opener, opened it, and set it down in front of Colin with a clunk. The man stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed a bit, cleared his throat.

"Um…thanks," Colin told him, reaching in his pocket, pulling out some cash and setting it on the bar. The barman scooped up the money, counted it, then walked away and busied himself on the other end of the bar.

Suddenly, with a loud thud, the barroom door swung open. Startled, Colin spun around on his barstool, and then a broad smile spread across his face.

Kate Morrison slowly strolled across the dimly-lit room, making her way up to the bar. She stopped, mid-way, looked around, uncomfortable by the way that every eye in the room was now on her. Shyly, she smiled, her crystal blue eyes nervously darting from person to person, until they rested on Colin. Her face instantly lit up, and she stepped up to the bar and sat down on an empty barstool next to him.

"Thought I’d find you here," she told Colin, kissing him on the cheek. He smiled at her, nodded, took a drink of his beer.

"Get you something to drink, darlin’?" the barman asked her, as he suddenly appeared in front of her. He looked her up and down, grinned…flashing his stained, crooked teeth.

Kate looked up at him, tried to smile back. "Beer, please," she glanced over at Colin, then down at his bottle, and added, "Whatever he’s drinking is fine."

When the barman set her beer down in front of her, he stood and watched as Kate picked it up and took a long drink. Setting the glass bottle back down, she noticed him still staring at her, eyebrows raised expectantly. She grinned, sheepishly. "Oh…sorry…,"she told him, realizing he was waiting for her to pay for her beer. "Here, let me just….," she mumbled, half standing – digging through the front pockets of her jeans.

Colin grinned, pulled out some cash and handed it to the barman. "No worries, Luv," he told Kate, smiling.

Kate stopped her rummage, looked at him, and returned the smile. "Um…thanks," she said, sitting back down on her barstool.

Even though they had been together for the past few months, Colin still found it difficult to let himself get too close to anyone - something Kate hoped to soon to change.

"What’s that?" Kate asked, pointing at the postcard Colin was absentmindedly fumbling in his hands.

He looked up at her, thought for a moment, "Um…nothing. Nothing," he told her, setting the postcard aside.

Kate knew Colin well enough to know it wasn’t just ‘nothing’. "Let me see that," she said, reaching around him and grabbing the postcard from the bar.

‘Kate, wait…" he said, trying to snatch the card back from her, but she was too quick. Colin sat quietly, watching her expression change, as she held it in her hands, reading what it said, taking in every word. When she had finished, Kate set the card back on the bar in front of him – a broad grin stretched across her face.

"Colin, this is great!" she exclaimed, placing an arm around his broad shoulders and leaning into him. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

"Not sure I’m going to take it," he said, staring into his beer.

She looked at his face, frowned. "Why wouldn’t you take it?" she asked. "Colin, this is the opportunity of a lifetime here we’re talking about."

He sighed, looked up at her – concern written all over her face. "Not sure I’d fit in there, is all."

Kate took his hands in hers, gave a little squeeze. "Colin, if you’re worried about your past Don’t be. They obviously know all about it and wouldn’t have sent you this invitation if it bothered them one bit. Please…please don’t pass this up. You need this. We need this."

He looked into her eyes….she always knew how to get to him, how to say the right things he needed to hear. Kate was right, he did need this. They both did. It was time he stopped living in the past and got on with his life. He’d do it. In the morning he’d call Bridgid at the Glen and accept her offer to open up a fix-it shop there.