Free She's Got It Bad by Sarah Mayberry

he saw Zoe lock the front and turn off the lights before he drove away.
    Never in his life had he felt so helpless. Even watching his mother die had been less painful than this. Then he’d known there was nothing he could do. With Zoe his gut told him he could help her, or that he at least had to try, but he had no clue where to start. The only interaction she seemed prepared to tolerate with him was sex, and he refused to go there again with her. He had nothing to offer her, not long-term. He’d only wind up hurting her more than he already had.
    He couldn’t face the thought of going home. Instead, he went to the workshop and got stuck into his in-tray.
    Vinnie had left the forms for the biker build-off comp on his desk and he filled them out and wrote a check to cover the entry fee. He tried to concentrate on the work insurance policies his admin manager had asked him to review, but his mind kept reverting to thoughts of Zoe.
    There was no way he could leave things the way they were.
    He tossed the insurance paperwork to one side and drew his computer keyboard toward himself.
    First he tried the white pages, but there were more than fifty listings for T. Ford in Melbourne.
    He flicked to a new screen. He was no computer guru, but he knew how to do a Google search.
    He typed in Tom’s name, along with Melbourne, Australia. He trawled through three pages before he found a hit that looked interesting—a listing for Tom Ford, accountant, talking at a recent small-business conference. Tom had always been good at math, and his father had been an accountant.
    It was easy work to find the Web site for the Melbourne firm Tom worked for, then a contact number for Tom himself. Liam checked the time. It was after eight. No doubt Tom would have gone home for the evening, but at least if he had voice mail, Liam would know if he was onto the right Tom Ford or not.
    To his surprise, someone picked up on the second ring.
    “I told you I’d be home by nine. Quit bugging me or I’ll never get this done,” Tom said, light amusement in his tone.
    “Tom, it’s Liam Masters calling. I’m not sure if you remember—”
    “Damn. Liam. My God. Of course I remember you.” Tom sounded stunned but not unhappy to hear from him.
    Liam’s shoulders dropped as he let go of an unspoken fear: that Tom would still be angry with him after all these years.
    “I’ve thought about you a lot, wondered where you wound up,” Tom said.
    “Me, too,” Liam said.
    “Wow. This is a real blast from the past,” Tom said. “I don’t suppose you want to catch up? I mean, is that why you’re calling?”
    Liam stood and stared out through the safety-glass window of his office into the workshop.
    “I did want to talk to you, actually. About Zoe,” he said.
    “Right.” Liam didn’t miss the wariness in the other man’s tone.
    “I ran into her the other day,” Liam said.
    Tom gave a hard laugh. “Yeah? Where was that, at the tattoo parlor or one of the thrash clubs?”
    He sounded resigned and sad.
    Liam decided to take a punt. “What are you doing now? Can I come talk to you?” he asked.
    Tom hesitated for a beat. “Sure. Let me call home and tell Jane I’ll be later than I expected.”
    “You’re married?”
    “Yep. Three kids and a dog, too. How about you?”
    “None of the above.”
    Tom gave him his work address and told him the best place to find parking.
    “Call me from the street when you get here and I’ll buzz you in.”
    Liam drove into the city and along St. Kilda Road, his gut churning all the way. He was nervous about seeing Tom. There had been a handful of people in Liam’s life who stood out as good, decent people, and Tom was one of them. So were his parents and his sister. And Liam had repaid them by falling in love with Zoe and almost taking her innocence, then bailing on them in the middle of the night with little or no explanation.
    Tom’s firm had offices in a modern metal and glass tower. The foyer was marble,