I still haven’t found the damn purchase order Jack lost last week, but instead of digging through yet more piles of paperwork, I’d been staring off into space. Lost in a filthy fantasy about the owner of Latterature.
Ever since last night when I spent, what, ten minutes alone in my truck with the woman, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.
She’s nothing, and I meannothing, like the women I usually go for. And that might be what had me fisting myself in the shower this morning.
“What?” I growl, half pissed that I’ve been interrupted, half embarrassed.
“I thought you were going to run over there.” Jack’s still working on the town car, and I’ve made zero progress on the paperwork. “You said you had to bring her leftovers she forgot?” Jack slides out from under the town car and wipes his hands on his coveralls. “Dude, she forgot it. I call dibs on Mario’s cooking.”
Normally, I’d agree with Jack. You snooze, you lose. But after Chloe hustled out of my truck last night and left the food my dad had packed behind, I figured bringing it to her would be the right thing to do. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself all day.
“I don’t know who would be more pissed at me, my mom or my dad,” I say. “What’s up with Carol? She sick of making you lunch?”
Jack’s face darkens, and he gives me a one-armed shrug. “It’s weird, man.” He looks over his shoulder like his old man is going to walk through the door any second. But he’s not.
Jack’s dad took a fishing trip two weeks ago when his wife asked for a separation and moved out. The separation shocked me, but Jack has been lost without them.
“What’s weird?” I press. “I mean, other than everything going on in your life right now. No offense.”
He shakes his head. “None taken.” He sighs and yanks off the cap he likes to wear over his wild Irish hair. “I know my parents are separated and shit, doing their own things, but like…my mom didn’t come home last night.”
My gut tightens, and I’m up out of my chair at the first hint that anything could be wrong with one of my mom’s friends. “You hear from her?” I demand. “Is she staying with Sassy or Bev?”
Jack holds up the hand that grips his cap and sighs. “She’s all right. I knew she wasn’t coming home. She texted me last from…” He curls his mouth into a frown and mutters something under his breath.
“What? What the fuck, you got me worried. What’s up with Carol?” I press, not quite ready to drop down into my chair, not quite convinced that my best friend’s mom doesn’t need us to do something, go someplace.
“She spent the night at Ray Morris’s.” Jack says the words like he’s got a gun to his head, his teeth gritted to hold in the truth against his will.
My shoulders immediately sag in relief. But only for a second. “Fuck.” I swallow back the words I want to say and try to think of a way to be supportive.
Jack’s parents have been separated for just a few weeks. If Carol’s having sleepovers with other men while his father’s out finding himself on the lake…
“Fuck,” I say again, and Jack nods.
“Yeah. So, Ma didn’t make me lunch, but she’s making it for somebody.”
Jack looks so heartsick, I can’t even chuckle. It sucks. My parents have been together since they were teenagers, and they still seem to feel like the sun rises and sets for their love alone.
“I’m sorry. It’s a shit situation all the way around.”
Jack nods, slips the cap back over his head, and shakes his head slowly. “I just keep asking myself what’s my place here, you know? Should I tell my dad that Mom’s out there getting her rocks off? Warn him before he gets home and finds out from someone else?”
I have no clue what to say to that. I mean, he’s not wrong. If Carol’s banging Ray, it’s probably already front-page news. Not a whole lot stays secret in a small town.
“I wish I could help you, man.” I feel useless and helpless. I hate that feeling. “If we were twenty years younger, I’d say let’s go kick Ray’s ass,” I say unhelpfully.
It does get Jack to chuckle. “Thanks. I don’t think Ma would be too happy about that. She seemed happy last night. When she texted, I mean.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” I’m grasping at straws here. I mean, Ray Morris has got to be in his mid-sixties. Would I really go kick his ass if Jack asked me to?
Jack nods and sighs again, the long sigh of a man who sees the reality before him but hates that he’s powerless to change it. “That’s what matters, right? That she’s happy? Even if it breaks my dad’s heart.”
We’re both silent then. What else is there to say?
“If Ray hurts your mom, I’ll be the first one to go down there and beat the guy’s ass. And when your dad gets back, if he’s, you know…devastated… He’s got you. He’s got the shop. He’ll be okay. And you never know. Sometimes the grass is greener, but your mom and pop have been together a long time.”
Jack looks sad then. Sadder than I think I’ve ever seen him. “I know,” he says. “That’s why I’m pretty sure this is a permanent thing. Neither one of them has been happy for a long time.”
