Chapter 36: The Strong Silent Type

Jack was seated in his chair reading the newspaper while June was in the kitchen cooking. He turned the page and snapped the newspaper to straighten out the page. He heard the front door open and lowered the paper. He was in time to see Lisa running towards him with tears in her eyes. He just managed to get the newspaper out of the way when she landed in his lap.

He asked, “What’s the matter, Lisa?”

“I attacked a policeman,” Lisa said while sobbing.

“What?” Jack asked sitting up straighter.

“I attacked a policeman.”

“Why?”

“Oh, it was a horrible evening,” she cried.

“Did Harry do something to you?” Jack asked.

“No. Harry was wonderful.”

Pleased to hear that the tears weren’t because of Harry, Jack asked, “So what happened?”

“The girl that Ted is dating thinks that her father doesn’t love her. It reminded me of when I used to think that. I remembered how horrible I felt and I was so sorry for her,” Lisa said. Just about every third word was interrupted with a sob.

“Where does the policeman come into the story?” Jack asked. He wished that June was here. She would be able to get all of the details and provide him with a summary that he would understand.

“Her father is a policeman,” Lisa answered.

“Is he the policeman that you attacked?” Jack asked.

“Yes. I told him to go tell his daughter that he loved her, but he wouldn’t. I was so frustrated that I just wanted to kill him,” Lisa said. She pulled away from his embrace and added, “Harry got me and then brought me home.”

“Where is Harry?”

Lisa bit her knuckles and then answered, “I don’t know. I left him outside.”

Looking towards the kitchen, Jack shouted, “June, can you come out here?”

June came out of the kitchen and saw Lisa sitting on Jack’s lap. She frowned and then glanced in the kitchen. Not trying to sound too disappointed, she said, “You’re home early.”

“Your daughter needs to talk to you. I need to see what Harry is doing,” Jack said.

While Lisa was climbing out of his lap, June said, “I was making some cookies.”

“Cookies?” Jack asked. His thoughts immediately went to June bringing out the cookies wearing nothing except for an apron.

“Cookies?” Lisa asked thinking that she was so lucky that her mother had made one of her comfort foods.

“Yes, they’ll be ready in about five minutes. Come in the kitchen with me and we’ll talk while I take care of the cookies,” June said.

Once Lisa went into the kitchen with June, Jack raced out the front door. He spotted Harry standing in the driveway trying to make up his mind what he should do. Jack called out, “Harry. Come here.”

Swallowing heavily, Harry walked over to Jack and said, “Good evening, Sir.”

“What in the hell happened?”

“I don’t really understand what happened. We were sitting around a picnic table talking with Ted and Amy. It really started to get a little strained when Amy started talking about how her father doesn’t love her. Lisa was getting a little upset and I tried to keep things light hearted, but all of a sudden she charges off dragging me with her,” Harry answered.

“What happened then?”

Feeling very uncomfortable, Harry looked around for a moment before he answered, “She went up to Amy’s father, he’s the new Chief of Police, and starts telling him about how she thought you didn’t love her. Then she tells him that you do love her. To tell the truth, I think Amy’s father and I were both pretty confused by then.”

“I can imagine.”

“Anyway, she orders him to tell Amy that he loves her. He was kind of upset at being told that his daughter didn’t think he loved her.”

Jack interrupted and said, “I bet he was.”

“When he didn’t react the way Lisa expected him to, she started hitting him on the chest. I pulled her off of him and held her until she calmed down. I took her to the restroom so that she could wash her face. I told Ted we had to go and I brought here her,” Harry said.

“Was the girl’s father angry at Lisa?”

Harry shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He answered, “I don’t know, Mr. McCullum. He didn’t arrest her.”

Sighing, Jack thought about the events of the evening. Just about the time he thought life had calmed down, something always happened to stir things up. He sighed and said, “June has made some cookies. Do you want to come in and have some?”

“That would be nice, Sir,” Harry answered. He looked at his watch and said, “Maybe I should call my parents and let them know I’ll be late.”

Absolutely hating himself for what he was about to say, Jack said, “You might as well tell them you’ll be home in the morning. I’ve got a feeling my little girl needs you tonight.”

Pausing, Harry looked at Jack for a second and then said, “That must have hurt.”

Jack barked out a laugh and said, “You have no idea.”

Victor Harmon walked into his new house and looked around. It was huge and he still couldn’t get over the fact that it cost the same as they had received when they sold their dinky little house in LA. He found his wife in the new living room. It was pretty bare with just their couch and entertainment center in it.

Frowning, he asked, “Can I turn off the television?”

“I’m watching the show,” Vicki said without looking away from the screen.

“I need to talk to you,” Victor said looking over at the television.

There was something in his voice that suggested he was upset. Using the remote control, she put the television on mute and turned to face him. Seeing the expression on his face, she hit the off button on the remote. She asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I was attacked today by a young lady,” Victor said shaking his head.

“What?” Vicki screamed sitting up. The whole reason they had moved away from LA was to get away from the violent drug dealers.

“Oh, it wasn’t like that. She was the date of the other boy that was with Amy’s date.”

“What happened?”

Victor shook his head and answered, “I’m not really sure. She kept saying that Amy believes that I don’t love her. She kept insisting that I tell Amy that I love her. After that, she started whaling on my chest and screaming that I had to tell Amy that I love her.”

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. Her date calmed her down and then took her home,” Victor answered. He realized that he should have followed through on what happened afterwards.

“Oh,” Vicki said.

“Do you think it is true?” Victor asked.

“What?”

“Do you think she believes that I don’t love her?”

Vicki didn’t really want to answer that question. Things had been tense between Victor and Amy for several years. She asked, “Do you ever tell her that you love her?”

“No,” Victor answered.

“So tell her,” Vicki said.

The big man paced around the room for a minute and then said, “I don’t like saying that kind of stuff.”

“Well, you better start telling that kind of stuff to all of the ladies in your life!” Vicki said.

“Hey, I moved here for you and her. I knew that you worried about me every time that I went to work. You wanted to come here where it would be quieter. What do I have to do to show you that I love you?” Victor said feeling a little angry.

“It’s nice to hear it occasionally. Vic, I love you. I love you so much that it hurts me every time you step out the door. You’ve got a dangerous job. Every night in LA, I used to sit at home wondering if that was the night you wouldn’t come home. I used to get so angry at you. You’d leave and never tell me that you loved me. I kept thinking that my last memory of you would be of you walking out the door like John Wayne going after some outlaw. I wanted my last memory to be of you telling me that you loved me,” Vicki said.

Four months earlier they had a similar discussion when the opportunity to move here had arisen so Victor wasn’t entirely surprised. She hadn’t included the last part about how she wanted to remember him if he had been killed on the job. That had been a surprise.

He said, “I love you.”

“I know you do. I just need to hear it occasionally,” Vicki said with a knowing smile.

“I guess you’re going to tell me that Amy needs to hear it also.”

“You got it in one, big guy,” Vicki said.

When Daryl pulled up to the parking lot, he found Ted and Amy wrapped around each other. They were totally oblivious to their surroundings. He honked the horn and the pair jumped three feet in the air. Chuckling, he rolled down the window and said, “I heard someone needed a ride home.”