CHAPTER 17
The rising sun peeked through the clouds as Robert turned into his parent’s driveway.
He could see the glow of the kitchen light through the back porch window, and knew his dad was already up.
He entered their house through the back porch. “Hey Pops,” he said, tossing the warm paper bag on the kitchen table.
Robert’s old man peered over his reading glasses and quickly tore into the bag. “Mmm. Thank you, Son. I had better eat this before your mother gets up and has a conniption.”
Since his dad’s heart attack, his mother had been monitoring his sodium intake like a prison guard monitored yard time.
Robert helped himself to the coffee, then took a seat across the table. “Watcha reading?” signaling to his father’s tablet.
“Da smooze...” his father said with a mouth full, trying hastily to devour the sausage egg sandwich before the warden woke up.
Robert translated his mumble as The news.
His father swallowed. “You get more local news these days on social media, so I’m scrolling through the headlines on city pages.”
“He also likes to compare the weather app to the weatherman’s forecast,” his mother came around the corner.
“Good morning, Ma,” Robert said as she poured herself a mug of coffee.
His father exclaimed, “I swear, those weather forecasters pull the app up on their phones before going on the air. That must be one of the easiest, high-paying jobs out there.”
“What’s that?” His mother noticed the crumpled paper bag on the table.
“Trash I brought in from my truck, Ma,” Robert grabbed it and threw it in the trash can, winking at his father.
“Uh huh.” His mother wasn’t buying it, but let it go with a lack of solid evidence. “Let me see what’s happening,” she said, sliding the tablet away from her husband.
Relinquishing the device, his father looked at him. “What do you have planned today, Son?”
“Not much. In an hour, I’m meeting Jake at the range to help him sight in a new scope on his deer rifle. Then I've gotta report back by noon.”
“Are you even going to have time to go deer hunting this season?”
“Probably not,” Robert shrugged. “But I told Jake I’d like some jerky as trade for helping him sight in his scope.”
His mother said, “Jake had a nice gathering for his wife’s birthday last Friday night. It was nice of him to include us.”
“The music got pretty loud before we left,” his father added.
“Look, Dan,” his mother slid the tablet back in front of his father, “that’s the woman who works with Jake’s wife at the bank. That’s her husband who died,” she said, pointing at the screen.
Robert knew she was talking about Lainey, but he asked anyway, “What are you talking about?” When neither answered right away, immersed in whatever they were reading, he rose, walked around and looked over their shoulders.
The headline on the post read, Abilene Church Dedicates New Building to Fallen Local Hero.
“We met this woman at Emma’s party,” his mother said. “She’s a nice gal. She lost her husband after he tried to save someone in a house fire. Jake’s parents told us the story.” She shook her head. “A woman working at the restaurant came up to her right in front of us and paid her respects.”
Robert had seen enough and reclaimed his seat.
His mother grimaced. “So young to be a widow. Just awful.”
His dad studied the tablet through his reading glasses, but didn’t look up as he commented, “She’s a looker and can wrangle in another when she’s ready, I’m sure.”
“Dan!” his mother smacked his father’s shoulder.
“I’m married, but not blind, woman,” he chuckled.
“Do you know who we’re talking about, Robert? Have you met her?” His mother refocused her attention on him.
He took a large sip of coffee, considering his options. He could answer yes, which may or may not lead to more questions. Especially since his own father observed how attractive Lainey is. Or he could deny it and avoid more probing questions his mother may have.
“Jake’s mentioned her.” He calmly gave the vaguest answer. But his brain was reeling with the fact that he’d screwed it up and he may never see her again. Every day he thought about her, her smile, her lips, her taste, her laugh, HER!
He had attempted to get back in her good graces.
Showing up and trying to reason with a very tipsy Lainey the night of the party.
His mouth was still buzzing from their last sultry kiss.
His bottom lip was also still slightly swollen from that wild creature biting him before getting out and slamming the truck door in his face.
In so many words, she told him she wasn’t ready and needed to figure things out in her head. She was having a hard time letting her dead husband go. And now Robert felt like a cad for thinking of her soft tits and round ass, which he’d licked, tasted and grasped not long ago.
“What has Jake said about her?” his mother asked, bringing his mind back to the conversation.
“Pretty much what you already know.” Robert sipped his coffee. “He tried to set me up with her.”
His father looked up, locking his gaze on him, and his mother choked on her coffee. Why he’d shared that last tidbit, he didn’t know.
When her coughing subsided, his mother asked, “Are you serious? Did you take her out?”
He glanced at his father, whose undivided attention was still on him. “Yeah, a couple of times,” Robert said with indifference.
A weighty silence fell on them.
“Well, what happened?” his mother finally said, having to coax it out of him.
Robert shook his head. “Nothing really. She’s nice, and nothing came of it.” He shrugged. “Not much to tell.”
His mother scoffed, “Not much to tell? We met her last Friday night! Do you think she realized we were your parents?”
Robert shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe.” He knew damn well the answer was yes. Lainey confirmed as much when he saw her that night.
“Does this mean you’re thinking about staying around here when your time’s up?” his father curiously realized the bigger picture of his actions.
“It’s something I’ve been mulling over, weighing my options. But nothing’s been decided yet.”
His father nodded slowly, taking a drink from his coffee mug.
His mother clasped Robert’s hand. “We’ve seen you more in these past two years than the last twenty. We’d love it if we saw even more of you next year too. But it’s your decision.”
He looked up at his mother. Her eyes were getting misty. “I know, Ma,” he said, returning her hand hold with a tender squeeze.
* * *
After parking, Robert walked up and found Jake waiting with a rifle case at the entrance. “You know how to use that thing?” Robert motioned to the case.
“All I know is Mama said, point it at the bad guys and push the button,” Jake chuckled. “Thanks for making the time today.” Jake led the way into the range.
“No biggie, I’ll report it as volunteer work for the mentally handicapped,” Robert replied.
They claimed a lane and target. After only fifteen minutes of adjustments, the rifle was hitting on the bullseye through Jake’s new scope every time.
After several times of passing it back and forth, target practicing, they packed up. When they walked back to the parking lot, Jake dropped his tailgate and Robert helped him take the rifle apart to clean it.
“Emma asked me to ask you how it’s going with Lainey,” Jake said.
Robert didn’t respond.
“You don’t have to tell me, but at least I did my due diligence and can tell Emma I asked. She’ll nag me about it, I’m sure,” he shook his head.
Lainey must not have shared with Emma the rise, fall and burn of their relationship.
Them getting to know each other through nightly phone calls. Then the night she screwed his brains out, followed by him tackling an intruder the next morning, only to be told it was an old trusted friend of her late husband’s.
Lastly the burn, which was the night he’d been her designated driver, who kissed her, and she kissed back by the way, but ended the kiss by chomping down so hard on his bottom lip, he’d contemplated icing it when he returned to base that night.
Robert shrugged. “I guess we broke up.”
“What? What happened?”
Robert confessed his altercation with Mac. Jake completely agreed and said he would’ve reacted the same way. Robert felt somewhat validated from Jake’s take, but he still lost the girl. So did it matter?
Also, he shared Lainey’s concern about him leaving when his PCS was up.
“She’s got a point, man. What is your big plan? Re-up and leave Kansas behind again. Run from your problems?” Jake asked.
“What problems?” Robert played stupid.
“Come on, man. You’re wearing a midlife crisis badge and you don’t even know it. Why’d you come back here now? Your dad’s been declining for years, and your sister’s watching over them both just fine.
Did you come back to the place where YOU began to really find yourself? I know you’ve seen some shit overseas, but there are some things you can’t sweep under the rug. You need to open up. Let people in.”
Robert raised his brow. “Deep man. Real deep. Are they teaching psychology at the police academy now?”
Jake ignored his sarcasm. “You need people. We all do. But I can’t blame Lainey for calling it, if you’re planning on leaving.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Jake snapped the barrel of the rifle back into place and put away the gun oil.
“You can take off again, run away. But this time, you’ll be leaving a good woman behind.
Not a stupid high school fling you accidentally knocked up.
With Lainey, it'd be a real relationship that never had a chance to be something.”
“Well... you never told me her husband was a fucking saint. Those are pretty big shoes to fill,” Robert protested. “I just saw a post on the Abilene news cycle page. He donated a bunch of money to a local church before he died. They’re naming a building after him.”
Jake glowered. “I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t know the guy personally. But I’ve heard he was a real ladies’ man, if you get my drift.”