17. David
DAVID
“Yeah, you’re in love,” Jack says two hours later, after we’ve eaten more breakfast, and they’ve heard about my night with Mia.
Not all of the details, of course. We are way too old to be kissing and telling, but the twinkle lights and pillows in the truck bed give them all the information they need. Along with my “dopey in-love grin”. Or so I’m told.
I sigh and don’t even try to argue. “So what do I do? She’s Scott Hansen’s daughter. That means I’m going to have to hang out with him.”
“Okay, you don’t like the guy,” Jack says. “But I don’t get why. I guess I’ve always just known it was a fact and never really thought about it. But I’ve run into him several times since I've been back. He seems like a great guy. Everyone likes him. What’s your problem with him?”
Two or three weeks ago I would have replied defensively that he’s just a jackass and he’s always been a dick or something, but now I take a breath and blow it out. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” I say. “In fact, something happened yesterday that really got me thinking it over.”
I tell them about stopping the kids four-wheeling and how Scott showed up.
“Do you guys remember when he caught us on the four-wheelers and chewed our asses?” I ask.
They both nod. “We had to do a ton of chores after that,” Charlie says. He gives me a look. “But I remember you getting out of a lot of them.”
I’m mildly surprised. “You remember that?”
“Didn’t we all remember every time anyone got a different or lesser discipline than we did?” he asks with a chuckle. “Mom and Dad tried, but it was hard to keep things equal with four of us.”
We all laugh in agreement.
“Well, I got disciplined,” I say. “I just didn’t do chores at home. I ended up doing an entire project and spending a bunch of time with Scott.”
Charlie sits back in his chair. “Yeah, I remember that. A bunch of stuff about animals and plants, right?”
“Animals, plants, soil. He was all into what we had done and how it impacted the environment and natural habitats.”
Jack shrugs. “That sounds right up your alley.”
“Yeah, now ,” I agree. “But not necessarily back then. I did end up loving it, but it’s weird that Scott knew that, don’t you think?”
Jack seems to consider that.
It’s always interesting to talk with my brothers and compare memories of the same incidents. We all have our own perspectives, and the way we each recall things that happened is slightly different, even if we were all there at exactly the same moment.
“So, you think he saw your interest in all of that before anyone else did?” Jack asks. “Even before you knew?”
I nod. “Yeah. Actually, that project and Scott’s interest impacted me a lot.
It was when I first realized not only my own interest in those things, but that people like Scott can be really influential.
People who are in authority positions can really steer people—in good ways or bad—depending on how they react to situations and circumstances.
” I pause. “It was why I thought he was so great,” I admit.
“And then you started giving him a hard time.”
I look at Charlie. “I started giving him a hard time?”
“Well, okay, so you gave each other a hard time,” he says. “I mean, you were a wild child. You were always, if not breaking the rules, certainly bending them. Testing your boundaries, stepping over the lines. You went through a long stretch where you tested every single rule anyone gave you.”
I nod and slump down in my chair. “Yeah, and after yesterday with those kids, I realized that how Scott reacted when we were messing around with those four-wheelers must’ve sunk in even deeper than I thought.
He was really mad at us. Because he was really concerned.
We could’ve gotten seriously hurt. He also wanted us to care about what we were doing and how it affected the environment, the animals, and everything else.
He helped me see that. So that was all great.
I thought he was amazing for doing all of that and taking an interest. But he was worried about us too. ”
Charlie and Jack both nod. “I agree,” Jack says.
I take a breath and confess, “And then I got older and was doing all kinds of stupid shit, but he didn’t seem to care and…
I think that hurt. It had sunk in for me that this cool guy I looked up to really cared about me and then…
I don’t know if he just gave up on me, or maybe I just completely hyped up how much he cared in the first place. ”
Charlie and Jack are both frowning, but Charlie is the one who sits forward in his chair. “What do you mean?”
“I was partying, drinking, fighting, getting other kids into trouble. Scott would come and break the parties up, and haul me home. He held me downtown and had me sober up before he took me home a couple of times. But he never really pushed it hard. He never really disciplined me. Not like he did after that four-wheeler incident. He never did anything that really made my choices and consequences sink in.”
Charlie is frowning now. “Come on, David. You knew your choices were bad. Everyone knew you knew they were. Scott knew you were a smart guy.”
I shrug. “Yeah. Still. Why didn’t he try to stop me?”
“Aren’t you glad he didn’t actually arrest you or anything?” Jack asks. “Having that on your record would have limited your career choices in law enforcement, I’d think?”
I’ve actually thought of that before. I was glad when it came time to apply to my programs and jobs.
“Sure,” I say. “That did end up good for me.” I clear my throat. “But Scott was the one who told me I’d make a terrible cop.”
“No way,” Charlie says.
“Oh, yes.”
Jack frowns. “Did he tell you why he thought that?”
“He knew I was angry about Mom. He said angry cops are bad cops.”
Jack thinks about that for a moment. “That makes sense.”
“Does it?” But I know it does.
“Cops are there to protect people and make communities safer and better. If you were in it for revenge against random “bad guys” or because part of you blames the cops back then for not saving Mom, that is a very different motivation than serving and protecting,” Jack says.
He’s right. That’s what I’ve realized since, but at the time, it had hurt. “Scott knew me better even then,” I admit. “But it felt like an insult at the time, and I carried that for…a while.”
“But you realize now he was right?”
“Yeah. And I’m happy with how things ended up.” I run a hand over my face. “I’ve been fine just existing alongside Scott but not interacting. Just being here but not involved.”
“You’re here to show him that you turned out great,” Charlie says.
I look over at him. “I’m here because this is home.”
My brother nods. “That too. But you like being able to show Scott that he was wrong about you.”
That hits me like Charlie just threw his drink in my face. “I…” I can’t deny it.
“Except he wasn’t wrong about you,” Jack points out. “He knew you’d be great at Game and Parks. Even back when you were still a kid.”
I have to swallow before I say, “Yeah, well, I don’t know if he really gives a shit.”
And it hits me that is my issue. He didn’t care when I was a reckless, trouble-making teen, and he doesn’t care now that I’ve straightened up and turned out well.
“My hero fell pretty far off his pedestal, and I guess I’ve been blaming him for that when really it’s my fault for putting him up there in the first place.”
“But…” Charlie glances at Jack, then back at me with clear confusion. “What about the intervention?”
I lift both brows. “The intervention you all did for me? Yeah. Exactly. Scott could’ve stepped in at any point before it came to that, but he didn’t.”
Charlie looks at Jack. “Do you remember any of that?”
“I just remember Mom and Dad coming in and telling me that I needed to be a part of it. That we were all going to sit down with David and tell him that he had to stop doing dangerous stupid shit.”
Charlie nods, then looks back at me. “We intervened because Scott told us we had to.” He shakes his head. “I don’t mean to make that sound like we didn’t want to. But it was Scott’s idea.”
“What?” I sit up a little straighter.
“Every single time you messed up, he came to Mom and Dad and told them about it. He told him he was worried about you and wanted them to step in. And they did. You were grounded, you got extra chores, all of that. But it never seemed to matter. So when it finally got really bad, Scott came out and told Mom and Dad that if they weren’t going to do it, he was.
He was going to sit your ass down, and haul you into counseling, lock you up in jail for an extended period, whatever he had to do.
He wanted to know if Mom and Dad needed his help.
He knew they were struggling, and he wanted to help them, but he was frustrated with them too. ”
“I…” I’m not sure what to say. My mind starts spinning, replaying memories from that time.
Around the time he’s talking about, my mom’s parents were going through a lot.
My grandpa, her dad, had had a stroke, and my grandma wasn’t handling it well, so my mom had been going out to Colorado to help pretty often.
But she did have six kids at home. The Bennett family always stuck together, and my parents had a lot of help, of course, but that wasn’t the same as having our mom here.
Our dad was great, but one of my younger brothers was struggling in school. Shane has dyslexia and has always had a harder time at school than the rest of us.
I frown. “The intervention was Scott’s idea?”
“Not just an idea. It was basically do it or else.”
“Seriously? Why didn’t he just do it if they needed the help?” But my heart is pounding. This is new information. I’m not exactly shocked. But it does change things to know that Scott was prepared to step in, I have to admit.