Peril in the Pines Ch. 04

"You know, you've just lifted three big worries off my mind in just the few minutes we've been talking here. Is it my magnetic personality or does it help that I'm a friend of Vince?"

"Probably a little of each. And Sheriff Peterson, too. Personal friendships still carry a lot of weight with me. Did I hear correctly that you and Marty Miller's little girl are paired up?"

"Yes, definitely. Now and forever. Did you know Marty?"

"Oh, Lord, back when your Sheriff and I were rookie cops, Marty was one of our bunch of guys that hung around together. We called it our 'gang.' I was into hot rods, and Marty helped me out a lot. He didn't mind working on them as long as he didn't have to shell out the money for parts. He was one of the first in the gang to get serious with a girl, and he was saving his money very carefully."

"Was her name Marilyn, by any chance?"

"Sure was. They got married and I lost track of them, but they were great people."

"Are you married, Gordon?"

"Oh my yes, for at least a hundred years now. Grace takes good care of me."

"Now look, some time soon I'm going to have Vince and Rose come to my house for dinner, and a little shop talk afterward. Marilyn will be there, and of course Janice. Could you and Grace come, if it doesn't interfere with your plans?"

"Oh, hey, that'd be fun. Wait'll I tell Grace that a serial murderer has invited us to dinner."

"OhmyGod, don't tell her that. I'm really a very peaceful person. It's just that I'm trying hard to become the oldest peaceful person in the state.

"Hey, we'd better be making tracks. I'll be in touch, Gordon. And thanks a lot for everything."

JAN STEPS UP TO THE PLATE

When I got home that night, I explained to Jan what I had wound up promising, and I felt bad that I hadn't talked about it with her first. We talked about the dinner perty expanding from four to seven, and I could see that she was nervous about the cooking and serving part. But other than that, she saw nothing wrong with having the people I had invited, and I began to press her on a date for it. Her suggestion was to have it on a weekend, which hadn't occurred to me, but when I thought it over it made a lot of sense. And then she laid a surprise on me by suggesting that Gordon and his wife stay overnight at our house, using the guest bedroom, instead of driving the sixty or seventy miles back to the foothills late at night. So the dinner and talk plan that I had hatched was growing before my eyes, and I was delighted to see that Jan was getting right into the spirit of the occasion. Then I did a very strange thing. I started to get misty and then shed a few tears.

Jan sort of ran across the room to me. In fact, it seemed that she traveled eight feet in just one or two jumps. She took me in her arms and asked what was wrong, and I just cried harder. After a minute, though, I was able to pull myself together and tell her what was causing the tears to flow. "When I was over in Afghanistan, most of the time I was so busy that when I finally stopped moving and thinking I just collapsed into my bunk and was out like a light. But there were days when we didn't have patrol duty and after I worked on my clothes and personal equipment I had time to think, and especially after my mother passed away I felt isolated, first with the loneliness of being so far from home, and then because even when I got home there was no one with an emotional tie to me, nobody to whom I was special, no love, no togetherness, no companionship, no support.

"I knew what I was doing in the Afghan war about as well as anybody, so I'd most likely come home without being all mangled up or scared out of my wits. But then what? Would I continue to wander through time and space as a solitary soul, with nobody to care about me, keep me company, help me over the rough spots? As I got closer to you and more involved with my work, I lost track of that feeling. It wasn't gone, just temporarily shelved. Now I'm caught up in this dinner party and it's grown way beyond what I originally thought it'd be, and it would be reasonable to expect that you'd be angry and I'd be on the verge of panic. But here you are, calmly taking the initiative in making it happen, not as a helper but as a full partner. And finally that isolation I dreaded is gone forever, because I have you. You're not just at my side, you're an integral part of my life." I had strung so many words together that I was out of breath, and I took a few deep breaths before saying, "Jan, you've done so much for me. My wonderful, amazing Jan."

Jan didn't say much. She smiled and showered me with kisses, on my lips, on my cheek, on my head, on my neck, and with each one I sank deeper into her warm hug as she almost cradled me like a small child. "Don't worry about a thing, Jack. I'll get phone numbers from Becky and talk with Rose and Grace. I'll introduce myself to them and we'll talk about the dinner party. I'll try to get it set up for this coming Saturday, and then I'll check back with you and it will be our plan, and that's that. The ice will be broken between all of us ladies, so we won't be a bunch of strangers. I'll get to work with Mom to plan the dinner. She'll come here to cook with me, and she'll bring over whatever pots and pans and utensils we'll need that I don't have. Our plates and dishes and knives and forks are very nice and brand new, so they're no problem. It'll all work out, everybody will enjoy themselves, and afterward we'll all be close friends, forever.

"Listen to me. This is how friendships grow. They don't just happen, they're cultivated. The relationship you're building with Vince and Gordon is going to carry you over a lot of potential problems in your career. They're going to feel a personal interest in your success, and they'll take it upon themselves to help you along. I doubt that you thought about it before reaching out to them, but you're very young to be in the position of responsibility that you have, and these men, with so much experience, will be the best mentors you could have on your personal team. You're getting to be Jack Olson Incorporated. And you're so wise to cultivate their friendship, their interest, because you can't do it alone, Jack. Nobody can." She was stroking my cheek at this point. "I'm proud to be the vice president of Jack Olson Incorporated. You can always count on me, Chief."