by R E Swirsky
***
Jack returned to the house. He sat down in his front room and stared out the front window into the frosty cold deep in thought about his current situation. He quickly called his boss to tell him he wasn’t able to get in to work for the rest of the week. Reginald was very understanding and told Jack not to worry about it.
Jack returned to his thoughts about David. Something seemed off about all of this. Jack retraced what he saw in all of the photos David showed him. They recapped everything he did and everywhere he went since the day he arrived back from Vancouver with the police escort. Or did they? He would have to think about it more.
Jack picked up a photo from the side table and ran his fingers across Donna's smiling face. It was a photo taken of the two of them outside the house just after they purchased it. Donna was overflowing with excitement that day. Jack remembered it clearly. He was excited too but for very different reasons. He breathed a heavy sigh and shook his head as the pain of losing her resurfaced. He wanted to cry. He really did miss her. He could not deny it. He loved her more than he ever imagined he could, and he struggled with the pain every day.
The grief swept across him, and he cried aloud. He missed her. He really missed her.
Jack studied Donna's features in the photo and though back to a day in early spring. They had just gone to bed for the night when Donna told him about Josh for the first time. They often talked in bed before going to sleep. Usually, the talk was about something unimportant. Donna simply mentioned that Josh had come to see her at her office.
"Josh from next door?" Jack had responded.
"Yes. He's been dropping by my office for some time. A few months now."
"What about?" Jack had asked.
"You know I can't say anything about that…especially with Fred and Tracey right next door."
"I hope it's nothing serious," Jack responded with concern in his voice.
"Just the usual stuff. We have four other counselors, but he really wanted to see me…probably because he already knew me. It's just that summer's coming soon, and I won't be there all summer."
Jack knew Donna well and knew what she was going to suggest next.
"I only want to make the offer to him. We live right next door to him, Jack. I don't see the harm in us talking if needs to talk to someone."
"I know…but work is work. I didn't think you counselors were so supposed to get personally involved with clients outside of the office."
Jack knew it right as the words left his lips. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this for months. He wasn’t sure then how he'd use it, but he knew immediately it was the real deal.
"You're right," Donna replied that night as they lay in bed. "But this is Fred and Tracey's boy."
"Do Fred or Tracey know Josh has been seeing you?"
"Oh no, Jack! That's my point. Josh made it clear that I am not supposed to tell them anything. Nothing Josh and I talk about will ever be repeated by me to anyone. Not even you, Jack."
Jack remembered how those words hung in the air that night as Jack tried to sleep. His mind crept and crawled over her words, connecting them to everything he had done up to that point. By the time morning came, Jack had it all figured out. He would only need to fine-tune the details and make it all happen. Jack promised himself that night that he would be patient.
Jack had been very patient for over two years, planning and putting everything in place. He was nearly done now. All he had planned for was out there waiting for him. It was time to start the countdown. Just another few months, and it would all be over.
Jack placed the photo back on the side table. He finally understood what Josh had been seeing Donna about. David. Josh obviously had some issue with his sexuality and was talking to Donna about it. But if that were true, then would Dean have known about it? Perhaps Donna had avoided recording anything specific in her files about Josh. He wasn’t sure how it worked at her office, but Jack was pretty sure that Dean didn’t know, otherwise he would have been all over David and Josh's other friends. No, Dean did not know. Jack needed to keep it that way.