The Chaplain's Daughter

by K. T. Hastings

  Toby’s eyes misted over. The Boylans believed that he was simply overcome over the death of his friend. They were partly right, but there was more. He had been safely ensconced in Mountlake Terrace the night of the robbery. He was sure that he would eventually be able to prove that to the satisfaction of the police. What brought about the wave of emotion in the Boylans living room was how easily he could have been one of the guys in the white car in Tenino. He could have been the guy that was shot dead by the store owner defending his property. He had briefly considered going along so he could get some quick cash. As he wiped his eyes of the unshed tears he thanked God that he hadn’t gone along with Spike and Amos. At last he spoke.

  “I’m going to go to my room now.”

  Alyssa spoke from the other side of the living room. “Are you going to run away?”

  Toby looked at young Miss Boylan. Angry hurtful words came to mind, but he didn’t say any of them. “No” was his only answer.

  John and DeeDee looked at each other and, with the silent communication borne of years of marriage, decided simultaneously to let Toby go to his room without further questioning. The young man walked slowly to his bedroom door and turned the latch. Before he went inside he stopped to listen to what was being said in the living room, but the conversation was too quiet for Toby to hear. He went into his room, and lay down on his back. He stared at the ceiling with sightless eyes.

  6

  Shortly after Toby went into his room, Alyssa got ready to go to work at the college bookstore. She was due at work at 4:00 p.m. but usually tried to get there 15 minutes early. This was a habit that she had learned from her Mom. John was a little more relaxed about punctuality, but DeeDee was a stickler. Alyssa kissed her folks on the cheek and headed for her car at 3:35 p.m. She didn’t make it to her car directly, though. Just as she walked off the porch the same police car from this morning pulled up in front of the house, coincidentally in the exact same place that Spike’s Camaro had occupied earlier in the week. Detectives Langley and Munroe got out and walked toward the front door. Alyssa did an about face and followed them. Detective Langley knocked on the door. DeeDee Boylan answered the knock.

  “Hello Ms. Boylan,” Detective Langley said. “May we come in?”

  “Certainly,” DeeDee said, stepping back. Alyssa followed the two detectives in the door.

  Without preamble Detective Langley said, “Is Mr. Jacks here?”

  John went to Toby’s room and summoned him into the living room for the second time that day. Toby walked cautiously into the living room.

  “Mr. Jacks is it okay to speak to you without an attorney present?

  Toby nodded assent.

  Detective Langley continued on, “We want you to know that we checked with Harbor Lights and found out who Scott is. He told us that you were, in fact at his house the night of the criminal activity in Tenino. He told us that he had dropped you off at Nick’s Bike and Chain on his way to work the next day and that you worked a double shift at the restaurant.”

  Detective Munroe took over from there. “Officers from the Washington State Patrol stopped Richard Knapp Jr. and Spike Farrot in Mr. Farrot’s Chevrolet Camaro just this side of Castle Rock. An examination of the trunk of the car revealed two .45 caliber pistols as well as a hunting rifle. Forensics believes that they can prove that the two pistols were used in the robbery/murder scene in Tenino. You’re in the clear son. We’re sorry about your loss where your friend Amos was concerned. It appears that he was killed while attempting to rob the store.”

  The two detectives put their caps back on and walked out without another word. Toby sat down on the chair with a thump. John and DeeDee walked over to him. DeeDee put her arms around him in a mother’s own hug. John said, “We are sorry too, Toby. About your friend, I mean. You don’t know, though, how relieved we are that you were telling the truth and that you weren’t with them. We care a lot about you, and we hope that you know that we are rooting for you.”

  Toby’s eyes could no longer hold in the tears that they had been trying to shed. They ran down his cheeks as he held on to DeeDee Boylan. He allowed her to rock him back and forth as no one ever had before, at least as far as he knew. John took off his glasses and wiped his own eyes. Toby looked up and met John’s eyes.

  John smiled, “Allergies, you know.”

  “I know,” Toby said.

  Just then Toby heard a sound from the other side of the room. Alyssa Boylan was sniffing and trying to control her own tears. Her nose was running, her eyes were red and her hair, which she had carefully styled for work, was hanging in ringlets as she cried. She looked a mess, but not to Toby. He thought that she looked very nice indeed.

  John looked at DeeDee and inclined his head toward the kitchen. The two older folks disappeared, leaving the living room to Toby and Alyssa. The young adults looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak. Finally Alyssa gulped and spoke.

  “I’m sorry Toby. I’m so sorry. I heard what I heard and saw what I saw and jumped to a conclusion that was wrong, and I’m sorry. I know that I should have believed you. I should have believed IN you, and I didn’t. I’ve never been one to believe the best in others I guess. No, I know that I haven’t believed the best in others until they prove themselves to me. Me, like I’m God Almighty or something! Well I’m proud to know that you’re innocent of what the police believed and I’m…”

  Just then Alyssa’s voice broke, and the flow of tears, a mere trickle before, flowed down her mottled cheeks. She gulped twice and held her hand up when Toby started to answer.

  “Let me finish. Mostly I’m glad that you’re (sniff) not (sniff, sniff) dead!”

  Toby looked at the girl before him. Her hair was a tangled mess that wasn’t destined to be properly fixed at any time during her shift at the campus bookstore. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her nose was pouring gross stuff like a fire hydrant gone berserk. She was ineffectually wiping her nose and eyes and wishing as much as anything that she had a Kleenex…or a towel. She looked positively miserable…and like the most beautiful creature that Toby Jacks had ever seen.

  “Alyssa, you heard what you heard and saw what you saw and the conclusion made sense to you. I know that. I would say that I forgive you but there really isn’t anything to forgive. Amos talked to me about what was going down in Tenino. I said no. Maybe I was the Toby before that would have said yes, and you would have been right. But I’m not that Toby now. I don’t know him, and I don’t want to know him. But I’m glad that you’re my friend.”

  “Can I have a hug?” Alyssa said. Toby acquiesced quickly and well. The incipient passion from several nights earlier was on the back burner, replaced by the embrace of two friends glad to be alive and glad to be together in the moment.

  In the days that followed Toby ran through a gamut of emotions. He was saddened at the sight of Amos’ lifeless body laid out in a plain pine box at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. Fewer than 40 mourners attended the funeral. Far fewer, Toby thought, than the number of people a young man should have paying respects at such a time.

  On the other hand, Toby’s reaction of relief that he hadn’t been involved in the grisly shootings in Tenino remained palpable. Much of the trouble Toby had found himself in over the course of 20 years had been of exactly that sort. A group of guys, an idea, and Toby was there too. He intended to live his life more intentionally from now on.

  Toby’s boss at Harbor Lights complimented him frequently on the quality of his work. The young dishwasher was gradually given more responsibility in the kitchen. Pot scrubbing begat mashed potato preparation which begat soup prep. Toby was enjoying his time in the restaurant industry for the first time in his life.

  As much as he was enjoying his work, though, Toby also looked forward to going home to Olympia at the end of a night’s labor. He grew to count on seeing the glow from a banked fire in the living room fireplace, and the sight of Alyssa Boylan, reading a book with her legs tucked under her, when he got home. T
he two young people would visit for a bit, 20-30 minutes, before going to their separate rooms for the night. They would talk about movies or music, usually. Occasionally the conversation would drift into hopes for the future.

  Life drifted on in this state of relative comfort for several months. By this time the winter had given way to spring. Rather than shoveling snow from the Boylan’s walkway, Toby was mowing the lawn for the first time in the new season when he was called to the phone by Alyssa.

  “It’s Scott,” she whispered, covering the mouthpiece with her hand as she handed to phone to Toby.

  “Okay,” Toby whispered back as he smiled at Alyssa and took the phone.

  “H’lo.”

  “Hey Toby, its Scott. Could you come into work about a half hour early tonight? I need to talk to you about something.”

  Toby glanced at the clock and calculated that he could just about finish the lawn and catch a bus into work to get there nearly a half hour early, if not before.

  “I can come really close if I hurry. Is everything okay?”

  “Sure, everything’s fine. I just want to run something by you. See you when you get here.”

  “Bye.”

  Toby went back into the front yard to finish the mowing. He quickly showered and rode his bike to the transit center that was near the Boylan’s house. Getting there just in time Toby latched his bike on to the carrier on the front of the bus and boarded the bus to Tacoma.

  When he arrived at Harbor Lights Toby was met outside by Scott (whose last name he had learned was “Potter.”) Scott led Toby to his car so that they could talk in private.

  “Toby, I’ve been working on some stuff, and it is all coming good at once. I’ve wanted to open my own restaurant for a while now. I’ve saved some money and there is a place up in Bellingham that looks great. It’s been for sale for a while! I placed a bid on it and my bid was accepted! I own a restaurant! It didn’t make a go of it as a steak house but I think it would be great as a seafood shop. Not to mention that it’s a whole lot closer to my place than Harbor Lights.”

  Toby smiled at the evident excitement on his friend’s face. Scott was a quality chef and would make a great restaurateur, Toby was sure. He would miss working with Scott, though. Before he could tell his friend his thoughts Scott continued.

  “I want you to work with me at the new place. That is, if you would like to.”

  Toby was pleased and honored that Scott wanted him to come along to his new place, but Toby was pretty sure that it wouldn’t work.

  “I’d love to Scott, but I don’t have enough money saved for rent or anything. Dishwasher money doesn’t add to my savings very fast, and you only have a small place. Maybe sometime, when I have a little more money I could, but not now.”

  Scott playfully punched Toby in the arm. “I don’t want you to come in as just a dishwasher. I want you to be a server and my assistant. I love to cook. I love to come up with and try new recipes. I love to work out advertising and all that, but I can’t do it alone. I need someone that I trust to work with me. Maybe later we can be full partners and then who knows? Maybe more places! But right now I need help. I need your help in the new place. I’m going to Bellingham in a couple of weeks to find a place. It will probably be almost as tiny as the place I have now but you can stay with me just long enough to get your own place.”

  Toby sat back in the passenger seat of Scott’s Nissan. What Scott had just said was a bit overwhelming, but what struck Toby the most wasn’t that Scott wanted him to be a server or, in effect, an assistant manager. It wasn’t the idea of working in a restaurant an hour and a half from Tacoma that got to Toby either. Toby was flattened by the fact that Scott had said that he trusted him. Toby had been liked, laughed with, and slept with by other people, but he couldn’t remember anyone saying that they trusted him. Ever.”

  Toby looked at Scott and said simply, “I’m in.”

  That evening’s shift flew by. Toby and Scott couldn’t stop talking about the plans that they had for the new restaurant. They talked so much that, at one point, James Drake stuck his head in the kitchen and said, “Hey guys. You’re still working here tonight, okay?” While that didn’t stop Toby and Scott from chattering about their plans it made them chatter more quietly. After the shift was over the two new restaurant partners talked for a while in the parking lot before going their separate ways.

  When Toby finally pedaled up to the Boylan’s house he thought that Alyssa would probably be in bed. He was wrong. She was in her usual place, head buried in a book and legs pulled up under her on the couch. She looked up and smiled as Toby came into the room.

  “You’re late,” she chided playfully. “Your father and I were worried sick.”

  Toby stuck his lower lip out in mock penance. “Sorry Mom. I was playing on the playground.”

  Alyssa patted the couch, her usual invitation for him to sit down for their nightly discussion of life, movies, and music. Toby joined her on the couch, excited to tell her the news first.

  “Scott Potter is opening a restaurant and wants me to work with him. It’s going to be a seafood place.”

  Alyssa’s eyes lit up. “Great! Where’s it going to be? In Tacoma I guess but where?”

  Toby shook his head. “No, it’s going to be up in Bellingham. He lives in Mountlake Terrace and it will be closer for him. He wants me to move up there, stay with him for a bit and then get an apartment of my own. It will be great!”

  Alyssa was stunned. How stunned she was surprised even her. Not until that moment did she realize how much these late nights with Toby meant to her. Bellingham was only about three hours from Olympia but to Alyssa Boylan at this moment, it might as well have been New York City. She opened her mouth to try and say something encouraging, but words failed her. She closed her mouth and stared silently at Toby.

  Toby looked at Alyssa and fell silent as well. He saw her lovely face lit from the side by the flickering fire and from above by the soft glow of the reading light that she had been using when he got there. Though the light in the room was low indeed, he could tell that his news, while a great opportunity for him, had struck Alyssa as a blow.

  “Are you okay?” he said quietly.

  She nodded quickly and forcefully, as much to convince herself as to communicate with Toby. “I’m fine. It sounds really good for you. But I…I…I’ll miss you.”

  She slid over until she was inside the crook of Toby’s arm that was lying across the back of the couch. Toby put his arm around Alyssa, which was enough to release the tears that she had tried to restrain.

  John and DeeDee Boylan were excited to hear about the plans that Toby had with his friend Scott. Though they had grown to enjoy him at the house, they knew that part of him finding his future was to embark out from the comfort of their home in Olympia. John asked Toby lots of questions about the ideas that Toby and Scott had for the new venture. DeeDee half listened to the conversation, and half watched her daughter. Later in the day, DeeDee sat down in the living room next to Alyssa.

  “Are you happy for Toby?” DeeDee asked gently.

  Alyssa put down the book that she had been trying, without much success, to read. She looked at her Mom’s concerned eyes and nodded.

  “I am. It will be great for him. It’s great that he has Scott to help him out. He’s sure excited and I am glad for him. I’ll miss him, though. Won’t you?”

  DeeDee smiled at her daughter. She knew her well enough to know that there was more going on in her mind than what she was willing to divulge right now. Alyssa was a firecracker at times, but also kept her own counsel at other times.

  DeeDee simply answered, “I will.”

  For his part Toby was having a rough time of it at work. While he had only dropped and broken two plates in all of his months at Harbor Lights up until today, Toby had broken three plates today and his shift was only two hours along. The third time that a plate smashed to the floor James Drake had come into the kitchen and looked quizzically at Tob
y. Toby apologized for the mess (and the loss of restaurant property). James asked Toby if he was all right. Toby assured him that he was fine and that he would be more careful. Toby wasn’t working with Scott so his clumsiness couldn’t be blamed on the two friends socializing. Toby knew within himself that it was Alyssa Boylan that was on his mind.

  The conversation that Toby and Alyssa had held the night before had been on Toby’s mind since. He had tossed and turned in bed, thinking about the reaction that Alyssa had to his news. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was going to miss her just as much as she was going to miss him. She had managed to travel, in the course of just a few months, from a mouthy pain in his behind to someone whose face he looked forward to seeing after a hard night at work and a hard ride home. “Home.” He didn’t think that the Boylan’s house would ever actually become that but it had. The incredible hospitality of Chaplain John and DeeDee were a big part of that, but not all of it. Toby liked coming…home…to Alyssa.