Chapter 21: Visitors

They were right, of course, I was beat. I stayed awake through dinner and then fell asleep. I woke up Saturday morning stiff and creaky. As the saying goes, it’s just like cars; it’s not the years but the mileage. At thirty-three I had the mileage for one-hundred-thirty-three.

Saturday was all about family. My parents arrived right after breakfast, and after Mom violated the rule about not treating a relative by checking my records, they gave me the latest info. Jack was flying in from San Francisco and would arrive late that afternoon. Bobbie Joe wasn’t flying in but had a perfectly good excuse; Joanne was going to have a baby sometime in the next few days. He was on lockdown. The first weekend after that, Mom and Dad planned to fly up to Philly for a few days.

At 9:30, Mom got a call on her cell phone. She answered and smiled. “He’s here. Hold on.” She handed me the phone, saying, “It’s Kelly.”

“Grim! How are you? Are you okay? I called last night, but your mother had the phone.”

“I’m fine, babe. My phone is probably in the evidence locker, if it even works. I’m going to have to get a new phone. What’s up? You’re up early.” A three-hour differential meant it was about 6:30 in Malibu.

“We’re getting ready to come home, Grim. We packed up most of the kids’ stuff last night. As soon as we get them dressed and fed, we’ll head to the airport. Tolley says we should get to Matucket around three or so.”

“Three your time or our time?” I asked.

“Uh, your time. If we leave the house at seven-thirty we can be on the plane by eight and be in Matucket in four hours. That’s noon here and three there,” she explained.

I was looking at the ceiling as I tried to follow the plan. For her to make that timetable, they had to be traveling in a private jet. I was going to owe Tolley big time when this was all over. “Well, I can’t wait to see you all, but I have no idea where you’re going to stay. The house is in the middle of a crime scene, so that’s out.” It had also been condemned pending repairs by the County Engineer. I didn’t tell Kelly, though; I wasn’t that brave.

Then I heard a little voice saying, “Let me speak to him!” and a second later Riley was on the phone. “Hi, Daddy!”

“Hi, Pumpkin!”

“We’re coming home today. Mommy and Miss Tolley say we’ll be home this afternoon.”

“I know! I can’t wait to see you. Have you been helping your mother with your brother?”

“He’s yucky.”

I stifled a laugh. “Well, try and help Mommy anyway.”

“Okay. Here’s Mommy.”

I heard a clatter and Kelly came back on the line. “If you ever send me away with the two of them again by myself, you’ll be sleeping on the pontoon boat!”

“It will probably be quieter that way. Maybe that’s the answer. We can load everybody on the boat with sleeping bags and live there,” I told her.

“I don’t think so. I have to go. Bye!” Then I heard an exasperated ‘Seamus!’ right before the call ended. Our son was up to something. Better her than me! I handed the phone back to my mother.

Next to visit were my grandparents, both bearing gifts. Grandmom had a large plate of cookies wrapped in Saran Wrap; Grandpop had a pint bottle of bourbon inside his jacket, along with some Dixie cups. I wasn’t sure who to thank more, though Mom was extremely disapproving of Grandpop. He managed to survive her glare. Grandmom just chuckled when she saw what he had brought.

“Thanks, Grandma!” I said, reaching out to take the plate of cookies. “Chocolate chip, my favorite!” I peeled off the plastic and took one. “And thanks, Grandpa!” I said, reaching towards him.

“Grim! That isn’t good for you!” said Mom.

“I suspect it’s better than shrapnel and splinters,” I replied.

“Grim!”

Grandpop poured a few Dixie cups with about an inch of liquor in them. “It’s good for what ails, you, son.”

“Amen! Mud in your eye, Grandpa.”

Dad took a cup and said, “It must be five o’clock somewhere. Skoal!”

Mom sighed and took a Dixie cup herself. “I should probably turn myself into the licensing board now and save them the trouble of coming to look for me!”

“That’s the spirit, Maureen!” said Grandpop.

Grandmom turned down a shot. She and Grandpop asked me about what had been going on. They had been down in Pensacola at their vacation home most of the week and had only come back after Mom had called them Friday. A prime topic was where Kelly and the kids would sleep. Mom explained that they would stay at their house for a day or two, with Kelly in my old room and the kids camping in sleeping bags downstairs with Gomer. After that, we’d figure it out when we knew what was happening with the house. Best case scenario was that we could get a contractor to start next week and be finished in a week or two. Worst case was the Feds got into a pissing match with Matucket County and the house was tied up for a month or two before the contractors could even get in to give us estimates. Somewhere during that time, we got word that the Governor wasn’t coming to visit later that day but would show up sometime early afternoon on Sunday.

My grandparents left after a couple of hours, and while I kept the cookies, Mom made Grandpop take back the whiskey. I promised to help him finish it off as soon as I could escape. After that I sent my parents packing and took a nap. I woke up when I heard the thundering herd bust into the room. I opened my eyes to see Riley running in and trying to figure out climbing up onto the bed with me. Seamus was slower and couldn’t quite make it. Following in their wake was Kelly, Tolley, and Phil Hunter.

“Hi, Daddy! How are you feeling?” asked Riley.

“I’m just fine. How are you, Pumpkin? You’ve got a sun burn. Did you go to the beach and learn how to surf or something?” I teased.

Kelly and Tolley laughed at that because Riley immediately replied, “Yes! Miss Tolley got me a surfboard!”

I glanced at the grown-ups. Tolley said, “Hi, Grim. We got the kids boogie boards to float around on.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at my daughter. “Not much surf on Matucket Lake. We’ll have to see how that works this summer. Come on up here, you sit here.” I lifted my left arm and she went to that side and nestled into my side, hugging me as she did. Seamus was a bit squirmier but took up position on my right.

Kelly came over and leaned down to give me a good kiss. Not a great kiss, though, since that would probably end up with the kids being sent out of the room. Still, a good kiss. I was going to have to wait on the great kiss. “I have missed you so much! Is everything okay? Is the problem over?” she asked.

I nodded. “As far as we know, the problem is over. The FBI isn’t saying much, but what they are telling the Chief is that this bunch is done for.” I looked over at Tolley and her father. “Thank you. I owe you everything. Whatever you want or need, it’s yours.”

Tolley smiled and waved it off. “I had a marvelous little vacation with a friend and her children, and Lily loved playing with Riley and Seamus. As soon as you can, you’re all to come back out, so we can put you on a surfboard.” Kelly laughed at that.

Phil Hunter came over and I shook his hand. “Thank you, Phil. I’ll never be able to repay this.”

He smiled. “More than any other person in the world, I understand what you are feeling. I’m just glad we could help.”

“Where’s Lily, by the way?”

“She’s with Maria. Since we were only going to Matucket, I only brought the small entourage,” she laughed. Maria was Tolley’s live-in nanny. The small entourage was a joke about the number of people who traveled with her. I had seen some of it in Iraq, and more when we saw her on her singing tour and during the movie she made. The ‘large’ entourage included managers, agents, personal assistants, press people, makeup and wardrobe specialists, photographers and videographers, and security. The ‘small’ entourage cut out the managers and agents, cut the wardrobe and makeup people down to a single dual-purpose person, and a single personal assistant. The security element stayed the same, though. It seemed overwhelming, but at the top levels of show business, that was the norm. Between movies, music, modeling, and merchandise, Tolley Hunter was a billion-dollar business!

“Well, that’s probably for the best. I don’t think Matucket has enough hotel rooms for the large entourage.”

“We’re actually all at the Best Western. I’m not sure how long we are staying, though. We wanted to make sure we got Kelly and the kids home, and to see how you are doing. How are you doing, by the way?” she asked.

For the next hour or so, I told Kelly, Tolley, and Phil what had happened. Tolley and Phil only knew what they had heard on television, which wasn’t much and consisted mostly of rumor and canned press statements. It mostly went over the heads of the kids, though Riley gave me an odd look every now and then. Seamus got fidgety and got down on the floor, and then ran around a bit. Eventually he found the controls to the bed and had great fun making me go up and down while Riley yelled at him.

It was close to dinner time when the little ones started to flag. “It’s been a very long day for them. I think it’s time to take them over to your parents’ place. We’ll come back tomorrow. You need anything else?”

“Tell Grandpa to come back with his medicinal tonic and some more cookies.”

“I’m not sure either is good for you.” She leaned down and kissed me, another good kiss, but not a great kiss.

“You know, I’m going to need a lot of recuperation. You might want to pick up a naughty nurse outfit or two,” I whispered.

She laughed. “I don’t know if you’d be able to handle the stress, Grim! You’re not a young man anymore!” She skipped out of the way before I could grab her and left with the others.

Jack showed up at dinnertime and was a welcome relief from the disaster that was Matucket General’s cuisine. “I thought you were like Robocop, you know, indestructible,” he said.

“Not hardly. At least you didn’t have to blow off a game to visit me in the hospital this time.” In 2010 I had taken three bullets while taking down the Bolling Gang; when Jack had flown in while I was in the hospital, he had missed a game and the fans had gone berserk. Now that he was retired, he only had to answer to his family.

“So, what’s going on? What happened?”

“Mom or Dad tell you much?”

“Some, and I’ve seen the news, but I don’t know how much is real. Terrorists came to Matucket? To kill you? Are you for real?”

I nodded, and we talked for quite a while about what had happened and what we knew so far. Parts I kept quiet about; I would wait until I got approval to talk publicly. Then I told him, “The Governor is coming tomorrow afternoon to get his picture taken with me. Kelly will be here, but Mom and Dad hadn’t decided whether they wanted to get involved.”

“I think I’ll sit it out, too. After last fall, I have zero interest in politics! Teresa has promised that if I even think about tweeting something she is going to take away my phone and break my fingers!”

“Good for her.”

“So far, Washington hasn’t figured out how to react to this yet.” I gave Jack a curious look, and he continued. “By the time this became public it was too late Friday for the White House to react. So far, the only response from the President has been about half a dozen tweets, half complaining about how a wall would prevent terrorists from coming in and half complaining that this wouldn’t have happened if all the FBI agents weren’t investigating him.” He gave me a smirk and said, “What an idiot!”

I gave my brother a hard look. “If you even think about tweeting, what Teresa will do to you will be nothing compared to what Kelly and I will do!” That was all I needed!

“Trust me, I am cured of that! Anyway, the rest of Washington is quiet,” he added. “The Attorney General is in the middle of another snit with the President and is keeping silent. Same with Homeland Security. The head of the FBI, on the other hand, issued a non-apology apology to Matucket.”

“That’s a new one to me. What’s a non-apology apology?” I asked.

“They issued a statement saying they regretted any implication that the outstanding men and women of the Matucket Police Department might have felt slighted by any earlier statements, and that the FBI valued their contributions at all levels. Something like that, anyway. They never actually said that they were sorry that they called the pissants here in Matucket pissants. They just regretted that the pissants misunderstood their betters.”

“Hey, you’re just as much of a pissant as I am.”

“Yeah, but I’m a pissant with money, so they can kiss my ass,” he laughed. “Speaking of which, Dad told me about your insurance problem.”

“What insurance problem?”

“Grim, don’t give me that. You know exactly what insurance problem. The insurance problem where your insurance company won’t pay to repair your house. That insurance problem!”

I shrugged. “I’m a big boy, Jack. We can take care of this.”

“How?” he demanded.

I had given it some thought. “I figure we can take some money from the college fund for the kids, some savings, maybe refinance the house. We have some assets, Jack.”

“Forget it. Dad told me what was involved, and I wrote him a check for fifty thousand. As soon as they let you in there, just get started.”

I stared. “Jack! You had no right to do that! I can take care of my own family!”

He was wholly unrepentant. “Remember back when I signed my first big contract and was acting like an asshole? You made me pull my head out of my ass and look around. I had to stop thinking of myself only and stop fucking around on Teresa and help Mom and Dad out with Bobbie Joe’s tuition. I don’t know if I would be where I am today if you hadn’t done that. For sure Teresa wasn’t going to put up with my shit, and I’d have blown my money and trashed my career! Now it’s your turn. I’m sorry if you don’t like it but I am not going to lose any sleep over it. Get over it and rebuild the fucking house!”

“I’ll pay you back every penny.”

“Screw that, Grim. You want to pay it back? Pay it forward instead. Start up a Go Fund Me page and go public with this. This is an outrage! I don’t care if you pay me back. Use any money you collect to help somebody else. You’re big with vets. Give the money to vet homelessness or something. I don’t care. Just rebuild the house and get on with your lives.”

We talked some more before Jack took off. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about his ... what? Donation? Charity? Gift? Fifty kay in cash would certainly speed things up. We had a fair bit in savings but pulling cash out of many of the accounts would take time and cost me in taxes. I drifted off to sleep still trying to come to terms with it.

Sunday morning, I started with doctors and family again. My legs were checked, and it was pronounced that the surgery was still scheduled for Monday. When Kelly came over, she brought me a bag with some clothing. Then she and the nurses wrapped my legs with some plastic and helped me into the shower. It was a major pain in the ass, but for the first time since the firefight I was able to clean up and shave. Then I was able to pull on a polo shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. I hated having to wear the hospital gowns that left my ass hanging in the breeze. I felt almost human by the time Mom and Dad showed up with the fruit of my loins.

“Daddy!” Riley ran over and climbed up onto the bed; Seamus ran over and started playing with the bed controls.

Mom grabbed him and picked him up and swatted his bottom. “Vacation’s over, buster! Knock it off!” She dropped him onto the bed with me. She looked at me and said, “I thought you three were bad! This one’s worse than the three of you put together.”

I laughed. “Bobbie Joe, too? I thought he was the good son.”

“No, he was just shorter and smaller than you and Jack. He was still a pain in the tail!”

Shortly after my family arrived the Hunters arrived, all three of them. Lily was with her mother and grandfather, a beautiful little blonde girl who looked a lot like her mother. She came in holding Tolley’s hand, but when she saw everybody, she hid behind her mother and just peeked out. “Lord, she’s gotten big,” I said. I hadn’t seen Lily except in photos for a couple of years.

I waved my fingers at her and she giggled and held her hands up to Phil. He picked her up and grumbled, “You are getting too big to be carried.” He settled her in his arms and said to us, “She’s as beautiful as Riley and as troublesome as Seamus! How’s that for a combination?”

I smiled at Kelly. “How does it feel to know that our children are icons of beauty and behavior?”

My wife swatted me and held her arms out and Lily squirmed towards her. Phil handed her over and Lily began a game of swapping grownups. Tolley said, “We’re not staying too long. I need to get back home. I have a production meeting in the morning, and I need to see some people tonight. We just couldn’t leave without stopping by and seeing you all.”

We all protested, but it wasn’t like we could complain. I think I summed it up saying, “Tolley, I’ll never be able to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for us. You, too, Phil, of course, but thank you, Tolley.”

She made a dismissive gesture and said, “It’s like I’ve told you. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t saved my life, so a little thing like taking a vacation with your family is not exactly a hardship. I feel almost like an actor in one of my movies, some God-awful adventure where Daniel Craig is about to swoop in to save somebody.”

I laughed. “Make sure to let me know when James Bond is about to hit West Georgia. I’ll probably be called out for crowd control.”

“Anyway, all it cost me was some jet fuel and a couple of boogie boards, so it was money well spent. We loved it! Next time you see us you’ll have to show us how well you can surf.” I just groaned at that. “As for payback, I’ve got a few ideas in mind, but I want to think them over a bit first.”