Chapter 24

I gave them time to get home, then called John on his cell phone.

"Talk to me."

"Hi, John. It's Jack."

"Hang on, I'll get her."

"Wait a minute. I need to talk to you. I need your OK before I buy her something."

"Jack, I said I wasn't ready for that..."

It was after dinner. The only reason we were getting into this was that I needed to borrow her car to make it work.

"Jack, I think it's too soon. Look at you, you were ready to give up on girls last week. You just gave her an expensive jacket the other night. Now you're looking at buying her something like this? Do you know how serious this is?"

"Mom, it's my money. It's just been sitting in the bank. And it's not like she'll forget it in a week or two like most presents."

"OK. If you're sure. I hope you know what you're doing."

Sunday morning I was at the mall when it opened at 10. I stopped by the store and found out exactly how much it was going to cost, then left to go to the ATM.

The clerk seemed surprised to see me back five minutes later. She smiled at me. "Boy, you're going to get lucky after you give her this."

"I already am lucky."

Mom and Mary had made enough potato salad to feed the football team. We loaded it up in the car and Mary got up front with Mom. I sat in the back.

I gave directions and Mary let out a low whistle as we pulled into the driveway. She got the salad and went with Mom to the front door. I saw Jill open the door, and look over at me after Mom pointed.

Jill came over to my window. "Your mom said you need..."

I think I went deaf for a second, the squeal was so loud.

"OHMYGOD! I love you I love you I love you."

She yanked open the door and grabbed the puppy from my arms, trying to hold it to her chest as he did his best to wiggle his tail off. She was talking and kissing him as he tried to lick a layer of skin off her face. She laughed and cried as the tears streamed down her face.

I'd gotten out of the car while they were saying hello to each other. She finally let him down and he took off across the lawn. She crushed me to her, then kissed me hard. "Oh, God. I can't believe it. You're so good to me, Jackie."

Her baby was having the time of his life, exploring his new environment. As we walked toward the front door, she bent down.

"Come on, Boy."

He responded immediately to her voice. His ears perked up and he took off like a shot, bouncing towards us. Well, towards her. There was no doubt whose dog this was.

We went into the house. He had to struggle but he got up the one step to the threshold. This was new territory. He ran forward to check it out, turning down the left hallway. As we went through the doorway, he was squatting over the carpet, taking a crap.

"He's home," I said.

Jill got something to clean up the mess. She didn't seem to be bothered in the least.

"Babies and puppies. It's just something you have to put up with till they know better."

Mary came into the hallway. She looked worried.

"Jackie?"

"What's up, Mary?"

You need to come out back. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

"Problems?"

"Big time."

I went from an air conditioned house into the back yard on a sunny day. It was as if the temperature fell 20 degrees.

Mom was seated at one of the tables, the bowl of potato salad in front of her. John was over at his barbecue, angrily wadding up newspaper and throwing it inside. I wouldn't have been surprised to see an iceberg parked between them.

Jill came running out the door. "Daddy, look what..." She screeched to a halt.

Mom looked like she was trying to bore holes through John with her eyes. This was a side of her I'd never seen. John looked like he was in pain, trying desperately to get away.

"What the fuck is going on?"

Both heads snapped around and looked at me. Neither of them said anything. Mary finally spoke up.

"They already know each other."

"It's obvious they're not buddies."

I said, "But John, you said you didn't know Mom when I told you she worked at the hospital."

Mom looked at me. The look was toned down a bit but I could feel her stare.

"I don't want to have anything to do with that man. It's bad enough I have to put up with him at work but I'll be damned if I will on my time off. And the reason he said that is he can't be bothered to learn any of our names."

"Mom, 'that man' is right over there. He has a name. Dr. O'Hara, Doc or even John. But not 'That Man.'"

"We call him something else at the hospital. I've told you about Dr. Asshole, haven't I?"

Oh, shit. I'd heard about Dr. Asshole for years. This wasn't good. I noticed John cringe when she said it.

"Don't tell me John is Dr. Asshole?"

"In the flesh."

I looked at Mom. She still had that killer look on her face. Jill had walked over to him and had both arms around one of his. He looked like he was trying to hide while still being there. There was something else about him, too. Yeah. He had a sheepish look on his face. This obviously wasn't the first time he'd heard that name.

I looked at both of them again. I couldn't help it. I cracked up. I started laughing and I couldn't stop. I had to hold my stomach and bend over a bit. The tears were streaming down my face. At one point I slowed down a bit, looked over at Mary and started right up. Mary saw my look and she started to laugh, too.

My mother looked like she'd been insulted. Her face turned red. John looked bewildered, as if he was trying to figure me out, but he was having trouble not smiling. Jill looked at me like I'd lost my mind. The more I looked at their expressions, the harder it became to control myself.

I finally made my way over to Mom and hugged her. I had just about stopped laughing. She was stiff in my arms.

"Oh, God, I can't believe this. An angel from heaven runs into me an knocks me down, I fall in love only to find out her father is the notorious Dr. Asshole. Mom, you've got to admit it's funny."

"I don't find anything funny about it, Jack. You can stay here if you want to. I'm going home."

"The hell you are." Boy, I'd thought she was stiff before.

"Jack Royce Hill. How dare you."

"June Hill. How dare you. This is not how you taught me to behave when I am a guest in someone's home. This is not how I want you to get along with the father of the woman I'm in love with. I've seen the love and respect this man gets from his patients. Hell, I've even been a patient of his. There's no way this man is as bad as you've made Dr. Asshole to be. The two of you need to sit down and talk out your differences. Like adults."

The glare had died down a little. I'd made my point.

We were all interrupted as Jill squealed and ran towards the pool. I heard a splash and looked toward the pool just in time to see an excited lab puppy swimming as if he'd been raised in the water.

"Oh my God, the poor baby's going to drown."

"Settle down, Jill. He's doing fine. Just make sure he doesn't get over tired because he isn't big enough to get out by himself."

"Maybe I should get in the water with him."

"I wouldn't suggest it. I can guarantee you his claws are out as far as they can go because he's spreading his paws to get traction. You get in the water and he'll try to climb on top of you with his feet going like that and he'll scratch the hell out of you."

He came over to the side before she had a chance to do anything. I leaned over, grabbed around his belly and lifted him up enough so he could get his front paws on the edge. I kept my hands under him as he scrambled forward, lifting his back section a bit so he could reach with his back paws. Of course, once he was out my reward was to get covered with water as he shook.

He was cute and adorable and she thought nothing of picking up a completely soaked dog and holding it up to her face so he could lick her. He started to squirm and she bent over to let him down. Evidently, she wasn't fast enough for him and he jumped from about a foot and a half up and got tangled up in her, landing on his side. She gasped as he took off, jumping into the pool again.