Jack said, “We’re deciding where to go.”
Charles’s eyes twinkled. “Then there’s only one real option.”
“A Little Bit of Love,” said Mikki immediately.
Jack said, “We’ve already been there. How about another place? There’re three right here on this block.”
“But Jackie and Cory haven’t seen it.” She turned to her brothers. “It’s full of musical stuff; it’s so cool.”
“Cool,” chimed in Jackie.
She smiled. “You want a bit of love, Jackie, huh?”
He jumped up and down. “Bitalove. Bitalove.” He grabbed his dad’s leg. “Bitalove. Bitalove.”
Cory said, “That was, like, such a cheap trick, Mikki.”
“Jenna does the best Sunday brunch in town, actually,” advised Charles. “I was just heading there myself.”
“Okay,” Jack said in a resigned tone.
Jenna smiled when she saw them come in. The place was crowded, but she said, “I’ve got a nice window table. Catch some of the breeze from outside. Follow me.”
She seated them at the table, handed out menus, and took their drink orders.
“Is Liam around today?” asked Mikki.
“In the kitchen, grilling. He’s turned into quite the short-order cook.”
“We’d arranged that I could come by tonight to do a few sets.”
Jack looked at her. “You did?”
She stared back at him and said sharply, “Yeah, I did. Sitting home all day watching Cory and Jackie isn’t exactly how I planned to spend my summer.”
“You don’t need to watch me,” said Cory.
“Yeah,” said Jackie. “Not me.”
Jenna looked at Jack and, sensing his distress, said, “Well, your dad is working really hard on the soundproofing, but it’s not done yet. And while you guys sound great together, I do like a little peace and quiet in the evening. But I tell you what: Come by around eight. Liam will be home by then, and that’s when I take my walk on the beach. I’ll be gone about an hour or so. Does that work?”
“That’s cool, Jenna, thanks.”
Jenna looked at Jack. “And is that cool with Dad?”
“Yeah,” Jack said slowly.
“So where’s your Delta buddy?” she asked.
“Out riding his Harley,” answered Cory.
“Ah. Well he better watch himself. I know a few single ladies of a certain age in this town who will snap him up.”
“Snap!” cried out Jackie.
After Jenna left, Jack leaned over and whispered to his daughter, “This is strictly music between you and Liam, right?”
“Dad, please.”
“Just asking.” He turned to Charles. “Bonnie came by to see me.”
“She told me she was.”
“Did she tell you what about?”
“Yes. I saw her afterward too. She told me what you two talked about. She told me what you said. And I told her I agreed with you. I don’t think that’s what she wanted to hear, but so be it.”
Mikki, who’d been listening, said, “What didn’t she want to hear?”
“Another time, Mik; not now,” said her father, shooting a glance at the boys. Then he added, “Did you have a good visit with her, Mik?”
“She was more laid-back than in Arizona,” Mikki replied. “There she was like a control freak. Drove me nuts.”
Jack turned to Charles. “I checked out the lighthouse the other night.”
“Did you? And how is it looking?”
“Not great, actually.”
“It really was something in its day.”
“I bet it was,” said Jack. “I bet it was.”
35
After lunch they were walking back to the van when Charles pointed across the street and said, “Speak of the devil.”
Jack saw where he was pointing. Bonnie and Fred were just entering a gift shop. Mikki walked up beside him and said in a low voice, “Okay, Dad, what is going on with Grandma? Why is she really here?”
“She just came by to make an offer.” Mikki waited expectantly. “For us all to go and live with her in Arizona.”
“No way. You’re not thinking of doing that, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
Mikki was about to say something else when she saw Blake Saunders coming down the street with two beefy young men. They were all wearing mesh football jerseys with CHANNING HIGH printed on the front.
“Hi,” said Mikki. Jack looked at her questioningly. “Blake and I met on the beach when I was going for a run,” she explained. “And we’ve run a few more times together since then.”
“Thanks for telling me.” He eyed Blake. “You look familiar.”
Blake looked embarrassed. “I was in the car that almost ran you off the road that day.”
“The girl’s name is Tiffany,” said Mikki. “And she’s superrich. What a shock.”
Blake said, “I told her to slow down, but she doesn’t listen to anyone.”
“Yeah, I bet,” said Mikki.
Blake turned to her. “Hey, we’re having a little party on the beach next Saturday. I was wondering if you’d like to come out and hang with us. There’s food, a bonfire, and we play some tunes.”
“And no alcohol, of course,” interjected Jack.
“No, sir,” said Blake right away, though his friends gave goofy grins.
“Right. She’ll have to get back to you on that, sport,” said Jack, while Mikki scowled at her father.
“Nine o’clock. About the midpoint of our run, near where the big yellow house is,” he added.
“Right.”
“Okay, hope to see you there.”
The young men walked off.
“What was that all about?” demanded Jack.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” a grinning Cory wanted to know. “I thought you liked this Liam guy.”
Mikki’s face reddened. “Will you two just knock it off?”
“That guy doesn’t even have an earring, and his hair is perfectly normal,” said Jack. “He’s not your type. He’s a football player, for God’s sake. You hate football players.”
“Who told you that?”
“Your mom. She made a big joke out of it because she married a football player.”
“I think I can decide for myself what my type is,” Mikki said hotly.
“Well, I’m still your dad and I don’t like the idea of—”
“Hey, Miracle Man!”
Jack jerked around to see where the voice had come from.
“Over here, Miracle.”
Jack turned to see two large men sitting in the cab of a pickup truck staring at him. One man stuck his head out of the truck. “I need me a miracle. You want’a come over here and sprinkle some water on my head?” He waved a five-dollar bill. “I ain’t expecting miracles for free. I’ll pay good money for it.” Both men burst out laughing. They got out of the truck and leaned against it, their big arms folded over their thick chests. They were dressed in jeans and dirty T-shirts, with greasy ball caps on their heads. Their bare arms were covered in tattoos.
Cory said fearfully, “Dad?”
“It’s okay, son. We’ll just keep on walking.”
They passed by the men.
One of them said, “Hey, Miracle, you too good to stop for us poor folk?”
Mikki whirled around and said, “Grow up, you creeps!”
“Mikki,” Jack snapped. “Just keep walking.”
“Yeah, Mikki,” mimicked one of the men. “Just keep walking, sugah.”
Jack stiffened at this remark. He almost turned around, but his kids were with him, and he knew nothing good would come out of a confrontation. Jack said to the kids, “We’ll go on down to the beach when we get back, and—”
“Hey, Miracle, was it true your slutty wife was cheating on you with your best bud?”
Jack moved so quickly, Cory’s hand was still up in the air where it had been clutching his dad’s. When Jack rushed at them
, the first man threw a punch. Jack ducked it, grabbed the man’s hand, ripped it back and then over his shoulder, swung him around, and slammed him headfirst into the truck. When the bloodied man turned back around and charged at Jack, he sidestepped the attack and leveled the guy with a crushing blow to the jaw. The second man slammed into Jack’s back, propelling him forward and face-first into a lamppost. In the next instant he’d spun out of the man’s grasp, laid a fist into his diaphragm, doubling him over, and then kicked his legs out from under him. Jack’s elbow strike to the back of the man’s neck sent him down to the pavement, where he stayed, groaning loudly.
Jack was bent over, his breaths coming in gasps and blood pouring down his face from where he’d hit the post. As he straightened up and looked around, it seemed like the entire town of Channing was staring back at him. No one moved; no one seemed even to be breathing. As he glanced across the street, he saw Jenna and Liam staring at him from the door to the Little Bit. When he looked to his left, he saw Bonnie and Fred gawping at him in shock from the entrance to the gift shop. Bonnie looked at Jack, then to the unconscious men, and then back at her bleeding son-in-law.
“Daddy!”
Jack looked over his shoulder. Jackie was standing on the sidewalk bawling. Cory stood there looking in amazement at his dad, while Mikki glowered contemptuously at the two men lying on the pavement. “Idiots,” she said.
Jack quickly piled his kids into the VW and drove off.
36
Jack sat at the kitchen table with ice wrapped in a paper towel and held over his left cheek. Dried blood was stuck to his forehead from the impact with the street lamp. When someone knocked on the door, Jack half expected it to be the police.
“Old man and wady,” squealed Jackie after he managed to open the door.
Jenna and Charles strode in. She was carrying a small bag and sat down next to Jack. She started pulling things out: sterilized wipes, Band-Aids, an ice pack, and antibiotic cream.
“What are you two doing here?” asked Jack.
Jenna moved Jack’s hand away from his battered face and cleaned up the cuts, applied the ointment, and covered it all with a large Band-Aid.
Charles said, “We thought you might need a little assistance.”
“Those two idiots,” said Jenna. “Going off half-cocked like that. Probably drunk.”
“You know them?” asked Jack.
“They come into the bar every once in a while. But I can’t really say I know them.”
“They’re from Sweat Town,” added Charles.
Jenna frowned. “I despise that term.”
“Well, it’s not very nice, but I think the residents actually coined it,” said Charles.
“What exactly is Sweat Town?” asked Mikki.
“Other side of the tracks,” replied Charles. “Poor side of town. Every coastal area has them. Most of the people who do the actual work around here live there.”
Jenna said, “Here’s an ice pack. It’ll work faster on that swelling.”
“Thanks.”
She closed up her bag, sat back, and studied Jack’s face. “Okay, you should be good to go.”
“You’re pretty slick at that,” said Mikki.
“Just your mom-standard-procedure stuff.”
Jackie jumped up and down trying to get to her bag of medical supplies. Jenna finally placed a Band-Aid on his finger and kissed it. “Now your boo-boo is all gone too.” She straightened back up and gazed steadily at Jack. “Looks like you didn’t forget your army training. Those weren’t small guys, and you put ’em down pretty fast.”
Jack grimaced. “It was stupid. Never should’ve happened.”
The door opened, and Sammy walked in carrying his motorcycle helmet. “Had a nice little ride—” When he saw Jack, he exclaimed, “What the hell happened? You fall off a ladder?”
Jackie yelled, “Daddy pighting.” The little boy did a kick and then swung his fist so hard he fell over.
“Fighting? Who with?” demanded Sammy.
Mikki and Cory both started telling Sammy what had happened. The older man’s features turned dark as he listened to them. When they got to the slur that the one man had called Lizzie, Sammy went over to his toolbox and pulled out a crowbar. “You tell me what they look like and where I can find these maggots.”
“No, Sammy,” said Jack.
“I’m not letting them get away with this crap,” barked Sammy.
“I’ll handle it.”
“What, you think I’m too old to take care of myself?”
“That’s not the point. You beat them up, your butt will land right in jail.”
Charles said, “He’s right, Sammy. That’s not the way to go about it.”
“Uh-oh,” said Jackie. He was peering out the window into the front yard.
“What is it, Jackie?” asked his sister.
Jackie pointed to the door, his eyes so big they appeared to touch. “Cop dude,” he said in a very un-Jackie-like whisper. Then he sped into the next room to hide.
Jack looked sternly at his older kids. “Cop dude? Where did he learn that?”
Mikki looked uncomfortably at the floor. Cory studied the ceiling, his teeth clenched over his bottom lip.
“Great,” said Jack stiffly as he rose to answer the door.
The sheriff identified himself as Nathan Tammie. He was a big man with a bluff, serious face and dark curly hair. He took Jack’s statement and scratched his chin. “That pretty much matches up with what other people said happened. But you did go after them.”
“He was provoked. They were saying nasty things about our mom,” exclaimed Mikki. “What did you expect him to do?”
Jenna said, “Sheriff, Charles and I saw the whole thing. It’s exactly as Mikki said. He was provoked. Anybody would’ve done what Jack did.”
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t have done the same thing, Jenna, but I also can’t let things like this happen in town without consequences. I’ve already told those two boys to back off. And I expect you to hold on to your temper, Mr. Armstrong. If something happens again, you come tell me, and I’ll handle it. Do we understand each other? ’Cause if there’s a next time, people are gonna end up in jail.”
“I understand.”
After the sheriff left, Charles said, “He’s a good man, but he also means what he says.” He looked at Jenna. “I can drive you back to town.”