Officer Jones

Chapter 31

With Tommy present, Gwen and I remained on our best behavior. We weren’t exactly swapping old stories and falling into uncontrollable laughter, but she hadn’t shoved me to the ground in over an hour, so I considered that progress. But a tense awkwardness still hung in the air. There was too much clutter between us to let down our shields-hurt feelings or wounded pride could surface at any moment.

As nightfall arrived, Gwen dropped Tommy off with his father. Despite having been briefed, I was still surprised at how frail Mr. Delaney looked. I remembered him as the strapping carpenter with the year-round tan from working outside, muscles bulging everywhere. I always wanted to be Mr. Delaney when I grew up. Maybe I still did.

He greeted me like the long lost son and told me how happy that Gwen had finally got rid of the old guy with the funny French name, so that his daughter and me could rightfully be together once again. He didn’t actually say that, but he did give me a warm greeting.

Gwen kissed her father goodbye, and I’m pretty sure I heard her whisper in his ear, “Don’t get your hopes up, Dad, it’s not gonna happen.”

Without Tommy’s presence, Gwen and I returned to silence.

Silence has never been my thing, so I broke it, “I missed this.”

“This?”

“The whole thing-the town, the people, the atmosphere.”

“The smell of cows?”

“I missed you.”

I caught her blushing, but she quickly covered it with the stony look of ambivalence. “What do you want?”

I was still surprised I said it. I didn’t mean to, but my mouth always had a mind of its own. “What do you mean? I thought it was a simple statement.”

“Everything you do is scripted, so obviously you said that because you want something.”

When my critics called me scripted and self-serving, I always brushed it off. But coming from Gwen, it felt like a gut-punch. It was like the girl from Columbia all over again … only worse.

I covered the hurt with a grin. “What I want Gwen, is to win you a stuffed animal for old times sake. I’ll bet Policeman Kyle never won you a stuffed animal at the fair.”

Gwen took a deep breath, before turning to face me. She displayed the look of a doctor who was about to deliver life-shattering news to a patient.

“Listen, JP, this was fun and all tonight. And I’ll even admit it brought back some good memories. But I must be going-Sunday is my big day at the paper.”

She tried to shake my hand. When I refused, she gave me a “your loss” shrug, and said, “Take care, JP. And when you make your next trip to East Dangerous, please try not to get yourself killed. It was actually good to see you again.”

She walked away. But she wasn’t walking out of his life again without a fight. “Do you want to know what I really want, Gwen?”

“You had your chance,” she said, her step never slowing.

“I want a job.”

“That I can’t help you with.”

“Sure you can, I know you’re running the Gazette. Murray told me.”

“We’re not hiring.”

“Don’t make me go to Murray-you know he’ll hire me.”

That made her stop. She pirouetted back toward me, looking annoyed. “Except that he gave me the last word on staffing in my contract. Like I said, we’re not hiring, but even if we were, we would hire someone who would stick around more than a couple of weeks before he went off to something bigger and better.”

“I told you, I’m here for good.”

She turned and began walking away again as if to say she wouldn’t even dignify the statement with an answer-this time her strut had finality to it. She kept getting farther away-like a dream of mine where she keeps getting smaller and smaller, and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

Without turning, she bellowed back at me, “We’re not interested in your services at the time, Mr. Warner, but thank you for your interest.”

“I don’t know why not-I was just offered the highest salary of anyone in the history of the news business today. I think that would be quite a coup for the Gazette.”

“You use the term news business loosely. We can’t afford you!”

“I’ll work for free.”

“We can’t afford that much.”

“I’ll pay you.”

I knew her stubborn pride wouldn’t allow her to accept the Gross National Product of Japan to hire me, but I kept shouting, and receiving many strange looks from the fair-goers.

“I’ll give you exclusive rights to my first interview since the hostage crisis. All the major networks would kill for it.”

“That’s the thing that makes you great, JP. Most people waste so much time trying to conceal their inflated opinions of themselves. But not you.”

“You’ll sell more papers than you will the next three years combined!”

The Gazette was in constant financial trouble-what small town paper wasn’t? Hell, most major newspapers were. But I knew she wasn’t going to cave in.

All I could do was watch her long legs glide away. I continued watching as she reached into her purse and pulled out a cell phone. Calling Jones? A late night dinner after he gets off his shift? And then arrest me for harassing his girl?

My stomach sank.

She pushed her long hair behind her ear, and answered a call. Maybe Jones was calling her. Whatever was said, it stopped her in her tracks-a jolting stop. She dropped the phone back in her purse and began jogging back in my direction. Her face filled with dread.

I had often dreamed of Gwen desperately running toward me, but I got the feeling this time there would be no leaping into each other’s arms and kissing like there was no tomorrow, like in the dream.

When she reached me, she said, “It’s your brother, JP-it’s Noah.”