“You work too much,” I said, “you really need to start taking care of yourself.” Jack had been all but killing himself, working seven days a week building his business. Recently, he had acquired a cough. It had started as more of a rough clearing of his throat, like something was tickling in there and he couldn’t get it to clear out. It had progressed to a hack, then a bark and finally become a choking wheeze. It scared me because I had heard that cough before. Jack was a smoker, and so was my mother-in-law. Her cough had started and progressed much the same and then she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It stole her life much too young and I was scared to death it would do the same to my prince, Jack. I pleaded with him, “Jack, you HAVE to go get that checked out, it scares me.”
“Woman, I am fine.” He grumbled. “But, you are right I do work too much. What do you say to a weekend trip? Have you ever been to Paradise?” I laughed, “Only in your arms” I teased. He let out one of those cocky little snickers that I loved so much and said, “Nice to know, but I meant Paradise, Michigan. It’s beautiful up there this time of year, a friend of mine has a cabin and I am sure he will let us use it. We can see all the fall colors and I will take you to see Tahquamenon Falls too. Who knows, maybe we can just hide up there and never come back.” God that sounded appealing to me. “Leave it all to me,” he said. “I will plan it all out, you just be ready. I will come to your place Friday night and we will leave from there early Saturday.”
We talked a while longer and before we hung up I made one last plea for him to go get checked out. “I love you baby, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please go see the doctor about that cough, do it for me.” He grumbled that I wasn’t playing fair trying to guilt him into it like that and that he was fine and added “I love you too babe, sweet dreams” before hanging up.
The week crept past. I tried to make it move faster, cleaning, packing and taking care of everything I could think of. Every night, we talked on the phone and that cough continued to worry me. Jack seemed to get more aggravated every time I brought it up though, so I stopped talking about it. I figured over the weekend I would work on him in person, knowing he would have a hard time looking in my eyes and denying me the one thing that would make my fears fade. Thursday night came, and Jack was uncharacteristically quiet. I thought he might be feeling a little uneasy about the trip so I offered him an out, saying if he was too busy I would understand. He assured me he was ready for the trip, that he was just tired from working overtime to have the weekend clear. I didn’t know if I believed him or not, but I accepted it.
Before we hung up that night, Jack whispered, “I love you more then life Laura, don’t ever forget that, ok?” I nodded as I whispered back into the phone “I won’t, and I love you too Jack. Good night sweetheart.” He countered “Sweet dreams, darlin’ sweet dreams” and he was gone.
I suddenly felt empty and I couldn’t figure out why. I felt like my soul had been ripped out, without warning and without explanation. I tried to shake it off, but for some reason it persisted and I got next to no sleep that night.
The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed and as if on autopilot, I found my way to the sitters, then to work. Somehow, I made it through the day, back to the sitters and over to Mike’s house to drop the kids. The judge had told him if he didn’t start seeing his kids he would allow me to leave the state, and even though I knew I would never leave without Jack, Mike did not know it. This would be his first weekend with the kids in months.
When I got home, I hurried around packing the last minute things I had forgotten and fixed myself up a bit in anticipation of Jack’s arrival. It was already 8:00 pm, and I had thought he would be here by then, but I wasn’t worried yet. When 9:00 pm rolled around, I called his house and got the voicemail. I left him a message that I was worried about him and asked him to call back if he wasn’t already on the road. I began digging for his cell number. I never used it because we always talked at night on the house phones, but I knew I had it somewhere. I dumped out my purse and checked every scrap of paper. I went out to the car and dug through every ashtray, compartment, and even under the seats. I went back into the house and dumped my work bag out and was almost ready to give up when finally I found it. My hands shook as I dialed the number…it went straight to voicemail. At this point, I was LOSING IT. I dialed his foreman, since I had his number too…Casey picked up and I blurted, “Have you talked to Jack?” He responded, “Who is this?” I hissed “Casey don’t f*ck with me, you know damn well who this is…Have you talked to Jack today?” Casey hemmed and hawed, and finally said “Yeah, he said he was going up north with you…he isn’t at your place yet?” His tone was less than convincing but I answered, “No, he isn’t and I am worried about him. Can you go by the house and check on him?” Casey said he would and I said “Call me when you get back,” As he hung up. I knew something wasn’t right and Casey had just confirmed it.
I paced the floor, waiting for Casey to call back. I knew he only lived a few minutes away but I gave him an hour before I called him back and found my call went straight to voicemail. I tried Jack’s number again…ring, ring, ring, ring, click…. the voicemail started playing. The tone sounded, and I said, “Jack, I don’t know what is going on but this is not like you. Why are you avoiding me? If you don’t want to go up north, just say so. This is scaring me. Please call me and let me know you are ok.”
I waited for a while, and finally decided to try to drive him nuts. I called and would let it ring just long enough to click on the answering machine, then hung up and called back before it had time to recycle so the phone would ring and ring and ring. I counted them; it rang 30 times and no answer. When I called back, I got no answering machine and I knew he had unplugged the phone. By this time it was nearly 1:00 am, so I decided to go to bed.
The next morning, I jumped in my car determined to get to the bottom of things. No sooner had I got on the freeway than the radiator over-heated. This was nothing new for my car; it was an old beater that had two speeds, stop and go-like-hell. Anything in between made it overheat. I pulled over and popped the hood and the trunk. I grabbed the bottle of fluid in the trunk and pulled the hood up in time to see water shooting out at a strange angle. Great. My life wasn’t stressful enough, no my car had to quit on me now too. I closed the hood, replaced the fluid in the trunk and called my mechanic. Soon, he came to my rescue with a tow-truck.
~Continued Below~
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| Jack Part 3, Love Interrupted |
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LQQking4the1
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Jul 23 @ 11:01PM
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As we drove away, I asked him how long it would take to get it fixed and he looked at me and said with a bemused grin “Honey, you know with these foreign jobbies it takes a while to get parts…I can call one of the junk yards and see if we can get a used radiator though and if so, I can have it ready to pick up in the morning. There’s no guarantee with that though.” I sighed and said, “let’s do that, I need my car. If it still acts up, I will have you order a new one later.”
He dropped me back at my house and I was stuck. Jack was still not answering the phone, neither was Casey. I resigned myself to the fact there was nothing I could do until the next day when I got my car back. It would prove to be the longest day of my life. There is nothing like being helpless to make a person crazy. Even though the house was clean, I cleaned. Not just a quick brush up, but a deep, drag everything out and wash it all kind of clean. I mopped, I washed bed linens, I even washed walls. I tore down the drapes and washed, pressed, and re-hung them. I cleaned and cleaned until I finally dropped on the floor in a heap of exhaustion and tears, where I passed out.
I awoke the next morning to the phone ringing. I jumped up, ran across the room and pounced on it like a hungry tiger. “Hello?” I said, realizing I had not checked the caller ID. The voice on the other end was not Jack and I felt my hope deflate like a pinpricked balloon. It was, however, the mechanic. “Good news, I got a radiator from a junk yard, and it’s in. I am on my way in right now and I can swing by and pick you up if you would like.” I thanked, hung up and ran to grab a quick shower before he arrived. I would be leaving from the garage to go to Jack’s. I had to get to the bottom of things.
I drove my German made car like I was on the Autobahn, hurtling through curves and whipping past cars like an expert racer. As I drove, I rehearsed everything I could imagine being said in my mind and trying to make sense of the situation. I was furious but I warned myself not to fly off the handle. I wanted to get his side of things before I lost my cool.
I turned into his subdivision and the 25mph speed limit was killing not just me, but my car too. “Damn,” I thought, “I guess I will be ordering that new radiator after all…or maybe I just need a new thermostat.” As I rounded the bend and pulled up in front of his house I saw Jack’s truck was not in the driveway. I parked and shut off the engine, then got out of the car. I tried the front door but it was locked. I started to return to the car to wait when I noticed the curtains were open in the living room window. Jack prized his privacy; he would have NEVER left the curtains open like that while he was out. I looked around the yard trying to find something that would boost me up far enough to peek in and found a milk crate tucked under the porch. I placed it on the ground in front of the window, hopped up and peered into the window. The house was empty! Not only was Jack not there, his furniture, everything was gone! Shifting the angle of my gaze and shading my eyes I was able to see even the appliances were gone. I stepped down and flopped onto my butt, on the porch. I was shell-shocked. None of the scenarios I played in my mind had prepared me for this.
I got up and went back to my car. I sat in stunned silence for a while, then started the car and drove down the block to Casey’s house. He was in the yard and did not appear surprised to see me. I rolled down the window and he sauntered over to the car as he said, “Go home, he moved out and he doesn’t want to hear from you.” My shock wore thin as my anger surged forth, “What do you mean? People don’t just up and move Casey. Thursday we're planning a trip up north for the weekend and by Sunday he has moved away and doesn’t want to hear from me? Do you realize how crazy that is? Tell me where is, NOW!”
Casey shifted his weight and ran his fingers through his hair. He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out forcefully. He was taking his time responding, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t know where he is. All I know is he stopped by yesterday and said he was leaving and that he knew you would be by eventually. He said to tell you that he cut his phone off and you won’t find him because he doesn’t want to be found. I’m sorry, but he is long gone.”
I leaned forward and rested my cheek on my hands, which were gripping the top of the steering wheel. Big, fat teardrops rolled down my face as I stared at Casey in disbelief. “But why? Why would he do this Casey?” He reached in to squeeze my shoulder as he said, “Who knows, but maybe it is for the best.”
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