Page 84 of The Long Way Found

JACK

The hotel lobby was quiet and mostly empty for a change. His parents were upstairs in their room and would come down soon for dinner. Having fewer people around for that would be fine, as far as Jack was concerned.

The Colonel was always The Colonel, regardless of the audience. But Jack grew on edge when more people were around to witness his commanding airs and unspoken insistence on status and procedure.

He always braced himself against the man, even in anticipation. It wasn't that he resented his father's heavy hand in guiding his life, though he'd certainly used it as a convenient scapegoat over the years. But looking back now, with forty-two years of perspective, Jack had to admit: his father had been right about most of it.

Right about West Point. Right about keeping his head down during Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Right about not letting a high school romance derail his military career.

Even if being right had meant Jack lost Luke for twenty-four years.

That was the cost Jack had paid for following his father’s “guidance.” Only recently had Jack been grappling with that and with the need to change to avoid making the same mistakes now.

His parents arrived at precisely six o'clock, both dressed casually yet sharply, as always. They looked like educated, privileged people of a certain age, but noticeably more relaxed than he expected to see them.

The Colonel was even laughing and holding his mother's hand. Was their relaxed air a new development, or had he simply never noticed before that they might still be in love and enjoying each other?

"Welcome back to Calder Ridge," he said, walking to meet them, hugging and kissing his mother on the cheek, and shaking hands with The Colonel. "How does it feel to be back?"

"Fine, fine," his father said crisply, conspicuously surveying the entire lobby and nodding once, as if to say, “Yes, this will do.”

"We had a glass of wine with Patty,” his mother said.

Oh, no, Jack thought. Please don't tell me you talked about politics.

"Nice to see her, of course,” The Colonel said.

"And the hotel! It's lovely. You should see our room and the view. I think she gave us the best room!" his mother said.

"I'm sure she did," Jack said, gesturing toward the restaurant. "Who's hungry? This place has a good steak."

Over wine, Jack asked what the occasion for their visit was.

"To see you, of course," his father boomed. "We've been revisiting some of the old places where we were stationed, and we always had good memories of our time here. See some old friends, maybe hike those trails we miss so much."

Jack sipped his merlot and thought, Who are these people?

"Of course, I want to go out to campus, see who's left besides Hallicks," his father said.

There it was. The Colonel wanted to assert himself in Jack's new work situation, which had been his last Army post before retiring some 20 years earlier, when Hallicks was starting his career and served as The Colonel's chief liaison.

Jack felt his back go rigid. Now I've got to manage that. Even a slightly more jovial Colonel was still the Colonel. Good thing he'd been kicking ass at work. Hallicks still seemed to praise him at every opportunity; Jack had even heard rumors that he was up for a permanent post high in the administration, which would raise his profile if he were still considering a congressional run.

"The way you're performing here, along with your track record, Jack? Sky's the limit," Hallicks had told him that morning.

Jack had noticed the praise no longer hummed like it had in his younger days. Was the job not that important to him? Or was he older now and less hungry for a superior's approval?

"Mom, what about you?"

"I don't think any of my old Calder friends are still here,” she said. “It's been so long."

The waiter took their orders.

Jack's mother sipped her wine and looked directly at him. "Have you reconnected with any of your old schoolmates?" She paused. "Luke Calder, for instance."

Jack almost spit out his wine but managed to hold it in with a self-knowing smile.

"A few, sure… You remember Mara, Patty's daughter. And, yes, I've seen Luke quite a bit."