How Johnston Never Objected Part 2
Disclaimer: Jericho is not mine.
He has always been a very busy man - some people (certain members of his family included) would have said that he had a habit of keeping his plate a little too full. Some people had made more pointed comments over the years about his busyness detracting from his obligations as a father with his eldest being the prime example of what boys or young men would get up to when their fathers weren't paying enough attention. He can't say that the words have never stung even if he knows attention from him has never seemed to inspire Jake to be anything other than more bull headed and determined to go his own way. Jake has been grown (if not what he would have considered mature) for a long time now and his father had always told him that you did not go into public service if you weren't prepared to be a servant of the public, so the busy schedule stood even in the most questionable of times.
[(more)]
He had planned on being a busy man for some years yet. In truth, he had never really bothered to plan much for a time when he might not be so busy. Twiddling his thumbs had never really been in his wheelhouse. He used to think about retiring - not in any specific sort of a way. It was more of a Gail would stop nagging at him about taking a vacation sort of a sense of what the condition would entail. He had pondered just how much travel his lovely wife was liable to set her heart on and thought about what sort of hobbies he might decide to devote some time to should time become a more abundant commodity. Whether it is more abundant now is still in question because there are a lot of things that take far more time to accomplish (like ensuring there is food in the house) than they did a year ago. His time is, however, definitely less directed by obligations to other people. He's got to fill it somehow.
Somehow, where that freed up time looks like it is about to be allocated had not made any of those once upon a time sort of lists. He never dreamed that he would be switching over to guidance counseling in his newly acquired (forced upon him) free time. Relationship counseling is even lower on his list of interested in doing. He certainly isn't good at it. He hadn't even wanted to do that in the boys' awkward teenage years. Heaven knows anything he had wanted to say about the never ending on again off again mess of the Jake and Emily saga would not have been welcome back in the day. If he had only known that it would not clear up with the end of their teenage years, then maybe he would have been inspired to speak up a little more.
The two of them together have always been drama driven. They both have long memories in all of the worst ways while still acting like they have forgotten that they hadn't been adolescents when Jake had left Jericho (he has heard some bits and pieces bandied about that make it all sound far from what it was). They had been grown adults - twenty seven years old was plenty old enough to know better.
They still broke up and went back to each other every time the slightest hint of a bump in either of their roads came to pass. They couldn't fight with each other - what they called "together" since they were fifteen and they didn't have the slightest idea of how to fight with each other. Real relationships - the kind that last can't function like that. Sooner or later you are going to fight. That's just the way that it is. Emily and Jake had never grasped that - every disagreement had been the end of the world. It was either completely avoided or an excuse for yet another parting. It seemed to be the only thing that Jake knew how to do back then - pretend something hadn't happened or run as fast as he could.
Watching his son now tells him that whatever he has been up to over the previous five years, it clearly did not involve learning how to have functional relationships with women. It's painful to watch. The boy . . . man . . . he reminds himself still acts like avoidance or running are his only options when confronted with anything that might become a conflict. Heather, however, doesn't seem the type that is just going to stand around forever letting the ignoring play out. She seems like a let's all clear up where we stand kind of girl . . . woman. He supposes it is a sign that he is getting old that he wants to call all of them kids in his head. She isn't going to play the game the way that Emily had played it - probably doesn't understand the bizarre rules of it in any case (he sure doesn't and he has been watching it for a long, long time).
Maybe he should try talking to Heather first? Oh, who is he kidding - he is lucky he managed to shock her enough to get her back in the car. He's got no foundation built to try to hash this out with her. And if he tries to ask Jake if he wants to talk about it? Yeah, that road just leads to a whole lot of silence. He does know every door with plausible problematic locks on them in city hall. Maybe he could send them on errands . . .. No, Jake would never buy it and Heather would probably produce a screwdriver or Swiss Army Knife from some pocket and just pop out the whole doorknob. He'll just let it rest a bit. His son is a grown man after all. Heather seems pretty sensible (impulse trying to run off decision from the day aside). They can work this out themselves - whichever way it goes. He should probably leave them alone on the relationship end and only tackle the almost incident from back there on the road.
He's going to start with Dale - talking the kid through the stupidity of his actions and the near reality of being hung has got to be easier than the other. After all, this is so, so not the hobby he had in mind.