Chapter 35

She couldn’t sleep, after tossing and turning, she flung the covers off her and stared at the ceiling.  The smell of Jon on the sheets and pillows weren’t the only thing keeping her awake.  The idea she might be let go, because after talking with Jon a few hours ago, she knew taking a seven-month break, just wasn’t in the cards as far as Jon was concerned.  Getting up, she sat on the edge of the bed, deciding she might as well hit the road, sleep was not going to come.

It didn’t take long to load her few things into the bug, she was on her way.  Popping in a cd, she filled the car with music, if she got tired it would keep her awake.  Hoping the drive would help her in her thought process, she would walk in and tell them she wasn’t going to stop seeing Jon, they could just terminate her now.  She could always go work the bar, till she found another teaching job, where she felt safe.  She would have to pack up her townhouse and put it in storage or sell it as is.  Of course, the downside of this answer, as she wouldn’t be able to see Jon as much.  The over one hundred mile difference, would surely end whatever romance they had.  Did she really want to be associated with a school that didn’t allow the teachers to date the students’ parents?  In the six months she had been there, nowhere did she read that clause in her contract.

She was about fifty miles from her house when she started looking for a place to stop, to use the facilities and get a coffee or a coke.  An all-night diner was at the next exit, she had used them before as a pit stop. The area was safe, for a lone female traveler, the coffee was strong, and the bathrooms clean.  Placing her order she went to the bathroom, it was close to five in the morning, she would make it home in time to really go over her contract with a fine-tooth comb. Paying for her order she hip bumped her way out the door and to her bug.  The sun was starting to light the sky.

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Rolling over Jon looked at the clock, getting up he started to pack to head home.  Once done, with cell in hand, he headed down the stairs to the kitchen.  Tony was up already, he had to finish the photo cd for Colleen’s family.  He sat at the counter, sipping coffee and looking at the thumbnail picture to load.

“Pot’s fresh,” Tony told Jon as he walked in.

“You been up all night,” Jon asked pulling down his number one dad mug?  After talking to Jake and Romeo, he had made the call to Max for getting them admitted to Pennington.

“Couldn’t sleep, I wanted to get this finished before we had to head back this afternoon.”  He enlarged the picture of Colleen and Jon, with her niece, sitting watching the game on the big TV at the bar.  “Not sure if I want to add this after what Nina told me,” he leaned back and stretched.

Jon walked over sipping his coffee and looked at the picture.  He smiled at the memory this picture suggested.  They looked like a family in this picture, the one he wanted to be a part of.  ‘Too soon my ass,’ he thought.

“Send this to me, I want it,” Jon sat beside his brother at the bar.  “What did Nina tell you,” Jon asked?

“Well, while they were helping at lunch, Maggie had said something about grandkids,” Tony sent to picture file to Jon’s email.  “I guess with our kids coming for lunch,” Tony flipped through the file to add to the cd.

“Yeah, with my four and your and Matty’s two that would make eight, any mom would be grandkid crazy,” Jon moved the screen so he could see the pictures too.

“Colleen told her to wait on Jamie to get over being a new dad, before they added more kids to the family,” Tony brought up the one of Maggie making cookie turkeys with the smaller kids, with Jake and Romeo watching over their shoulders.

Jon tapped on Tony’s keyboard to save that picture for his email.

“Damn Jonny I’ll make your cd next,” Tony laughed.

“Morning you two,” Nina walked into the kitchen with Dessie and Matt.

“I was telling Jonny about what you said about Colleen, and kids,” Tony got up to pour more coffee into his cup.

“Yeah, about how she can’t have kids of her own,” Dessie said as she worked to make a second pot of coffee.  “Did you know she had cancer Jonny,” Dessie asked?

“Cancer, really,” Jon questioned?

“Yeah, must have been really hard for her.  They harvest eggs before the chemo treatments. She was lucky, Ovarian Cancer is bad juju,” Nina sat down in Tony’s seat to flip through the pictures, stopping on the one he had just sent to Jon’s mail.

“She didn’t tell me,” Jon filed that information into his memory. “Cancer, that’s bad, did she say how old she was?”

“When Maggie said that she should use them, she said the idea of sperm donors wasn’t how she wanted to tell her kids, why daddy was never around,” Dessie said as she watched Jon take that news. “She didn’t say, but since they were able to harvest eggs, it must’ve been in one.  I was looking online, want me to send it to you,” Dessie asked him?

‘That was why when we had monkey sex against the bug, she didn’t act worried. She knew she couldn’t get pregnant during intercourse,’ the thoughts were churning in his head.  Thinking back to several times they forgot protection, he had thought she was on the pill and it was no problem.

“Yeah, I’d like to read it,” Jon told her.

His phone chirped that he had a message.  Pulling up his screen he said it was Max, setting the time for his call.  Jon had people when he called, no matter the day or the time, they were always available to him. Smiling he went back to the counter to refill his cup, he planned on going by to see Colleen before she left.  They had a lot to talk about.

“I’ll be back in an hour, if my lazy son’s wake up before noon, tell them chopper leaves at one,” Jon told them as he grabbed his keys off the hook.

He pulled out of the gate and headed toward the bar, the road was starting to get busy, all the people heading back to the concert jungle.  He got closer to the bar, he noticed the empty lot.  She had already left, without telling him goodbye. Her damn plan of them cooling it for seven months, sucked.

He sat in the lot and looked up at the closed windows, glancing at his watch it was close to seven, when did she leave?

Jon: Hey, where are you?

Colleen: I just pulled up to my place. I couldn’t sleep so I left.

Jon: I could’ve come over to help you sleep.

Colleen smiled, yeah he could’ve, but the drive would’ve taken me longer.

Colleen: I know, but this was easier, I have a lot on my mind.

Jon: Can I come over tonight, we need to talk about good old PP.

Colleen:  Ok, because I want you to look over my contract, I don’t remember the clause they said I broke.

Jon:  I'll pick up dinner.  Mind if I bring the boys?

Colleen was shocked, he never brought the boys so this was not going to end up with him in her bed.

Colleen: Sure, I have plenty of sodas.  I’ll even put on a pot of coffee.

Jon: See you about six-thirty.

Colleen got out and pulled her suitcase out of her car.  She would need to dust and pick up the place before they got there.  As she got on the porch, she noticed the door was ajar, someone had been in the house.  She went back to the car, calling the police, she waited in her car.  Should she call Jon, but he was not supposed to leave till one?  She punched in his number.

Jon had just pulled into his gate when his phone played Hot for Teacher.  Rolling his eyes he answered the phone.

“Remind me to kill my brothers,” Jon answered. 

“Jon, someone broke into my home,” Colleen said in a shaky voice.

Hitting the breaks, he slammed the car in park.

“You call the police,” He asked?

“Yeah, but I’m scared that they found me,” Colleen tried to keep from crying.

“Who, Who found you,” Jon jumped out of his car. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, I have to make some calls. Is there someone you can stay with till I get there,” Jon asked?

“The thugs I saw that robbed that kid, he was one of my students and why I ended up at Polly,” She finally broke.

Jon heard the police siren in the background.

“Listen I hear the police, I’ll call you back. You just stay with the police till I get there,” Jon said.

“Okay, just hurry please,” Colleen sniffed.

“I will babe,” Jon promised as he hung up the phone.

As he burst into the kitchen he started yelling out orders.

“Jake, Ro, get dressed.  Matt’s call Max, give him this address,” Jon yelled as he grabbed a pen and jotted down Colleen address.  “Tell him to get there and stay with Colleen till I get there,” Jon headed upstairs to his son's room.  “Colleen’s house was broken into, I need you two downstairs PDQ,” He said as he shook Romeo awake, then moving onto Jake.

Matt met him at the second-floor landing.

“Max said he’d be there as soon as he could,” Matt said as he came out of the boy’s room. “You want me there,” Matt asked.

“Later, I need you to call Carl and have the chopper ready to leave in fifteen minutes, while I call Katie to get her to get my place ready for a guest,”  Jon rushed into his bedroom and grabbed his go-bag.  He had Katie, his assistant on the phone as he met the boys at the bottom of the stairs.  “Yeah, Kat, make up the guest room for me, fill the fridge, and whatever a woman needs. You know like soaps and shampoo that sort of shit,” Jon finally hung up.

“Choppers warming and do you want me and Tone to go to Maggie and Cullen’s to be there when she calls,” Matt asked?

“I don’t want to scare them, call Jamie and tell him what’s going on,” Jon said as Romeo and Jake came in the house from loading the car.  “I’ll call from the airport, give him my cell number.”

It didn’t take long for the three of them to get to the helipad.  Jon took the call from Jamie, told him what he knew, and would call him as soon as he got to the city and Colleen’s.  They were cleared and in the air.  Jake and Romeo looked as shell shocked as he felt, it was Dorothea’s suicide all over again.  The pain of not being there, when she might have needed him, ate him up inside.  Jon had the car waiting as they landed and headed to Colleen’s.

The car parked behind the police car blocking the street.  It took some swift talking to get them to let him past.

“Take the boys home, I’ll be there with Colleen, as soon as this is tied up,” Jon told the driver and gave the boys a thumbs up. He jogged up to Max and Colleen, standing with the police.  Max had his arm around Colleen for support, he passed her off to Jon when he stepped beside her.

“Thanks, Max,” Jon said over Colleen’s head.

“Don’t let her go in there alone, it’s totaled,” Max told him.

Jon nodded his head and reached out a hand to Max, the man deserved a raise after this weekend.

“Jamie’s with Maggie and Cullen, waiting on news. Do you need to get anything out of here, before we head to my place,” Jon asked?

“Why is Jamie going to mom and pops, I haven’t called him,” Colleen asked as they walked to the porch?  “Oh my God,” Colleen gasped.  Max was the only one who had been into the house, no wonder he said it was totaled.

Her books were ripped up and tossed in the floor, her briefcase was thrown onto the floor, the papers inside were wet from what looked like urine. Looking into the bedroom it was worse than the Livingroom.  She couldn’t go any further, she just stood there in shock.  Whoever trashed the place, leaving nothing untouched.  Jon walked into the bathroom, and written in lipstick on the mirror were words, that Colleen didn’t need to see.  Found you Bitch was written in blood-red lipstick.

Jon walked Colleen out to the bug and went to talk to the police.

“I’ll be back, keep the doors locked till I come back,” Jon leaned in and kissed her.

After giving the police his address and number he came back to the car and got in.  Getting the keys from Colleen’s ice-cold hands, he pulled out from the curb and headed home.