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Different Circumstances Interludes: Long Distance Relationship, Part 2
by Marzee Doats
Warnings:
I suppose I should issue a warning for foul language. There is some in this chapter.
Not necessarily a warning in the content sense, but about how this chapter is structured. This is partially an epistolary/letter-writing story (just email rather than snail mail), and there are timestamps on all emails. Just remember that Iraq is eight hours ahead of Jericho Kansas, so if you are looking at the timestamps and something seems out of order, it probably isn't, as our favorite couple is definitely living and coping during a time when they are in a long-distance relationship.
This part also borrows the character of Freddie Ruiz from the episode The Day Before. The Different Circumstances Alternate Universe is very alternate by this point, so I have to assume that you will forgive me if my version of Freddie Ruiz and the one depicted in that episode are not exactly the same. This Jake is very different from that Jake too. However, Ravenwood is still one evil company. Freddie Ruiz previously appeared in Different Circumstances Part 8A.
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Wednesday May 31, 8:12 pm (Baghdad Iraq)
4 months before the bombs
"What the hell's so funny?" Freddie Ruiz demanded, his inverted head suddenly appearing beside Jake's.
"What the hell," Jake complained in return, yanking his earbuds out by the wires and glaring at his friend. "What're you doin'?"
"You've been laughing to yourself like a crazy person for the last twenty minutes," Freddie accused.
"Sorry," Jake muttered. It was an actual, written rule - in their signed contracts, no less - that you didn't make unnecessary noise in the sleeping quarters. He hadn't thought he'd been that loud - or loud at all - but Freddy's bunk was barely three feet above his, and he'd been listening to music while he'd watched the slideshow of the pictures Heather had sent him. And apparently chuckling not-so-silently to himself as he'd granted himself a half hour to enjoy something that took him away - mentally at least - from this miserable place.
The housing facility for Ravenwood contractors was both utilitarian and ramshackle, clearly slapped together in a hurry when Ravenwood and its parent company, Jennings & Rall, had needed to stand up their logistics operations in Baghdad posthaste. The sleeping quarters were spartan, meant exactly for that - sleeping - plus providing each man a place to store his personal belongings. Each room slept four, six, eight, or - in the case of the lowly support staff - ten men, and there was no guarantee that men forced to room together would have anything like compatible work schedules - or would be compatible. Jake and Freddie had lucked out in that they had been assigned to a four-man room - but also had had the ill fortune to be assigned to share quarters with Greg Morgan and Patrick Abbott, both forty-something, both divorced with not insignificant child support obligations, both loud-mouthed and overbearing. But Greg and Patrick needed their jobs and so they toed the line when it came to the housing rules at least. This time of night, Jake knew, they were most likely to be found at the aspirationally named Pub Ravenwood, a small room in the dining and recreational facility next door, notable only for the fact that it was the one place in the Ravenwood complex that alcohol was allowed. Most nights, Greg and Patrick were there from five to ten - the pub's operating hours - which suited Jake's purposes well. He could usually count on having a few hours alone in their shared sleeping quarters to email his wife and get some work done on his second job.
This evening, Jake had come back to the room right after grabbing dinner, turning down Freddie's invitation to play video games in the rec center. More often than not, he joined Freddie, playing for an hour or so, just to have something to do, but tonight he'd begged off, telling his friend that he'd promised his aunt something and that there was some family business he needed to take care of, keeping it all rather vague. Back in the room, he'd checked and then sent emails, including three inquiries that he hoped would firm up his plans for his anniversary trip with Heather, now only five weeks away. Those tasks accomplished, he'd pulled out his iPod, tuned it to his favorite loud music playlist, and then settled in to enjoy the photos Heather had sent him. Freddie had come in about a half hour earlier, and they had nodded hello, but hadn't said anything else. Living in such close quarters, it paid to respect some boundaries.
"Sorry," Jake repeated, glancing at Freddie, who continued to hang down over the edge of his own bunk above Jake's. It was a funny sight, and Jake allowed a chuckle. "I had bunk beds with my brother when we were kids, just I was on the top. He always hated it when I hung over, and now I get it," he admitted. "It's a little weird, you upside down like that."
Freddie shrugged. "What're you laughin' at?"
"Email from Heather," Jake answered, shaking his head at his friend. "She sent a bunch of pictures, and ...." He stopped, not really wanting to say anything else. Some things were private after all. "Look, sorry I was laughing, it's just something between us. Too hard to explain."
"What kinda pictures we talkin' about?" Freddie asked, throwing him a knowing grin.
"Not the kind you're thinkin' of," Jake grunted. "And, just so you know, if she did send me that kinda picture, I wouldn't be tellin' you about it."
"Fair, fair," Freddie acknowledged. "So, if it's not that, then what is it?"
Jake shook his head again, then - giving in - tapped the mousepad of his laptop to open a folder on his desktop. "My mom sent me this the other day," he said, turning the laptop around on his chest so Freddie could see the picture of Heather kissing Baron on the top of his head. "That's Baron - our dog. So, yesterday I emailed her and made a little fun of her - old joke - for kissing the dog." Jake turned the laptop back around so he could pull up another picture, one of the two of them under the mistletoe at his parents' Christmas open house a year and a half before. "So, Heather sent me every picture she could find of us kissing," he continued, turning the computer once again so Freddie could see the picture.
"Aw, how cute," Freddie smirked. "But, Jake, man - hafta say - that's some real, old married guy shit you got goin' on there."
"Thanks," Jake grumbled, glaring benignly at his friend. He turned the laptop again so only he could see the screen.
"But you're an old married guy, so that makes sense, you bein' into old married guy-"
"Shit?" Jake interjected. "Yeah, I got all kinds of shit goin' on. All I've got right now is shit. Shitty problems."
He paused and took a breath, realizing that he was going to do it. Gretchen had set the analysts on constructing the story he would eventually pitch to Ellison and any other Ravenwood or Jennings & Rall stooge he needed to, but that was just the paper details. He had to live - had to sell - those details. It wouldn't hurt to lay a little groundwork, get some practice in. And Freddie was a good, neutral candidate to try things out on. So, Jake found himself deciding, then and there, that he was going to test drive his enhanced cover story on his friend.
"Shitty problems," he repeated. "Money problems. And ranch problems. My dad's pissed 'cause I'm not home and the ranch is falling apart without me - not that he'd admit it. That I can do it - run the ranch. And-" Jake cut himself off before he could set up his grandfather for another rapid decline, followed by death. He wasn't quite ready to introduce that element.
"Well, Heather's not too happy with me either," he muttered, concentrating for the moment on his computer's screen and the picture currently displayed. Jake was pretty sure he'd never seen it before an hour ago, but it was a good picture and a nice - if slightly awkward - memory. It had been taken at the ranch - they were in the hospital barn - and Jake recognized the moment as the first time Heather had witnessed the equine breeding process. He'd been about to take the second mare in question off to be cleaned and prepped, and Heather had stopped him to offer him a kiss - and to let him know that she had only been slightly weirded out by the goings-on with the first mare.
"Not happy I'm here - that I'm not home," he continued. "Not happy because she wants to have a kid," he threw in - because that was true, no matter how much she'd tried to retract it in her emails - before adding the false embellishment of: "Really not happy because we can't afford to have a kid." He expelled a heavy breath, letting his eyes close for a moment. "But still. She went looking for these pictures. She sent 'em to me, told me to 'enjoy the heck out' of 'em," Jake confessed. "So, that's somethin'. Probably is old married guy shit, but still, it's somethin'."
Freddie disappeared then, pulling himself back up into his bunk, but in the next instance, he was climbing out, on the ladder, dropping the last twenty inches to the floor. "You guys have been married, like, three years, right?" he asked, taking two and half steps to the far end of the room to pull the lone chair out from its spot under the shared desk - in reality a three-foot wide, twenty inch deep, strip of table mounted to the wall between two of the four closets.
"Four years in July," Jake answered, leaning out of his bunk and craning his neck to see what Freddie was up to.
His friend dragged the chair down to the head of Jake's bunk, seating himself. "That's why she wants to have a kid. Good Catholic girl," Freddie opined, "Of course she wants a kid." Freddie had latched onto the fact that Heather, like himself, was Catholic early in his friendship with Jake. It didn't matter that as far as Jake could tell, Freddie was as much of an irregular church-goer as Jake himself was, Freddie had decided that he and Heather shared a bond. He'd been an altar boy for a few years - to make his abuela happy - and he was always promising that his fiancée, Ana, would light a candle to assist with any problem, so that was enough for Freddie to consider himself an authority - at least compared to Jake - on all things Catholic. "You should already have at least two kids," he informed Jake. "Maybe one, with one on the way, since she's, you know, white people Catholic."
"She's not that Catholic," Jake grumbled, falling back on Heather's usual line. "And, what the hell 're you doin'?"
"If you're Catholic, you get married and have kids. That's just what we do," Freddie argued. "You're here to make money to save your ranch, right? I'm here to make money so I can marry Ana, and we can have a bunch of kids. Like I said, what we do."
"I went and did all the Catholic things I had to do so we could get married," Jake told him. "I know the rules. I agreed to 'em. And, we're gonna have kids - Catholic kids. Just can't have 'em now, while I'm here and she's there. Obviously."
"So, tell her you guys can have a kid soon as you get home," Freddie advised, shrugging. "That's really all she wants to hear. But you hafta mean it, or then you're just an asshole. Now," he said, gesturing toward Jake's laptop, "Let's see these pictures."
Jake threw his friend a skeptical look. "I don't think she sent them so I'd show 'em around."
"You already showed me one," Freddie countered. "And it's not like you're showin' 'em to them," he said, cocking his head toward the other side of the room, where Greg's and Patrick's bunks were.
Jake grunted. He was extremely careful to not even talk about Heather in front of Greg and Patrick, so much so, that it was possible they didn't know her name. He hoped to hell they didn't know her name. "Yeah, that's never gonna happen."
"It's not like she's naked, right?" Freddie continued. "You were in public, there were other people in the one I saw. And your wife's cute. I mean, she could totally be my cousin, just the kinda cousin where I can be like, 'yeah, she's cute' and it's not weird."
"It's a little weird," Jake returned, but still he turned the laptop again so Freddie could see, then started the slideshow.
For the most part, even though his cover story was built around his real life, he had still tried to keep the two Jake Greens separated - to compartmentalize - but the one place he'd let that slip was with Freddie. At first, Freddie had just been the guy who'd shown him where his bunk was, where they reported to work, where they picked up food and water for the day, that sort of thing. But Freddie had invited him to hang out at dinner the first few nights, and they had started to talk about things - the heat at first, and how bad the food was, then baseball.
Finally, a week in, Freddie had asked about his wife, pointing at Jake's wedding ring. "I'm gonna get married," he'd confessed, "Soon as I make enough money, and can get outta here. Ana," he'd said, pulling a picture out of his wallet and handing it to Jake. "We've been together since high school, and now her little sisters are both graduated - after her mom died, somebody had to take care of 'em. Her big sister's in Houston, and just had her fourth kid, so.... If we can get some money together, you know?"
"She's pretty," Jake had told him after studying the picture for ten or fifteen seconds. "But what's she doin' with you?" he'd joked, pulling his own wallet out and extracting a snapshot of his wife.
"Funny," Freddie had grumbled.
"Heather," Jake had offered then, handing both pictures to Freddie. "Been together basically since we met," he'd continued, clearing his throat. "'Bout four and a half years ago. Married almost four."
"She's cute," Freddie had replied, joking, "But why'd she ever go for you, unless you knocked her up?"
"You sound like all of her brothers," Jake had complained, groaning softly. "And, I didn't knock her up," he'd told Freddie. "So, must just be because I'm one lucky bastard."
"That's for sure," Freddie had agreed. They had been friends ever since.
"Okay, that's a little more... somethin' than the last one," Freddie decided, smirking at his friend. "Not quite so old married guy."
"We went - we went on this road trip," Jake explained, catching himself in the nick of time. This Jake Green didn't have a pilot's license - and he definitely didn't have the resources to fly to Wyoming for lunch. "Like a month after we started dating, and this was in front of a diner we stopped at. We hadn't known each other that long, but still, I pretty much knew."
Freddie nodded. "Yeah, looks like it."
The picture had changed to one Heather's sister-in-law had taken of them in Buffalo, four and a half years before. "That's at the engagement party her dad threw for us." The picture advanced again, and Jake continued his narration. "Wedding rehearsal. So, practice."
Freddie snorted.
The picture changed once more, and Jake explained, "This is the rehearsal dinner. We had it at the same place as our first date. And, where I had my first official job in high school, washing dishes. So," he carried on as another picture appeared on the screen, "This is the 'you may kiss the bride' moment for real."
"That's a nice wedding dress," Freddie announced, "Expensive."
Jake frowned at the other man. "And you know this how?" he chuckled uneasily, mentally kicking himself. He hadn't thought this through, that much was obvious. Their wedding had been nice - big and elegant - and while Heather had been very conscious of what they were spending - had tried to rein things in - they had still had a wedding that was way beyond the means of this Jake Green. Plus, they had splurged on a few things, including her dress. Their wedding - this picture, and the ones that Jake knew followed it - didn't match his cover story, and Freddie had spotted it right off the bat.
"I'm not a weirdo," his friend defended himself. "My mom's a seamstress - she makes lots of wedding dresses, and that's a really nice, designer, expensive dress," he said, gesturing at the screen. The picture had changed to a second, closer shot of the kiss - and of Heather's dress - which just confirmed Freddie's statement. "That's all I'm sayin'," he finished.
Nodding, Jake blew out a quick breath, closing the laptop just as the slideshow advanced to a picture taken during their rather swanky wedding reception at the Jericho Grille. "Well, Heather's dad's got money, and she's his only girl," he said, offering an explanation that was at least half true.
Heather was his only daughter, and Joe Lisinski had been extremely generous in his contribution toward their wedding, particularly taking into account all that the Lisinski clan had had to spend in order to attend their wedding in Kansas, when they had all always assumed that Heather would get married in Buffalo. Heather had objected - Jake, too - that it was too much when her father had insisted on sending her a check for sixty-three hundred dollars, telling her that he'd always had something set aside for her wedding, and that he'd finally sold her mother's car, and that there had been a little bit left over from Renate's life insurance proceeds after he'd paid all the funeral costs. "Let's put this toward something happy, sweetheart," Joe had proclaimed.
"She and her brothers always call him 'thrifty'," Jake continued. "And they mean cheap," he added, overselling the point. "But her wedding? That loosened up the purse strings."
"Makes sense. But if he's got all that money, why didn't you ask him for a loan? Why don't you ask him for one now?" Freddie suggested. "He wants grandkids, right? He loans you the money, you can go home, get his daughter pregnant, everybody wins."
"He's got grandkids already, seven of 'em," Jake answered, glad to be back to the truth - the whole and complete truth - if only for a split second. Joe - his real father-in-law, not the one he was fabricating on the spot - would be as excited for his eighth grandchild as he'd been for each of the seven who had come before. "And, if I asked him for money - especially for the ranch - I'm pretty sure he'd just turn around and offer to pay for Heather's divorce lawyer. It'd be cheaper, and he'd like that better anyway." He was back to making things up, and the only saving grace was that Joe - and Heather - would never know.
"Catholic dad, only daughter?" Freddie returned skeptically. "Besides, she wants a kid. She's prob'ly not lookin' to divorce you."
Jake shook his head 'no', closing his eyes for a moment. He knew better than to mix too much of his real life into his work life, but God dammit, he'd still made the mistake. He trusted Freddie, but the risk was undeniable - for Freddie and him both. He wasn't going drag his friend any further into this mess. "Not today anyway," he muttered. "But I'm not gonna chance askin' her dad for money, either. Just gonna keep doin' this, long as I can manage - long as my mom doesn't call to tell me she's moved out."
"Yeah," Freddie acknowledged, resting his chin on the back of his chair. "You and me both, man."
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From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 20:48 (UTC+3)
To: SAIC G Tolliver (DEA)
Subject: Background
Attachments:
Gretchen
I may have f'ed up tonight. I don't know.
I was talking to my roommate (Freddie Ruiz – clean background check. Trust me he's just here to drive and make money so he can marry his HS sweetheart) and I showed him a picture from our wedding. Turns out his mother is a seamstress and he can spot a quality wedding dress. Doesn't fit the cover story at all. I told him fake Heather's dad has money.
Can the analysts go to work on setting that up just in case? Make me the idiot son in law he didn't want his only daughter to marry (paid for the big wedding anyway) and he'd sure as hell never loan real money to. Probably he'll convince her to leave me and move home in a couple of years and put our kids in private school and never let me see them. That's the kind of story we need to build.
I may have said his name. I don't know what I said. It's Joe so you don't have to look that up. Make sure he has 7 grandkids and 4 sons. Basically, real Heather's family with fake Heather's maiden name – Lind.
Jake
From: SAIC G Tolliver (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 12:01 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
CC: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)
Subject: RE: Background
Attachments:
Jake,
We'll take care of this, don't sweat it.
I'm putting Ange Waller over the analysts to keep everything moving and so you know this is a priority. You are Ange's only assignment for the duration. You always worked well together, and I figure you'd be okay with her contacting Heather if we need to, just to get the details 100% right.
Don't beat yourself up,
Gretchen
From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 12:14 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: Background
Attachments:
Jake,
I'm on it.
We'll leave the important but boring stuff to the triplets. That was funny. And describes how they dress literally every day. I have to assume they coordinate the day before.
What kind of rich should I make Joseph Lind? Minor millionaire or just a guy who can comfortably drop $25K on his daughter's wedding?
And kids, huh? Are you and Heather finally taking that plunge? It's about time. But that's how we can tell the difference between the real Heather and the fake Heather. Real Heather would never keep your kids from you. And I honestly doubt you could screw up enough that she'd ever divorce you, either.
Seriously, it's all under control. I'll send you a Joseph Lind dossier for your approval by the end of my day and we'll start feeding you materials for Operation Shiny Object tomorrow.
I'm available to you 24/7, and I'm matching my vacation to yours – Steve will be so excited. What's your relationship to the Janine in the ranch email? Okay if I assume the name in case we need to talk on an unsecure line? That, or I can be Angie Jones, your other favorite cousin.
Ange
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 21:27 (UTC+3)
To: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)
Subject: Background
Attachments:
Ange
Heather still calls you my guardian angel and tonight I 100% agree.
My real father in law works for the hydroelectric company in upstate NY. Let's move him to KS and put him back in the energy business. Ethanol producer, maybe? Just check that Jennings & Rall (or any subsidiaries) doesn't work in the space.
Able to come up with $20K – $30K for a wedding but most $$ invested back in the business. 3 of the 4 sons can work for the family business – that would make me the rancher/ungrateful son in law who won't take the job he's offered at the family firm and instead runs off to Afghanistan/Iraq to drive trucks. Just another in a long series of questionable choices. Heather aside obviously.
So minor millionaire? But not a ton of liquid assets.
Real Heather would kill me if I didn't let her fake baby brother (4th son) go off to med school like he's supposed to.
Janine is my cousin's wife. Feel free to assume her name.
Tell Steve I'm sorry for ruining your plans. And see if you can get him to check the triplets work for me.
Jake
From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 12:48 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: Background
Attachments:
Jake,
I'm here for all the compliments, and Heather is on my top ten list of friends for life. So, I will happily take guardian angel, even though I know she was making a pun. I will also be Janine if and when I need to be. Janine Green (God, that's awful) or Janine Jones? Or do you get email from your real cousins and I need to match a known name?
No need to apologize re: the vacation. Steve has been trying to get me to commit to dates. You forced my hand/made his summer. We're going fishing in Montana. I married an accountant for a reason (actually many reasons), and it was not so I could go fishing in Montana. I am sure he will be happy to check the triplets' work. Don't threaten him with a good time.
Don't think I didn't notice how you didn't answer my question about you and Heather and babies. I'll take that as a definite yes.
Off to construct some financial records for my new favorite fake family, the Linds.
Get some sleep, Jake. Remember what they told us at the academy. Sleep keeps you alive and sane. You need to be both.
Ange
From: Heather Green (home)
Sent: Wed May 31 17:57 (UTC-5)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: In Person Time
Attachments:
Agent Green,
Noted.
Also, not entirely sure I care. I mean the poor junior associate at the amoral, soulless corporate law firm? They probably need to read my emails. Help wake them up to what's important.
I'm just going to amend our pre-nup to include the Jake Green Horse Camp requirement. Wouldn't be the first time I've done that, and all my other requirements are in there after all. I'd like to see you take me to court over that, mister. :-) Oh, soulless corporate attorney, what say you?
I'm sorry to hear about the operating loss. That's not your fault, Hon. You're working 2 jobs already – you can't work a third on another continent. Your dad can't blame you for doing YOUR JOB.
So, I can rearrange closets and stuff, can fix cars and tractors, I have even learned how to do basic to intermediate home repair. But I am pretty sure you don't want me building a barn, so I will definitely leave all that up to you. But there's got to be a way to do it without making your dad mad. And if you were just blowing off steam, ignore me. You get to be annoyed with him when you are annoyed him.
WHERE ARE WE GOING??? (Obligatory impatient question.)
Oh, almost forgot. This is borderline as to which account to send it to, but better safe than sorry. Mikey is officially going to Yale Medical School!!! It took us all (down to Gabby and Joey, just not Megan because she doesn't actually talk yet), but we finally convinced him. It means a lot more loans and stuff, but I told him we (you and me, I wasn't committing the rest of the family though I think they're all in) will only give him cash for every present for the next 10 – 20 years if that's what it takes. Anyway, I'm a super proud big sis.
Love you!
Heather
From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Wed May 31 17:13 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: Joseph Lind
Attachments: JosephLindBio.doc; JosephLindFinStmt.doc
Jake,
For your approval.
We're planning to put up a website for Lind Ethanol LLC (the website was the triplets' idea, I named the company), so do I need to ask Heather for a picture(s) we can turn into a headshot? Or can I just use our vast store of stock photos? Basically, what are the chances someone there has seen a picture of your father-in-law? Was he in the wedding picture?
I'm off to get my kid, but call or email at any time. I mean it.
Ange
From: Heather Green (home)
Sent: Wed May 31 19:34 (UTC-5)
To: Jake Green (personal)
Subject: RE: Jake & Heather sittin' in a tree ...
Attachments:
Hi Jake,
I agree 1000% with your mom. It is definitely good to know I am loved, but it's way better to be told that. Thank you. I needed that, and I didn't even know I needed that. I've printed out your email and taped it to the bathroom mirror. It's like my daily affirmation until you come home. I cried a little, but it was the good kind of crying. So, thank you. And I love you too.
I think you also need to hear it, so:
I love love love love love you. Jake Green, I love you so much I can't even tell you.
Turns out you are also perfect for me. After all, who else would just think my occasional/horrifyingly frequent dork moves are cute? Plus be good with my no naked pictures rule and happy for just a bunch of kissing pictures? Really, I totally lucked out.
I hope you got a good night's sleep last night. I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight. I know you're working too hard. I can't do anything about that, but I can send you email and pictures and my love. So that's what I'll do. (Is there a way to send care packages? I would totally send you good peanut butter, homemade peanut butter cookies, anything you want. You always say no, but really? That doesn't seem possible.)
I feel like I should just sign off after all that, but I'd still end up sending you another email, so we'll just label this the awkward transition.
First, not to be a killjoy, but I also love my job (not as much as I love you, but still) and if I take off sick for a month, they're going to ask for a Dr.'s note, and as you know, my Dr. is not likely to give me one. I suppose hospitalization would also be an acceptable excuse, but that's against the rules – and those are the rules we will be operating under when you come home, just so we're clear. However, aside from me needing to go to school and teach, we can become the Hermit/Recluse Greens, okay? Totally anti-social.
Stanley says "Hi!" We ran into each other at the Jade Dragon because apparently, we both had a hankering for Moo Shu Pork. (We were also the only 2 people picking up Chinese at 4:45 on a Wednesday.) I'm only telling you this because you always get me Moo Shu Pork even though you could happily do without. And you always order me extra pancakes and plum sauce. :-) And you still let me steal some of your Kung Pao. Just one of the bazillion things I love and appreciate about you.
Since we weren't actually eating together you would've thought Stanley wouldn't be able to work in his favorite line – "it's Chinese, it's a burrito, it's Mexican" – but those were his parting words of wisdom after he walked me to the car.
The Moo Shu was delish, and now I have dinner for tomorrow too. But the best part was the fortune in my cookie – "Love can last a lifetime if you want it to". They actually threw in 2 cookies, but the second fortune was not as good. "A stranger is a friend you have not spoken to yet." That's a run of the mill fortune, but that first one really got me. So, I'm going to tape the first fortune onto my (well, your) email on the mirror.
Now for the elementary school gossip. Actually, more of a dork moment for me than actual gossip. (Though there has been a giant shakeup in the Ashley – Emma – Samantha – Maddy B clique that I haven't completely figured out.) But since having made another dork move will just make you love me more, and I'm working to make fortune #1 come true, you are going to get to read all about it.
As you know, my set of twins this year are Madison L and Jacob L, not to be confused with Maddison B (who goes by Maddy as referenced above) or Jacob W. (I've had one set of twins every year I've taught, but there isn't a set of twins in 2nd grade, so unless some move to town over the summer, I will be without next year. There are 2 sets in the 1st grade this year, including what will be my first set of identical twins.)
Anyway, Madison and Jacob's mother, Mrs. Landeros was (like every other kid's mother) telling me about her kids' summer plans. I always find these conversations to be really funny because I also have the kids tell me about their summer plans and I have literally never gotten a report from a kid that is even in the same county as their mom's.
Kids will say: I'm going swimming, and I'm going to spend the night at grandma's, and I'm going to have ice cream, and we're going to make cookies. So basically, kids talk about what they think the first weekend of summer vacation will be like. Occasionally, I will hear about a planned trip, but it has to be a good one, like Disney World. Maddy B and Ashley are both going to the same month-long sleep-away camp in Missouri, leaving the day after school's out so they both talked about that. (Could be a factor in the clique-killing blow up.)
Side note: Not sure I could send my 9 year old off for a month without me but I guess they both went to a week of sleep-away camp last year and really loved it.
Moms say: I bought a 4th grade math/science/reading workbook at Costco, we're signing up for the summer reading program at the library, we're doing the parks and rec day camp, we're going to X for a week, where we can do Y educational activity, etc. etc. (The moms clearly think I'm grading them on how well they mom.)
So Mrs. Landeros is telling me about how Madison and Jacob are going to the "A" summer school session (the one that runs second half of June/first half of July) in Fielding (neither of them needs to, but they have some enrichment classes for the not academically challenged kids that will be good for them) and clearly I'm only half listening to her because she said something like "the hardest part is going to be getting Jake out of bed on time, he's just naturally a sleep til noon guy" and I agreed with her. I even said something like "Trust me I know". At which point we both realized that I'm talking about you and she's talking about her son. So, of course I'm blushing and she's laughing and then she says "Sounds like my Jake and your Jake have that in common".
I honestly didn't know that Jacob went by Jake. I always ask my students what they want to be called, and I pay attention to what they call each other, and I've never once heard anyone call him (or the other Jacob) Jake. I've actually never had a student named or called Jake since I met you. (I don't think I had one before I met you either. That's why my family all called you Cowboy Jake back when. A real, live Jake was a novelty.) You are of course the most important Jake there is as far as I'm concerned, and it's still weird for me to find out that there are other Jakes besides you in the world. :-)
Also, I forget sometimes that everyone I meet seems to already know who I'm married to, and they definitely all know who you are.
Anyway, she didn't seem to think I was being unprofessional or anything. Just thought it was funny. Invited me to call her Melissa, and since school's out in a week, I told her to call me Heather.
I felt bad for telling someone I hardly know that you'd prefer to sleep until noon, especially since right now you're killing yourself with work, have to get up way early, and you basically have the same bedtime as my students. So, I told her, keeping it vague, that you're out of town for work right now and you're not getting many (any) chances to sleep in. She didn't seem to be aware of that so maybe everyone in town isn't monitoring our every move like I think they are. (Am I self-centered or what?) Do you even know who Melissa Landeros is? Her husband is Chuck (I think).
Now if you stuck with me to the end of this email you really do love me. Of course, that works out because I really love you.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Love you!!
Heather
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Thursday June 1, 2:48 pm (Baghdad Iraq) / Thursday June 1, 6:48 am (Jericho KS)
4 months before the bombs
Jake, having finished maneuvering the rig into its place, turned off the engine and then reached behind his seat to retrieve his personal items. Every driver carried food and at least a day's worth of water with him. The mechanics kept the trucks running as best they could, but the heat and constant use - they drove seven days a week - took a toll on the rigs, and on the people. If a rig overheated or broke down, it was hard to say how long the driver might be stuck out with it in the relentless Iraqi heat. They weren't allowed to leave the trucks because of the cargo - though the Security Services guys would show up pretty quickly if the load was deemed important. But if you were just hauling ordinary supplies, you had to stick it out until someone could come pick up your shipment - and you. So, Jake always carried water, and lots of it. If there was one thing he was trying to avoid it was heat exhaustion or - worse - heat stroke. After all, he was under orders to not end up dead, and that was his preference, too.
He also carried a backpack - as did most drivers - with his valuables. This included his laptop and his satellite phone, somewhat concealed inside a leather case that was identical to the shaving kit sitting back in his closet in the Ravenwood housing facility. It wouldn't take anyone too long to figure out that something wasn't on the up and up if it were ever seen, so Jake made sure that it wasn't. His personal/unsecured cell phone was also in his backpack's front pocket, and he could hear it ringing, as he pulled the bag over the seat. Quickly, he zipped the pocket open, grabbing the phone and flipping it open before it could go to voicemail, announcing somewhat gruffly, "Jake Green."
"Hi Jake Green," his wife greeted, her voice a sultry caress across the more than seven thousand miles that separated them.
"Hey, babe," he returned, allowing himself to relax for a split second before he thought better of it and demanded, "What's wrong?"
"Oh God, sorry," Heather apologized quickly. "No emergency, nothing's wrong, I promise." This was the trickiest part of their eight-time zone separated day: that time each day when she was leaving for work and he was coming off shift - or at least he was supposed to be. She never called him at this time, not wanting to add to his stress, to the burden or complexity of either of his jobs. If he called her, that was fine, but when she called him - and it was rare - it was almost always during her lunchtime half hour break when he was definitely off, but not yet sleeping. So, she understood why he'd assume that something was wrong, or she was calling with bad news. "I just really wanted to hear your voice this morning, and I was completely prepared to get your voicemail and leave a message. Should I do that?"
"Call back so you can get my voicemail?" he asked, his tone a mixture of amusement and confusion. "Or, you just wanna give me your message? Or - and this is my preferred option - just talk to me like we were normal people who - you know - talk to each other?"
"Can you talk now?" she inquired, "Even for five minutes? 'Cause if it's a bad-"
"If you've got five, and can give me one, we can talk right now," he interrupted. "I just got back to base and I hafta turn my rig over to the maintenance team. But then I'm all yours. Not a bad time, promise."
"Well actually, I've got a whole twenty minutes. Maybe even twenty-two."
"Okay, gimme a minute," Jake requested. He climbed out of the cab then, his backpack and cooler bag slung over one shoulder. There was a mechanic waiting for him, and he handed over the keys, telling the other man, "For once, no issues to report. A/C was even good today. Thanks."
"So," he continued, turning his concentration back to Heather as he began to make his way toward the dispatch office. "If nothing's wrong, what's goin' right?"
She chuckled at that, and Jake caught himself grinning at the sound. Generally, he enjoyed listening to his wife more than anyone else, but now, after so long apart, just the sound of her voice was more than enough to lift his mood - and her laugh sent it skyrocketing - instantly.
"I don't know that it's going right, exactly. I'm a little nervous, to be honest," she confessed. "That's why I wanted to hear your voice - even your voicemail message. 'Jake Green, leave a message,'" Heather quoted, affecting a deeper and slightly annoyed tone.
"That - okay, that probably is what I sound like - sort of," he admitted. "But that's not for you, I'm just trying to weed out telemarketers. If you were the only one who called me, I'd be way nicer."
"Well, I would have totally settled for your grumpy and vague voicemail message, but actually getting to talk to you is way better."
"So, what's got you feeling nervous, babe?"
"I'm parked at school, waiting to go in," she told him. "I'm meeting with Mrs. McVeigh at seven fifteen. She's not here yet though. She called me last night at, like, eight thirty and asked me to come in early so we could discuss something. Not a staff meeting - just me."
"That doesn't mean it's bad, Heather," Jake soothed.
"I know," she returned, sounding very unsure of her statement - of herself. "And she specifically promised to bring in coffee for me. Can't be that bad, right?"
"Exactly," he assured. "I bet she's getting ready to announce that she's retiring and you're the principal next year," Jake predicted. "Wants to warn you ahead of the official announcement. Coffee's to celebrate."
"That is not gonna happen," Heather replied. "And, maybe the coffee is to soften the blow. Our enrollment isn't exactly growing, I could see them combining some grades in the next year or two. It's not like I have actual seniority. Only over Amber and Gina, so first and fifth grade."
"Mrs. Parker was my fourth-grade teacher, and, yeah, Mrs. Lowell wasn't my second-grade teacher, but she's been there just as long. Mrs. Walker is still there, for God's sake, and she was old when I was in the sixth grade," he catalogued. "Obviously, there isn't a mandatory retirement age, but there sure as hell should be. Mrs. McVeigh isn't gonna let them stick around another year or two if it forces you out," Jake argued. "I still say she's retiring. That, or they're gonna make you vice principal. You're an amazing teacher and they all know it. You should be running the place."
"Well, that's why I called you," she admitted, an anxious hitch in her voice, "For the pep talk, so thank you." She sighed deeply - trying to calm herself, Jake thought - before continuing. "And you know, last fall, Mrs. McVeigh really was all gung-ho about appointing me vice principal, but the superintendent, the school board, they wouldn't go for it. Budgetary concerns. Which makes sense, given the declining - well, stagnant - enrollment."
Jake had known that Mrs. McVeigh had wanted to make Heather her vice principal - she'd been excited about the idea, and they had discussed what that would mean for them over their Labor Day camping trip at the end of the previous summer - but he had never heard why it hadn't gone anywhere. "You didn't tell me that it was being blocked," he chided gently. "You should've, Heather. I would've told them all off at my parents' Christmas party."
"I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago. I think Mrs. McVeigh felt like she had to level with me. And, you can't go telling all of my boss's bosses off, especially at your parents' party."
"Sure, I can," he contradicted. "I'm allowed to defend my wife's honor, and that includes to the school board. And, you should've told me, babe. When you found out. I need to know what's happening at home," he reminded. "Helps keep me connected - and sane."
"I know, I'm sorry," Heather apologized. "But I was a little - or more than a little - disappointed, and I don't wanna spend the limited time we get to talk whining to you about my job. I just don't."
"I'm the person you're supposed to whine to," Jake countered. "And, I whine to you about my job." He exhaled a frustrated breath. "Look, I really think it's gonna be good news, whatever it is. And if it's not - if they're gonna make the incredibly stupid move of laying Gina, and then Amber, and then you off - then screw 'em," he declared. "We'll just go have a kid, and then when they're begging you to come back, you can say, 'Sorry, come talk to me in a year or two. I'm busy.'"
"God, Jake," she groaned, before falling silent.
"Okay, so that was the wrong thing to say," he chuckled nervously a long moment later.
"Kinda," she muttered. "Look," she continued, taking a long breath, "I don't want starting a family - starting our family - to be my consolation prize if I have a career setback. Because what if I don't? What if you're right, and it's good news? I don't want that to be a reason we put off having kids. I don't want to put that off. We just need to divorce these-"
"Well, fuck."
There was silence on the line for a few seconds, but then, finally, Heather reacted. "Oh God, no! No. No, no, no! No! That's not what I meant," she insisted, and he could hear the sob threatening in her tone. "Jake-"
"You sure about that?" he demanded. His head was swimming and he felt the strong urge to throw up, as if he'd been sucker punched. "'Cause, damn Heather, that's a helluva word to - to just throw out there."
"It was a mistake, Jake. I - you know I just say - blurt out - the wrong things sometimes. That - that was just the most supremely awful word choice in my long history of wrong word choices," she claimed, her pitch rising in distress. "I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking - not about what I should've been thinking about. I love you, I'm not - I'm not - I did not mean that - that word."
Jake took a breath, forcing himself to think. He was tired and stressed, and he knew instinctively that she hadn't meant anything by that particularly unfortunate turn of phrase. He was the one on edge, after all. He was the one whose mental fitness was suddenly in question. He was the one who had reacted all out of proportion to what was, in the end, just a word.
And, she didn't know about his disastrous talk with Freddie, or the background Ange Waller and the triplets were now manufacturing to cover his ass. She - the real Heather, the most important person in his life - didn't know that fake Heather had to look like, maybe, she had one foot out the door. She couldn't - would never - know that what she'd just done with a slip of the tongue - if Ravenwood really was monitoring, recording, sifting through his communications - might be the key piece to, as Gretchen had said, "cracking this nut". It would be so easy to play it up, challenge her on what she'd said. Throw in a reference to financial troubles and issues with the ranch, really build upon the story - but also, hopefully, signal what it was he was doing. If she caught on, he knew she would go along with it, as best she could, because that was his wife.
But he couldn't do that. He refused to put her through that. He wouldn't react to her statement to further build his cover story, to make the other Jake Green into the shiny object that would give him the "in" he needed. He needed to keep things separate - had always worked to keep things separate, divorced - and he would not let this assignment bleed into their real relationship. It was why he was, so clearly, no longer cut out for this job.
"It's okay, Heather," he acknowledged, exhaling softly, trying to calm his sympathetic nervous system's natural fight or flight response. "I - I believe you. It's just usually when you blurt something out like that, it's you bein' really, completely honest. And - God - I - I couldn't - I couldn't take that."
"I didn't mean that, I swear. I swear," she repeated, "I wasn't trying to - I just wanted us to not talk about those two things together, okay?" She paused again, drawing an unsteady breath before adding, "And, in the interest of complete honesty, I haven't had any coffee yet, so I am possibly not entirely responsible for what comes outta my mouth. Certainly, that part didn't - didn't pass through my brain," she giggled nervously. "But still, God Jake, I am so sorry."
He exhaled slowly, through his teeth, still attempting to settle his racing mind and pulse. Jake allowed a grim chuckle. "Are you even safe to drive if you haven't had coffee?"
"Probably not," she conceded, sighing, "But somehow I made it here."
He'd long since reached the slightly shady patch of asphalt created by the shadow thrown off by the dispatch office - just another of Ravenwood's squat, temporary buildings inside the Green Zone. He had been pacing in that sliver of shade, but now he threw himself down on the bench, just to the right of the office's entrance, the bench that no one ever used. He half collapsed on the end farthest from the door, slumping. "So, what - what were you tryin' to say?"
"Just that I want to keep those discussions separate - independent from one another," Heather answered hesitantly. "The discussion about when we have kids, and any discussion - good or bad - that we need to have about my job. That's all."
"That's all, huh?"
"That's all I was tryin' to say when I went and accidentally introduced the 'D' word into the conversation, yes," she clarified. "And it was thoughtless and stupid and awful of me. I'm sorry for that. And I love you."
"I love you, too," he replied, though to his own ear, it sounded automatic and not completely sincere. "Heather, I love you," he emphasized a beat later, forcing himself to sit up. "I really do. And you're not awful for accidentally saying that," he assured her. "Kinda awful to hear, but .... God, do I wish I'd let this go to voicemail," he confessed.
"Yeah, really can't blame you for that," she agreed, emitting the shakiest of laughs that was immediately swallowed up by a heavy sigh. "So hey, give me your voicemail greeting."
"My voicemail greeting?"
"Yep. Say 'Jake Green, leave a message'," she ordered. "Please."
"Jake Green, leave a message," he sighed, "That-"
"Hi, Jake Green," Heather started, cutting him off. "It's me. I'm a little nervous this morning, and, well, I just wanted to hear your voice. You re-recorded your greeting, and it's so much nicer than your old one, so good job-"
He chuckled.
"-on that. Wish you'd made it a smidge longer, but oh well. I'll just have to call twice. Maybe three times. I love you. And, oh, you should go read your email, by the way. I sent you a long one last night, and... at least read the first part, okay? So, I'll talk to you later? I miss you and I love you. Bye, Jake." She paused a moment, then told him, "So there. Now you've heard the voicemail message that I left for you in some other strand of the multiverse where I did go to voicemail, and so didn't accidentally introduce a bad word that - honestly - I've never even thought about, to the conversation, okay?"
"Okay," Jake acknowledged. "And thanks for that. But really, I hope that there aren't too many strands of the multiverse where I'm stuck in Iraq. You know, so the answered the phone/didn't answer the phone thing is irrelevant."
"Yeah," Heather agreed, "More strands where you were home last night to talk me off the ledge. Heck, to stop me from ever climbing out on it in the first place. Plus, if you were home, I probably woulda taken the time to make coffee this morning," she sighed. "And that might've solved some problems, too. Anyway, those are the really good universes."
"Well, yeah," he conceded. "But this one's not too bad, right? We met in this universe. Fell in love. Got married. That probably didn't happen in all of 'em."
"This one is pretty good, actually," she decided. "When you think about it. And those other ones - ones where we've never met? - those universes suck," she complained. "They're the ones where - I bet - everything has gone wrong."
"Yeah, I think so," he said, blowing out a long breath, still trying to work through his body's stress response. "I'm - I'm gonna come home at some point, Heather. I promise."
"I know. And I'll be here when you do, Jake. Promise," she echoed.
"I'm countin' on it."
They were both quiet for a long moment, until finally, reluctantly, she broke the silence. "She's here, car just pulled in."
"You better go," Jake advised. "But call me, okay? Soon as you can, after your meeting," he ordered. "I wanna know what happens, okay? Good, bad, whatever, I wanna know what's goin' on. Connected. Sane. Remember?"
"Yes, of course," Heather acknowledged. "I said we'd talk later. Did you not listen to my voicemail?" she joked weakly. "Might not be 'til lunch, but I'll call, I promise. And I meant it, Jake," she added, "What I said in my voicemail, all of it. But in particular, go read your email. I meant everything I wrote, too."
"I will, promise. I'm gonna read it twice at least, the whole thing, even if it's a novel," he pledged. "You better go. It's gonna be good news, I know it. Love you."
"Love you. Bye."
"Bye."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From: Jake Green (personal)
Sent: Thu Jun 01 17:35 (UTC+3)
To: Heather Green (home)
Subject: RE: Jake & Heather sittin' in a tree ...
Attachments:
Hey Babe -
I read this email 3 times. All of it. Even the elementary school gossip was interesting. I want to know what you figure out about the big fight. I have a theory so I want to know how close or off base I am. Even if 3rd grade girls aren't my area of expertise. And why are so many people naming their kids Madison?
You convinced me to try the "Asian Station" in the dining facility again. (I was there at 16:30. Even more Early Bird Special than you and Stanley.) It was not as bad as I remembered. They had halfway decent Kung Pao and fortune cookies in stock. Both developments are new. My fortune was "You will conquer obstacles to achieve success". That's good right? A good sign maybe. I still liked the one you got better - we should make sure that one stays true. But Babe I'm pretty sure it's a major fortune cookie protocol violation to open your 2nd fortune cookie ahead of time when you're having Chinese leftovers the next day. You're supposed to space the fortunes out to match the food. Also a major fortune cookie protocol violation to not add "in bed" to your fortune. Let's work on making your fortune come true both ways.
Sorry for our misunderstanding this morning. (Not the right word. Did we argue/fight? I freaked out at you. I'm sorry about that.) I'm very sorry I swore at you. I know that's one of your requirements that actually matters. I know they all matter but some requirements matter more than others right? (That's an Orwell reference and I am making it on purpose to impress my brilliant wife with one of the few things that stuck from HS freshman English.)
I never want to make you cry but if it was the good kind of crying and if you really were only crying because you're happy I love you then I guess it's ok this time.
I love you and I can't really tell you how much either. It just goes on forever. So let's put the D word incident behind us.
I know it's not your lunch yet but I sure wish you'd call and let me know what's going on.
Let's be completely antisocial. You can go to school and 1 meeting of the It Ain't Easy Being Green club a week - I'll hang out with Stanley while you're getting your girl talk. We can go to Sunday dinner if we absolutely have to. I vote for the Recluse Greens. You're too gorgeous to be called a hermit.
To send me a care package, you'd have to send it to company HQ in Boulder and I wouldn't get it for a month. Not worth it. I'll probably still be here in a month but I want to pretend I won't. Just keep sending love and email and occasionally pictures and we'll call it good.
I always want to be your most important Jake. This is why we're definitely not naming our kid Jacob III ok? FYI - I'm going to teach Megan to call me Uncle Cowboy Jake. Kerry will love that.
I know who Chuck Landeros is. He was 2 years ahead of me in school. No idea which of 3 or 4 Melissas he ended up marrying. More Melissas if I give him the 5.5 year range that worked so well for me. And that's just if he married someone local. I think he went to K State so who knows what the pool of Melissas was there.
That means I have no idea who Melissa Landeros is. I could have sat next to her in 3rd grade and I wouldn't know it. And my 3rd grade teacher didn't allow nicknames so that year I didn't get to be Jake.
You should grade other moms on how they mom. You're going to be the best mom. None of them will ever hold a candle to you.
Now - call me.
I love love love love love you
Jake
From: Jake Green (personal)
Sent: Thu Jun 01 17:41 (UTC+3)
To: Gail Green
Subject: Favor
Attachments: McBees_Receipt_05310254.pdf
Mom -
I need a favor(s) for Heather's birthday.
First, talk to April and arrange to take Heather out for her Birthday Dinner. Otherwise she'll just stop and get takeout and eat alone at home. Maybe share it with Baron.
Second, on Monday, please go to McBee's and pick up her cake. It's their 6 inch round 2 layer Chocolate Kahlua cake. (Today I learned that cakes come in sizes and you can't just order a cake.) They are supposed to put "Happy Birthday Heather" in purple frosting on it. You need to get it out to the ranch on Monday so it's there on Tuesday morning for her Birthday ok? This can't wait until Tuesday it has to be done on Monday.
Thanks Mom. You're a lifesaver.
Love Jake
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 17:56 (UTC+3)
To: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)
Subject: Joseph Lind
Attachments:
Ange
You can use stock photos. The picture I showed Ruiz was just of Heather and me. I'd send it to you but I don't want it ending up in a discovery dump later.
No one here has seen his picture. He was in a few group shots Heather's sister in law sent us from our niece/goddaughter's half birthday (a real thing). But there are no labels and I didn't show those to anyone. I really tried to keep my in laws out of this op. I should have kept Heather out of it. So go with stock photos.
The bio and the financial statement are good. Thanks for working on this. I know I'm being paranoid but Gretchen keeps telling me to not end up dead so I'm trying to follow that order. And I don't want to be dead.
Janine is Janine O'Brien but no way Ravenwood knows that. So pick a last name and let me know.
Jake
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 18:12 (UTC+3)
To: Heather Green (home)
Subject: RE: In Person Time
Attachments:
Mrs. Green -
You go right ahead and amend the pre-nup. Then send me a copy at least of the updated page(s).
The only thing I'd ever sue over is if you infringed on my requirements - if Count Jake-ula ever returns there sure as hell better be no makeup involved and you are never allowed to tell me Tommy's 157 words. (I think I want to amend the pre-nup to add that you can't teach the 157 words to our kids either. Just to be safe. Maybe you can make that addition along with horse camp.) The soulless corporate attorney is confused as hell right now.
I was blowing off steam. Thanks for the other reminders. I needed them.
I'll tell you all about our vacation on your Birthday ok? It's not part of your present but that is when I'm going to tell you. Because you need to be PATIENT.
That's great news about Mike. Just what I'd expect from the only brother that would stand for all that pretend school back in the day. I still say you're the smartest of your parents' kids but he's a close second.
I need to go firm up our vacation plans and a few things for your birthday. So now you have 2 things that you can learn to be patient about.
Don't forget to call at lunch Babe
Love you
Agent Green
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 18:38 (UTC+3)
To: April Green 'AGreenDoc'
Subject: Favor
Attachments: Dalton&Sons_Green_SS_Pendant.jpg
April
Heather says she told you that she wants to do a weekly ride with you once school is out for the year. I trust her completely but also wanted to make sure you were aware.
I know she's feeling lonely and I can't do anything about that but make sure you know she's trying to make me feel better by going riding. I want her to go riding so she has something to look forward to. And because we live on a horse ranch. Anyway she's calling your rides together April Green's Riding Academy. You're so classy - Heather gives you a Riding Academy and gives me a Horse Camp.
Sounds like Mom may want to join you for riding.
Congrats on totally smoking Eric and Dad at racing. Wish I'd been there to see that. Maybe not. You would have made me race and would have humiliated me too.
Please tell me that you and Mom have plans for her birthday. Please take her out to dinner if you weren't already doing that. I will pick up your dinner (Eric's too) any time we are out together for the rest of our lives just please don't let Heather end up picking up takeout and eating alone for her Birthday Dinner ok?
I'm going to call her a couple times that day + at least 1 Skype and I'll figure something out so we can talk/Skype after she's home from dinner. End the day right right?
I have another huge favor for you to do for me if you're willing. You always say I'm allergic to shopping and you're right. It's also hard to shop from here. But I did it.
Grant Dalton is a jewelry nerd - good thing for a jeweler right? He was interested in Heather's engagement ring ever since we took it in to be resized back after we first got engaged. That got him interested in finding star sapphires. He's been emailing me pictures of his finds ever since but they're never as "quality" of a flaw as Heather's ring. He finally came across 1 that he said was of equal quality. I had him buy it and pull it out of a really crummy setting and then reset it as a pendant + chain for Heather. I was going to save it for our anniversary since it matches her ring but now we'll definitely be together for our anniversary so I decided to give it to her for her birthday instead.
On Tuesday alright if Grant brings it by the clinic for you to sign off on for me? He's being a stickler about that and I can't really sign off from here. He'll personally deliver it to Heather out at the ranch about 4:30. So don't plan dinner until 6.
He can come by any time that works for you and then just hang out in town. He does seem to be having fun - like I email him from this account a couple of times and now he's part of a covert op.
April I will owe you forever. Please?
Almost forgot. How proud of you are Mike? Going to Yale for med school means he's definitely a candidate for a Riding Academy not a Horse Camp. Like I said - classy. Just can't let Eric convince him to take up golf instead.
Love Jake
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 18:43 (UTC+3)
To: Mike Lisinski
Subject: Congratulations Man
Attachments:
Mike -
Heather told me you're officially headed to Yale for med school. I know you know this but she is a "super proud big sis".
You've worked really hard for this and you deserve it.
Congratulations Mike
Jake
From: April Green 'AGreenDoc'
Sent: Thu Jun 01 11:24 (UTC-5)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: Favor
Attachments:
Hi Jake,
Wow, that's a serious email address. Should I be using this one or your personal email when I want to bug you about something?
I had to think a minute about what the 2nd "J" stood for, Agent Green.
Heather and I have set up our riding date, and Mom is coming to the first one for sure. It's actually a week from today. They both said we had to start slow, so we're going to celebrate the last day of school with a short afternoon ride. Heather says we can ride anywhere but Mary's Meadow. She told me the full Mystery of the Marys story, and wow. Who knew we had such a skeleton in the closet? We may stick to Thursdays, but I have to see what my schedule can accommodate. Everyone wants Friday afternoon Dr. appts so that's the only time I can't clear my schedule. Maybe it's the time I should absolutely clear my schedule. "Dr. Green doesn't work Friday afternoons." I wish.
You're right about the racing, except I would have only smoked you. I big time humiliated Eric and Dad. They both kind of deserved it (while you're only out of practice because of work). That's what they get for making me a Golf Widow most weekends. Well, not Dad, but I got him on Mom's behalf, though he isn't nearly as bad as my husband. Eric now has a standing monthly round of golf scheduled with Hugh Stevens and Gray Anderson! Even though he knows Gray is going to run against Dad for mayor again in November. You really need to come home so Dad thinks about going hunting or fishing again - anything but golf every weekend. And really? Would it kill Eric to give up golf once a month to spend a Saturday morning riding with me?
Mom and I already have Heather's birthday under control, so don't worry about that. She tried to tell us that it wasn't important, so I'm glad you aren't buying that either. We're going to do a family celebration on Sunday, including Stanley and Bonnie. You could surprise her and call into that if you want, though that's probably 3 AM for you, right? Maybe just stick to calling Heather on her birthday and don't worry about the rest of us.
Then, Mom and I are going to take her to Roma Italia (Heather's choice) on Tuesday. I wasn't going to worry about making a reservation (since it's a Tuesday) but now I will since you'll want some idea when she'll be home so you can call. I'll make the reservation for 6 and she should be home by 8 or 8:30, OK? So again, all under control.
I'm also game to meet Grant Dalton as long as I can tell Eric what we're up to. Our anniversary is 2 weeks away, so I'm going to shamelessly use you to remind your brother that jewelry and flowers and nice dinners are all things I appreciate too. (I assume that a dozen (or 2?) red roses will be delivered to the Elementary sometime on Tuesday, but also that you were able to arrange that all on your own.) I'll give Grant a call and set up a time for him to come by where he doesn't need to hang out in Jericho for the whole day, OK? Actually, Tuesday is Field Day at the Elementary, so I'm volunteering like always at the first aid station all morning. But I'll head back to the clinic after lunch so that means I can't meet him until about 2 pm at the earliest.
Also, (I don't) hate to break it to you, but what you did is technically not shopping. You got concierge service from the family jeweler. And the fact that I just typed that statement with straight face.... But seriously, that is a beautiful necklace, it really does match/complement her ring, and I know she'll love it. So as long as this is what Grant brings by to show me, I will sign off on it for you.
So proud of Mikey! I must admit, I did try to convince him to consider KU School of Medicine, but Yale was his dream school, otherwise he was just going to go to U Buffalo and keep living at home with Joe. And, Joe probably wouldn't have liked losing a 2nd kid to Kansas. Don't take that as me casting aspersions or worse that I think Joe is secretly resenting you. You and I both know that he is perfectly happy that Heather married you. And I agree with Dad, when you guys have kids, Joe will take that as a reason to retire and spend a fair amount of time in Jericho. Might even move out here. Just you wait - Heather's going to love getting to redecorate the downstairs suite for her dad.
Not sure we'll ever make a real horseman out of Mikey, but I will not let Eric turn him to the dark side (golf), I promise.
OK, so I need to get back to work. It's been a slow morning in the ER, and now I have jinxed myself.
Love
April
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 19:56 (UTC+3)
To: April Green 'AGreenDoc'
Subject: RE: Favor
Attachments:
April
This is just the account that I had the picture on. The other account might be monitored by the organization I am currently investigating. You should email that one unless you need to actually call me Agent Green or mention the DEA.
If they are monitoring it's better that I have some traffic on my personal account. Probably don't mention "concierge service from the family jeweler" on my personal account either just in case. So, up to you but if you want to help a federal agent out, send most email there. Wish I could get you a tax credit out of it but so far that's not a thing.
Don't think too hard about that second J but remember it's actually the first one. I only use it on legal stuff. Sometimes Heather makes a joke about "are we really married?" because it's how our marriage license was issued. I can't believe you signed off as an official witness to our wedding/marriage without reading everything you were signing.
I probably should have gotten it legally changed but it was easier to set up my near match second identity at work when technically I have another name. And now I've told you too much. So just keep that to yourself. I wouldn't have to kill you but I might get an official reprimand. (And if my boss is reading my email she can fire me.)
Thanks for taking care of everything for Heather's birthday. You are the world's best friend/sister to her and to me. On the other hand I am the world's crappiest husband. But as soon as this assignment is over I'll try to claw my way back up to mediocre.
Would have helped if I'd thought to talk Joe into letting me fly him out to surprise her for her birthday. Thanks to you and Mom for the family party on Sunday but too bad there won't be some Lisinski representation to distract from the fact that I'm not there. I mean I hope she notices that I'm gone and misses me but her dad or Mike might make up for some of my being MIA.
Jewelry, roses, and coffee of the month club subscription. Still doesn't feel like enough but it's what I've got so far.
Feel free to use me to get Eric to give you everything you deserve for your anniversary. I mean you agreed to marry him. He should be thanking you for that every damn day.
You know Dad and Eric are going to take on some equine breeding so you'll at least get them to join you at the ranch for a couple of weekends. They might not be riding but they'll be there.
Love Jake
From: April Green 'AGreenDoc'
Sent: Thu Jun 01 12:14 (UTC-5)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: Favor
Attachments:
Jake,
I'll email Joe / Deb / Kerry and see if we can get a Lisinski - Green Sunday Dinner conference call set up, OK? She's going to know that you're not there, but she'll enjoy the surprise.
By the way, have you met Heather? Coffee of the Month club? You probably should get her a Coffee of the Week club membership. Coffee of the Day club?
There's a new internet café in Jericho (I'm not kidding) so maybe you should arrange for an unlimited subscription for her there (I am kidding about that). As her doctor I'm still working on her to reduce her caffeine intake. Now, see? I just violated doctor/patient confidentiality and HIPAA. So, we've both said too much and nobody needs to die. We can just keep each other's secrets, OK?
You're not a crappy husband. None of the Greens are crappy husbands. Well, maybe that guy back at the beginning who renamed his new wife after the dead one. That's a crappy and a creepy move.
And I know your name, it just surprised me for a minute there, Junior.
Also, Dad and Eric are getting into horse breeding this year? First I've heard of it. Little late in the season, though.
Love
April
From: HGreen (JISD)
Sent: Thu Jun 01 12:17 (UTC-5)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: FW: Jericho Elementary School Vice Principal Appointment
Attachments: Memo_HGreen_vice_principal.pdf
Jake,
This one wasn't even a close call. This one definitely has to go to the DEA account. I don't even think we should talk about it on the phone unless you're in a "good place to talk".
So, you tell me - do I still call you right now? I told Mrs. McVeigh (who says I should really call her Sandy now, but you know me, that'll take years) that I needed to talk to you about this and so she's walking my class from lunch to Art today. That means I'm free until the start of the 2 pm recess.
I don't know how you always do this. Sometimes I have to sit here a minute and remind myself you're not psychic. I know you understand the world and people and organizations, but, wow, you REALLY understand the world and people and organizations. Somehow, you can always read the situation. Even from 7000 miles away.
As you can guess, even without opening the attachment, they want to offer me the vice principal position like you said they were going to do. I always expected that it would be on top of teaching. Again, small school, stagnant enrollment. That's exactly how Mrs. McVeigh - Sandy! - pitched this "move" to me. She always said it would mostly be ceremonial, but that I would be her official backup at all times. I've been the acting principal all 6 times she was out this year, but that was unofficial. Now it would be official.
You should read the offer letter, but the upshot is, the amenable solution we "agreed to" is not something I technically agreed to, it's just something I said in passing. When Sandy (full disclosure: I typed Mrs. McVeigh and erased it) said that the issue was the budget, I told her I didn't need a raise to go along with the promotion. I didn't realize she was going to pass that on to Superintendent Moore. And I don't need a raise, because we don't actually need the money. Except I know that doesn't work for your current cover story, and so we can't discuss that on the phone, which is why I haven't called you.
I'm also a little annoyed that the superintendent and school board are all like "wow, so lucky that our vice principal candidate married Jake Green so now we don't have to worry about finding the money to actually pay her".
It shouldn't matter who I'm married to. (It matters very much to me - but it shouldn't matter at all to them.) But I do kind of want to accept it, and I really wish you were here. Not just because I wouldn't have been an idiot this morning but because this would be so much easier to talk about in person. Look, I'm whining about my job to you, just like you want me to.
What do I do right now? Do I still call? Or do we need to wait to talk? Tell me what to do, Jake. (It'll probably be a while before I flat out invite you to tell me what to do again, so take advantage of it now, Hon. :-) )
[FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS]
From: AAames (JISD) on behalf of CMoore (JISD)
Sent: Thu Jun 01 06:54 (UTC-5)
To: HGreen (JISD)
CC: SMcVeigh (JISD); JISD Board of Education
Subject: Jericho Elementary School Vice Principal Appointment
Dear Mrs. Green:
We are pleased to offer you the position of Vice Principal at Jericho Elementary School effective August 1.
The position of Vice Principal is a twenty percent (20%) time appointment and will be concurrent with your current appointment as Certified Classroom Teacher/Elementary which will be reduced to an eighty percent (80%) time appointment.
Please review the enclosed changes to the terms of your contract and return a signed copy at your earliest convenience.
Congratulations! On behalf of the board and myself, I am glad that we were able to find an amenable solution. We all look forward to working with you for years to come.
Charles Moore
Superintendent
Jericho Independent School District
701 Fifth Street, Jericho KS
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 20:20 (UTC+3)
To: HGreen (JISD)
Subject: RE: Jericho Elementary School Vice Principal Appointment
Attachments:
Heather
Give me 5 minutes and then call me. Tell me about the promotion and ignore the fact that they're screwing you on compensation. Just don't mention money. We can do that part by email but I want to tell you some stuff so call me.
Love you
Jake
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 20:21 (UTC+3)
To: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)
Subject: My Status
Attachments:
Ange
I think we both know the real/other reason Gretchen has assigned you to/over me. I'm glad that you're handling the triplets but I know you're also handling me.
I assume you're under orders to monitor my mental fitness and let Gretchen know if she needs to pull me.
Hope you know that's the last thing she wants to do. She has a lot invested in this and so do I. But she doesn't want this to go sideways either. That would end all our careers and I could end up dead. I'm actively trying to prevent both those things don't worry.
Gretchen put you in because she either doesn't want to make the decision or she knows you will make the hard call even when she won't. I trust you to make that call even if she won't - if she thinks I might still pull this out but she isn't sure. If you're ever not sure you should call it. It's a really shitty thing for her to do to you. And to me. Sorry about that.
I'm ok for now. I've told Gretchen that and now I'm telling you. I'm tired and under stress. The schedule here is tough. Ravenwood burns through people fast let me tell you. That's just the driving. I'm burning out (and I know it) but I'm not burned out. I haven't lost touch with reality. My attitude is not great. I miss my wife.
What else do you need to hear?
I need to go take a call from Heather. Something came up for her at work today and it's important. I'm hitting send on this even though I know I probably shouldn't. Don't make the call to pull me until we can finish this ok?
Jake
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Thursday June 1, 8:20 pm (Baghdad Iraq) / Thursday June 1, 12:20 pm (Jericho KS)
4 months before the bombs
Jake tapped out the last sentence of his email to Ange, signed his name, and clicked the send button. Already, he regretted it. But he didn't have time for that, he reminded himself, so he'd deal with it later. He probably needed to risk a phone call with Ange, he decided, disconnecting from the DEA VPN and then shutting down his laptop. It was Heather's old laptop - a college graduation gift from her brothers - and though she hadn't used it since the first semester of her Master's program, she'd held onto for its sentimental value. He'd needed something he could turn over to the DEA tech team to use as Jake Green's laptop for this operation, and she hadn't been thrilled when he asked if he could have it. But she'd agreed once he had explained that he wanted to make sure that what he took with him would never be - had never been - connected with a government agency and her trusty old laptop fit the bill. The tech team had souped it up and had installed a whole second system within the laptop that allowed him to access the DEA VPN as he needed to. But on the outside, it still looked like a six-year old laptop: big, clunky case, too small of a screen, weighed a ton, and all the wear and tear one would expect after more than a half decade's use. Much like his satellite phone, he never left the laptop behind when he left his sleeping quarters. Jake stuffed it into his backpack and rolled off his bunk.
He'd almost made it out of the building when he ran into Freddie, coming in from the rec center next door. "Man, you missed a good game," his friend informed him. "Caught the rebroadcast of the Rockies at the Padres from yesterday. My team clobbered your team."
Jake shook his head. "Rockies aren't my team," he reminded. "My team's the Royals. American League all the way. Rockies, I just catch if I'm in Denver."
Freddie snorted. "Sure," he returned skeptically. "Where'r you goin'?"
"Take a phone call," he shrugged, nodding at Ellison as he stepped around the two of them, also heading toward the exit. As a crew chief, Ellison had a small room all to himself at the end of the same hallway as Jake and Freddie. "Heather got some news from her boss. Gonna go find out what it is. Hope it's good. We could use some good news."
"Tell her you're ready to have a kid," Freddie advised. "Even if it's bad news about her job, she'll be happy."
"Already tried that earlier," Jake grumbled, "She didn't think I was taking her seriously. Besides," he continued, raising his voice slightly for Ellison's benefit; the crew chief had paused at the exit, obviously eavesdropping. "We still can't afford it."
"Hope it's good news, man," Freddie sighed, clapping Jake on the shoulder. "I'm gonna call Ana, so I'll tell her to light a candle for Heather."
"Thanks," Jake said, turning to follow Ellison out the door.
The crew boss was already halfway across the courtyard between the buildings, heading apparently for the small building that housed the Baghdad corporate offices for both Ravenwood and Jennings & Rall. Jake decided to be glad for that - he wouldn't have to make his pitch again under the guise of small talk. He could just talk to his wife.
It wasn't quite dark yet, but dusk had descended, and Jake knew there was a chance he could sit at one of the picnic tables scattered irregularly across the courtyard without burning himself on the aluminum frame. He picked a spot that was closer (but not too close) to the Security Services' dormitory than his own, and took a seat, dropping his backpack on the table. His phone rang, and he flipped it open on the second ring while also fishing a bottle of water out of his pack. "Hey, babe," he greeted. "So?"
"Hi Jake."
"So?" he repeated, "What is it? Good news or bad? Heather, c'mon, the suspense is killing me."
She made a chuffing noise, and he knew she was suppressing a giggle at the ridiculousness of this call when he was already fully aware of her news. But still, she gamely played along, demanding, "How did you know that they were gonna offer me the vice principal position? Because they did. And now I'm back to thinking you're psychic again."
"Again? When did you think I was psychic before?" Jake inquired, truly curious.
"When you figured out that April and I were planning a surprise thirtieth birthday party for you and Eric," Heather informed him.
"That wasn't me being psychic," he argued, uncapping his water. "That was because you read Stanley in, and he can't keep a secret. Well, he can," Jake corrected a moment later, after swallowing, "But you have to get him to say the magic words."
"So, Stanley told you?" she questioned, clearly annoyed. "And I did say the magic words. I said 'please don't tell Jake, it's a surprise'."
"'Please' is a little kid/mom/teacher magic word, sure," he chuckled, taking another sip of water. "But that's not the magic words that make Stanley keep a secret. And he has to say 'em, not you."
She emitted a strangled sound. "So, what are the Stanley magic words?"
"Sorry, can't tell you that-"
"Jake!"
"I'd love to be able to tell you, babe. Really. If I was gonna tell anyone, it'd be you," he insisted, "But I just can't."
"So, there's a pact involved," Heather surmised.
"Yeah, there is," Jake confirmed. "But - really - if I were gonna tell anyone, it would be you."
"Fine!" she groaned, frustrated. "Apparently, you're not psychic, but sometimes you are impossible, mister."
"But you love me anyway," he sighed, taking another drink. He knew he was fishing for some reassurance, but he couldn't help himself. He was still the slightest bit rattled by their last conversation.
Heather seemed to recognize this as she declared brightly, all traces of annoyance suddenly absent from her tone, "That I do. I love, love, love you. And, one day, I'm gonna actually manage to surprise you, too," she vowed.
"You surprise me all the time, Heather," he told her. "Good surprises. I'm still a little surprised you went out with me in the first place," he declared. "So, trust me, you don't need to throw me a surprise party. Ever again. And hey, I acted surprised."
"Fake surprised," she contradicted with a snort. "Fake happy. Though I was probably the only one who really noticed that. Me and your mom."
"My dad too. He pulled me aside, told me not to be a jerk - to you and April. 'Cause he always thinks he knows when I'm about to disappoint him. And I wasn't gonna be a jerk, just so you know."
"I know, hon. You were a really good sport that night, Jake. So, I promise that next time, I'll tell April she's on her own," Heather assured. "And no way you actually thought I was gonna turn you down when you asked me out."
"Hey, I wasn't takin' anything for granted," he countered. "But then thirty seconds after I walked into your house, you plant one on me, so then I figured long as I could keep from screwing up too badly, maybe I stood a chance with you."
"It was at least two minutes before I kissed you," she protested, giggling, "Because apparently I'm brazen, but I'm not that brazen."
"Ninety seconds at most, babe. And I vote for more brazen, " Jake chuckled. "Long as you're aimin' it at me."
"You're the only one I'm ever gonna be aiming at, hon."
Jake cleared his throat. "So, we're on the clock, right? Your kids are gonna be back from lunch soon, so I need the details, Vice Principal Green," he emphasized. "How's this gonna work?"
"I haven't accepted yet," she informed him. "And actually, I have time. I told Mrs. McVeigh-"
"You really still hafta call her Mrs. McVeigh?" he interrupted. "When you're gonna be second in command?"
"No. She's insisting that I call her Sandy," Heather replied, just as he knew she would. "But I - you know me."
"Yeah, that's gonna take you years," Jake agreed, quoting her email back to her. "Guess I'll hafta start calling her Sandy - to try and help you with the transition, babe."
"You're gonna start calling Mrs. McVeigh 'Sandy' to her face?" Heather teased. "You're brave, Jake Green, 'cause we both know - if she doesn't like it - she will call your mother."
"Maybe not to her face," Jake laughed, "I don't need that kinda trouble."
"They want me to sign a contract that says I'll spend twenty percent of my time doing vice principal things, and eighty percent of my time teaching," she explained, her tone turning serious. "And Mrs. McVeigh-"
"-Sandy-"
"Right, Sandy," Heather corrected, "She wants me - at least next year - to concentrate on ensuring compliance with curriculum standards for the whole school. So, she'll do my evaluation, but I'll do the evaluations for all the other teachers."
"So - basically - you get to grade all the other teachers," Jake summarized. "Nice! And maybe, knowin' you're comin' for her, Mrs. Walker will finally realize it's time to retire."
"I still have to be professional, Jake. And Mrs. Walker's a good teacher. I'm not gonna be coming for her."
"What's her first name?"
"Edna," Heather admitted reluctantly, admonishing, "Don't laugh."
"I'm not - I won't," he swore. "I'm still a little scared of her, to be honest."
"How about we just both keep callin' her Mrs. Walker," she suggested.
"Deal," Jake agreed. "I'm so proud of you, Heather," he announced with his next breath. "Like I have anything to be proud of - I didn't have anything to do with this. But still. I'm really proud of you. You worked hard for this and you deserve it." It occurred to him, as the words left his mouth, that he'd said the exact same thing to her brother in the congratulatory email he'd sent earlier that evening. But it was true - Heather and Michael had both worked hard, and they deserved all the recognition. "You're - you're awesome, babe."
"Well, thank you," she returned, almost shyly. "But, Jake, you have more to do with this than you think. Or would ever admit to."
"Me?" he scoffed, "No way, babe. You did this. You did all the work," he declared, tipping his water bottle back, and finishing it off.
"You really think I'd still be here - living here - if I hadn't met you?" Heather asked, her tone turning skeptical. "Or that I'd have my Master's without you encouraging me - cheering me on?"
"I don't like to think about those other universes, remember? And, babe, I'm always gonna cheer you on."
"I know," she acknowledged, and Jake could hear the smile - the one he'd do pretty much anything for - in her voice. "That was the third thing I ever knew about you. Because five minutes - not even, really. Like two minutes after we met, you were telling me to not let Karen Harper get to me - to not let her drive me outta town. The very first pep talk you ever gave me. Before you even knew my name."
"I'm pretty sure I knew you were 'Heather' by then," he contradicted. "And, God, I wish I could see her face when she finds out that you're gonna be the vice principal. Not that I'm vindictive or anything."
"That's not vindictive. Or - if it is - I'm gonna be vindictive right along with you," she decided, laughing softly. "Because I kinda want to see her face when she finds out too."
"So, if that was the third thing you knew about me - that you can count on me for pep talks, which you can - what were the first two?" He was pretty sure he knew her answer, but he wanted to hear it anyway.
"You know what I'm gonna say," Heather accused, unknowingly reading his mind. "First," she began, her tone full of affection, "I knew that you were - are - a good person, the kind of person who stops to help a stranger."
"Well-"
"And don't you dare say you're not a good person, because I would not have married someone who wasn't a good person, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, hoping he sounded properly chastised. "I do try to be a good person for you - to you. And I hope I succeed more than I fail-"
"You do. Promise," Heather interjected. "Because I know I'm married to a good person even when you don't."
Okay," he repeated. "And I know that I'm married to a good person. An amazing person. But ... you still hafta tell me what the second thing you knew about me was," Jake prompted, feeling a smirk bloom on his lips. He was pushing his luck and he knew it. "I insist."
"You insist, huh?" she huffed, exaggerating her annoyance for a moment before allowing a giggle. "Well then, the second thing I knew about you - and maybe it was actually the first, now that I think about it," she continued, taking advantage of the opportunity to torture him just a little bit. "But that thing - the thing that I knew about you right away - from the moment I laid eyes on you - that thing was - and is - that you're super hot," she declared. "I mean, I ogled you, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," he returned, grinning to himself. "But it's not like I wasn't checking you out too. I was just less blatant about it."
She made a noncommittal noise that morphed into a sigh. "If I take this job - promotion - whatever it is - it's gonna be more work. Probably a lot more work, Jake," she cautioned. "A lot more hours."
"Yep," he acknowledged. " Because you're you. Babe, I know there's no way you could just be an eighty percent teacher. Doesn't matter what they put on paper. You're still gonna give your kids a hundred and ten percent."
"Yeah," she agreed, sounding almost annoyed by the idea.
"Plus, pile on another forty or fifty percent for all the other kids at school now that you're the vice principal. Not that you weren't already doing that - looking out for all the other kids."
"Well, I'm not the vice principal yet," she reminded. "But yeah. That's the kinda teacher I am, the kinda administrator I hope to be."
"You can't change who you are, Heather, and I don't want you to."
"Thanks. I want - I just want to make sure you're okay with this. Be honest."
"I'm always honest with you, babe," he returned. "Little worried that you don't remember that - or maybe don't believe it," Jake continued, exhaling a long breath. "I mean, first with that other conversation that we're not gonna mix with this conversation, and now you're worried that I'm not gonna want you to do this," he complained. "Which is not true. I'm proud of you, remember?"
"I remember. And, I believe you."
"You better," Jake grumbled softly. "This is the next step in the plan, right? This is what you're meant to do with your life. I mean, besides hang out with me."
"Hanging out with you is the most important part of my life, thank you very much. Even when it's just by phone."
"Exactly what I'm saying. And the phone's not forever, remember that, too," he told her. "Babe, you are an amazing teacher, and you're gonna be a great vice principal. And that makes me the husband who's gonna cheer you on. Plus, keep a drawer full of takeout menus handy so we don't starve, and be available to check math and spelling on an emergency basis only."
"So, peanut butter Rice Krispie treats is an emergency, huh?"
"Damn straight. Grilled cheese for dinner, too."
"Interesting definition of 'emergency', hon," she teased. "But we'll go with it. And, you're also the husband who knows when to be distracting," Heather reminded. "Right? That is a very important duty."
"Hey, I'm always gonna be distracting when you need distracting," Jake declared. "There's a requirement for that, and I fulfill all my contractual obligations, Mrs. Green."
"You better," she murmured. Heather was quiet for a long moment before sighing deeply and confessing, "I really do want to accept."
"So do it," he advised. "We've talked about it, we agree. You want to. I want you to. You're gonna do great. Feels like a decision to me."
"I still need to read through the contract changes. Make sure I'm not selling them my soul or-" She hesitated for a second, but then added, "Or - you know - our firstborn or something."
"Well, yeah, don't agree to that," Jake snorted. "You're definitely not allowed to hand your soul or our future kid over to the JISD. I mean, yeah, for educational purposes. Our kids should go to school. But other than that...."
"They really should," Heather confirmed, laughing softly. "Otherwise, some parents might question the commitment of the vice principal."
"Nah, you'll be principal by then," he argued. "Sandy's only gonna stick around another couple of years. Probably just long enough for us to have a couple of kids-"
"Jake," she grumbled. "I mean, I know I said 'firstborn', so that's on me, but...."
"I'm not combining the conversations, just making a prediction, okay? That conversation is for another day. And we're gonna have it - just not right now."
"Okay."
"You should talk to Eric," he suggested. "This is what he's good for. He can review the changes for you and let us know if there's something hinky in there, okay?"
"I can do that," Heather agreed, "That's a good idea."
"Kinda sorry I'm gonna miss that part. You know, the exact moment he learns I'm married to the vice principal."
"Right," she giggled softly. "Sign of the apocalypse. Though, I wouldn't officially start being the vice principal until August first."
Over their connection, Jake heard a school bell buzz, signaling the end of the lunch period. "You're gonna be late to get your class."
"I told Mrs. - I mean-"
"Sandy," they said in unison.
Heather laughed, repeating, "Sandy, yes, thank you. I told her that I needed to talk to you, so she's walking my kids to Art for me," she explained, reiterating what she'd written in her email.
For the millionth time, Jake silently thanked her for playing along. He knew why she went along with it, but still every time he fed her a prompt for something she knew that he already knew, he felt like a jerk. But Heather cheerfully did what had to be done because (he knew) she wanted to talk to him as much as he wanted to talk to her. And, this was the safest way to do that. "But isn't this, like, the all caps, 'LAST ART CLASS OF THE YEAR'? And, don't you usually go to Art class?"
"Yeah, usually," she conceded. "But that's just so I can work on improving my stick figures," she joked. "Besides, skipping Art class - like every other teacher does - is probably how I'm gonna manage to be a twenty percent vice principal. Realistically speaking."
"That's irony for you," he grumbled. "You're such a great teacher that everyone realizes you should be leading the other teachers - showing them how to be great teachers - only now you don't get to do the things that make you a great teacher."
"Well, hopefully I can still be a pretty good teacher - with the occasional moment of greatness - and a pretty good vice principal, too."
"If anyone can, you can, babe."
"Thanks," she murmured. "So, hey, where are you right now?" she asked, a few seconds later, her tone curious. "And don't just say Iraq."
"Uh... if I can't say Iraq, I don't quite know what to tell you, Heather," he returned dryly.
"I just mean, be more specific," she explained. "Are you in your room?"
"What I have is a bunk more than a room," he reminded, "And I've never talked to you from there - not allowed. And, I didn't try to get one of the booths in the rec center, 'cause those are usually reserved out ahead of time. But I do have my reservations for next Tuesday," Jake informed her, "So don't worry, you're gonna get all the bonus calls."
"Good! At least one of which is Skype."
"Yeah," he confirmed, "Got the whole day all planned out, babe."
"So, what times should I expect your calls?" she asked. "And, just so you know, it's Field Day that day, which is usually - unofficially - an early dismissal, depending on how long the softball tournament runs."
"My favorite day of the school year," Jake declared, teasing, "The one day each year Mrs. Green throws caution to the wind and wears shorts to school."
"True!" Heather laughed, "Once a year only!"
"You know, if I quit tonight, I can be home by Tuesday - maybe even in time for Sunday dinner," he offered suddenly. "Then I'd be there for your birthday and Mrs. Green wears shorts to school day."
"Jake," she admonished with a sigh. "You know that the pep talks and the cheering on, that's a two-way street, right? And I know you're not doing what you want to be doing with your life. But you're still doing it so you can do what you want to do, right?" she said, hitting the most pertinent points of his cover story. "So, I will survive one birthday without you at home, okay? So, you need to do what you need to do for the ranch. It's where we want our kids to grow up after all. Okay?"
"Okay. Good pep talk, babe."
"And - tell you what - I'll go by the first aid station and get April to take my picture so you can still celebrate 'Mrs. Green wears shorts to school' day, just a little bit late."
"Okay, thanks," he agreed, blowing out a frustrated breath. "So, for your birthday calls... I'll email you on Monday night to let you know when to expect the first one," he explained. "And then, at the end of each call, I'll tell you when you're getting the next one."
"Jake!"
"Patience, grasshopper."
"Fine," she groaned. "But now you really hafta tell me where you are right now. Since you're not in your bunk, or in a booth in the rec center, where are you?"
"Outside my building. There's this - I dunno - patio, courtyard, big concrete pad thing. It's between a bunch of buildings owned by the company. There are picnic tables. And I'm probably the first person to ever sit out here," he admitted. "Too hot."
"How hot is it?" Heather demanded, concern evident in her tone.
"More than ninety but less than a hundred? That's a guess," he conceded. "For some reason, there are no time and temperature signs in this country."
"Yeah, I wonder why," she sighed. "You should go inside. I don't want you to get sick from the heat."
"It's not that bad now. It feels like it did when we left for our honeymoon. Sun had gone down, so it didn't feel like we were being baked alive anymore," he recalled, chuckling, "But I still couldn't figure out why the hell we were taking the Roadrunner and not your car with air conditioning. So, it's hot, but not 'it's gonna kill ya' hot."
"Well, my dad had my car, so that probably had something to do with it," Heather reminded. "Plus, there was all that effort our brothers put into decorating the Roadrunner."
"Vandalizing it, you mean," he complained.
"And then we got honked at all the way to Wichita," she laughed.
"Anyway, right now, it's that kinda hot. It was way worse earlier. This afternoon. When I freaked out at you. Maybe that was the problem - my brain swelled up in the heat."
"Not funny, Jake."
"Little bit funny," he contradicted. "And I'm sorry about that. For freaking out. It's just a word. No big deal. And now I'm gonna tell you to go read your email."
"I will, soon as I get home," she promised. "Though, I guess I need to stop by and see Eric before I go home."
"Yeah, go talk to him," Jake yawned. "And I completely forgot that you think its unprofessional to read your personal email at work. You'll see what I mean."
"I don't know that it's unprofessional. You're grumpy on your voicemail because of telemarketers, well, I get a lot of spam, so I just deal with it at home, and not at work."
"Makes sense. Babe, I think I better go," he decided, yawning a second time. I don't wanna, but I should."
"Well, yeah," Heather agreed. "Because it's ninety-five degrees out and almost past your bedtime."
"Thanks for the reminder," Jake groaned. "And I have a few more things to take care of tonight. Because someone has a birthday coming up."
"Better get to it then, hon," she ordered, affecting a stern tone. "And I have a bedtime, too. It's not the worst thing to have as an adult."
"You say so," he grumbled. "I love you. Congratulations. Read your email. Let me know what Eric says."
"Thank you. I will do both those things. And I love you too. Don't stay up too late, okay? Bye Jake. Love you."
"Bye Heather. Love you."
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From: Gail Green
Sent: Thu Jun 01 12:56 (UTC-5)
To: Jake Green (personal)
Subject: RE: Favor
Attachments:
Dear Jake,
April has everything for Heather's actual birthday on Tuesday arranged. We are going to do a "girls' night out" which will be fun. Heather is missing you, so I think she very much didn't want your father or brother to come to dinner on her actual birthday.
We're also celebrating her birthday at dinner on Sunday night. I've invited Stanley and Bonnie, so I think we will have a nice group, though you will be missed, by the birthday girl especially.
I hope you are kidding when you claim to not have known that cakes come in sizes. You're a very smart person, Jake, so logically you should know cakes come in sizes.
I was going to pick up the 8-inch Chocolate Kahlua cake on Sunday after church. That should serve 10 to 12, so Heather can take whatever is leftover home with her. (As long as we don't let Stanley go wild she'll have nearly half a cake that way.) Would it be all right with you if I had them change your order and paid the difference? Or I could go with the 10-inch and it wouldn't matter how much Stanley wanted.
I hope you are taking care of yourself, Jake. Make sure to get enough sleep, and for goodness' sake, eat a vegetable every once in a while. That would make your mother very happy.
Love Mom
From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 12:07 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
CC: Agent Stephen Waller (FBI)
Subject: Financial Woes
Attachments: JG_Shiny_Object_Scenario_1.xls; JG_Shiny_Object_Scenario_2.xls; JG_Shiny_Object_3.xls
Jake,
So, I gave the triplets a little challenge. They each had to come up with a scenario for making Jake Green's financial life a little more miserable. They had the following facts to start from:
1. Jake Green's family ranch is in dire financial difficulty. Will take a net operating loss this year. Didn't do any breeding this year, so next year's looking bleak, too.
Still, Jake's main financial goal is to preserve the ranch.
2. Grandfather is in failing health, can no longer participate in ranch management. His SS income has been a bit of a cushion for everyday expenses. (Death is imminent.)
3. Wife is a teacher, so definitely undercompensated. Gretchen wants us to max out the credit card debt, but I dared them to avoid that - or at least not have it result from a shopping addiction (Heather is my friend after all).
I'm not going to tell you which of the 3 attached scenarios is my favorite. But the winner does get a prize.
We can of course take the best bits from all 3, but I do need to declare a winner, so make sure you give me your vote.
Steve,
This is the little side project I told you about. Something fun to work on while you're stuck in DC. You get a vote too.
If we each pick a different winner, I'll give them all to Gretchen to pick the winner. Or Mellie, if Gretchen doesn't want to play.
Ange
From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 12:07 (UTC-6)
To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)
Subject: RE: My Status
Attachments:
Jake,
Your understanding of the situation and my understanding of the situation comport. Thank you, also, for confirming what I suspected but didn't actually/officially know.
I'm not pulling you now, but I will pull you if I think I need to. I promise you that. And I can and will raise holy hell if I need to. I owe Gretchen a lot, but I also won't let you end up dead.
Can we do a call sometime soon? Preferably a secure one, but I can be Janine Walker if I have to be.
Ange
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 21:12 (UTC+3)
To: HGreen (JISD)
CC: Heather Green (home)
Subject: RE: Jericho Elementary School Vice Principal Appointment
Attachments:
Heather -
Take the contract changes to Eric and see what he says.
But you can also call Gunnison & Gunnison and get them to give you an email address to forward the email to. They get a big yearly retainer for the trust plus they will bill us for any time they spend reviewing it. The retainer will make you a priority. Might as well take advantage of it. All you have to say is your name and they should be falling all over themselves to help. If they're not just say "EJ Green". Those are magic words I'm authorized to share. Say "EJ Green's granddaughter" and they'll probably put you right through to Charles Gunnison himself.
They are taking advantage of you by not paying you for this but it's your next logical career move so I still say go for it. As long as they leave your soul and our kids out of it. I'm extremely protective of both - even though our kids don't exist yet. (But they will soon ok?)
I'm so proud of you Babe. Can't wait til I can walk around town telling everyone about my amazing wife Vice Principal Green.
Love you
Jake
From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]
Sent: Thu Jun 01 21:29 (UTC+3)
To: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)
Subject: RE: My Status
Attachments:
Ange
Thanks for the Shiny Object scenarios. I will look them over tomorrow. I'm already up past my bedtime. I figure I can say that to someone with a 2 year old and you won't make too much fun of me. Heather already pointed out to me this week that I have the bedtime of an 8 year old.
You can't just send me one of those mental health inventory questionnaires and call it good? You really need to talk? I'll figure something out. Heather's birthday is Tuesday, so I've promised her multiple calls on the day. I'm thinking of going to my secure location about 0100 Wed which is 1700 Tues for her. One of her presents is being delivered just before that and then she has dinner with my mom and sister in law at 1800. You and I can talk once she leaves for dinner. I'll already be there anyway. Soon enough?
Heather wants to have a kid. She also wants to talk about having a kid. Which is fine. She likes to discuss things so that's what we do. I just can't discuss that while I'm here. Got to keep my head in the game right? Anyway that's the answer you were fishing for.
Also they offered her the vice principal position at her school. They want her to do 2 jobs and not pay her a dollar more. They're totally screwing her over but she really wants it and I'm just proud and still a little amazed she married me.
I offered to quit tonight and come home in time for her birthday and she told me no. Because she's just that good of a person. I want to finish this thing and go home ok? That's the goal.
Jake
From: Jake Green (personal)
Sent: Thu Jun 01 21:37 (UTC+3)
To: Gail Green
Subject: RE: Favor
Attachments:
Mom -
I have a whole plan for Heather's birthday. That includes the cake being delivered to the ranch on Monday. That's all I'm asking for. I already feel like an asshole for missing her birthday. Thank you for everything you and April are doing to salvage it for her.
But can we just stick to the plan I have and make sure there's a whole, smallest cake they make, at the ranch for her on Monday?
Can't you get a different cake for Sunday? Either the Kahlua cake or something else? She also likes the strawberry lemonade cake they make at McBee's and you and dad like anything lemon. Get that. Please.
Sorry I'm being a jerk. I have to be up in less than 6 hours so please just do me the favor and do something separate for Sunday. As soon as Mrs. McBee said cakes come in sizes it made sense. And I do eat vegetables as long as they don't look like they violate the Geneva Convention. I had a vegetable today.
Love Jake
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued in Different Circumstances Interludes: Long Distance Relationship, Part 3.
I really am continuing to write this story (both the main storyline and these Interludes), and I have a pretty good outline to get me through the rest of season one and beyond. But again, I don't know how fast that will be or if there is still any interest in this story. If there is, and you want me to know that, the best way to do so (unless you are a registered user of this site and want to leave a review) is to email me directly at: marzeedoats @ gmail dot com (please format as an email address - I am trying to avoid getting additional junk mail). I promise I will only use this information as encouragement to write, and potentially to send you pdf copies of later chapters, if and when the site closes (would be late May 2023 at the earliest). Contacting me directly is the best way to let me know if there is still interest in this story, and you want to know (eventually) how it ends.
The character of Freddie Ruiz appeared in the episode The Day Before, and has previously appeared in Different Circumstances Part 8A.
The character of Gretchen Tolliver is original to the Different Circumstances universe. She is Jake's supervisor at the DEA. She has been mentioned/appears in Different Circumstances Part 4C, Part 11B, 11E, and 14G. Different Circumstances Part 14G also introduced the original character of Ange Waller, a Jake's co-worker, who is also friends/friendly with Heather. Different Circumstances Part 14G has been slightly updated to reflect some necessary changes that make it "agree" better with this Interlude.
The 3 fortunes used in this part for Heather and for Jake are the actual first 3 fortunes that came up when I used the online fortune cookie generator at: http://hkessner.com/wats1020-dom-basics/ I even wrote about them in the order they came up. I committed to using whichever fortunes came up for them as a writing prompt in the middle of this story and I felt extremely lucky, especially with the very first fortune.
Jake is referencing George Orwell's famous phrase from the allegorical novel Animal Farm, "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others," when he writes: "I know they all matter but some requirements matter more than others." Heather's "requirements" for/of Jake are a long-running joke between them, first talked about in Different Circumstances, Part 6D. (Also addressed/alluded to in DC Parts 8B, 10A, 14E, and 15D - so far.)
The selection of Heather's engagement ring is a scene within Different Circumstances Part 13B. This part also includes the proposal scene if you have a desire to brush up on that.
The San Diego Padres played the Colorado Rockies on May 31, 2006 in San Diego. The Padres rallied in the sixth inning to score the 3 runs they needed to defeat the Rockies, who had scored both their runs in the fourth. Perhaps not as riveting of a game as Freddie claimed, but the game did take place. Both the Padres and the Rockies are in the National League, whereas Jake's Kansas City Royals are in the American League. Jake (and I) are American League all the way.
Lastly, if you want to to refresh yourself about how Heather and Jake met (since it was discussed) see Different Circumstances Part 1.
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