Sometimes it is not good to indulge curiosity. Sometimes, however, it is exactly the right thing to do.
This morning, as Hannah helped Jack and Lily get ready for their day, she noticed that there was something different about Jack. He seemed to have something in mind, something other than the cases he would be working on that day. “What’s up with you?” she asked him.
“What? Nothing.”
“Liar,” Hannah retorted.
He paused and smiled at her, still in her pajamas, her hair rumpled. “Look, I’ll tell you when I get home, okay? I promise.”
She scowled at him. “Tell me now. You look way too pleased with yourself.”
He turned around and kissed her cheek. “Later,” he promised. “I’m not sure how it’s going to go anyway. Now, you were at work until five this morning. Go back to sleep.” He went to the foot of the stairs to call for Lily, and after she had kissed Hannah goodbye, the two of them went off.
Hannah was too tired to think about it much, but I wanted to know more. Jack was pleased with himself, and also a bit nervous, and underneath all that was a kind of stern determination that intrigued me most of all. He was planning something, and I wanted to see what it was.
I didn’t have to wait long. Normally, after dropping Lily off at school, Jack will either take Hannah out to breakfast or, if she is working or too tired from work, he’ll get himself a coffee until it’s time for him to go into the office. This time, he drove directly from the school to a clinic that I recognized immediately.
The woman at the desk down the hall from Ramiro Valdez’s office nodded as soon as Jack gave his name. “Yes, he’s waiting for you,” she said.
“Thank you,” Jack said and turned toward the office door. It was already open, and Hannah’s father was sitting with his hands folded, his dark eyes sharp on Jack as he came in.
“Dr. Valdez,” Jack said. “It’s a pleasure.” He held out his hand over the desk.
Ramiro ignored the hand, getting up and closing the door. “So you’re with Hannah?” he said, returning to his desk.
Jack was not offended by the rejection of his handshake. Smiling to himself, he took a step back, but didn’t sit down. “I am, sir. I thought it was time that you and I met. It’s odd—Hannah and I have had her mother over to dinner already, and Trey has been to the house at least three times. But Hannah hasn’t ever suggested we meet up with you. Why do you think that is?”
Ramiro looked up sharply at the slight hint of challenge in Jack’s tone. But then he laughed a bit and waved Jack into a chair. He respects a strong, straight-talking man—which Jack must have realized. Jack reads people as easily as I might—he must be an excellent lawyer.
“So what can I do for you, Jack?” Ramiro said. “May I call you Jack?”
“Of course. And I was hoping to get your help.”
“And why would I help you? I don’t know you.”
“Oh, it’s not for me, or only indirectly. I really want you to help Hannah.”
At that Ramiro frowned. “What does Hannah need help with?”
“Need, nothing,” Jack corrected himself. “She could probably sort it out herself. But it’s taking a lot of time, and time is precious right now.” He leaned forward. “Are you familiar with her supervisor, Dr. Bentley?”
A snort and a grimace were all the answers that Jack needed.
“Well, Hannah has been going back and forth with that woman for weeks now. All Hannah’s asking for is a schedule adjustment, one that her coworkers are willing to accommodate, but Dr. Bentley won’t do it. It’s getting to the point where it’s causing a lot of tension for her, and she doesn’t have a lot of options that might not hurt her own chances in the future.”
Glowering at his desk, Ramiro picked up a pen and began to tap it against his nameplate in irritation. “I never did like that woman. Might’ve guessed that she would misuse any small pretense at power she might get.” He looked at Jack with narrowed eyes. “So Hannah wants me to step in? She’s never asked for my help before.”
“Oh, she doesn’t know I’m here, sir. This was all my idea.”
Ramiro raised his eyebrows. Then he laughed. “You’re asking for special treatment for my daughter, without telling my daughter? Son, you better look out for your cajones, because she’ll be coming for them.”
Jack didn’t seem concerned. “She would never have asked, but I think I can get her to see that it’s worthwhile.”
“Oh, yes?” Ramiro said skeptically.
“Yes,” Jack said firmly. His brows lowered, and that determination that had caught my attention earlier in the morning came to the fore. “I’m doing this for my family, and I think Hannah would agree that for family, sometimes you bend the rules.”
Ramiro considered him for a long moment. Then he turned to his computer. “I don’t want to talk to that Bentley woman if I don’t have to,” he said. “But I think I know her direct supervisor—Dr. Trudeau, I think her name is. I’ll see if I can meet her for lunch sometime this week.”
Jack smiled and got to his feet. “Thank you, Dr. Valdez. I very much appreciate it.”
Ramiro made a note in his calendar, then also rose and held out his hand over the desk. “I like you, Jack,” he said briskly. “Hannah’s taste has improved.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You have a daughter, right?”
“My niece, but I have full custody.” Jack stepped back from the desk again. “Would you like to meet her? We’d love to have you for dinner sometime.”
Ramiro glanced down at his desk and said something gruff, but I could see in his aura that the invitation meant a great deal to him. And I think that it will be accepted before too much time has passed.
I think Jack is right that Hannah will not mind too much that he has done this. Of course, I may have to be there to keep her from acting on her first instinct, which may indeed be to attack Jack’s most vulnerable body parts, but he is right. They and Lily are a family now, and that means that new priorities must be formed and old reservations set aside.
Besides, if this also suffices to narrow the gap between Hannah and her father, then all the better. But we shall see.