Cold Pursuit

That was crazy, kid. Absolutely crazy.

Joh

Joh

"You got it worse than me, Dad."

"Hardly even feel it. That was the wrong thing to do, Joh

"Let's go to your place."

McMichael made Joh

"Are you a doctor, or what?" he asked.

"I will be, someday. One more year of college, then three of med school."

"Oh."

A while later she walked them to the car. McMichael held the door open for Joh

"You don't have to be sarcastic."

He looked at her and could tell she meant it. He sighed and felt the adrenaline butterflies settling, felt tiredness and disappointment coming on. "Maybe some other time."

"That's up to you. Call me."

He offered his bandaged hand and she shook it carefully. In the hard winter sunlight she looked different. The squint lines at the edges of her eyes were new to him and the way she stood with her shoulders back and her head high revealed new facets of what McMichael believed were grace and character.

She struck him as utterly alien, cut from some template he had never seen before, could not recognize or easily understand. He had never seen a woman this way, certainly not Steffy, who had seemed familiar and comprehensible from the first moment they met.

He could see the Phoenix taking off just behind the collar of Sally Rainwater's blouse.

He and Joh

He called Steffy on his cell phone and told her what had happened. She said, "Oh my God," then went silent as McMichael explained how Joh

After a long silence she spoke. "You couldn't stop him?"

"I couldn't imagine it, Steff. I wasn't even looking at him when he took off."

"You should have seen it coming."

"I didn't."

"You should have introduced him to your new friend in some better way."

"If you can think of a better way than over pizza on a Saturday, tell me about it."

He hung up on her. Of all the people he'd ever known she was the best at making him furious.

McMichael and his son walked to the car side by side, but not close. Joh

You get what you get.

McMichael thought of a favorite biblical passage, one that summed up the bitter inequities of life on Earth as he knew it: For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Quite a showstopper, he thought. It wasn't one of those passages that Father Shea spent much time on. McMichael thought of Franklin. He thought of Steffy and the oral surgeon and their mountain of booty, topped by the ultimate jewel- his son.

"Are you in love with her?"

"I don't know her very well."

"She looks younger than you."

"She is, by ten years."

"That's a lot."

"Burgers or spaghetti, John?"

"I don't like that tattoo on her neck. I think it's to cover something up."

"It covers up a bullet hole. A man shot her."

"Shot her! Why?"

"He was a bad man and a coward."

"Maybe she did something to him. Then she would deserve it."

"Nobody deserves that. Unless they're hurting someone really badly. Bring the buns over here, would you?"

"I wonder what she did to that guy who shot her."

"I honestly don't know."

"You've never shot anyone."

"No. Hey, these burgers are okay tonight."

"Do you want to shoot someone?"

"No. But I would, if I had to."

"I'd like to shoot Clay."

"Don't say that, son."

"But I think it."

"He's not hurting you, is he?"

"He looks right past me. And sometimes I'd like to shoot Mom, too."

"I said don't talk like that."

"Mom divorced you. I know it was her fault."

"No, Joh

McMichael's throat suddenly got thick and painful. Almost gagging on the lie. A lie you tell the person you love most on Earth, to explain why you can't even live in the same house with him anymore. The lie you tell to make it all okay. To grease the gears. So everybody can just get along.

"I hate this video."

"We'll get a different one next time."

"What are the chances of you and Mom ever getting back together?"

"Very small."

"What would have to happen?"

"I can't imagine it, son. I don't know what could bring your mother and me back together."

"Maybe you could just live with us. There's a lot of room and the beach is right outside. It's a better house than the lady's got."

"That probably wouldn't work out very well."

"Why not, because Clay and Mom need their privacy?"

"Exactly."

"Man, that's what they always tell me."

"Son, don't ever run off like that again. Ever. I want a promise."

"I promise I won't. Don't run away from me either. You have to promise, too."

"I never will. I promise. I love you, Joh

"I love you, too."

"Good night. Sweet dreams, son."

"You too, Dad. Sweet dreams."