“But that rafting trip...?”
“Was extreme,” she said. “He joined a group that was going down one of the most dangerous rivers in the country. I don’t know what he was thinking. He wasn’t trained for that, he wasn’t prepared. I’ve since learned that it’s not uncommon for people, men especially, to sign up for a risky and thrilling adventure or sport in a psychological quest to prove their youth isn’t slipping away.”
“Jessie, there’s a very good chance you’re never going to know what he was thinking,” Patrick said. “Tell me what it was like growing up with him.”
She described their first house, the one she remembered from her earliest days before Bess came along. It was like a dollhouse and her parents walked with her to preschool and then kindergarten and first grade. Her mother was very busy back then, when she was small. Anna was working and in school, while her father filled in with the kids, helping with homework and such. What she remembered best about those years was that Mommy was always too busy and Chad seemed to be able to find plenty of extra time. And once Mommy wasn’t too busy, along came Bess and, soon after, the district attorney’s office.
“Your mother was very successful, I take it,” Patrick said.
Their food was delivered and they began to feed off the three large plates, while talking.
“She is very successful, but not in a showy way. I mean, she’s not in politics in the city or among the society rich. In fact, not rich, that I know of. But after several years in the DA’s office she went to a private firm that specializes in criminal cases because she is first and foremost a litigator.
“She likes being in the courtroom,” Jessie said. “She often said the only person who could out-argue her was my father. That’s probably because he was a psychologist and could read people. Fast.”
“A power couple,” he said.
“Yes,” she said in a breath. “Yes, I guess they were.”
“The only problem with being half a power couple is not knowing which half you are. The top half or the bottom half.”
She thought about that for a moment. She wasn’t sure who had the power in her family. Her mother was the one to fear; she didn’t take any shit and she smelled a lie a mile away. But her father, Dr. McNichol, was the one people fussed over. He was active in city politics, charities, community affairs, that sort of thing.
“Do you have siblings?” she asked.
“I had a brother,” he said. “He was killed in an accident when he was twenty-two, hit when he was changing a tire. It screwed up my parents and probably me, but I was in medical school and couldn’t indulge even grief because of how consuming medical school is. I vowed never to be that kind of administrator, the kind who knows nothing about my staff and abuses them that way. I hope I’ve kept my vow.”
“I think you have a good reputation,” she said. “I mean, I hear only good things.”
He laughed, maybe slightly embarrassed by the compliment. “I love hearing about your family. They sound so breathtakingly normal. My father left me on the little merry-go-round in front of the grocery store when I was four. He went home. I had begged and begged and begged to ride the pony. He was trying to remember everything he promised to get, gave me some quarters and forgot me. By the time he got back to the store, the police had been called. These days he’d have been locked up or Child Protective Services would have been called. Back then, they told him to pay closer attention and gave me to him.”
“How times have changed,” she said. “I’m almost afraid to have children.”
He lifted a brow in curiosity and grabbed another nacho. “And who might you have these children with?”
Rather than getting all emotional over the thought of Jason, she simply smiled and said, “There is no candidate at the moment.”
“Astonishing,” he said. “Having a hard time narrowing it down?” he asked with a sly smile.
“No,” she laughed. “I’m not seeing anyone right now. I broke up with a guy about a year ago and thought it best to go solo for a while. You know, get to know me. Me alone.”
“Doctors are busy,” he said. “We neglect ourselves sometimes.”
“And make terrible partners,” she tossed out, repeating what he said earlier.
“So says an ex-wife. Who, by the way, was also a doctor. If you ask me, she was the difficult one. No one asks me, however.”
She laughed and asked him what his schedule was like and whether he had any time for hobbies or special interests. It turned out he loved sailing and fishing and biking through the countryside; that his schedule was usually packed but he made time for relaxation and exercise. He loved being outside when the weather was good. Jessie admitted she should do more of that. She’d been thinking about getting a dog. “I think maybe I’m alone too much. My favorite pastimes are reading, watching movies, going to art galleries, that sort of thing.”