A Song for Julia

tired,” Jack replied. “Glad to hear those two thought of something responsible for a change.”
    “All the same, I do appreciate it.”
    He turned toward me and flashed a heart-stopping grin. It was easy enough to see where Crank got his charm. “Not a problem, missy, not a problem. Where you from?”
    Always an awkward question. I’m not really from anywhere. My father’s side of the family is from San Francisco, but I’ve never lived there, just visited occasionally for holidays. He’s retired now, and my sisters are all there, so I guess they’ll think of it as home, or at least Alexandra and the twins will. Carrie was a senior in high school by the time he retired, so she’ll only have one year in California. I finally responded the way I usually do, “We moved around a lot.”
    “Military?”
    “Foreign Service.”
    “Really?” he said, cracking another grin. “You know, my cousin Louis worked for the State Department, years ago. But he got in some trouble. Served his parents right for giving him a French name.”
    That startled a laugh out of me.
    “I always said you can’t trust the French, and look at what’s going on now, huh?”
    I shrugged and grinned but didn’t reply. I didn’t want to get into a political discussion. I liked Crank’s dad. He seemed genuine, and that’s a rare commodity.
    “I’m making pancakes and bacon,” he said, a wry smile on his face. “But if you’re one of those girls who only eats lettuce, I’ve got some of that, too.”
    “I love pancakes and bacon,” I said. “Sounds like heaven. Though you weren’t planning on having guests, I don’t want to impose.”
    He made a sound somewhere between a groan and a loud grunt. “You’re not imposing! Don’t say another word, I’ll be upset if you leave. Besides, you must be pretty special if Crank brought you around to the house.”
    “What?” I asked. I was startled by his statement and a little anxious.
    “My son doesn’t bring girls around the house, ever. He doesn’t even mention them. You, he mentioned, and then brought you here to meet Sean? You must be pretty special.”
    “Oh …” I said, sitting back in my seat. I’m not sure I wanted to know where this conversation was headed. “I don’t think he necessarily brought me here specifically, like …” I got tongue-tied. Which is hardly normal for me. “He mentioned me to you?”
    “Aggghh … I shouldn’t have opened my big fat mouth. But yeah, he mentioned you when he got home from Washington last Sunday.”
    Against my better judgment, I said, “I guess I’d be prying if I asked what he said.”
    Jack broke into laughter. “Yeah, I guess you would. Let me put it this way: something about you really caught his eye. He doesn’t talk about girls, ever.”
    I sat back in the chair and sipped my coffee, crossing one arm across my chest. My head was still hurting, and thinking about Crank made it hurt worse. For the first time in a long time, I found myself having really mixed feelings about a guy. He was fun to be around, but he was confusing as hell. And not exactly welcoming. Somehow I didn’t think Jack knew that his son had told me to stay the hell away last night.
    Was I just lonely? It had been so long since I’d allowed myself to really care about anyone.
    Jack looked thoughtful for a second as he took a load of bacon off the electric griddle and laid it on a bed of paper towels to let the grease drain. He turned toward me. “The old lady always told me I don’t have any tact,” he said. “I said something wrong, didn’t I?”
    I looked at him and gave a warm smile. “I don’t know,” I replied. “Crank seems to be something special himself.”
    “Are you two serious?” he asked.
    “We aren’t anything,” I replied.
    “Oh, that’s too bad,” he said, his tone frank.
    I didn’t reply to that. I knew I should be uncomfortable talking about this with him, but for some reason, I wasn’t at all. Jack made me feel welcome here with an openness I wasn’t at all accustomed to. It was strange. I couldn’t possibly imagine having this conversation with my own parents. I couldn’t imagine discussing anything at all with them. “I don’t know that either one of us is really looking to be involved with anyone right now,” I said.
    He shrugged. “Sometimes you go looking and don’t find anything, and sometimes it slaps you upside the head like a good Irish Catholic mother.”
    I giggled. “Well, to tell