"Mmm, you gotta pass on my compliments to Mr. Valestra," said Harley as she picked at the remains of the takeaway carton with chopsticks. She had thrown on Jack's shirt, which swallowed her, as she and Jack lounged on the sofa together after dinner. Jack cuddled her, dressed in his pants and undershirt. "He does a mean Chinese takeaway."
"Yeah, I…will," said Jack, slowly, suddenly being unpleasantly reminded of his impending trip. He cleared his throat. "Hey, Harley, uh…I kinda got…something to tell ya."
"Sure," she said, putting down the carton. "What is it?"
"It's…something you maybe should have a little more wine for," he said, reaching for the bottle on the table and refilling her glass.
"That bad, huh?" she asked with a grin.
"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. "I gotta…go away for a little while."
Harley's grin fell into a frown. "Away?" she repeated. "Why? Where?"
"Business," he said. "Work's sending me to Europe. To the French Riviera, in fact."
"Your business can afford to fly people to Europe?" asked Harley, puzzled. "I thought you said you were a small company."
"Yeah, we are," he agreed. "But these are some very important clients we got in France, and the boss insists on me seeing 'em in person."
"Oh," said Harley. "Ok. How long will you be gone?"
"Uh…not sure exactly," said Jack. "Probably no more than a couple weeks…"
"Probably?" repeated Harley. "You don't know how long this business is gonna take?"
"No, it all depends on how…cooperative the other party is," said Jack. "Shouldn't be too long, though."
Harley nodded slowly. "Lotta…stylish, attractive women in France, ain't there?" she asked, casually.
"Baby, don't tell me you're seriously worried about that!" chuckled Jack, kissing her affectionately. "My Harley girl's the only girl for me, you know that, pooh bear."
Harley nodded again. "Maybe I do know that. But you are hiding something from me, Mr. J. If it ain't that, what is it?"
"I'm not hiding anything!" he laughed. "You got such a suspicious mind, pooh," he said, kissing her forehead.
"Can't you even tell me what this business you gotta do in France is?" she asked.
He gazed back at her pleading, blue eyes, and nodded slowly. "Ok. Ok, I will. But…uh…have some more wine first, and I will too," he said, grabbing his glass and draining it in one gulp. He cleared his throat. "See, the thing is, kid, I may not have been…entirely honest with you about my job. Or at least, I haven't told you the whole truth…"
Harley just continued to look at him expectantly, although he saw that the hand holding her wineglass was shaking slightly. He cleared his throat again. "See, the thing is…the thing is…y'know, some guys have a skill in carpentry, and some guys are good at…I dunno, painting, but I think you should always use the talents you got to…uh…do the thing you're best at. And my particular skill…er…talent…y'know, the thing I'm best at is…uh…"
He looked at her, and then blurted out, "I'm a hitman."
Harley stared back at him, not comprehending what he had said. "You're a…what?" she gasped, stunned.
"I'm a hitman," he repeated. "I kill people for a living. That's my particular skill…my talent…the thing I'm good at…killing people."
Harley continued to stare back at him, and Jack watched as the shock in her eyes changed gradually into something he had never wanted to see there: fear.
"Oh…God," she gasped at last. "Oh God!" she repeated, standing up and backing away from him. "Oh God, you're a…a murderer!"
"Yeah, but it ain't so bad…" began Jack.
"Not so bad?!" shrieked Harley. "You kill people! And you don't think that's so bad?!"
"No, it ain't – I mean, it ain't such a big deal when you think about it…" he began.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" gasped Harley, tears rising to her eyes as fury joined fear in her face. "I just can't…not a big deal?! Can you even hear yourself, Jack?!"
"Honey, if you just sit down and let me explain…" he began.
"You can't explain!" she shrieked. "You can't just talk people outta thinking that murder ain't a big deal! God, why didn't you tell me sooner, Jack?!"
"Because I knew you'd react like this!" he exclaimed. "And I didn't want to lose you! I love you, Harley!"
She shut her eyes tightly. "Oh God, I knew this was too good to be true!" she whispered. "I knew you were too perfect – there had to be some kinda catch! This whole relationship was just too perfect, and I was too happy in it…I should have known it couldn't last…"
"Harley, baby, please try to be reasonable…" began Jack.
"I'm not the unreasonable one here!" she shrieked. "You are! You kill for a living and you think that's a perfectly fine thing to do! You don't even seem to have any remorse about it! Maybe I could sympathize if you did, if circumstances out of your control had pushed you into a life of crime, but you seem to think that I'm the one in the wrong for being angry when my boyfriend reveals to me that he's a hitman! How could you do this to me, Jack?! How could you let me grow to care about you and…love you without telling me who you really are?!"
"You know who I really am!" he retorted. "I never hid that! Yeah, my job is killing people! And I enjoy my job, same as you, I ain't gonna lie! But I'm more than my job, and that's the man you fell in love with! The man who makes you laugh, the man who loves you madly, that's the guy you fell in love with, and that's who I am, Harley! Nothing about that has changed!"
She stared at him. "You can't seriously expect me to just be ok with this, can you?" she whispered. "You can't be deluded enough to think that I'll continue to be in a relationship with a man whose job is murdering people?"
"But baby, if you could just see things from my point of view…"
"I don't want to see things from the point of view of a murderer!" shrieked Harley. She pointed to the door. "Get out, Jack!" she shrieked. "Get out right now! And so help me, if I ever see you again, I'm calling the police! God, I can't believe you would do this! I can't believe you would get me to fall in love with you when you knew you were a murderer! That's the cruelest joke you ever could have played on me! But I guess I can't actually expect a man like you to have feelings!"
"Harley, I do have feelings," said Jack. "You gotta believe that – I love you! I would never hurt you, baby…"
"No, just anybody else your boss told you to," she hissed. "I can't trust you, Jack. Not after this. I just want you to go."
"But baby…"
"Get out, Jack!" she shrieked.
Jack nodded slowly. He didn't even bother to ask for his shirt back – he just headed toward the door and grabbed his coat off the rack. "Harley, baby, please reconsider," he murmured, turning back to her. "Please just let me call you…"
"I have nothing more to say to you, Jack Napier," she snapped.
"But if we could just talk, if you could just calm down and listen, rationally…" he began.
"I'm not the irrational one here!" shrieked Harley. "You are! I am a certified psychiatrist who treats insanity! And you are…a liar, and a criminal, and a murderer! And that's all you'll ever be to me again!"
Jack stared back at her cold, angry eyes, and nodded. He opened the door and left her alone.
The moment he was gone, Harley burst into tears, collapsing onto the sofa and sobbing into the pillows. Her whole world had come crashing down - her whole wonderful, perfect relationship was a lie, and the man she had loved was a liar. She felt hurt and betrayed and now terribly alone. She drew Jack's shirt tighter around her, and the scent of him gave her mixed, simultaneous feelings of joy and agony – it reminded her of her adoring love for him and his terrible betrayal of her. She had never loved anybody as she had loved Jack, and now that his image was shattered forever in her mind, she had a horrible feeling she never would again.
Jack heard her sobbing from outside the door, and he felt his own heart shattering. He made his way slowly down the steps, trying to think of some way to fix this mess before he left for France. He was sure if Harley just listened to him, if she just put aside her prejudices about crime and killing and just let him explain, she would be reasonable enough to see his side of the story. But he wasn't going to give up on her or their relationship just yet. Jack had also never loved anybody the way he loved Harley before – it was a kind of wonderful madness. And he wasn't prepared to return to sanity just yet.