So okay, he loves Mac; but that doesn't mean Jack goes to him for life advice. At least not exclusively. Mac's record on important decisions is about the worst of anybody Jack knows, and that includes his own.
No, when he needs a second opinion he goes to Katie. Owner of the Wingman Bar, a few towns over, one a little bigger and more laidback than Mission City. His usual hunting grounds when he was on the pull, before Mac and Ellen had divorced. Since then he's mostly given up coming; Mac's big on serial monogamy, and it takes too much self-control to just smile and wink at the ladies every time. (One regularly scheduled broadcast a week can get awfully frustrating.)
"Thought you'd have forgotten about me," he says one Monday night, as Katie pours him his regular.
"Jack Junior's father? Now how would I forget a thing like that?"
It's a running gag; she doesn't know or much care which of the several guys she'd had going was the dad. He'd been the only one to offer to marry her afterwards, though. She'd laughed herself sick turning him down ("a half-share in my bar? Not on your life, Jack Dalton!"). But it's been a sort of bond between them ever since. "How's the kid doing?"
"Fine. Fine. One of these days I'll be bringing him into the bar, and then he'll start seeing some life."
She's just the sort to do it, too. It's possible that he doesn't actually know the kind of people who makes sensible decisions; but Katie's utterly happy with her flirtatious, drinks-slinging, drunks-tossing business, and that strikes him as a pretty good metric. "Better watch out. You'll have the whole crowd buying him drinks."
"Then I'll drink them all for him," Katie says. "All right, Jack, what's on your mind?"
"Got sort of a decision to make. I've got an idea. I'd have to raise a little working capital-"
"You better not have me in mind. You get one free drink, not a free loan."
"No, wasn't thinking that," Jack agrees. "Though you did say you liked the looks of my cab. Would it be worth my while scraping off the decals?"
"Could do," Katie admits. "I'm afraid to step into the Bug too hard these days, in case my foot goes through it. But that's your livelihood, isn't it? Whenever your scams fall through?"
"Sure, but I think I got it good this time. Once I have the setup cash, I'll be able to hook in the sucker no problem...now this is the kicker. For my getaway afterwards, I get myself arrested. Really, genuinely arrested, locked up in the slammer for a year or so. The guy's so scared of prison himself, he'll never think anyone would do it on purpose. It's pretty well foolproof."
"You say that about every one of these things."
"And most of them come off, except when I'm running it a little carelessly. This one I won't be careless about. It'll be good enough to buy me a plane, if I play my cards right."
"Not bad if you can do it," Katie allows. "Are you sure about the money?"
"As eggs is eggs, we're talking more dough then I've ever had in my life. Then Mac sells the shop for the first few months of operating expenses, and Dalton Air is all set. Goodbye snow, hello sunshine."
"So what's the kicker? I don't see what you've got to make up your mind about."
"Mac. I mean, it'll be kinda hard on him, and a year's a long time. Suppose I get out and he's gone back to Ellen? Or that I can't get him to go south with a jailbird at all?"
"If he's that willing to leave you, you might as well find that out now. Before you spend any of this windfall on him, for instance. Is that it?"
"Yeah, I can handle the prison part. I've done that often enough. And this might be our only shot at getting out of here," Jack says. "What is it they say, crime or the army or singing? We missed the boat on the army thing, and I sure can't sing."
She laughs. "I'd say, full speed ahead. But if you're going to be out of circulation for a while, maybe stick around tonight. Might as well give you a proper send-off, right?"
"If he hears about this, Mac's gonna be pissed."
"Then make sure he doesn't hear about it, honey. You know where the spare key is."
Aw, heck. Just this once.
It's not like he'll have another shot at misbehaving with a lady any time soon.