"Well, have fun at your first day of college tomorrow, Harley," said Mr. Quinzel, standing up from the family dinner table and raising his glass. "We sure are gonna miss you around here."
"Hey, a couple weeks with Julia as my roommate and I might be begging to come back here!" laughed Harley. "She'll talk my ears off! But I'll miss you too, Dad. All of you," she added, glancing around the table at her mother and finally fixing on Jack. "But I'll come back to stay every weekend, how about that?"
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Harley," said her mother, gently. "You'll be busy with friends and social activities on the weekends, as you should be. We want you to make the most of your college experience and not worry about us. That's assuming I let you go tomorrow," she added, hugging her daughter tightly. "Which I won't."
She kissed her cheek. "My baby girl is all grown up," she whispered, with tears in her eyes. "And your father and I couldn't be prouder of you, Harley."
Harley smiled, kissing her cheek. "I know, Mom. And I will be back often. I won't let friends and social activities keep me away from what's really important. The people I love."
She glanced over at Jack again, who stood up, raising his own glass. "Well, good luck, Harley," he said, smiling at her. "Not that you need it. You've always been too smart for your own good, and now you're gonna learn how to put those smarts to good use by helping people. Your future patients sure are lucky – they're getting one helluva dame as a headshrinker."
"Thanks, Jack," said Harley, beaming at him. "I hope that'll be true."
"Trust me, kid," he said. "You're gonna go far."
She smiled at him, blushing, and then cast her eyes back down to her meal to prevent herself from voicing her feelings toward him, even with her parents right there.
Jack finished his drink and then stood up again. "Just gonna get some air, Mr. Quinzel – be right back," he said, heading for the fire escape.
"I do wish he'd give up that habit," sighed Mrs. Quinzel, who knew Jack's euphemism by now. "It's not healthy for a man to smoke."
"Gladys, he's not your son, and even if he was, he's far too old to be told what to do," said Mr. Quinzel, grinning. "So is Harley, for that matter."
"Guess you're the only one I can still boss around, huh, George?" asked Mrs. Quinzel, kissing her husband as she cleared away the dishes.
"Maybe I can talk to him," said Harley, standing up. "He always used to do what I said, right?"
She headed for the door to the fire escape, her heart pounding. This was her last chance alone with Jack before she left for college, and she had resolved to tell him how she felt tonight.
She opened the door to see him leaning against the railing and smoking, and talking to someone on his cell phone. "…I'm just at a thing right now. I dunno, an hour, maybe two. Yeah, my place at ten. Ok. See you then, Sal."
"Who's Sal?" asked Harley, instantly jealous, as Jack hung up the phone.
"Oh, Sal is…is…uh…short for Sally. My…girlfriend," he said, turning around and smiling at her.
"Oh," said Harley, feeling her heart pounding in envy. "I don't think you've told me about her."
"Well, we've just started seeing each other," he replied.
"Is she pretty?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, puffing on his cigarette. "Not as pretty as you, though."
"I don't believe you," snapped Harley, sitting down on the steps.
"It's true," he said, sitting down next to her. "But you gotta not tell her I said that, ok?"
Harley nodded, still seething in jealousy. She imagined this Sally in her head, stunningly gorgeous, with a full, womanly figure, unlike her skinny, girlish build. She imagined her waiting for Jack when he got back to his apartment, she imagined him kissing her with his tongue and pressing her down on the sofa and whispering, "I love you and I want you so badly…"
"Speaking of which, why did you skip your prom?" he asked suddenly.
She looked up at him in surprise. "I told you, just like I told Mom and Dad. Nobody asked me to it."
He shook his head, puffing on his cigarette. "I don't believe you," he said.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because I don't believe that every guy in your school suddenly went blind and crazy," he retorted.
She grinned. "Well, if you wanna know the truth, I was asked," she muttered, stretching her legs out on the steps. "But I didn't wanna go with anyone in my school."
"Why not? Must have been some nice, handsome guys in there," he said.
She shrugged. "I guess. But none of them really interested me. None of them seemed special, and I wanna be with someone special. I mean, what made you choose Sally out of all the other nice, attractive girls out there?"
He smiled. "Well, she's the whole package, sweets," he said, looking at her. "Pretty, sweet, smart, funny. A guy would have to be crazy not to want her."
He puffed out a cloud of smoke. "And y'know, she gets me. Understands me, the way not a lotta people in my life have. We share the same sense of humor, and it's so natural talking to her. She knows about who I used to be and she still adores me. So I guess that makes her special."
"Yeah," murmured Harley, getting more jealous by the minute. "Y'know, Julia says I should have gone to prom, just so I wouldn't seem like a loser when I got to college. She said that since I ain't even kissed a boy, nobody at college is gonna wanna go out with me."
"She's full of crap," retorted Jack. "I know all the guys at your college won't be blind and crazy. They'll snap up a catch like you."
"Maybe," said Harley. "I dunno. To tell you the truth, I kinda feel like maybe I have missed out by not being more social. I mean, it's pretty pathetic, going off to college and never even kissed a guy."
She cleared her throat. "Maybe you could…uh…help me," she said, quietly.
"Yeah? How's that?" he asked, looking down at her.
"You could…uh…kiss me," she said. "And then I could know what it's like, and tell people I have, and…"
She trailed off as he just stared at her. "You want me to kiss you?" he asked.
"Yeah. Just so I'm not some social outcast at college," she added, hastily. "You'd just…be doing me a favor…"
They stared at each other, and Harley felt her heart speed up. "Please kiss me, Jack," she whispered.
He drew closer to her and she shut her eyes. She felt his breath teasing her lips, and her body was shaking in anticipation. And then he suddenly drew away.
"No, kid, I can't do that," he murmured. "Sally…Sally wouldn't like it, y'know."
"Oh…yeah…" stammered Harley, disappointed. "Yeah, sure. Don't worry about it, then."
"But you'll find a guy at college to do that, no problemo!" he laughed. "Trust me. And he better be a nice guy too, who treats you right, or I'll punch his lights out," he added, smiling at her.
She nodded quickly, and stood up. "Well, I got some…last minute packing to do. I'll see you around, Jack. I hope you and…Sally have a good night together," she said, holding back her tears until she got inside, and then immediately racing to her room to sob her heart out.
Jack remained outside, exhaling his cigarette slowly, and then dropped it to the ground as he buried his face in his hands. "Jesus Christ!" he gasped, shaking.
The truth was that Jack hadn't kissed Harley not because he feared the wrath of some fictitious girlfriend, but because he knew he never could have stopped himself from wanting to go further. He wouldn't have been able to control himself. If he had kissed her, his feelings for her would have all tumbled out, breathless, feverish words of passion that would undoubtedly have frightened her off. It was the last time he'd see her before she went off to college, and he wasn't gonna mess up her head like that. And he had to get ahold of himself – he had business to conduct tonight. Because the Sal on the phone was not, as he had told Harley, a beautiful woman, but rather his father's former boss, Salvatore Valestra, who had kept in contact with him over the years. That hadn't been Jack's choice, but he knew if he ever told Sal to leave him alone, Sal would punish his rudeness in ways that weren't very pleasant. You didn't annoy a powerful man like Sal Valestra, and Jack considered himself lucky that all Sal had wanted from him so far was to talk. If he ever wanted him to commit a crime, like his father, he would have to refuse him, and he knew Sal didn't take refusal well.
"Where's Harley?" asked Mr. Quinzel, as Jack re-entered the room.
"She said she had some packing to do," replied Jack. "I'm gonna go, if that's ok…"
"Why don't you stay and watch the game?" asked Mr. Quinzel, gesturing to the TV.
"No, I should go," said Jack. "Got some things to sort out…uh…tell Harley I said bye, and good luck for tomorrow. She'll do great."
"Are you ok, Jack?" asked Mrs. Quinzel, concerned. "You look flushed."
"Uh…feeling a little unwell," he said. "That's why I'm going…I'll see you both soon," he said, heading for the door and leaving without another word.
"Well, I hope it wasn't my cooking," said Mrs. Quinzel as the door shut.
"Probably those cigarettes," said Mr. Quinzel. "I do wish Harley could talk him out of that."
"If she can't, nobody can," retorted Mrs. Quinzel.
Harley entered the room at that moment, having stopped crying for the moment. "Where's Jack?" she asked, looking around.
"He left," replied Mrs. Quinzel. "Said he wasn't feeling well. You look a little unwell too, baby," she said, studying her face. "You been crying?"
"Yeah. Nervous about tomorrow, I guess," lied Harley. "A lotta big changes all at once, y'know."
"Well, Jack said to tell you good luck and that you'll do great," said Mr. Quinzel. "And he's absolutely right."
"Thanks, Dad," said Harley, forcing a smile as she came over to watch the game with him on the sofa. College would change things between her and Jack, she assured herself. She would find some nice guy there and forget all about him. That was the sensible thing to do. The crazy thing to do would be to get herself all worked up over some guy who had a girlfriend. And Harleen Quinzel was not a crazy person.