FanStory.com - The Best Laid Plans: part 3by DeboraDyess

Lead-in from the previous chapter:

"Give me a break, Jack! They wear her out sometimes with me here. It wouldn't be fair to her to have to babysit all the time." Frustration was beginning to creep into Cody's always-calm voice. "Mom's already given up her house for us. I'm not turning her into a live-in-nanny."

Jack frowned and shook his head. "Mom did not give up her house for you, dumb butt. She couldn't afford to keep the house after Claire Eastman got remarried. She lost her roommate, plain and simple. You had an extra couple of rooms in this barn. She'd even mentioned it to Pam, Cody. If Mom heard you say that garbage she'd have me hold you down so she could kick your butt. Do what you want, but don't use Mom as an excuse."

"It still wouldn't be fair to dump the kids on her all the time," Cody muttered.

"Are you kidding?" Jack shook his head. "Look ... I thought it'd be a disaster when Mom moved in with you. But somehow the two of you have managed to make it work. You're the parent; she's the grandma. She never undermines what you want, or buries you in advice. Well," he amended his statement after a glance from his brother, "almost never. She doesn't play favorites with your kids over mine. But, Code, she baby-sits for us at least once a month. You're so freaked out by the idea of not taking advantage of her that you don't let her be like a normal grandma. Her feelings are hurt because you never leave the kids with her."

Cody glanced up at him and Jack saw a trace of guilt in his eyes.

"Anyway," Jack added, "Mom won't be alone with the kids. Laine and Travis are spending the weekend here, too."

"No."

"You don't like my wife and kid?"

"I adore your wife and kid. I don't particularly like you right now." Cody pushed the hair out of his eyes again, looked defiantly at his brother, and then back to his work. "I'm not going."

"Look, Code. This is a great plan! Mom and Laine are going to love it. The kids are going to love it. And we're going to have a blast! What could happen, man? They're going to be right here."

Cody looked up sharply and Jack realized he'd hit a nerve. "Man, you are the best father I've ever known" except for Dad. And your kids are safe. you've done everything in your power to make sure of that."

Cody looked out the window. "Didn't help much before, did it."

Jack didn't say anything until his brother looked back at him., waiting for a response. "No. And I can't tell you why stuff like that happens. But you're doing all you can." Jack watched a screensaver shark swim across the computer monitor, scattering a school of animated fish. "Unfortunately, that's about all you do. You work, and you parent. That's it."

Cody frowned.

"When's the last time you painted a picture?"

"I've been busy."

"I noticed," Jack nodded. "Too busy to fish, too busy to camp or play cards or see any movie rated higher than G. You've walked around in this kind of joyless myopia"

"Joyless myopia, Jack?" Cody arched his eyebrows and cocked his head as if unsure of what Jack said.

Jack flushed red. "Laine said that," he admitted sheepishly.

Cody nodded, again glancing out the window to the early autumn display of gold and yellow in his yard. "Sounds like Elaine."

Jack just looked at him, expression unchanged.

"I went to a concert last month," Cody defended himself after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

Jack made a face and snorted. "With our mother. And she invited you."

"Ah, ha," Cody said, nodding his head as he picked up another folder.

"Ah, ha, what?"

"Ah, ha, that's what this is all about. Pam's folks called me last week and told me they'd be fine if I started dating again. And now this."

"That's not what this is all about. You dating, or not dating, is none of my business, or any of Bill and Irene's. This is about you. You give 100% of yourself all the time, Cody--to the kids, to Mom, to the church, to your clients. To my family and me."

"So?" Cody looked up defiantly.

"You're going to burn yourself out, kid," Jack said softly.

"Leave me alone, Jack. Quit it."

Jack considered quitting but decided this was too important. He and their mom, Rachel, and his wife had been planning this weekend for a month. They'd postponed it once already, when Michael messed up his knee in a bike wreck. Jack received orders from Rachel to stop at nothing short of kidnapping. He watched Cody diligently study a case file he held. "It's time, Cody," he said quietly.

Cody ignored him, scowling into the folder that Jack felt sure was empty.

"It's been two years."

Cody frowned and dropped part of its contents into the trashcan. He put the file into a folder in the cabinet and took a deep breath. "No, it hasn't. Not yet." He shut the drawer and looked at Jack. "It's been two Thanksgivings and two Christmases. Two anniversaries, two 4th of Julys. About a million nights. But it won't be two years for another three and a half months."

Jack didn't answer. He looked at the family portrait beside Taz and Babs. Cody and Pamela sat together with Katie and Michael posed behind them. Katie, with her blond hair, high cheekbones, and full lips already looked so much like her mother that it hurt to look at her sometimes. Michael favored the McClellan clan-dark, tall, fine-featured. They were a striking family. Katie had been on a box, leaning against her daddy's shoulders, laughing. The whole family got the giggles, and the photographer, knowing a great moment when it presented itself, snapped the picture. Pamela smiled out of the photo, her long blond hair forever perfect, her thin face forever young.

She had been one of his best friends. As much as he missed her he couldn't really imagine what Cody went through. Jack leaned back at his brother's desk, remembering.

Pamela had a quirky wit that even Cody didn't always catch, but Jack always did. They got tickled at things that no one else even noticed.

The foursome once attended a friend's wedding at a fancy downtown church. The preacher admonished the groom to have no other wife above his bride, and Jack noticed a bead of sweat balancing on the nervous pastor's nose. He watched the bead, waiting for it to fall, trying not to laugh. When gravity finally won over the stubborn perspiration, forcing it off of the end of the young minister's hooked nose, Jack bit his lower lip, feigned a cough, and looked up, supposing himself to be under control. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pamela.

Her face, barely composed, flushed scarlet as she glanced at him. Her eyes watered as she tried to kill the laughter nearly exploding from tightly compressed lips. She looked at Jack, her eyes widened and she fled the room.

Jack bit the inside of his lip until his eyes teamed, trying not to lose control. Cody and Laine never saw the humor and forbid Jack and Pam to ever look at each other in public again.

It seemed strange how close they were. The families vacationed together, barbecued together, played tennis and cards together.

Late-night bicycle rides became a favorite get-together. They met at a park in between their houses and either rode to the nearby Sonic or simply cruised around the park. Cody and Jack raced around the bike trails, bent low over the handlebars, legs pumping, wind whipping their faces and through helmets and hair. The competition was dead serious during the race, but the brothers always finished within a millisecond of each other. Only once did Jack beat Cody to any real degree, and then only because Michael found the valve to the park sprinkler system and turned it on as Cody rounded the corner. Cody roared and, soaked to the bone, dove off of his bike toward his son. He tickled the boy ruthlessly, rolling him in the mud he'd created until they were both filthy and totally consumed by their laughter.

After each night's contests, the men slowed and pedaled around the park again, making observations about life and love and time that would feel uncomfortable in the light of day. Their boys played army or cowboys or spies or, occasionally, cops and robbers. Laine and Pam, with Katie carefully strapped into an infant carrier, rode behind, visiting and planning and dreaming aloud under the stars.

Everything seemed perfect. Cody commented once that life was too good to be true.

Jack smiled, watching their boys play tag with Cody's new German Shepherd pup. "So what if it is?"

"I just don't want to be around when it's time to pay the piper."

"Well," Jack drawled at him, smiling as the dog grabbed Travis's pants leg and tugged, "If the piper's name's Peter maybe we can pay him in pickles."

Cody smiled at his brother's almost-funny comment. "Great. We have a jar of dill in the refrigerator."