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A car pulled up in the driveway. Jack had never been so relieved to hear a car pull in before. It was half-past midnight, cold, and going to rain, and he’d been crying, he’d been worried-.. Edd and Molly. What in the world had Felix done? What in the world was he doing?
He beat Rosemary to the door, still wearing his work clothes, his hair a frizzy mess, his face covered in tears. He all but wrenched the car door off, wordlessly unbuckling both of his children and pulling them out and into his arms.
Two kisses. One to Molly’s cheek. One to Edd’s forehead. And he held them tightly, breathing out soft, shaking breaths.
“Are you guys okay? Are you okay?”
Jack sat back as he looked between both of his children, who looked rather sleepy. It was late, after all. It was way past their normal bedtime.
.. he could smell alcohol. It was coming from the car, where Felix was sitting, not saying a word. He could smell it, and it made his heart hurt, though he quickly stood up with both of the children listening to their tired assurances that they were okay, and they were happy to be home.
He quickly passed them off to Rose. She looked exhausted, her makeup running all down her face as she embraced her son and daughter. Jack watched for a moment before he walked around the car and knocked on the driver’s side window. Felix looked awful. He’d been crying, too. And gosh, he smelled like brandy and.. cheap party punch.
“Felix.”
He opened the door, looking down at Felix.
“I’ve been calling you all night. What were you doing? Where in the world have you been?! My kids. Where have they been?! How much have you had to drink tonight, Felix?!”
Angry? Oh. He was fuming. He furiously scrubbed the tears off of his face as Felix slowly cleared his throat and released the wheel. The car was turned off, after all.
“I-..”
Jack waited impatiently for an explanation.. for something to be said that could make sense of this awful nightmare.
“Linda… left me.. this morning,” Felix slowly said. “But I-.. I couldn’t say no to you.. I should have-… I shouldn’t have-..”
Jack wanted to feel sympathy. But his children could have died.
“Felix, I’m sorry. But you could have killed Edd and Molly — heck, you coulda killed yourself! Gosh-.. you smell like brandy, Felix. What? Were you in a car accident or some something? What did you do?”
He reached in and unbuckled him, shaking his head. There was no way he was driving home — no, Jack was going to check him into rehab. The restaurant could wait — this was not healthy. This was costing Felix everything. All for the sake of a drink.
“No-.. no.. no accident-.. just.. a semi scared the living daylights outta me.. and.. I just had to pull over..”
“For three hours. You just had to pull over for three hours?”
Jack shook his head and glanced around.
He took the keys out of the ignition.
“Stay here. You’re not going anywhere.”
He pocketed the keys and slowly walked back up the dark driveway, to the open door, where Rose was waiting for him. She cast a look down toward the car.
“They’re okay,” she sniffled, wiping at one of her eyes. “Just .. confused. And so am I.”
“He is … absolutely inebriated,” Jack replied with a shake of his head. “I mean.. he’s wasted. And I am really, really p-..”
He glanced in, where Edd was sitting on the couch, waiting for his parents with rather wide eyes.
“… I’m going to take him to the hospital. He can sober up there, and then I’m going to get him into rehab. Get the kids to bed.. I’ll.. be back as soon as I can. He’s definitely not driving anywhere on it own, at this rate.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Rose’s cheek, which was salty from the tears. She reached up and pressed one to his. And he wrapped his arms around her for a moment, sighing as he did.
Talk about a heart attack.