Jett stopped exploring the limits of Lisa's pain and went back to painting. She made offhand references to incorporating her sadomasochistic experiences into her art. It sounded good to me. I was just tired of violence and guilt.
I didn't see her quite as much, but it was an easy trade. I was studying with Mia and crew when she called.
"Hey," Jett said. "I'm not going to be around this weekend."
She sounded rushed.
"What's up?"
"My dad is in town," she said. Jett didn't sound excited. "I need to spend time with him."
This was a development. Her dad nominally lived in Indianapolis, but he traveled extensively for business.
"When will I see you?" I said. I wanted to ask about dinner or maybe stopping by for a visit. I knew her relationship with Dad wasn't great, but I wanted more of her. I wanted every aspect of her life, even the parts that weren't perfect.
"He leaves Monday morning," she said. "So that afternoon. Maybe Tuesday."
It felt like a slight. We were serious. I loved Jett, and she loved me. It seemed like a reasonable time to meet her family.
"Okay," I said.
Then she was gone.
--
"Just you and me this weekend," I told Lisa.
"What does that mean?" she asked. It seemed like an invitation to... something.
Things were odd between us. A general melancholy lingered over our relationship. Sometimes her irreverence could pierce through it. Other times not.
"Jett's dad is in town," I said. "No time for us."
The 'us' part of the relationship had gone dormant. It had been two weeks since Jett had whipped Lisa. Lisa hinted around about Jett, but didn't push it too hard. She saw the impact their sessions had on me.
"You didn't get the invite?" Lisa said. She was a savant for finding my vulnerabilities.
"Appears that way," I said. I tried not to sound disappointed. I failed.
"Hey," Lisa said. Her grin had faded, she had a facade of earnestness. "Brett, I uh... I'm sorry. I know what it feels like when people..."
Lisa's brown eyes searched into mine. I forgot how expressive those eyes could be, how there was a real person with an incredible mind behind that exhibitionist caricature. Lisa didn't want to finish the sentence, but we both knew what she was about to say.
Lisa knew what it felt like when people were embarrassed by her, when her friends chose not to introduce her to the people they cared about most.
Lisa flashed an awkward smile.
"Just kidding," she said. We both knew she was lying.
I had butterflies in my stomach. The bad kind, but I owed myself some honesty. Jett wasn't embarrassed by me. I was boyfriend material. As Lisa once told me, I was pretty great too.
--
Jett called the next day.
"He wants to meet you," she said. There was no energy in her voice.
"Great!" I shouldn't be so needy, but I wanted to be in her life. "When?"
I heard a long sigh on other end. What was wrong?
"Jett?" I asked.
"Dinner. Tonight. He's paying," she said. More good news.
"Brett?"
"Yeah," I said.
Another long pause.
"My dad is a real asshole," she said. I kept waiting for a follow up. There was none.
"Why don't you come over?" I asked.
"No, I'm busy. Hey, I'll pick you up at seven. Dress nice," she said.
"What's wrong?" I said out loud this time.
"Nothing, he's just... seven o'clock okay?"
My heart was racing. Jett was unflappable. Her only vulnerability was her art.
"I love you," I said.
"Yeah," she said.
--
The weather was starting to turn. It had been unseasonably warm these last two weeks. A front was coming, and I knew that literally overnight, it would be Winter.
But Autumn wasn't done fighting yet. She had one last storm to give.
Things were off from the beginning. Jett's wardrobe typically bounced between paint covered blue jeans or couture fashion. Tonight she was... frumpy. Long sleeve shirt and skirt to her knees. Regular shoes. Flats.
Jett dodged around traffic through misty rain. She was guarded. I tried to wait for her to open up. On occasion she would turn to me, ready to say something, then swallow her words and keep driving.
She pulled in to a steakhouse I had never heard of. The whole neighborhood was out of my price range. Jett turned off the car but didn't move. We sat in the dark.
Silence.
"I'm sorry," Jett said. "My dad is an ass, and it's worse than normal. He's pissed at me."
"What for?"
"Everything."
--
The steakhouse was the kind of restaurant where the sides aren't included, and the prices on the menu are "fair market value."
Jett's dad was pushing fifty and thin. Not fragile. Athletic. His hair was silver and full, eyes severe. They shared the same kind of precision in their movement.
He didn't smile when he saw Jett. I disliked him immediately.
"Jenny," he said.
"Dad," she said. "This is Brett."
I shook his hand. His grip was sturdy, like he was trying to prove something. My deadlift was pushing three hundred pounds, not a big number for actual athletes, but enough to ignore casual intimidation from a rich old man.
"Franklin," he said. His eyes were hazel like his daughter's, with the same scrutinizing intensity Jett had when she was judging my clothing.
--
"So Brett," Franklin said. He slid his knife through a rare porterhouse, plopped the bite his mouth, chewed, swallowed, then spoke. "What are you studying?"
"Meteorology," I said. Jett hung on my every word, like I was on a tightrope and a single wrong syllable would topple me over.
"Weatherman?" he asked. I thought I heard a note of contempt in his voice.
"It's mostly just math," I said. "Sir."
I did everything in my power to keep my posture up, to chew and swallow, to pretend to be a normal human who had held a fork before, who had eaten food. Fuck.
"You ever consider engineering?" he asked.
I actually had. The foundations between the disciplines were similar. It was just... I liked weather, but not in a "sure is hot today kind of way." In the perfect conditions, F3 tornadoes can drop out of the sky on a sunny day. The wrong hurricane at the wrong time can kill thousands, destroy cities and state economies and presidencies.
Meteorology was intensely abstract and theoretical, an art and a science blended together, but the success or failure was measured in lives. We were oracles trying to predict the future, but we didn't pray to Poseidon or Zeus, we had only ourselves. And math.
I didn't know exactly what character traits defined "an engineer," but it wasn't me.
"One of you will have to earn money," Franklin said.
"Dad--" Jett finally jumped in.
"Quiet," he said. Dismissing her. I grit my teeth. I grew up a nerdy kid, avoiding conflict my whole life. In that moment, I asked myself, had I avoided conflict because I was nice or because I had been weak?
I was still a nerd, but I wasn't weak. Not any more.
"Have you seen her art?" he asked. I could feel the quotations in his voice when he said 'art.'
"Yeah," I said. My voice was almost a growl. I turned my whole body away from him over to Jett. She looked ready to throw up. "I love it."
"So you know she gets naked," he said. "That's her body on display."
"Yeah," I said.
"And it doesn't bother you?" he asked. "Having other men see her naked?"
"Dad. Stop," Jett said. "Don't answer him."
I turned back toward Franklin. Deliberate. Slow.
"It. Does. Not," I said.
I saw him scoff, almost under his breath, a look in his eyes like I was weak, too weak to keep my girl in line, to keep her from embarrassing the both of us, like she was a whore.
"Jett," I emphasized her name, "decides what goes in her art." Not you.
"Spoken like a true politician," he said. "Maybe you should change your major--"
A noisy clank as Jett dropped her fork on her plate. The white knuckle grip on my own fork kept me from reacting.
"Dad," she said. Her voice was low.
"No. Jenny," he said. His focus was on me. "We're talking."
Jett got up.
"We're leaving," she said. She turned to her dad, eyes flush with hatred, "You're an asshole."
Jett grabbed her purse. I stood up.
"Leave this table, and you're cut off," he said.
Jett stared at him, like she had been slapped. Franklin smiled.
"The money comes from somewhere Jenny, and it certainly isn't from art," his eyes drifted back to his steak. He was cutting again. Jett was frozen.
"Run along Brett," he motioned with his knife. "We have more business to discuss."
"Jett..." I said. I studied her face. Jett was furious, so angry she was on the verge of tears. She was also... subdued. Captured. I looked for direction.
"Just go," she said. "I'll call you later."
I studied them both for another beat.
"You heard her," Franklin said.