Page 85 of Steel & Jenna
Following Mrs. Scanlon’s arrest, a media scandal broke out. In order to save face and his business, Mr. Scanlon found a loophole out of their marriage that allowed him to keep his integrity and money while essentially throwing Mrs. Scanlon overboard without a lifeboat. As Jenna explained it, the prenuptial agreement Mrs. Scanlon had signed allowed Mr. Scanlon to keep all of his assets and divorce Mrs. Scanlon without being required to pay for any of her legal fees. He was also ableto take back the stock he had gifted her as her wedding present without needing to buy her out. With Mr. Scanlon’s army of lawyers no longer at her disposal and the inability to access the millions she was used to having at her disposal, Mrs. Scanlon was forced to settle with a public defender. Rather than suffer the humiliation of a trial with an overworked, underpaid lawyer, Mrs. Scanlon pled guilty to all charges of conspiracy to commit theft and insurance fraud, along with accessory to involuntary manslaughter. Since there was no trial, Jenna did not need to testify against her mother and the legality of the videotaped confession she took was never brought into question.
Within six months of Mrs. Zarin’s murder, it was all over. Mrs. Scanlon was divorced and in jail. Mr. Scanlon was working on rebuilding relations with his stockholders and public image, which involved a lot of traveling. Jenna and Jack were starting their senior year of high school and trying to make decisions about where they would go to college. Jack was picking up as many hours at the grocery store as he could to build up their savings account. Lilly was starting third grade. Jack now drove Lilly to and from school, which he didn’t mind but it was bittersweet.
Towards the end of September, Jack and Lilly returned home from school to hear a loud banging noise coming from the backyard. Curious and concerned, they walked around the side of the house to find Mr. Zarin standing by a half torn down shed with a sledgehammer in one hand and a beer in the other.
Normally, Mr. Zarin was very careful about drinking in front of Lilly and Jack. It would seem that day was going to be the exception.
“Why don’t you head inside?” Jack urged Lilly.
She looked like she wanted to argue, but then ducked her head and headed up the back stairs. Jack dropped his backpack to the stoop before crossing the yard.
None of them had spent any substantial length of time in the backyard over the past six months. Even the grill that had been on the back porch was now out front at the top of the driveway. The grass was overgrown and Mrs. Zarin’s garden had never been replanted at theend of last winter. Additionally, dark curtains now hung in the kitchen windows to block the view of the backyard.
Jack was fairly certain Mr. Zarin hadn’t stepped foot inside the shed since that day. Until today, it would seem.
Mr. Zarin set his beer down on what looked to be the table that had once been inside the shed. “How was school?”
Jack was taken aback by the casual question, like the man wasn’t half-drunk and tearing down the building where his wife was murdered. “Fine. I submitted the paperwork for my senior project.”
“Good.” Mr. Zarin fixed his grip on the sledgehammer and then let it fly into the side of the shed.
Jack flinched at the contact. “I appreciate you letting me interview you for my project. It works out nicely since, as far as the school is concerned, you’re my landlord.”
After a court battle, this time in front of a family judge, Jack had become emancipated and gained custody of Lilly. He had to prove he had an income, transportation, and a place to live. Mr. Zarin had testified that he had rooms for Jack and Lilly to rent. There was a house inspection and interviews with various adults. Jack wasn’t positive, but he was pretty sure Chief Cunningham had also spoken privately to the judge to help smooth the process over.
Then, suddenly, Jack was a legal adult. It seemed anticlimactic in a way, after all those years he’d spent counting down to his eighteenth birthday. But at the end of the day, Jack and Lilly were able to stay with Mr. Zarin and that was all that mattered.
Mr. Zarin nodded, clearly not paying all that much attention to the conversation. “Whatever you need, son.”
They were silent for another minute. Mr. Zarin picked up his beer, took a swig, put it back down, and then swung the sledgehammer again.
Jack cleared his throat. “Anything happen here today?”
Mr. Zarin had not been back to work since the day he’d arrived home to find his wife had been murdered.
Another swing at the shed. “Nope.”
Jack debated on leaving the man in peace. Perhaps this wassomething cathartic he needed to do. Mr. Zarin had been going through the motions recently but notliving. There were no smiles or laughter anymore. The closest he’d come was on Lilly’s ninth birthday over the summer. He wasn’t hurting himself or anyone else by destroying the shed and maybe this would help bring him closure.
Bring themallclosure. None of them could stand the sight of their own backyard anymore.
However, the man had been drinking. Jack didn’t see any other bottles around but Mr. Zarin’s eyes said that the beer he’d just put down wasn’t his first or only.
Jack looked beyond Mr. Zarin to see a pile of his tools and supplies that had been inside the shed. At least he wasn’t destroying all of that too. The Zarins had had decent savings but they were not well off enough where he could scorch-earth his shed and rebuild his entire supply of tools.
Before he could think better of it, Jack walked around Mr. Zarin and picked up a chopping axe. He stood with some distance between Mr. Zarin and himself. Mr. Zarin watched him for a moment before seeming to nod to himself and let his sledgehammer fly again.
Jack gripped the axe and aimed for the panel siding.
25 DAYS
Jenna was having a hard time believing her birthday was less than a month away. For so long, her eighteenth birthday had seemed a distant dream. She knew that was entirely unrealistic. Time moved, second by second, but it moved. It was the one constant, unchanging aspect of life. Shewouldturn eighteen.
Their plans had not changed. Three days before her eighteenth birthday, they were going to go to the courthouse to apply for their wedding certificate. Then, in front of God andhisfamily, they would have a small ceremony and be legally married before either one was a high school graduate.
Some of her classmates still thought Jack was a figment of her imagination, but Jenna could care less about their opinions. Though she’d been accepted to various colleges throughout the west coast and even one on the east coast, most of them offered her places because of her last name. Without a scholarship, Jenna would not be able to afford to attend a four-year college. Her father made it very clear that if she followed through with her plans to marry Jack, he would not pay for her college tuitionandshe would lose the trust fund that would have been gifted to her on her twenty-fifth birthday.
The current plan was for Jack and Jenna to move into his bedroom at Mr. Zarin’s and both were going to attend community college. It gave them two years of continued education with the ability to remain in Port Townsend a little longer.
