Jack Bogdan sat at his computer typing, occasionally looking at some papers on his desk for reference. After a few moments he stopped and stood, walking over to stare out his office window. He looked out over the grounds, engrossed in some errant thought.
He turned back to his desk and started straightening things, preparing to go home for the day. Knocking on his office door caught his attention.
Jack stopped what he was doing and moved around to the front of his desk. "Come in."
The door opened and Coop stepped inside. "Hey pop."
Jack looked at his watch. "Hey Coop, why aren't you home already?"
Coop came into the room, setting his jacket and bag down on the couch across from his dad's desk. "I came to give you my answer about Japan, but first I had some questions, and a couple requests."
Jack perked up at hearing that, backing up and sitting on the end of his desk. "Okay, which would you like to ask first?"
Coop sat down on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. "I don't want you to ask why I'm asking any of these, or why I'm willing to go." Coop's face was serious. He didn't avert his eyes when his father made eye contact.
Jack regarded him for a second before speaking. "I can't promise I won't ask Coop, but you don't have to answer, fair enough?"
Coop thought about it for a second and nodded his head. "How soon can we leave? I don't mean when you were planning, I mean the absolute earliest we can get on a plane and leave."
Jack narrowed his eyes, his lips opened and then he stopped before continuing again.
"Well, I have another week or so of work I've gotta do here, but I suppose you could leave as soon as we can book a flight. Your passport is current, and we'll be there on a visitor's visa to start. I already called the school about the long distance program, you'll be able to make up any coursework you miss while traveling."
Coop nodded. "If I can avoid it, I don't want to go home tonight. I'll stay at grandma and grandpas if you'll let me. I can stay home from school tomorrow and pack what I need, then I'll go back to grandpas until the flight."
Not bothering to wait for a response he said the next part. "And If Dany comes over, I don't want her to know about any of this, and I don't want to talk to her." He knew that no matter how she really felt, she'd probably take pity on him if she found out he was leaving. He had already chosen how to say goodbye to her. "Also I wanna keep wrestling and training, whether that means joining a club or getting an instructor."
He took a slow breath once he was finished. "That's all I got, if you wanna ask anything, go ahead."
Coop had a defeated look to him. He had come in full of piss and vinegar, but once he started speaking, he realized his father would understand he was running away from his problems like a coward.
Jack crossed his arms and considered everything Coop had said for a moment. "I'm not gonna ask what happened, I gather something unpleasant. I'm sure your grandparents wouldn't mind you staying over, especially if you're leaving so soon.
I'll see if pop wouldn't mind bringing you over tomorrow to pack. Keeping up with your after-school stuff is fine, you can look into that, and your uncle can help once you get there. But I wanna make something clear Coop, this is a one way deal.
"I don't want to hear in two weeks or a month that you miss home, or you've changed your mind. Once we leave its full speed ahead until senior year. I'm not gonna have time to come back for holidays with the project. If you're committing to this, I want you to get the most out of it, understood, you won't be seeing Texas again until senior year."
Coop nodded, standing and walking over to his father, who he now stood almost shoulder to shoulder with in height. "Thanks dad, I appreciate the fact that you were willing to let me stay behind." Coop held out his hand to his father, feeling like a little kid mimicking adult mannerisms.
His father grinned and shook the outstretched hand. "I meant what I said before son, when you come back, you'll be better prepared for the future."
Coop smiled with no joy visible, letting go of his father's hand and turning to grab his things.
"I'll be outside."
Coop walked out of the office, a second later he peeked his head back in. "Oh, I lost my phone somewhere on the way here."
Jack looked puzzled at that. "How could that have happened?"
Coop tapped the door with his fingers and nodded. "Not sure, but you know the guys that beat me up in middle school? I think it may have come out when I got into a fight with them."
Jack raised his eyebrows at that, looking over his son's appearance. "You don't look like you got in a fight?"
Coop couldn't hide the smirk that slipped on his face as he answered. "That would probably be because they didn't put up much of one."
Jack couldn't help but look impressed. "Well as long as the cops don't come looking for you that's fine, I take it no one went to the hospital?"
Coop shrugged his shoulders. "They all walked away. Some with help, but no I don't think there'll be a problem."
Jack waved the back of his hand at his son. "Okay Van Damme, I'll be out in a minute."
* * *
Coop stood in the spare room, specifically his room at his grandparents' house. It was really the attic, but there was a bed and a dresser for him to keep clothes when he stayed over. Sometimes on the weekends if he helped his grandfather out on a project he'd stay over if it got too late.
When he was a kid, he'd even had sleepovers here with Danielle. Upon thinking of her his wounded heart started bleeding again. Every time he thought it was scabbing over, he'd recall something of their shared history and the vicious cycle started back over.
Coop looked up to the sky and brought his hands up to his face, rubbing it in frustration. He turned and went to the stairs and bounded down them. He came down to the first floor and straight into the kitchen. His grandfather, Franklin, stood in front of the stove, tossing ingredients into a pot.
Cooper grabbed a bag of tortilla chips off the counter and popped them open, reaching in to grab one. His grandfather spotted him and walked over and popped him in the gut, causing him to drop the bag.
Franklin caught it and closed the bag, setting it back where it was. Coop laughed at the kid gloves hit his grandfather had doled out.
Franklin pointed a finger at him while walking back to the stove. "Save those for the chili."
Coop perked up at that. "You're making grandma's chili?"
Franklin was using a wooden spoon to stir and taste with, he wagged it at Coop. "No, I'm making my chili, your grandma doesn't put enough meat in hers."
Coop popped the chip he'd grabbed into his mouth. "Yeah, but hers is spicier."
Franklin kept looking at the soup but spoke to his grandson, gruffly "Then add some Tabasco, or if you want you can go out in the yard and forage for food."
Coop held up his hands in mock surrender. "My bad, I'll shut up now."
Going to stand by the rear sliding glass window, he looked out over his grandparents' backyard.
Franklin walked across the kitchen to grab something he needed. As he did, he noticed his grandson seemed troubled. "So, you're really going to follow your dad over there huh?"
Coop made no movement, answering matter of factly. "Like he said, it's a real opportunity."
Franklin nodded, stirring the pot as he took a glance at Coop. "What did that gal of yours have to say about that?"
Coop backed up from the sliding glass door, putting his hands on the back of one of the dining room chairs. "She's not my gal gramps, and she doesn't know."
Franklin tried not to react, responding nonchalantly. "I could have sworn you two were together, any particular reason you're keeping it from her? It's been a while since I was a teenager, but I seem to recall keeping things from a girl you're interested in upsets them. Moving to another country certainly doesn't earn you any brownie points either."
Coop looked down as he squeezed the back of the dining room chair.
"I told her how I felt after we got out of school today."
His grandfather glanced at him. He'd known for years, long before even Coop had known himself, the boy was smitten with the girl. And he had always suspected the girl fancied him as well. Though the demeanor of his grandchild spoke to the contrary.
He set down the spoon and walked over to stand closer to him. "I take it you didn't get the answer you were looking for?"
Coop turned his head and grinned at his grandfather to show there was no resentment in his words.
"What gave it away, the part where I'm leaving the country?"
Franklin Bogdan turned his head and snorted. He knew the boy must be torn up but that had been a good one. Cooper chuckled a few times humorlessly. Franklin went to Coop, putting his hand on his shoulder. "The fact that you can laugh is a good sign that you're gonna be alright." He turned and started walking back to the stove.
As he walked away Coop answered. "Laugh to keep from crying, right?" Franklin looked back over his shoulder, but Coop was already disappearing up the stairs.
"I'm gonna go wash up for dinner."
* * *
Coop sat at the dinner table with his grandfather. The eldest Bogdan finished saying grace. Cooper gave the customary amen and dug in. After a moment he looked up and saw the older man looked like he wanted to speak.
Cooper stopped mid chew and cleared his mouth before speaking. "Penny for your thoughts grandpa?"
Franklin prepared his bowl of soup as he spoke. "If you don't wanna talk about what happened today I understand. But if you do need to get anything off your chest I'm here. That's all I'll say on the matter."
Cooper slowed down on devouring the food. Mulling over whether it would do any good to rehash it. In the end he decided he could explain the situation succinctly.
"She basically called me a scumbag who was pretending to be her friend all this time so I could get laid."
Franklin paused, but he didn't give away any other discernible tells on what he thought. He made eye contact with Coop and said wistfully. "Your grandmother broke up with me the day I got back from Vietnam."
Cooper did a double take at hearing this. "Seriously, she broke up with you, just like that?"
Franklin shook his head. "She had a friend who had an unspoken crush on me. The girl took the time to copy my handwriting off things I'd sent your grandmother to write herself a love letter. I wouldn't even speak of this if she, your grandmother that is, wasn't with your cousins right now. She's still ashamed all these years later."
Coop leaned in a little bit more. "So how did you convince her?"
Franklin simply smiled. "I didn't, she'd believed for months that I'd been unfaithful to her, but she kept up correspondence with me. She still cared enough that she didn't want me distracted because it could get me killed."
Franklin ate a spoonful of the soup before continuing. "But within five minutes of me getting off the plane she slapped me and cursed my name, tears flowing and swear words flying. When she was done, I looked her right in the eye and I told her she was an ignorant fool. I said someday you're gonna realize your mistake, and you'll have no one else to blame but yourself."
His grandfather made a gesture of reaching into an imaginary breast pocket and then extending his hand across the table. "I took the picture of her I kept in my snuff box. It was a tin I kept important things in, watertight for the most part, and handed it to her. Without another word I turned and walked away."
Coop was incredulous, how had he managed to have been born when his grandparents were this flaky. "You walked away?"
Franklin used a napkin to clean his face, picking up his spoon again. "It killed me inside. The thought of coming home to your grandmother really did keep me alive over there. But in that moment, I was furious, to think that your grandmother could doubt my love. No matter how good the lie had been, surely she should just know.
"But it was because of how much she loved me that her doubt was able to creep in. The more precious something is to us the easier it is for us to worry and fear over losing it. Sometimes that can cause us to shut ourselves off. We lash out without thinking and push away what we can't live without.
"I ran into your grandmother and her friend a few weeks later at the drive-in. I was at the concessions stand and I noticed them before they noticed me. I immediately got out of line and went out the exit opposite from them. I couldn't stand to see her now that we weren't together.
"And I wanted nothing more than to toss a drink in her meddling friend's face. I got halfway to my buddy's car before a hand grabbed my elbow. I spun around and there was your grandmother. Her eyes weren't nearly as harsh as they had been when I got home.
"She snapped at me 'Where do you get off trying to avoid me?'. I gently took her hand off my elbow and I told her, 'You made your choice Tonya, I have nothing else to say.' And then I turned around and walked away "
At this point Coop was fully invested in the story, as if it would end any other way than his grandparents getting back together. He hadn't touched his bowl since Franklin had gotten to the arrival home part of the story. "How in the hell did you two wind up together?"
Franklin smiled. "What you couldn't know is that after I walked out of the concessions stand, I was a little worked up. I had been home long enough that I started to relax and let my guard down. All the things I'd seen and done over there, they were weighing on me.
"Between that and the pain over losing her, by the time your spitfire grandmother spun me around I was fighting back tears, and losing. I think she saw that I was pretty broken up so she didn't stop me when I turned around again. She called my name once but I just couldn't let myself be vulnerable like that when she'd hurt me.
"Mind you I hadn't done anything wrong. She'd taken someone else's word over mine. I was already back working for the family again, and the next weekend me and some of the guys went to the bar, for dancing. I wasn't in the mood to dance, went strictly to drown my sorrows.
"Once we'd been there a fair bit of time, I excused myself and went out to clear my head. The fairgrounds were next door and that's where the arena for the rodeo was. I had spent some time there with your grandma before I shipped out.
"She took care of the stables there, so I walked around, pretty much just to wallow in my misery and reminisce. I heard someone milling around, sure enough it was her. I didn't make my presence known right away. I just put my back to the wall, closed my eyes and listened. To her footsteps, the sound of her breathing. I'd missed her so much.
"I was about to walk away when I heard her sniffling. I peeked around the corner as she sat down on a bench and started crying. I guessed it had something to do with me. As resolute as I had been to leave her be, I was by her side in an instant."
Franklin shook his head, smiling. Remembering how powerless he'd been seeing his love cry. "I held out my handkerchief and waited for her to notice me. She nearly shattered like a dinner plate when she realized I was there. She asked what I was doing, and I said I was just curious how it might have changed. That I didn't expect there to be anyone around.
"She said she couldn't stand to be at her apartment. After the drive in she'd confronted her friend. Eventually the girl admitted what she'd done. Tonya told her immediately she was moving out. She would wait until the other girl was gone at work before packing so they didn't have to see each other.
"She cast her eyes down and apologized for doubting me. Then she handed me my handkerchief back. I turned to leave and stopped myself."
Franklin paused, a thoughtful look passing over his face. "You see I hadn't written to her as much that last year I was over there fighting. I was so frozen in fear that every letter might be the last thing I ever said to her that I couldn't tell her the things that were on my mind. I told her all that then there in the stables and said that if I hadn't cut myself off to try and spare her, she might not have felt so unsure.
"I rallied up all the courage I had left and asked her when she was planning to go back to her parents. I said I would help her move her stuff. We made plans to get together, as friends mind you, and I borrowed one of the work trucks. When I pulled up in front of the house I'd just bought loaded up with all her possessions, she asked why we were stopping."
Franklin looked around, signaling it was the very house they now sat in. "I told her we were home, and I kissed her like I'd never kissed her before. We got married six months later."
Cooper felt very fortunate to hear how his grandparents' love story had played out. And sad that he would never get to tell a story like that about him and Dany.
His grandfather squinted slightly. "The point is Coop that even though it was a misunderstanding, I held her accountable. If I had begged her or spent days trying to convince her of my innocence, she might have taken me back. But there would always have been doubt in the back of her mind.
"I couldn't be the one to figure things out for her because I wasn't the real problem. She had to see for herself that she was wrong. For whatever reason Danielle is upset with you, this time apart might give her the clarity she needs to move past it."