Jaq With a Q (Kismet) by Jettie Woodruff Page A

nothing I had ever seen before. We didn’t see him a lot that last year, but we understood. He was about to change the way the world viewed mental illness with one simple pill. Taken once a day, and time released throughout the day. He had his panel of investors lined up, his drug study patients, all ready to go to bat. It wasn’t supposed to end like it did. It was supposed to be a good thing, but they made it bad.”
    “Why?”
    “Because one of the main ingredients were LSD. People didn’t take well to it. Not like he had expected. The university destroyed his work there, they fired him, and banned him from campus.”
    “All because of the LSD?”
    “Yes, well that’s the excuse they gave. What it really boiled down to was the effect it would have on the mental health field and that spectrum of the drug industry.”
    “And then what happened?”
    The words stuck in my throat when Jaq stood to check the dampness of her haging attire, her perfect round ass taking over my entire screen. Ignoring the twitch behind my shorts, I continued. “He sold everything we had, including our house there in New York.”
    Jaq squatted back to the floor, covering herself with the same blanket she always used, but not before I saw her breasts. That twitch came with growth and was harder to ignore. “Stop saying it like that.”
    “What?” I questioned, my eyes blinking away lustful visions.
    “There in New York. It makes me anxious. I’ve been pretending like you’re still here, but you mess it up when you say stuff like that. Keep going. Then what happened?”
    A crooked grin took over my face, and I continued. “My dad turned the garage here into a lab, where he continued to work, day and night, trying to recapture all the work they had destroyed. The drug he knew would help so many people. Silas and I didn’t mind. We were at the one place we loved, and we knew that he was in the midst of something great. Something that he believed in with all his heart.”
    “He had to start over? What about the notebooks?”
    “He started those over, too. He had to. The lab demolished everything but his mind. I’m going to find them.”
    Jaq’s chest rose and fell, her eyes darting around the room before speaking words I was sure weren’t the same as the ones in her mind. “Are you going to make it? The drug? Are you going to make it in his lab? For me?”
    There it was, the questions she really wanted to ask. Without using the word experiment, I told the truth, sidestepping it with my plans. “Yes, I’m going to talk to a contractor about constructing a new building where the garage was.”
    “What happened to the old one?”
    “It blew up.”
    In a nonchalant tone, Jaq finished the story. “Your dad was in it? Is that the nightmare you had?”
    “Yes, only it starts out with a plane crash. A small plane with my dad, Silas, and a few other people.”
    “Did you crash in a plane?”
    “Sort of, but the pilot was able to land us with nobody getting killed. It was scary as hell for a little kid, but nothing really bad happened. The plane never touches the ground in my dream, but the smoke filled cabin is always there, the sounds of the engine sputtering on, and right back off, are there and then the explosion. I’m back here with Silas, trying to get in to save my dad.”
    “Your dad died there and you still love it there?”
    I smiled and decided that I indeed did. It felt good to be back there. A place where time stood still, when every minute was lived and not timed. Where laughter and fun surrounded the three of us like a sheltered cocoon. Maybe what I had been looking for wasn’t out there after all. Maybe it was right here. With her. With Jaq.

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
     
    I woke to the sun pouring in from the streaked glass doors, and to the smell of coffee. Surely Silas hadn’t made coffee with thirteen-year-old beans. The thought of it brought the realization of all that needed to be done in there, as