章 89: Chapter 88: Cold-Blooded Comfort
The Quinn Residence, The Backwoods, Temperance, South Dakota...
By the time Layla Quinn had finished her rather lengthy and trying shift at Earl's Diner, she had managed to make it home in time to find the house a mess and the doors wide open. Brutus had been on the front porch looking as tired and worn out as ever but he greeted Layla warmly as he wagged his tail and looked up at her fondly. She smiled at him happy to see him home and her Daddy's truck out front but he'd been packing it up for some reason. Curious as to what her father had been up to now, Layla ventured into the house and noticed the mess he'd made of the place inside as well with clothes and shoes thrown every which way and boxes dumped out in the middle of the livingroom floor. She had been slightly annoyed given all the time she had taken out of her day to clean up so that he'd notice it only for him to come through like a tornado and mess it all up again dragging things out of his bedroom.
To her surprise, her father seemed to be in a world all his own as he moved about the house as fast as she'd ever seen him sifting through things and packing some into a lone suitcase as if he'd been deciding what he deemed to be most important. The stench of his all-too-familiar cigarettes had been in the air as a large puff of white smoke filled the air and Layla fanned it away.
Jarrett had been far too busy with his frantic packing to notice that his daughter had been home as he moved along muttering to himself about "Law Dogs" and "Hounds Of Hell" being after him.
"Daddy?" she asked with an arched brow still curious as to what he'd been up to since she saw him last.
Jarrett had been rather startled when his only daughter's small voice broke past his intense concentration and crazed ramblings. His low blue eyes widened as he looked over at his little girl who was not quite so little anymore. He knew the look of a woman when he saw one and despite the pang of sadness it brought him in his weary heart he had still maintained his rather gruff exterior when looking her over.
"I gotta be gettin' while the gettin' is good," he said in terms of a rather dry explanation as to why he'd been packing.
"Where are you going?" asked Layla still confused.
"Some place not as nice as this one," replied Jarrett still in his usual gruff tone. "And I ain't taken you along this time."
Layla had been caught off guard by this.
"What?" she asked still trying to process what he'd been saying.
"You heard me, Little Girl, I ain't carryin' you halfway across the country with me, you seemed to have made yourself a life here and I ain't gonna be the one that uproots it, not anymore...I've done far too much of that already and for that, I am truly sorry, can't tell you how much I do regret lookin' back concernin' you but there's a lot that I don't."
"What do you mean uprooting, Daddy where are you going?" asked Layla suddenly growing frantic as she realized that this wasn't some fishing trip or job thing he'd been planning.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, just know the times come for me to move on and you should too, you ain't a child and any man can see that and I ain't got no right keepin' you from growin' up, I ain't got no right to you at all," said Jarrett through puffs of cigarette smoke as his low blue eyes took in the sight of his only daughter. "That bitch you call a mother ain't never been your mother, and it's time you stop livin' in her shadow and mines, we been no good from the very beginnin' but I wanted nothing else in the world than to be your father and I wouldn't trade it for all the money and time in the world, this ol world is a cold place and if you don't know how to live in it, it can destroy you an' make you what you never intended to be, I should know...there are things I've done that I can't take back nor do I want to at this point in time, but as sure as I stand before you, little girl, it's time I moved on and you do the same."
Tears began to stream down Layla's cheeks as she looked up at her father in disbelief wondering why he'd been acting this way and why he'd been so cryptic when speaking to her.
"Daddy?" she asked in a helpless tone.
"Ain't you been listenin' I ain't your father, and I never was....I ain't got no rights to you Little Girl, and I ain't takin' you with me...you gonna have to find your own way from here, there's some money in a suitcase in my room, keep the place don't keep it the choice is yours, for the first time in years I'm giving you a choice to be who you wanna be, it's the least I can do, I owe you as much after all that I've done," replied Jarrett as he continued his packing. "You're all grown up now and you can't follow where I'm goin' and I may not be the man you thought I was but I did love you Little Girl, I loved you more than you will ever know...an that's why I gotta do right by you an' let you go."
Jarrett finished packing and zipped up his suitcase leaving a stunned Layla Quinn to ponder what he'd told her.
He put the case in the truck and patted Brutus on the head one last time before venturing back into the kitchen grabbing the six-pack of beer he had left over and hopping into the truck.
Unable to help it, Layla ran outside realizing that this was the last time that she'd ever see her father again, his low blue eyes haunting her with sorrow and regret despite his cold exterior.
"Daddy wait!" she said as he started up the truck and pulled out the pasture leaving her behind in the wake of her newly flowing tears.
She had not understood any of it and he had known as much but he had no desire to elaborate further as to why he'd been leaving her behind.
"I DID THE BEST I COULD BY YOU, LITTLE GIRL!" had been his last words as he took off down the pasture not at all slowing down as she ran after him confused, scared, and helpless to understand why this had all been happening. "I did the best I could."
Layla had gotten to the end of the pasture and dropped down to her knees in tears as her father Jarrett Quinn disappeared from her line of sight and out of her life for good.
Leaving a trail of dust and tears in his wake as he did.
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