27. "That just proves how little you know about women"

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Jason had picked up groceries and installed himself in the cozy beach house. The waves breaking on the surf lured him out. A long beach walk was exactly what he needed at this time.

In the middle of the night, he woke up startled by the old-fashioned phone ringing in the living room.

"Hello?", he answered sleepy.

"Oh, my God, Jason," he heard Julian shouting upset. "You need to turn on your phone immediately and call Karen. Oh, honey, I'm sorry to tell you this, but your parents had a car accident."

With a plonk, he dropped the receiver and ran to the bedroom where his phone was lying. He tapped his code and called Karen. She answered after the first ring.

"Jason?", he heard half crying and fear squeezed his heart painfully.

"What happened?"

"Is that Jason?", he heard Conner in the background. The phone was taken over. "Stay where you are! I'm going to get you!" it sounded almost menacing.

"Thank you, Conner," he heard her say.

"Karen?", he cried desperately.

"On the way back from his farewell party, he suddenly became unwell and drove into a tree. Colleagues driving behind them saw it happen and called an ambulance. One of the men immediately started CPR. Thanks to him, he's still alive," she said, sobbing so violently, that he barely understood her.

"Give me the phone, baby," he heard Duncan say. "Sit down and try to calm down."

There was a new shudder through Jason. "Is everything okay with the baby?", he asked as soon as he had Duncan on the line.

"Don't worry about that, Jason. Almost all the sisters in this hospital are watching her." His brother-in-law's deep moped voice reassured him. "Laurens is currently undergoing surgery. According to the surgeon it will take several hours."

"How's my mother's condition?"

Duncan sighed.

"Laura miraculously only suffers from a badly bruised shoulder and wrist. She's sleeping under heavy painkillers. That's all I can tell you right now. We'll talk after Conner picks you up, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed.

After a quick shower, he closed the cottage and walked to the higher situated parking lot where he was waiting for Conner. Sitting on the concrete edge, he looked out over the sea. Sparkling stars couldn't charm him. Even the warm wind that seemed to embrace him with caressing arms failed to reduce his worries.

In the orange light of a lamppost, he tried to get his father's face on paper. It filled him with untold frustration to see that at every attempt Conner's familiar traits appeared on paper. Furious and disgusted with himself, he threw away the sketchbook. It stuck a few yards below him on a shrubbery. The pages fluttered in the warm breeze.

"Shit," he shouted out loud before he climbed down to pick up the sketchbook. The bush with mean thorns did not easily release its prey. Rubbing over the several scratches on his forearm and hands, he sat sighing with the sketchbook pressed against him on the concrete edge.

Although it felt like an eternity, Conner turned into the parking lot after about 20 minutes. Jason rushed to the passenger side and stepped in.

"How did you know where I was?", he asked putting on his seatbelt.

"GPS," was Conner's dry answer. "Don't you dare turn that function off, because then you're going over my knee," he threatened very credibly.

Skillfully, he rejoined the traffic.

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