Toto and the Boys I: Jackie

Epilogue

Guess where I was two months later?

I was at the airport.

Yep, the airport.

And I was eager to see Jackie girl again.

And so were Georgie and Dannie.

And yes, of course, Dean, the ever patient boyfriend.

He took Beatle with him and right now, my Collins Corporations parking lot buddy was talking to me about how he had to suffer a few rides with Dean talking on the phone with Jackie who went away somewhere in Palawan two months ago. My buddy talked to me about how Dean would ask Jackie where she was or when she was coming back and that say it was okay whenever she answered she was not sure yet and how Dean would then start getting sour the rest of the day.

In return, I told Beatle how things had been with George and Dannie; about Brian who would spend a few years in a mental institution; about my new alarm system (yep, you got that right! I got my alarm system after years and years of mileage) and a lot of other things.

We waited while our dear owners waited for Jackie girl to step out of that plane and finally be home.

****

Jackie was feeling restless as she walked toward the exit of Silay airport.

Of course, she was feeling fine--renewed as a matter of fact. But this was the day that she would finally be with Dean again after that tragic night two months ago.

That night when she decided she would leave for a getaway to be with herself and to come to terms with everything that had happened and everything that she had done due to her crazy ideas, she immediately put her plans into action and flew away to Palawan.

Dean had been supportive, but she had always got that feeling he was getting impatient as well.

For two months, she constantly had to fight the urge to go back home just because she missed her family, her friends, her job and Dean.

But every time she was about ready to leave Palawan and her modest rented nipa house, she would remember the purpose of her trip. And once she did that, she would start unpacking her things again and get out, travel around the province with her limited budget and the willingness to discover things on her own without a care in the world.

She met the nicest people, explored the hidden beauties of the place she had never seen in brochures before, and tasted more than one of the best foods in the country.

All of those things she did to enjoy life and what it could offer her and by doing so, she was able to heal and forgive herself for all those crazy things she had done. And finally, she was able to accept the fact that Brian was crazy. She learned to forgive him. But she figured she could not easily forget that traumatic night.

Maybe she would, in time, but for now it was enough that she no longer had nightmares.

And she was again ready to step right back into the life she left behind for her hibernation.

She squared her shoulders as she approached the glass doors of the airport. The moment she stepped out, she saw the group standing right in front of her, the smiles on their faces unwavering and telling her how she had been greatly missed.

And she remembered those nights she had thought and longed for them.

Jackie’s tears were blurring her vision that she didn’t see Dean, dressed in a simple blue shirt and his black baseball cap, briskly crossing the distance between them. Before she knew it, she was trapped in his arms, her cheek pressed tightly against his chest.