that was then

 "I wonder why she's not answering?" Slater looked at Jay as if he was supposed to keep track of Vanna.

"She, she'd mentioned something about the pumpkin patch," Jay winced as he paced about checking on Hope who was asleep. 

"Why are you so worried about her?" Jay did have other things on his mind. Like Ivy. Was Dan really going to protect her from Lenny?

Of course, Dan told him he'd informed the police. There were more cops patroling their area now. 

Slater looked at him as if Jay should be the one worried, especially about his own life. "Why is Hope even here?"

"Ivy doesn't want to change anything," Jay shrugged as if he wasn't nearly as calm as Slater thought.

"I don't think Lenny is coming for you," Slater was even lipped.

"Right." Jay stared back at Slater as if there was nothing new to know.

"He wants Hope," Slater told him.

"What?" Jay winced hard not even wanting to listen to Slater. A chill of disaster made him slightly shutter, thinking the worst of a horrible home invasion. 

"I wonder why he's like this?" Slater when off to the kitchen and brought Jay a bottle of cold water. Both had stopped drinking for real this time. They had to stay level-headed. 

"Seems like I remember..he was that kid that took all the cookies at the PTA meeting. We were all standing around starved after the tumbling program we performed. But his hands were so dirty, everybody stood around watching him eat. Those were homemade cookies too," he remembered. "We were poor people, you know. That was a treat for all of us." He sighed and hugged himself in thought. "I guess he was worse off than the rest of us."

"Not by much," Jay didn't want to think about the Rez. "I heard he's not even who he says he is."

"What are you talking about? His dad was a truck driver and it was just Lenny and his dad."

"I know." Jay nodded. "It's just he seemed different after the summer he went on the road with his dad. He wasn't the same kid when he came back. He was always a bully, from third grade on."

Slater winced. Jay chugged down his water and tossed it in the recycle bin. He put his hands on hips and said, "Look, I know this is all my fault. I should have never thought he was my friend. He only needed me to take the fall, and obviously, I didn't do that very well."

"What are you planning to do?" Slater's voice hit a pitch that Jay didn't even want to listen to.

"I have to find Vanna," Jay said. "See if she's OK." He was growing restless. He needed to do something.