When it had come time to start college, Jackson had once again gone against the grain and opted to attend UCLA instead of the University of Arizona, the family alma mater. Barton had flat out refused to pay for Jackson’s tuition if he went to UCLA, so Jackson had quietly and calmly pursued a fully paid football scholarship. And if Barton had felt an unwitting admiration for his son’s persistence - not to mention the athletic prowess that none of his other children had ever demonstrated - he’d been too proud and stubborn to admit it.
Jackson had seriously considered staying in California after obtaining his degree in civil engineering, having received several lucrative offers from local firms, but had hesitated to provoke his father to that extent. Attending a different university was one thing, but taking a job with a rival firm would have been quite another entirely, one that would have caused an irreparable rift between Jackson and the rest of the family. So he’d moved back home to Phoenix and taken a job with Gilmore Construction, a job that paid extremely well but that wasn’t the least bit challenging or stimulating for Jackson. At first, he’d been eager to offer up suggestions for how to improve operations, to diversify their business, and remain competitive in their field. But after Barton had shot down every single one of his ideas, and when neither of his weak-willed older brothers had even attempted to stick up for him, Jackson had shut up and quit trying.
That didn’t mean, however, he had stopped coming up with new ideas or concepts. On the contrary, he had dozens of notebooks filled with rough sketches, notes, and ideas - ideas that he one day hoped to be able to see to fruition. A few years ago, in fact, out of frustration, he’d seriously considered accepting one of several offers that were still available to him in California. But that had all been before little Hannah had fallen ill, and every time Jackson thought about moving away the image of her pale, thin little face would compel him to stay put. He adored his niece, felt much closer to her than he did to his brothers’ children, and Hannah had made it quite clear from a very young age that Jackson was her favorite uncle. It would have broken her fragile heart if he had moved away when she so desperately needed the support and love of every single family member, and thus he had stayed put in a job that he was beginning to loathe more and more each day for her sake.
At least, he thought grimly, he’d had the good sense to buy a condo that was located miles away from where the rest of the family lived. His mother had been visibly disappointed when he had gently refused to move back into his old room after college, even though his childhood home was around five thousand square feet in size and he would have had practically an entire wing to himself. And unlike his siblings, Jackson had refused to buy a home in the same general neighborhood his parents lived in. Laura, Neil, and Hannah lived less than two blocks away, while his brothers Grant and Alex resided within a mile of their parents. Naturally, all of their residences had been designed and built by Gilmore Construction, including the modern, high-rise condo that Jackson called home. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he’d had a very hands-on approach when it came to the design and construction of the building, however, and that he’d forced enough of his ideas through to make the condo feel like home to him.
Business was certainly booming right now in the Phoenix area and nearby suburbs, and Gilmore had an untold number of projects - large and small - either being constructed or in development. Jackson earned an extremely generous salary, but was savvy enough to save a good part of it, knowing that the construction business could often be temperamental and that the good times might not last all that long. Oh, he enjoyed his life, that went without saying - both his Tesla SUV and the truck he used for hauling equipment, camping trips, and other outdoor activities were top of the line, fully loaded, and less than two years old; he wore mostly jeans, T-shirts, and boots at work but was occasionally required to wear a suit and tie for meetings and social events, and the ones he owned were from high end designers; he wasn’t much of a cook, and either ate out or got takeout most nights, and while he was perfectly happy grabbing a burger or filling a container from the hot food bar at his local Whole Foods Market, Devon always insisted on eating someplace trendy or classy. He worked far too many hours to be able to take a lot of time off, but when he was able to take a vacation he made sure it was at a five star resort with tons of amenities, someplace like Hawaii, Mexico, or the Caribbean, though he also cherished the camping trips, backpacking excursions, and other adventure travel he did with his buddies like Riley.
Getting away for a few days anywhere sounded like heaven right now. He’d been putting in ridiculously long hours, even working on the weekends, and was really starting to feel the burnout. But leaving town right now, even for a weekend, was unthinkable given the precarious state of Hannah’s health.
Jackson smiled sadly as he picked up his favorite photo of himself with his cherished niece. It had been taken more than three years ago, when Hannah had been around eleven, and a few months prior to her being diagnosed with leukemia. The photo had been taken after one of her soccer games, so she was wearing her bright blue and gold uniform, her curly reddish blonde hair escaping from a messy ponytail. Her slightly chubby cheeks had been flushed, and she’d been grinning from ear to ear, one arm flung around Jackson’s neck. Reluctantly, he couldn’t help but contrast this image of a healthy, happy little girl with the desperately ill young teenager he’d seen a couple of days ago.
And despite how sick Hannah was, how much she’d gone through over the past couple of years with chemo, radiation, medication, and the other treatments that had sapped her strength, caused all of that beautiful curly hair to fall out, and reduced her to a walking skeleton, she rarely if ever complained, and did her best to put on a brave face - especially for her mother. Laura had always been on the frail side, most likely a side effect from having been born prematurely and with a weak heart. As a result, she’d been coddled and pampered her entire life, causing her to be both physically and emotionally weak as she had entered adulthood. Everyone in the family, and especially her own husband, still tended to walk on eggshells around her, going out of their way not to upset or agitate her, and letting her have her own way as much as possible.
Because it irritated the hell out of Jackson to see everyone treat his sister with kid gloves, he tried to avoid her as much as possible so that he, too, didn’t have to constantly pander to her high strung, borderline neurotic behavior. And it really pissed him off to observe poor, sick little Hannah trying to be the brave one and console her mother when it ought to have been the other way around. Laura’s inability to cope with her daughter’s illness was just one more reason why he felt compelled to stick around town.
Jackson continued to study the photo of his niece, thinking not for the first time how little Hannah resembled the Gilmore side of the family. Instead, she took after Neil’s side of the family, and looked a lot like her paternal grandmother - a fact that irritated the hell out of Laura, Barton, and Candace. Jackson knew that Neil and Laura spent very little time with his family, though Neil had helped to secure jobs within Gilmore Construction for both of his brothers and his brother-in-law. Holidays and other important events, however, had most always been spent with Laura’s family, both because Barton had insisted on it and because Neil hadn’t wanted to upset his easily distraught wife by rocking the boat.