I’d seen her bawling enough times through the years that I’d become immune to it by then. My main concern was that she might waste a bunch of my time with some stupid story about the latest fight between her and her boyfriend, Conor Sweeney. The main thing to remember in that kind of situation is that you should act like you care without encouraging too much talk. “It’ll be okay,” I said. You have to say something. “N…n…no, it wo…wo…won’t,” she blubbered. It takes experience to learn how to shut this kind of drama down as fast as possible. I had plenty of practice. The problem: Tack had none. I saw him shift in his chair and turn to face her. I saw his mouth start to open — saw it like it was happening in slow motion. I knew he was going to say something and that whatever it was, it would be the wrong thing. Sadly, I was powerless to stop him. “What’s wrong, Lynn?” A long, tortured NOOOOOOOOOO echoed in my head. Too late. “I…I b…b…broke up with C...Con…or.”
