Jimmy tossed his travel bag at his sofa and flopped onto his comfortable chair exhausted from the thirteen hour flight from China. His 1972 Dodge Challenger had been towed from the airport departure lane just as Lana predicted and locating it took another two hours with a huge storage bill attached to it.

Jimmy had been beating himself up for all the missteps he took searching for Lana's killer. "Crap!" He couldn't sit any longer and walked to his tenth floor window. "I hate this apartment and I hate that building." He pointed at the building blocking his view.

Jimmy reached for a blanket Lana would use as she read by his window. He picked it up and even after all the time that passed, he could still smell her presence. "I have to get the hell out of here." His cellphone rang as he reached for his jacket. "Yeah?" He answered as if the caller had been interrupting something important.

Windy fired back. "Tell me you didn't just, yeah me." She waited for her friend. "Jimmy?"

"Sorry, Win. What's up?"

Windy had an odd suggestion for Jimmy. "Turn your radio on."

"Why the radio?"

"Just turn it on." Windy tried to motivate her friend. "92.3 Now!"

"Pftt. Okay."

"Was that attitude you just gave me?"

Jimmy knew giving Windy attitude was never a good idea but in his state of mind it just slipped. "Win, I am not in the mood."

"Damnit Jimmy, turn that radio on...now!" Windy tried to ready him for a bombshell. "It's Dana."

That name still stung Jimmy like stepping on a hornet's nest. Dana, bolted for Pasadena sixteen years ago. His first broken heart left him wallowing in self pity for months. "What about Dani?"

Windy kept Jimmy focused on his next task. "Just turn your radio on."

He mumble something about Windy he did not want her to hear could as he turned his radio on. "What was that station again?"

"Ninety-two point three." Windy repeated. Sometimes getting her stubborn friend to listen could be a challenge.

Windy heard Dr. Allyson Grace's voice fill his apartment. "That's it. Call me later." She ended the call abruptly to let Jimmy concentrate on his task at hand.

Jimmy frowned at both the odd request from Windy and the woman on the radio. "Later, Win."

He sat back into his comfortable chair listening to the raspy voice of Dr. Grace reminiscing of her childhood friend. Jimmy rolled his eyes at her story but continued to listen for the connection with Dana, his ex-girlfriend from years past.

Deal With It

"Welcome back listeners. I am Dr. Allyson Grace and the program is 'Deal With It'. Tonight? Well, tonight I am honouring my childhood friend, Jackie Martel who lost her life in a tragic auto accident."

"She built one of the most successful companies our country has ever known. At the time of her passing, Prime Continuous began to make a huge impact in the world of social media communications. Designing one of the most sought after secured platforms users were begging for."

"As tragic as losing my best friend has been, and it's been painful, she is still among us. Jackie's parents shared with me that their daughter saved four people through the Organ Donor Program. She became a hero to their friends and families."

"A fitting segway back to our first caller tonight, Dana. Dana has a daughter in need of a kidney transplant and also in search of her daughter's biological father named, Jimmy." Dr. Grace wasted little time and went directly for the jugular.

Jimmy stared at the radio and seemed to forget how to breathe stunned by the news. "Yeah right. Dani never told me about a daughter." He grabbed for his cellphone.

Dr. Grace sent out a plea for anyone knowing Jimmy to call the radio station then continued her conversation with Dana. "Tell us about your daughter, Jordan. I mean aside from her desperate need for a kidney. Tell us about the young woman."

Dana did not expect to reveal so much about her daughter. She took a deep breath before she began. "Jordan is a remarkable young woman who has never taken no for an answer for anything. Unfortunately, this time, she may need to without a voluntary donor who matches her rare blood type."

Dr. Grace interjected. "And the reason for your search - hoping to find her biological father."

"Yes, Dr. Grace, I really hoped to find Jimmy much sooner than this but he has proven to be elusive." Dana sounded less than hopeful.

Jimmy's cellphone rang. "Windy, again? Crap!" Jimmy answered. "Hey, Win."

"You have not called the radio station yet?" Jimmy could tell Windy was ticked with him. "You had better call before I do! You know Dana is talking about you!"

"Win?"

"Jimmy, call the station!" Again, Windy ended the call. Windy and Jimmy were an item before Dana popped into his life after the whale adventure when Jimmy almost drowned.

Jimmy turned up the volume to his radio. "Damnit! I don't have time for this." Even while he protested his new circumstance he Googled the radio station and tapped the call-in phone number.

"Hello, this is Charlene. You have reached Deal With It on ninety-two point three, how can I help you?"

Jimmy cleared his throat. "Ah yeah, my name is Jimmy."

"Thee Jimmy? The Jimmy, Dana is searching for? That Jimmy?" Charlene, the last minute, fill-in producer, acted as if her night just got a whole lot more interesting. "You're that guy?"

"Ah yeah." Jimmy confirmed without enthusiasm. "That's me."

"Great! Hang on." Charlene put Jimmy on hold and sent a message to her friend and host of the program, Dr. Grace.

Hey Ally, Jimmy on line 2.

Allyson read the message and as Dana finished describing her daughter. Dr. Grace took a deep breath before revealing there was another caller. "Dana, my producer, Charlene just informed me that Jimmy has just called into the program."

Allyson heard Dana gasp. "Are you okay Dana? Are ready to speak to Jimmy?"

"Yes, Dr. Grace. I'm ready."

"Go ahead, Dana." Allyson directed her first caller.

"Hello...Jimmy." Dana hesitated. "It's been a while, eh?"

"Dani?" Jimmy coldly questioned.

"Surprise!" Dana nervously laughed. "Sorry, but we just recently found out Brad is not Jordan's biological father. That leaves just you." She waited for his response but none came.

Dr. Grace attempted to fill the silent void. "I appreciate this is a challenging situation for you both. So why don't we simply focus on Jordan's need for a kidney transplant? Dana, tell us what has transpired in the past few years?"

Dana offered the quick Coles Notes version of the events leading up to this night. "A few years back, Jordan complained of an unrelenting pain in her shoulder. When we had her checked out the doctor gave us the devastating news ~ it was leukemia. Oh, we caught it in time and she has been free of cancer for a little over two years."

Jimmy sat back in his chair trying to absorb his new reality. He listened closely to his ex-girlfriend describe the effects of the treatments on his biological daughter.

"The challenge came with the levels of chemotherapy needed to defeat the cancer. As a result, the treatment damaged her kidneys to the extent that Jordan needs a transplant." Dana left the rest to the imagination.

"I guess that leads us to you, Jimmy." Dr. Grace would tread softly here. "Do you understand what is being asked of you?"

"Well, I am no rocket scientist but I believe my ex-girlfriend is asking me if I am willing to give up one of my kidneys to save Jordan."

"Your daughter." Dana emphasized.

"Yes, Dana has a point. Your daughter, Jimmy." Dr. Grace felt it neccessary to highlight that fact made by her first caller.

"A daughter I never knew existed." Jimmy felt the last few months descend upon him. The loss of Lana, the love of his life, the sacrifices he made trying find her killer, and the emptiness he feels now. To his credit, he knew all that was self pity. "I think we should meet and talk about this." It had been a cold response but a response nonetheless.

"Dana? Are you willing to meet with Jimmy?" Dr. Grace tried to mediate an agreement.

Jimmy felt misunderstood. "I meant Jordan and I should meet and we should talk. It would be nice to know what she wants in her future."

Dana fell silent before continuing with an apologetic tone. "Oh, I have to admit I never thought about you and Jordan talking. Of course I agree as long as I am there."

With no love lost he reacted. "Whatever." Jimmy needed to get out of his apartment. "Are we finished?"

Dr. Grace looked up to the producer's booth. "Jimmy could you hang on and give Charlene your contact information?"

Jimmy agreed. "Yeah."

Charlene took his name and number, he hung up and headed for the local pub close to his apartment. He sat on a barstool allowing the news of having a teenage daughter sink in while drinking scotch on the rocks. The pity party started again.

"Scotch on the rocks is pretty hardcore." The bartender watched Jimmy swallow the liquor effortlessly. "This ain't your first rodeo I see."

Jimmy simply looked up, pressed his lips together as he raised an eyebrow. "Double, same glass. No need to waste the ice."

The bartender nodded as he bathed the ice with scotch, filling the glass. Jimmy took no time to finish the double. "Hold on partner. Where's the race?"

Jimmy placed a fifty dollar bill on the bar, nodded to the man, and walked out the door of the pub. The bartender shook his head as he spilled the ice into the sink and took the money from the bar.

Windy walked down Granville Street headed for the same pub knowing her friend as well as she did. The pub door opened and he emerged. "Jimmy!"

"Crap!" Jimmy knew Windy hated him drinking.

"Tell me you weren't drinking the hard stuff!" Windy quickly made her way towards Jimmy. "There are no pity parades. No one cares what you have gone through!"

"Tough love, eh?" Jimmy began to feel the effects of the liquor and managed a smile.

"You wish." Windy rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Win?" Jimmy changed the subject.

"Why did you shut your phone off?" His friend countered.

"I didn't want to talk to Dani." Jimmy walked past Windy towards his apartment.

"You have a daughter. You are going to need to talk to Dana, Jimmy." Windy caught up and walked beside him.

"Who wants a kidney." He added as if he were being scammed.

"You have two!"

"Easy for you to say when no one is asking you for one." Jimmy scoffed at his friend.

Windy fought the waves of sarcasm to get to the real reason he shut his phone off. "Sure, you're right. It's easy for me to say that. So you don't want to talk to Jordan?"

Jimmy stopped. "Of course I do, Win. But not Dana. She kept me from her."

"If you were listening to the same program I listened to you would know that is not true." Windy defended Dana. "She just found out that Brad guy wasn't her father."

"So I'm the problem?"

"You know, you are the most stubborn man I know? Sometimes that is great ~ but not this the time." Windy turned Jimmy to face her. "Cut Dana some slack. She has been through a lot too!"

He turned away and began to walk. As they passed a Starbuck's he jokingly suggested. "Latte, Win?"

"At this time of night? Are you nuts?" Windy declined. "No!"

"So what has Dana been through. Did she talk about it on the radio?" Jimmy huffed.

"How do I say this without having you hate me?" Windy stopped Jimmy again. "We talk." She tilted her head. "Every now and again."

"Really?" Jimmy watched Windy's reaction. It was honest. "Crap." Jimmy walked past her and into his apartment building. He waited for the door to close before he shook his head.

Windy watched him disappear into his apartment building.

Jimmy knew he was tough on Windy. You know you just hurt your only friend tonight. You are an idiot!

"Damn Win, did you really have to tell him?" She waited at the Starbuck's until she watched Jimmy make it safely into his apartment with her nanny app she personally installed while he was half way around the world.