Chinese Handcuffs
...ifer’s story. He felt a lot for her, might even be in love with her…”(93). Again Dillon was trying to figure out what Jen was hiding, but he was too afraid to ask, thinking it might upset her. “But there were areas, specifically those around Jen’s family, where she just zoned out on him.”(94) Through these examples we find that Dillon had been careful not to force Jen to tell him her secrets. Since Dillon had never pressured Jen to tell him her secrets, she finally decided to share her experiences of her being sexually abused by her step-father. Jen made Dillon promise that he would not tell the police. This was a very difficult task for Dillon, but he promised he would help in some other way. “‘We’ll do something,’ Dillon said. ‘I promise we’ll do something. It’ll work out. I talked to a guy. There are some things we can do. Really there are.’”(246) Dillon knows that he cannot keep Jen’s secrets all bottled up inside forever, so he tells Jen’s basketball coach and looks for advice. Some of the coaches words were, “‘We’re against the wall here. I’m breaking the law by not reporting this and you’re taking an enormous responsibility. There’s not a shrink in the world who wouldn’t have her hospitalized. We’re on instinct here. Don’t screw up, okay?’”(257). Dillon doesn’t understand Jen’s wanting to keep the police out of her family affairs until she explains it to him, “‘ No on can touch him [her step-father]. Your doctor friend says I have to be willing to talk. And I am. I would talk.’ Through gritted teeth she said, ‘But somebody would be dead before I could count to ten.’”(266). Although Dillon has a hard time not telling the police about Jen’s step-father, he keeps his promise to her, and keeps her secrets to himself. Even though Dillon has decided he is in love with Jen, he does not force her to love him in return. After Dillon realized he had feelings for Jen, he asked her to go on a date with him and her reaction was, “She had agreed to the date with Dillon because she felt that if she were ever going to take head-on what appeared to be almost a phobia about boys, Dillon would be the one with whom to do it.”(152). When the date had finished, the two were confused about what would happen next, and when Dillon asked Jen what she thought, she replied with: ‘There are things ab...