Page 21 of Missing

He laughed as he answered, “Uh huh.”

“And you live in Texas? Where we get hurricanes.”

“I do.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You’d be fine in Louisiana.”

When he asked about my Dad, I told him he’d died from cancer the year before Phil’s accident. His death hit us hard but it wasn’t a surprise. He’d been suffering for so long; we almost considered it a blessing that he was finally at peace.

When I asked about his parents, his voice took on a cool edge as he shared very little about them. It wasn’t much better when he talked about his sister, who’d joined the family law firm. The almost robotic quality to his voice made it clear this was a sore spot in his history.

“Did your family expect you to join the firm too?”

“They did.” His answer was stiff.

I debated changing the subject but had one more question. “Are they disappointed you didn’t?”I have a feeling I know the answer.

“They are.”

“Would you rather talk about something else?”

“I would.” Doug released a deep breath and uncurled his fingers, loosening the white-knuckle grip he had on the steering wheel. “Thank you.”

After a few seconds of silence Doug apologized for being rude.

“Forgiven. Family can be a touchy subject.” I appreciated his apology, but was curious why he had such a negative reactionto talking about his family. I could understand them being disappointed he’d joined the military instead of going to law school, but this felt bigger than that.

“They can be.” His chest rose as he inhaled deeply then fell as he slowly released it.

Doug put the car in park after pulling into my driveway. I didn’t want the date to end yet so before he could say anything, I said, “I have about thirty minutes before I need to leave to pick up Chase. Would you like to come in for a coffee, or I have a pitcher of sweet tea if you’d prefer that?”

“I’d like that,” Doug answered with a smile as he shut off the engine.

Chapter 12

Doug

No way in hell was I declining her offer and missing out on the opportunity to talk to her for a little while longer. There’d been a few tense moments when she asked about my family, and I needed to redeem myself for behaving like an ogre. This would give me a chance to show her that wasn’t the real me. I was still on edge after getting a phone call from my mother reminding me that my nephew was turning six in a few weeks and asking if I’d be home for his party.

I wouldn’t, which irritated her.Nothing new there.

None of that was Beth’s fault.

After Beth let us in, I closed the door and locked it out of habit.

When Beth asked me if I wanted coffee or sweet tea as we walked towards the kitchen, I confessed that as a northern guy sweet tea wasn’t a normal choice for me, but I’d grown to like it since moving south. Which had surprised me; the only iced tea or sweet tea I’d had back home was from the store and it was always too sweet for my taste.Homemade sweet tea in the south is so much better.

Beth handed me a tall glass filled with ice cubes, amber liquid, and a slice of lemon. “Sometimes I add fruit, but this batch is just plain black tea.”

“Thanks.” She watched as I took my first sip. It could have been the worst tea I’d ever had, but I wouldn’t have told her. Lucky for me, it wasn’t. “It’s delicious. Way better than the stuff I buy at the store.”

“Thank you.” Her cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink.

“Beth,” I waited for her to look at me, “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m not close with my family, and we recently had a,” I searched for a word better than fight, “disagreement and it’s still pretty fresh.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s never okay for me to be rude,” I said. “I’ll do better next time.”

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