Page 115 of Nothing But It All
“No. Not specifically.”
“Maybe he drove to town,” I offer. “He might’ve been out of the cigars he doesn’t smoke.”
Jack slips on one boot and then the other. “I hope, Lo, but I don’t think so. His berry buckets are gone.”
My husband stands, facing me. The severity on his face—the somber lines etched across his forehead and around his mouth—kills me.
I forget my irritation with him.Would Harvey go into the forest on his own?
“What can we do?” I ask. “What areyougoing to do?”
“Maddie, can you go get Michael? Tell him I need him to come home now.”
She stands. “Do you know where he is?”
“I’m guessing with Ava.”
She nods. “I’ll go there first. If not, they’re probably at the lake.”
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Jack says as she scoots out the door.
Snaps raises his head and looks at us. Finding us uninteresting, he lays his head back between his front legs and closes his eyes.Lucky.
“What do you know that you’re not telling me?” I ask. “I feel like you’re keeping something from me.”
His chest rises, filling with oxygen, before he blows it out slowly.
I have no idea where this is going. And with the plethora of events that have happened today, it could very well be anything. That might be the worst part of it all—not knowing.
“Lo,” Jack says, sucking in a breath again. “Dad is sick.”
We knew Harvey was sick, but the way Jack says it puts it on another level. That makes it hard to breathe.
“I don’t know anything for sure,” he says carefully. “But we had a conversation this morning that leads me to believe that he might be worse off than I thought. So, the fact that he’s not here ...”
My husband holds my gaze, his beautiful brown eyes cloudy.
I’m uncertain where Jack is going with this line of thought. Harvey is sick, so he’s not here because ...why?
Does he think he went to the doctor? Did he go home? Did they get into an argument today, and Harvey said “Screw it” and took off under duress?
I cover my mouth with my hand and fight back a wash of tears.
Jack heads to the bedroom. He returns with a thick envelope that he drops unceremoniously on the kitchen table.
“What’s that?” I ask as a chill slips down my spine.
His jaw sets. “Everything my father owns is now in our name.”
“What?”
He just looks at me.
“Jack.What the hell?”
“Said it would be ours anyway. It’ll make it easier when he dies.”
My mouth hangs open as tears lick the corners of my eyes.Oh, Harvey.
