Page 54 of Finding Silence
There’s nothing but two carryout cups and an empty paper bag I’m sure held some of Bess’s baked good on the table in front of them.
I fold my arms and cock a hip, staring him down. I don’t have to wait long before he lowers his gaze.
“We’re not doing anything wrong.”
“Except skipping school,” I remind him, my eyes drifting to the young girl. “Who’s your friend?”
When Carson ignores my question and stubbornly keeps his eyes averted, I address the girl directly.
“I don’t think we’ve met,” I start when suddenly the door bangs open behind me and the girl’s eyes dart over my shoulder, widening even more.
An angry man’s voice carries, “What the hell, Tate?”
I freeze, every cell in my body recognizing the timbre long before my brain clues in.
“Oops, I meant to tell you,” Bess whispers behind me. “Guess who’s back in town?”
* * *
*****
* * *
Nate
* * *
Jesus Christ.
I grind my teeth. It’s all I can do to keep from throwing her over my shoulder and marching her out of here.
Fourteen-freaking-years old, just started her new school last week and already skipping classes. That bodes well. My blood runs cold thinking perhaps she’s a chip of the old block after all, because then her path going forward will spell nothing but trouble and pain. I don’t want that for her.
After getting a call from the school office asking if Tatum was home sick today, a churning mix of worry, frustration, and anger propelled me to start driving around town to try and find my daughter. By the time I noticed the sheriff’s cruiser parked in front of the coffeeshop on Main Street, I’d been aimlessly driving around for damn near an hour and was fit to be tied.
I rarely ask for help, and would never voluntarily approach law enforcement of any kind, but worry and anger had started morphing into fear for my girl. Heck, one of the reasons I swallowed my pride and packed her up to move back to a place I vowed I’d never return to was because nothing ever fucking happens in Silence.
At least it didn’t use to. A small, safe, quiet, boring town that held too many ghosts and regrets for me. But then the daughter I’d barely known most of her life landed on my doorstep three months ago. The social worker who dropped her off informed me Tate’s mother had been found dead of an overdose.
Fatherhood had been something I barely dabbled in and suddenly I was a primary parent. Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter with a fierceness that still surprises me, but raising her is a whole different ballgame. Although, if I’d know Charlene was back on the hard stuff, I’d have stepped up earlier. Maybe I could’ve done something, saved my girl from the worst kind of heartbreak.
Heartbreak I recognize, even behind the defiance she is showing me now, with her little pointed chin lifted high and her mouth set tightly. A boy in the booth across from her who is definitely older than my daughter looks like he just shit his pants.
“Oh, hell no,” I growl, reaching into the booth to grab my daughter’s hand and pull her to her feet.
“Let go of her.”
I’ve barely noticed anyone else in the coffeeshop, but turn to look at the owner of that understated but forceful voice that had the hair on my arms stand up.
It takes me a minute to see beyond the uniform to the woman who fills it out nicely. Damn. Savannah Colter, I shouldn’t be surprised she would follow in her father’s footsteps.
What shocks me though is the visceral reaction I still feel at seeing her. It’s been what? Fifteen years? A long time of pretending she never existed.
Hard to do when those familiar pretty dark eyes that could melt steel are looking right at me.
“Dad, please don’t make a scene.”
I drop my head at my daughter’s soft plea and let go of the breath I’ve been hanging onto with a sigh.
