He hangs up the phone, and then tries to put on a brave face for me, but I can tell something is still wrong. “Hey sweetie. What’s up?”

I step closer to his desk and ring my hands. “Uhm...I...I was just wondering if you knew what was going on with Alaric. He left the job sight today without telling me, and I found out from Kenny that he had an emergency. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright.” I pause and then add on so that I don’t sound too worried about him. “You know in case he’s going to be gone for tomorrow or anything. You know. To tell the guys.”

Luckily, my dad doesn’t seem to notice me acting strangely. His face remains serious though as he answers. “Uh yeah. He just has a personal thing going on. Tell the guys he probably will be gone the next couple of days.”

My dad’s words don’t match the way his face is telling me something is wrong. I know something serious is going on. I just can’t imagine what it would be. That’s what worries me most. I look up at my dad. “Is everything okay?”

My dad steps forward and kisses the top of my head. “Nothing you need to worry about.” He steps back and smiles down at me. “If you need help with anything on the job site, just call me.”

I smile back up at him. “Okay.” I don’t want my dad to know I am more worried about him personally than I am about him being gone at work. “You want dinner soon?”

He nods. “Sure. I have some calls to finish. I’ll be done in about an hour.”