Page 88 of The Words We Lost

Without any of his usual flair for the dramatic, Hal’s voice remained void of emotion. “I have a plan.”

Joel slapped the roof of his car. “For you? Or for Ingrid? Because I guarantee the second your twenty-two-year-old daughter finds out you’ve fallen off the wagon again, she will put her school plans on hold and come running back to babysit her daddy. Is that what you want? You want her to quit her dreams to take care of your—”

“No. That’s not what I want! I’ve never wanted any of this for her!” Hal’s deafening bark broke into the night with a boom, but almost as quickly, he reeled it back in. “Wait to tell her—for her sake, not mine. She deserves to finish her finals without worrying about me.”

Joel tunneled his fingers through his hair. “At least we can both agree on that.”

Several raw moments of silence ticked by before Joel broke it, his voice a low, remorseful plea that caused Cece to peek over the hood of the Mazda.

“You’re better than this,” Joel said. “And even if you can’t believe that for yourself, your daughter believes it enough for you both. And she’ll never stop.” He cleared the thickness from his throat. “Which is why my loyalty will always be to her first—always.”

Cece’s breath was stuck somewhere between her gut and her esophagus as she waited for the captain’s reply.

“You’re an honorable man,” Hal finally said. “Just like your father.”

Don’t give in to him, Joel,Cece thought.Don’t fall for his schemes. There’s more to this thanwhat he’s telling you, I feel it!

At her cousin’s hard stare, her hope buoyed only to sink just as quickly at Joel’s logical reply. “Here’s what’s going to happen: I’m going to take you home tonight, and then first thing tomorrow morning you, me, and my father are all going to sit down together and figure out a new plan. If you go anywhere before then, your options for employment in this town will gofrom slim to none. And the second Indy’s finals are over, she’ll be included in everything we discuss. I love her too much to keep secrets from her. She deserves better than that.”

Cece was certain Hal would reject Joel’s proposal. After all, Joel was little more than a kid in comparison to a seasoned sailor with a criminal’s rap sheet. There was simply no way Hal would just roll over and accept Joel’s ultimatum without argument. But much to her astonishment, that’s exactly what he did. With a resigned nod and a noticeable sag in his shoulders, Captain Hal reached for the passenger handle of Joel’s old Honda and shoved his bulk inside the sedan without further comment.

Of all the perplexing things she’d witnessed tonight, this was the one that shook her the most. Hal was a lot of things, but a pushover had never been one of them.

Cece kept her distance from them on the highway home, taking the back roads whenever she could. She didn’t need to follow closely; she’d know her way to the marina if she had to find it during a midnight squall. She watched Joel’s car pull up to the docks from the vacant lot where she had parked across the street. A minute later, Hal lumbered up the stairs to the marina caretaker’s apartment her uncle had helped secure for Hal as part of his generous sobriety package agreement. Rage boiled inside her at the thought of all the people Hal had taken advantage of over the years. All the people he’d scammed into believing his intentions were honorable. All the pain he’d caused the people she loved most—the pain he wasstillcausing them.

Focusing on Joel’s taillights, Cece reached for her phone.

Cece

What did he say about the two men I saw him talking to at the bar tonight?

Joel

Nothing.

Eyes locked on her phone screen, Cece waited for a follow-up explanation, but her impatience was nearing maximum capacity.

Cece

Nothing because you haven’t asked him yet or...?

Joel

Nothing because my only objective for tonight is to keep the main thing the main thing. And right now, that looks like dealing with the immediate repercussions of Hal’s relapse.

It was crazy how that same advice on keeping the main thing the main thing in regards to her book series proposal seemed like absolute genius when it came from Ingrid, but in light of this circumstance, all Cece wanted to do was chuck her phone through Joel’s back window.

Cece

You should have told me about that when you first found out!

Joel

No, I shouldn’t have. I’m protecting you.

Cece

No, you’re protecting Hal! And I think he’s hiding something bigger than his drinking. I know what I saw tonight, and it matches what I’ve been trying to tell you for months—something is wrong. I feel it. We need to investigate further.

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