“Charlie, what’s wrong?”
Her hand came up to her mouth, and I knew she was fighting to hold it in. I wanted to pull her into my arms and beg her to be honest with me. Tell her I’d marry her in a fucking heartbeat if it meant she’d be happy. If it meant she’d stay married to me and plan a future together, we’d go to the justice of the peace if this town had one.
Fuck it. I couldn’t do this anymore.
“Charlie, I know.”
Her head tilted and she gave me a dazed look.
“You know what?”
It was now or never. We were going to get this out in the open and deal with it so we could focus on us.
I went to speak but a woman’s voice called out for me.
“Tucker! Tucker!”
Charlie turned and frowned.
“Who is that?” she asked, looking over my shoulder.
When I turned around, I saw Linda rushing toward us.
“That’s Linda. She takes care of the lake house. She probably just wants to make sure we have everything.”
I smiled and started making my way over to her. When she didn’t return the smile but gave me a sad look instead, my heart nearly dropped to my stomach.
Something’s wrong.
“Linda, is everything okay?” I asked as we stopped directly in front of one another.
Her eyes darted from me to Charlie and back to me.
“Your sister has been trying to get a hold of you. She said she’s been calling your cell phone for the last three hours.”
“I left it at the house. What’s wrong? Is she okay?”
Charlie grabbed my hand tightly.
Linda dropped her gaze and looked like she was trying to figure out how to tell me something.
“Please, Linda, what’s going on?” I asked, the fear in my voice coming across.
“It’s your father, Tucker. He’s had a heart attack, and you need to get back to Austin right away.”
I WAS SURROUNDED by darkness. The only sound I heard was my heart slowly beating and the ice hitting the side of the glass as I emptied my drink. Again.
Standing, I made my way over to the bottle of whiskey and poured another drink.
The sound of my phone ringing made me close my eyes, spilling some of the whiskey onto the floor, but I didn’t give a shit. I actually thought about dropping to the ground and licking it up.
After a few minutes, I hit the button on my phone that had been alerting me to a voicemail. Charlie’s voice filled the air.
“Tucker, please call me back. Please.”
The sound of sadness in her voice is nothing compared to the sadness I was drowning in.
Dropping onto my sofa, I closed my eyes.