Gentle Persuasion by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Morgan hung up the phone and tried to mask his apprehension before he turned back to take his seat at the dinner table.

“Well, now there’s more for me,” he said jovially as he reclaimed his seat.

Debbie didn’t miss a thing. She’d seen his hesitation. She’d heard the concern in his voice during the conversation. And she’d have to have been blind not to recognize that fake smile.

“What?” she asked.

“Something came up.” Morgan shrugged, trying not to dwell on the possibilities occurring to him. Cole had been vague. He always was. But Morgan had heard the tension in his voice. He knew that whatever was “about to go down” was not the last bite of dessert Buddy was eyeing.

“Morgan Brownfield!”

The sharp tone of her voice got his attention.

Even Buddy quit dawdling. His spoon clattered onto the table and bounced onto the floor. He looked down at the spoon. He looked back up at Debbie. When he saw that she wasn’t yelling at him, he retrieved his spoon from the floor, stuck it back in his ice cream, scooped, and ate, relieved that for once he was not the one in trouble.

Morgan was getting a first-hand glimpse of the woman who’d tied his son in knots. He started talking. He had no choice.

“I don’t know details,” he offered. “I never do. But something happened. I don’t know whether it was a tip or new information or what. Anyway, as Cole put it, ‘Something came up.’ He doesn’t know when he’ll be home.” Morgan watched the fear spreading on Debbie’s face. “He’ll be fine,” he assured her. “This has happened lots of times before.”

Debbie sat frozen in place. Every word Morgan was uttering was flashing images in her brain she didn’t want to contemplate.

“His last orders were for us to take care of you,” Morgan added.

Tears flashed. She hadn’t even known they were coming. Her mouth twisted. She swallowed a lump of pain that tightened her throat and quietly arose from her chair.

“Well, then that’s that,” she said. “No need keeping stuff warm.” She gathered her empty plate. “Buddy, darling, when you’re through, would you carry out the garbage?”

If she’d asked him to strip naked and then paint the garage, he couldn’t have been more shocked. And then he caught his father’s glare and swallowed the last bit of ice cream stuck on his tongue. It was a little large and a lot cold and made tears come as it hurt all the way down. But he quickly agreed. Something about the way she was standing so small and stiff with her back to the table told him that this was no time to be dense. And when he had to, Robert Allen Brownfield could be very astute. He took out the garbage.

* * *

Debbie was exhausted. The last forty-eight hours had been hell. To get past the worry of what might be happening to Cole, she’d cleaned every closet in sight, rearranged cabinets, and polished and repolished silverware and woodwork until Morgan had succumbed to her spree and disappeared to the golf course.

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