“Heart attack. That’s all I know. I only found out because the funeral home called here. I’ve no idea if Jed knows. That’s why I’m calling. Nick and I got into a big fight, and he drove off. I figured he might come looking for Jed.”
Max was silent. He had no love for Jed and Nick’s father. He absorbed the sudden influx of information until something occurred to him. It was midafternoon and Nick’s office was shut until the New Year. “Is he drunk?”
“Yes. He’s fucking wasted, Max. He has been for days.”
“Shit.” Max rubbed a hand over his head, breathing out the curse word low and soft. Nick being drunk as a skunk was one thing, but climbing behind the wheel of his car was another. It was the day after Christmas. Lots of families were bound to be on the roads traveling home. What if he killed someone? Fuck. What if Jed was with him and he killedhim?
Max’s blood ran cold. No. That wouldn’t happen. Jed wouldn’t let him drive, and even with Jed’s weakened leg, Nick was no match for him.
“Max? Are you there?”
“I’m here. What do you need me to do?”
“Can I talk to Jed?”
Max shut the back door with a bang. “He’s not here. I don’t know where he is.”
“Find him. Nick’s out of control, and Jed’s probably the only one who can get through to him.”
Kim hung up, leaving Max to stare at the phone and ponder his next move.Find him. That was all well and good, but he’d been looking for Jed all day, to no avail. He glanced down at Flo, sharp eyed by his side, alert that something was afoot. “Come on, girl, let’s go find him.”
He stamped into his boots and set off to check the hiking trails around the lake first, but as he passed the boat shed, Flo bounded off ahead, her bark excited and her tail wagging. Jed appeared by the jetty moments later, dressed in sweats, a hoodie, and his running shoes.
So that’s where he’s been all day.
Jed trailed to a stop a few feet away, his cell phone pressed to his ear. “I’ll be there, okay? But it’s going to take me a couple of days to get to Arizona.”
Arizona? Max gazed at Jed, taking in his dead, hooded eyes and pale skin. He saw no trace of the gently animated man who’d covered the atlas with pins the night before, the man who’d been so enchanting Max had thrown himself at him. “Did Kim reach you?”
“No.”
“Your dad had a heart attack.”
Jed’s expression didn’t change at all. “Is he dead?”
“Yes. I’m sorry….” Max took a deep breath, though to say what, he’d never be sure, because he was cut off by the squeal of tires skidding on gravel.
He whirled around in time to see Nick’s Mercedes careen to a stop and narrowly miss one of the chickens. Furious, Max started forward, but Jed caught his arm and pulled him back.
“Wait until he kills the engine.”
Max waited. Something in Jed’s tone told him it would be dangerous to do otherwise. Nick threw open the car door. He half fell from the driver seat, leaving the car running, and Max’s heart sank. Kim had been right. Nick wasn’t drunk: he was totally tanked.
Nick lurched toward them, his eyes wild. Jed blocked his path, positioning himself in front of Max. “What are you doing here?”
“Dad’s dead.”
“I know.”
Nick stopped, though Max couldn’t be sure if it was Jed’s flat tone or the fact that he couldn’t remember where he was going that brought him to a halt. “You know? How?”
Max ignored Jed’s obvious and unnecessary urge to shield him and stepped around him. “Kim called. She’s worried about you.”
Nick laughed and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Trust me, kid. She’s not worried about me. She’s worried where her next designer handbag is gonna come from.”
“Fuck you.” Max bristled, and with the children safe at home, there was no need for him to contain his anger. Besides, Nick’s accusation wasn’t even true. Kim had fallen into the role of trophy wife because that was what suited him. Before the girls were born, she’d had her own dreams, the remnants of which lay packed in boxes in the boat shed a few feet away. “She’s worried because the father of her children is driving around out of his bloody head. What the hell are you doing driving like this?”
Nick sneered, his derision clear, but before Max could retaliate, Jed reached again for his arm and pulled him back.