Tohis surprise, Beau laughed and said, “Yes, sir. I’ll be there in just a fewminutes.”
WhenCurtis hung up the phone, he flipped through the contacts to another familiarnumber. “Where’re you at?” he asked Ethan when he answered.
“Onmy way home. Why?” Ethan asked, obviously curious.
“Stopby the house, would ya?”
“Sure.But why? What’s up?”
Curtischuckled, but he tried to keep his voice rough as he said, “Don’t question me,boy, just do what I ask.”
Withthat, he hung up the phone and waited. It was only a matter of time now.
Chapter Thirty Nine
??
Ethanpulled into his parents’ driveway and noticed Beau’s truck was there. Once heput the truck in Park, he paused before he got out. He was an emotional wreckat the moment and wasn’t sure he was up for a confrontation with anyone, nomatter what the reason. Since his father had requested his presence, Ethan knewthere was something going on.
He’dbeen driving back to Coyote Ridge when his father had called. The last hour anda half had been spent talking, something that Ethan wasn’t keen on doing mostof the time anyway, but certainly not when the topics were quite so personal.
Tonighthad been his first counseling session. After the initial introductions, the softspoken, older man who informed him he was there to help, had gotten right downto business, and Ethan found himself opening up about his reasons for beingthere much faster than he anticipated. The man was obviously a master ofmanipulation.
Thankfully,their time had been limited, and as Ethan had walked out of the office, despitehis reluctance, he knew he would be back. Even if he was feeling slightly off-kilter,he felt like another weight had been lifted.
Pushingopen the door, he climbed out of the truck and made his way to the back doorwhere he noticed his mother and father sitting at the kitchen table across fromBeau.
Whatthe hell was going on?
Makinghis way inside, he smiled back when his mother grinned up at him, her eyeslighting up the same way they did whenever he walked into the room. That wasone thing Ethan always looked forward to, something he knew he could depend on.She immediately eased out of her chair and made her way over, hugging himquickly and planting a kiss on his cheek.
“Sit,”she instructed, patting him gently on the back.
Ethanpeered back and forth between the three of them and then sat down beside Beau.“What’s going on?”
“We’rejust sitting here, chatting. Where’ve you been?” Curtis asked, his voice wasgruff, but his demeanor was calm.
“Ihad a meeting to go to,” he explained, not planning to go into further detail.Not yet. At least not until he had a chance to talk to Beau.
Ethanstudied Beau for a moment, realized he was staring down at the table, his handsclasped together so tightly, his knuckles were white. Without thinking aboutit, he put his hand on Beau’s shoulder and leaned toward him. “What’s wrong?”
Hedidn’t even realize what he’d done until Beau glanced over at him suddenly, hiseyes darting to the hand on his arm. Ethan looked over and noticed his mothersmiling.
Crap.
“Iwent to talk to my parents tonight,” Beau said quietly, drawing Ethan’s, andhopefully everyone else’s, attention back to him.
“Whatdid…?” The question fizzled out as Ethan realized what Beau had just said.Considering the man told him he didn’t have much interaction with his father,Ethan figured things didn’t go well.
“Didyou tell them?” Ethan asked, trying to keep his focus on Beau, but feeling theway his parents’ eyes were glued to him.
“Yes.”
Ethansimply nodded, unsure what to say after that. He wanted to get up and go home.This was obviously a conversation he needed to have with Beau, but from thelooks of it, Ethan didn’t think his parents were going to let him go thateasily.
“Mindif I talk to Beau for a minute?” Lorrie asked, interrupting the strainedsilence. “Alone.”
Ethanglanced over at his father, then back to Beau. To his surprise, Beau nodded hishead, obviously all right with being left to talk to his mother.
