His Southern Temptation - By Robin Covington Page 0,30
his father was before he took off. I thought you knew that.”
“No. I didn’t know,” Lucky said.
“Did you tell your dad that you know about the debt?” Beck asked.
“No. I didn’t want to upset him when I know I want to buy the farm anyway. It’s specifically why I came back to Elliott. Taking this burden off his shoulders is an added bonus.”
“Well, it looks like you need to move fast. It was a good offer.”
Lucky took another gulp of coffee. When he returned his gaze to Beck, he knew he had to say something to relieve the concern he saw there. This wasn’t Beck’s problem to carry around all day. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll talk to Dad about it later.”
With a “see you later” to the both of them, Beck waved at Dolly from the door and left for his shift at the hospital. Lucky watched him walk down Main Street and get into his car, the upbeat of his steps relaying just how right he was with his world. Not for the first time, Lucky admired his ability to shuck the baggage of past mistakes and live in the here and now.
“Other than corporate America trying to steal your birthright and a case of blue balls, you okay?”
Jack’s comment—the asshole thought he was so funny—banished his musings and brought him back to the cheerful, rumbling bustle of the Southern Comfort. With another flip of the bird, Lucky settled back in the booth, trying his best to push his concern about the farm to the back of his mind for now.
He glanced at his watch, realized he had a few minutes, and decided to bring Jack up to speed on the missing persons case.
“I’m worried about Sarah Morgan. Eddie Wilkes is just big-time enough to be a real problem, and if Sarah was sleeping with him or crossed him, she might be dead.” Jack leaned forward, the spark in his eye demonstrating how much he loved this work. “This isn’t the case I thought it was when I took it on. I should just turn it over to Sheriff Burke and leave it alone.”
“But?” Jack said.
“Mr. Clean, I didn’t like the look he gave Taylor one little bit. My gut tells me Eddie is going to be a problem for her and he has something to do with Sarah being missing.” He looked down at the Formica tabletop, trying to curb the unease burrowing under his skin. When he met Jack’s gaze, he knew he understood exactly what was driving him nuts. “I wanted to get away from this kind of stuff, asshole criminals, always looking over my shoulder, and now it looks like I’m right back in it.”
They both rose from the table, each throwing a few bills on the table to cover their meal, waving at Dolly as they exited the diner and stepped out into the summer sunshine and the bustle of Main Street. Elliott was waking up, and Lucky knew his dad had been up and moving for a couple of hours. He needed to get out to the farm or his father would have done all the work himself.
“So, what are you going to do?” Jack paused in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the busy foot traffic.
“I’m going to have to find Sarah Morgan. And until I do I’ll have to keep Taylor from Eddie and Mr. Clean.”
“Sticking close by Taylor shouldn’t be too much of a hardship for you,” Jack said with a grin. “That is if she still doesn’t want to kill you for embarrassing her in front of Teague.”
“I have a feeling she’s going to make me pay for that.”
“Yes, but you’ll find a way to enjoy it,” Jack said with a laugh. “All right, I’m off to see if I can steal a kiss from my wife in between her appointments.” He slapped Lucky on the shoulder before turning toward Michaela’s office with a look of contentment on his face. Jack had been a happy man since finding “his Kayla” and it was the God’s honest truth that Lucky envied him. It hadn’t been an easy road, but Jack had come out on top and found a peace of mind that Lucky hadn’t known since he was a child.
Home was where you went to find the answers, and a few days ago he thought he knew all of them. Now, Lucky wasn’t sure he even knew the question.