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Miguel’s stomach dropped. He stomped into the room and glared at her. She sat up in bed, letting the covers slip a little in her distraction, but his agitation didn’t let his body respond as it might have. “Why did you answer my phone?”
She flinched. “Lo siento. He sounds really upset.”
Everything inside Miguel told him to disconnect the call and block the line it had come from. He wasn’t a coward, so he answered. “What do you want?”
“Is that how you talk to your father?”
The scratchy voice that came from years of abuse and ignoring his health was more familiar than Miguel liked. The last time he heard it might as well have been the day before. Thiago sounded like he’d been crying, but Miguel had heard that before as well. Not to mention the slurred speech.
“Come home, Miguel. Come home where you belong.”
Miguel swore. “You call me after all these years and ask me to come back to Texas? It’s not going to happen. I don’t know in which bottle you found the cajones to contact me, but forget it. Goodbye.”
Miguel moved to stab the End button on his phone.
“He’s dead!”
Miguel froze and then raised the phone to his ear. “Qué?”
His father sobbed. “He’s dead, my baby boy is dead. Oh, what will I do, hijo? What will I do?”
Miguel sank onto the bed again and stared down at the floor. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, but they refused to come together so he could understand what he had just heard.
“Miguel?” his dad called over the line.
“You’re saying David is dead?” he breathed. David, his oldest brother, named after his dad, but everyone called him by his middle name. He was fifteen years older than Miguel, but surely not old enough to die.
“It was an accident. He’s gone, and we don’t know what to do.” Thiago had gone back to sobbing. His words switched between English and Spanish. While Miguel spoke both languages fluently, he could hardly make out some of what his dad was saying, including how his brother died. All he understood with clarity was Thiago’s plea over and over for him to come back to Texas, the very last place Miguel wanted to be.
After trying to get a bit more information out of Thiago, Miguel managed to end the call. He set his phone down on the bed and ran a hand over his face. Carmen touched his back.
“What’s going on? Is everything all right?”
He hesitated. “Carmen, I think we should cool off for a while.”
She said nothing, and he twisted to face her. Her expression was blank. He wasn’t surprised. She worked for the department of justice as a budget analyst, whereas he was a U. S. Marshall. She didn’t face criminals as he did, but she saw the guys often enough, men and women hardened from their line of work.
His blurted suggestion was contrary to the way he had been thinking, but she didn’t know that. He figured it was for the best since he didn’t feel for her the way a man should. “I’m going back home for a while, and I’m not sure when I’ll return.”
She lowered her gaze. “Isn’t that a little sudden? Are you taking a leave of absence or something?”
“If I can get it, which I most likely will. My oldest brother died, and my youngest brothers aren’t of age yet.”
She gasped. “I’m sorry. You never talk about your family.”
“Yeah, it’s a long story. I don’t have a choice but to deal with them. It’s better if I don’t leave you with expectations. Let’s end it here.”
“Miguel…” For a moment
, he thought he heard deep emotion in her tone. “You’re probably right. Call me when you get back. If I haven’t moved on, we can do dinner or whatever. We’ll always be friends, right?”
He smiled. “That’s what I always liked about you. You’re easygoing. You’re not like other women.”
She muttered something he didn’t hear clearly, but he had already started to plan the trip home and what he would encounter when he got there. He wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
* * *
Miguel strode along the terminal leading to baggage claim. He checked his phone again. The voicemail from his father said someone named Jasmeka Small would pick him up from the airport. He had no idea who that was but planned to rent a car as soon as possible. He didn’t like depending on anyone for any reason.
