All Due Respect Read Online Free PDF Page A

ticked off and he knows I’m Heaving. What if he takes out his anger at me on Jeff?”
    “He won’t.” Seth stared across his office at the glass panel wall. The inner lab was dark; the glass reflective. Cold determination lined his face. “Call Jeff for me, Julia. I’m going to see him.”
    “You can’t do that.”
    “Of course I can,” Seth said. “I am.”
    “But you don’t have any authority—”
    “I don’t need any,” Seth interrupted. “Jeff needs a friend. I’m going to be one.”
    “Camden will have a fit. He’ll blame Jeff for your interfering, and things will get worse.”
    “I’ll handle Camden. You just prepare the way for me with Jeff, so I’m not a stranger. He’ll be nervous around me.”
    “You’re a big man, and Jeff is tiny. He thinks all men get mad, and mad men hit.”
    “Then don’t you think the sooner he learns different, the better?”
    She hesitated, then said, “Okay, I’ll call. But be careful. I don’t want Camden coming after you, too.”
    Julia’s concern felt good. Too good. “I will.” Seth beat down the hope that Camden would come after him. He’d welcome any excuse to give the man an attitude adjustment.
    “You’re special for caring, Seth.” Her voice dropped low, husky. “You’ve always been special.”
    Seth started to respond, then thought better of it. For five years, he had loved this woman and never had said a word because she was happily married. From his parents, Seth knew happy marriages were a rare and special thing. The world already had too much ugliness in it for a man to deliberately ugly up a rare and special thing. Still, he
    would remember her “you’re special” for a long time to come.
    ONLY on the gulf coast could a kid play shirtless in his front yard in November.
    Seth leaned against the Lexus and glanced away from Jeff down the oak-lined street. Nice neighborhood. Pretty two-story, white clapboard house with a wide front porch and a hurricane fence enclosing the yard. At least Jeff wasn’t going home alone after school to a rough neighborhood. Not that his safety was assured here, but his odds seemed better.
    Jeff tossed the football up in the air and then caught it. He hadn’t yet noticed Seth, and that worried him. The boy could be taken by surprise. But Seth liked seeing him play as if he didn’t have a worry in the world and he wished down to his bones that was true.
    Julia had been damn upset, scared Camden would lash out at Jeff over her report. Seth had calmed her down but, during every minute of their conversation, he had gotten more and more angry at Camden. For hurting a defenseless kid, and for upsetting Julia.
    Jeff dropped the ball. When he picked it up, he saw Seth and grinned from ear to ear. “You’re Dr. Seth,” he said, running up to the fence. “Dr. Julia told me you were coming to see me.”
    “Dr. Julia?”
    Jeff nodded. “So we don’t get her and Mr. Warner mixed up. He’s a teacher, too.”
    “.. . Ah, I see.” Julia had paved the way, all right, including a photo or Jeff wouldn’t have recognized him on sight. Where had she gotten one? Regardless, Jeff didn’t seem at all wary of Seth and for that he felt grateful. “I wanted to talk with you. Dr. Julia was a little worried about you bringing your house key to school.”
    “I have to have it when I get home to get in.”
    “Didn’t she send your dad a note about that?”
    “I gave it to him.” Jeff looked up at Seth, round-eyed. “I promise.”
    “Well, what did he say?”
    Biting his lip and avoiding Seth’s eyes, Jeff swayed side to side. “I dunno.”
    “Yes you do.”
    A resigned sigh hiked his slim shoulders and Jeff shuffled his foot in the sandy dirt, kicking up a little cloud of dust. “Do I have to tell you?”
    “Yes, you have to tell me.”
    Blinking hard, Jeff tucked his head to his chest and mumbled, “Goddamn your mother for dying, and goddamn you.”
    “What?”
    “I’m sorry for cussing, Dr. Seth, but