Late Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

Ben had gotten into the habit of eating there on a regular basis.
    He called in his location. Once out of the car, he tied Jack’s shoe and then led him inside. The greeter was in her early twenties, left eyebrow pierced, a T-shirt designed to mimic a painter’s palette, and dark red shorts. She tapped a clipboard against an overly thickening thigh. “Forty minutes, minimum, for a table. We’re really swamped today.”
    Ben looked over her head into the crowded interior. “I can see that. But we’re not here to eat. I need to talk to the assistant manager.”
    The greeter sighed. “Ok. You can wait over there.”
    Ben led Jack to a small alcove. There were seats built into the walls and a large hibiscus with salmon-colored blooms sitting beneath the front window.
    A few minutes later, a short, dark-haired woman appeared. She wore a green Salt Box apron tied around the waist of a new pair of jeans, a white oxford shirt, and white athletic shoes. She was pretty in a way that surprised you, possessing a quiet understated beauty that only came into focus after a second or third look. Her eyes were a very light brown, large and startlingly clear, but today the flesh beneath them was smudged with exhaustion.
    “Oh no,” she said. “Not again. That’s the second time in less than three weeks.”
    “I found him on Crescent.”
    “Oh Dad, what am I going to do with you?” She stepped toward him, then stopped.
    “Ms. Carson —,” Ben began.
    “Anne.” She held up her hand. “Remember? I told you to call me Anne?”
    Ben remembered too late and inwardly winced. He liked the woman and had been stopping by the restaurant on breaks and the end of shifts for a while now. The beer was always cold, the hush-puppies homemade, and the seafood gumbo top-notch. The Carson woman had a nice smile and a way of making you feel at home.
    “I need to get to work,” Jack said, abruptly standing up.
    Anne Carson lifted her arms, putting her hands on her father’s shoulders, and slowly pushed him back down to the seat. Then she sat next to him and began gently to rub his arm.
    “He kept mentioning something about a bus,” Ben said.
    Anne Carson sighed. “After dad lost the construction company in Myrtle Beach, we moved here. He hung in as an independent contractor but still picked up odd jobs.” She reached up and touched her father’s cheek. “One of them was driving an elementary school bus.”
    Ben waited.
    “When he started to get confused ...,” she said and paused, looking over Ben’s head toward the door.
    “I’m sorry, but we’re talking a little bit more than confusion here.”
    It was her turn to wait before speaking.
    “All of us who know him missed the signs at first,” she said. “Ok? Or we didn’t want to see them.”
    Ben saw where she was headed. “Then your father lost a busload of kids.”
    Anne Carson nodded. “Nobody was hurt.” She went back to slowly rubbing her father’s arm. “But that was the beginning of where we are now.”
    She looked up at Ben. “Look, I’m really sorry. I had to come in because another manager took a half-day. Mrs. Wood was supposed to be watching him this afternoon, but she had to leave early. Then my daughter Paige missed her ride home from school.” She paused and raised her hands. “I get off in an hour. I thought he’d be all right til then.”
    “You mentioned something about new medication last time,” Ben said. “It’s not working?”
    “The doctors were optimistic. They’d seen some encouraging signs in some of their other patients.” She paused and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference with my father though. At least none that I can see.”
    Ben glanced down at his watch. “What are you going to do with him until you’re done?”
    She bit the lower corner of her lip. “The banquet room’s not being used. I’ll put him in there.”
    “Ok, but I have to point out—,” Ben started.
    Anne