TUESDAY TALES, PICTURE PROMPT

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. This is the picture and the story is, tentatively, "Too Late for Goodbye." This is a work-in-progress and has not been edited. 

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Bill Tremont yanked open the car door. “Get in, Betty.”

     “Are you sure you want to do this?”

     “What the hell’s wrong with you, woman? Our daughter’s been missing going on a year now. And you think she’s just finished with us? Bullshit. I don’t buy it for a minute and I’m sick of sitting around listening to you make excuses. I’m driving to South Hampton now. You can either come with or stay home. The choice is yours.”

Betty Tremont got in the front seat. Her husband threw the car in gear and headed down Route 16 toward the highway. They had a good fifteen miles to go, Bill’s foot pushed down on the accelerator.

“Take it easy, Bill.”                                          

“Shoulda done this six months ago. Eight months ago!”

“What if she’s there and just doesn’t want to speak to us?”

“Then I’ll take her over my knee, give her a lecture and come home. At least I’ll know she’s alive.”

“Oh, Bill, you don’t really think she’s…”

He put his hand on her arm. “I don’t. But we’ve gotta know. Don’t get upset. If the news is bad, there’ll be plenty of time to lose it then.”

Betty patted his hand. “Always the voice of reason.”

They drove on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Bill didn’t often lie to his wife, but he did today. She’d been able to read his mind very soon into their thirty year marriage. And this time was no exception. Grim thoughts about his daughter were what drove him behind the wheel. Betty voiced exactly what he had been thinking. Jackie’s dead. Why else would she lose contact with us?

Bill Tremont had a reputation as a truthful and curious man. He had to know, always. And the fate of his daughter was no exception. 

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