We looked at each other.
He slowly lowered the piece of bacon in his hand.
I put the call on speaker and set the phone beside the sugar bowl.
“When?” I asked.
“Sometime during the night. Harold found him.”
Dad’s expression changed.
Harold Pike had been his closest friend for more than forty years.
They had fished together, watched football together, helped each other through bad marriages, health scares, layoffs, and the kind of mistakes men start admitting only after they have known each other long enough to stop pretending.
Harold had also owned the local funeral home before retiring.
For one uncomfortable second, Vanessa’s lie almost sounded prepared enough to be believable.
“What happened?” I asked.
Vanessa sighed.
She did not cry.
She did not pause to steady herself.
She sighed as if my questions were making an inconvenient morning even longer.
“Does it matter? He’s gone.”
Dad lowered his fork.
Then Vanessa moved to the part of the conversation she clearly cared about.
“Grant and I are handling everything. There’s really no reason for you to come to the house.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
