Page 66 of Between Now and Forever

Beth drops my hand and clutches hers together in her lap. Her eyes soften and a small smile lifts the left corner of her mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“No. But you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Can we go talk somewhere?”

She shakes her head vigorously.

“Meet me at the church on Friday. My dad has a meeting in Austin; he should be gone all day,” she whispers urgently.

“The chur—"

“Why has the line stopped moving?” Her father’s voice booms behind us. How could he have changed shirts so quickly?

Liz pales even further and shrinks back into her chair.

“Sorry, Daddy. This is one of James’s friends from Baylor. He was just asking about the funeral.”

“There’s a flyer by the door. You can grab one on your way out,” her father nearly snarls as he takes his seat. He doesn’t even spare me a glance.

“Thank you. I’ll see you then.” I give her a small smile and nod.

Her expression shutters and then her eyes move to the person behind my father. I hate leaving her here. Sheisalone. She looks wrecked.

“She’ll be okay.” My father puts a hand on my shoulder as if he can read my mind.

When we get to the front door, I look back at her one more time. She’s shaking hands. I start to turn back when I see a man watching me with open contempt on his face. He looks away when we make eye contact, the muscle jumping in his cheek tells me I didn’t imagine the anger. But I can’t understand why it would be directed at me.

We’re walking down the porch steps when my father says casually, “So, what’d ya do to piss off Biff Tannen’s doppelgänger?”

I stop short and stare at him.

“You saw that, too? I haven’t done anything. I’ve never even seen him before.”

He looks back over his shoulder quickly and then frowns as we step through the doorway. “Maybe we misread it. It’s a funeral, right? People aren’t exactly in a jovial mood.”

I shrug, but I’m not convinced.

“Who’s Biff Tannen?” I ask when we’re back in the car.

“God, I’ve failed as a father. There’s a video store in town; let’s stop and pick up a copy ofBack to the Future. I have some atoning to do.”

“Dad, we have Apple TV; we don’t need to rent a video.”

“Shut up, Carter. It won’t be the same streaming.”

“Yeah, it’ll be better and clearer and we don’t have to stop to get it.”

“I need to stop anyway. Your mother asked me to get her some anti-nausea pills. The drugstore is just a couple of doors down.”

At his mention of the drugstore, my encounter with the lady behind the cash register comes back to me. I never mentioned it to my father because we had more pressing things to address.

“Dad…” I start and then stop when I realize that I have no idea what I really want to ask.

“You okay?” my father asks, and I glance over at him and start the car.

“Yeah, it’s just…something weird happened when I was in the drugstore.”

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