Page 66 of Bourbon Bliss
“Yeah, just fine. How’s Mrs. Tucker?”
“Oh, Nadine’s good.”
An awkward silence hung between us. I was just about to tell him to have a good afternoon and get on with my shopping, when he spoke. This time, his voice was serious.
“Let’s go have a drink.”
I tried not to groan. I didn’t want to have a drink with June’s father. Not after I’d slept with his daughter and sent her running. He clearly knew something was going on. Why did he want to sit down and have a beer?
But I also felt like I couldn’t say no.
“All right.”
We went outside and for a second, I was afraid he was going to put me in his patrol car. Thankfully he just mumbled something about seeing me at the Lookout.
When we got there, I followed him inside. We ordered drinks from Nicolette, but didn’t sit at the bar. She handed us two beers and Sheriff Tucker led me to a table off to the side.
Alone. Where there would be fewer witnesses.
I sank into the chair and took a drink of my beer.
“June seems upset,” he said after a long moment. “You know anything about that?”
“I suppose it’s because of me. But I have to be honest, I don’t really know what happened.”
He nodded slowly, like my answer hadn’t surprised him. “My June Bug is… different.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I waited for him to continue.
“She’s whip smart. I’m sure you know that.”
“She’s incredibly smart,” I said. “It’s one of the things I like about her.”
He smoothed down his mustache. “But she has a big ole blind spot.”
“A blind spot?”
“Sure. There are things that baffle even that big brain of hers.”
I traced my thumb through the moisture on my beer bottle. “You’re saying she’s smart when it comes to certain things, but other things she doesn’t understand.”
“Right,” he said. “How do I put this… you see… well…”
I waited while Sheriff Tucker stumbled over his words.
“You know,” he said, gesturing with one hand. “You must have noticed she’s not the best at relating to others.”
“She was doing just fine with me.” I took another drink. “At least, I thought so.”
“I reckon she was. The problem is… She missed things. Cassidy always did a good job helping her out. But relationships were… oh, how do I explain this?”
I had a feeling at least some of what made people think of June as different came directly from her dad.
“I think you mean she’s smart when it comes to math, and statistics, and her job. But she’s not very experienced when it comes to relationships.”
“Yes,” he said with a definitive nod. “There are so few people who understand her. She’s too smart for half of ’em, and too… unique for the other half.”
“I have to be honest with you, Sheriff. I’m not sure why you’re telling me this. June…” I glanced away, feeling the tug of pain in my chest when I said her name. “She walked out on me a few days ago and I haven’t heard from her since.”
