In compassion.
“So…” she began shakily, determined to get them back on steady ground. “We can safely say that, although your father was no stranger to drinking, his behavior on the night of the crash was unusual. He was bitter and surly that night, when he was usually the essence of charm. He typically drank socially, or at home, but you never saw him heavily intoxicated. He likely drank alone at some point that night. Well past his normal limit.”
“He wanted to get smashed,” Liam stated bluntly.
“Yeah,” Natalie whispered. “But why?”
Liam shook his head, obviously frustrated at not knowing the answer. “Most people get totaled like that when they’re upset about something—breakups, sudden deaths…stuff like that.”
“Right. Nothing like that happened in your family, though?”
“Nothing that I know of.”
“Your mother and father…were they getting along okay? Did you ever hear any fighting?” she asked hesitantly.
“No. I was only fifteen at the time, I know, but I’d say the same thing now as an adult. My mom and dad seemed to have a great marriage. They were like kids together sometimes. My mom has never really gotten over my dad’s death.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment as Natalie tried to incorporate this information into what she already knew.
“The fact that he came to Harbor Town on a Tuesday—that’s got to be relevant. He must have learned about something or found something out in Chicago and that was what upset him,” Liam said, breaking the silence.
“Something about the Langford investigation, maybe?” Natalie wondered.
Liam shook his head. “No, like I said, he knew no charges were going to be pressed in regard to the SEC’s investigation.”
“Maybe he found out some other insider secret at his company, some wrongdoing that no one knew about. And it upset him.”
Liam grimaced. “Maybe, but that doesn’t seem to fit.”
“Why?”
He paused, as if searching for the right words. “You had to know my dad. The way he acted on the night of the crash—it wasn’t like a ‘business’ thing. It seemed…personal.”
“You were really struck about what Roger Dayson said about coming upon your dad that night on the beach, weren’t you?” she asked quietly.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Liam admitted gruffly. “I can’t even fathom it, to be honest. I can’t picture it in my mind, my dad standing on that beach sobbing.”
Neither of them spoke while Natalie finished her dinner. An oppressive fog seemed to have settled around them. One haunting thought kept echoing around in her mind.
She was the one responsible for putting Liam through this ordeal. What right did she have, to make him suffer for his father’s mistake?
“To hell with this,” Liam said so abruptly she started. He hitched his chin and grabbed her hand where it’d been resting on the table. “Let’s go dance.”
“Oh, I don’t think—”
“What? You’re not going to try and tell me you don’t like dancing,” he said, a small smile flickering across his mouth.
She couldn’t tell him her like or dislike of dancing wasn’t what was causing her to hesitate. It was the idea of being in Liam’s arms.
She let him draw her out of the booth, but she shoved on her glasses first. The bar and dance floor might be crowded.
He didn’t let go of her hand as they walked through the intimate dining room toward the bar. Natalie breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw there were only two other couples slow dancing to a jazz classic on the small dance floor. Liam turned and slid his left hand along her waist, his body instantly shifting to the beat of the music.
He pulled her closer, his hand spreading along the middle of her spine. Their bodies brushed together.
It was just a dance. Natalie knew this.
Her mind knew it; yet her body seemed to be screaming that it was something much, much more.