Dodge could have kicked himself for blurting that out. He hadn't meant to.
Derek stared at him for several seconds, then deadpanned, "Does that have a zip code?"
Dodge rolled his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. I'm not going."
No one said anything for several moments, and Dodge sensed another mystified look pass between Derek and Julie. She asked, "What's in Texas?"
"Texans."
His droll reply didn't have the jocular effect he'd hoped for. He looked at Julie again, and he didn't know what the hell it was that was drawing him to her this morning. Sure, she was and always had been easy on the eyes, but that hormonal ruckus taking place inside her was inspiring in Dodge all kinds of sentimentality that went against his nature.
Typically when someone asked him a personal question, even something as innocuous as "What's in Texas?" he would tell them to stay out of his effin' life. But he found himself answering Julie simply. "Business."
Derek reacted with a start. "Business?"
"Relax, Counselor. I'm not looking into another job. This is business of a personal nature."
"A personal nature."
"Jesus, is there an echo in here?" he asked crossly. "Why are you making a big deal of it any
way? Business of a personal nature could be constipation."
"I've just never known you to have personal business of any kind, but especially not in Texas."
"Well, that just goes to show that you don't know everything, doesn't it? Besides, why are we still talking about it? I'm not going. I'd get down there, and this goddamn cell phone would start buzzing like a band saw. You'd be asking me how soon I could get back. Not worth it. Forget I asked." He tossed his fringed napkin on the table and stood up. "Look, thanks for the coffee. Tasty cake, Julie. I gotta be shoving off."
"Sit down."
"Excuse me?"
The set of Derek's jaw was resolute. "You're not leaving this house until you tell us what the hell is going on."
"I told you. I got this notion to--"
"This isn't about vacation time. Sit down."
Dodge dropped back into his chair. But with attitude. After several moments of hostile glaring, he raised his shoulders. "What?"
"Do you remember when I told you about Julie and me?" Derek asked.
"About the flight from Paris?"
"Precisely. I admitted to you why I was compromised and couldn't represent Creighton Wheeler. I bared my soul to you because I knew I could trust you with my deepest, darkest secret. With my career. My life."
"Okay. So?"
"So that trustworthiness works both ways, Dodge. You have our confidence. What's going on?" Derek waited, and when Dodge didn't say anything, he added, "Must be something really important, or you wouldn't have put on such a dog-and-pony show about vacation time. You're here because you wanted to tell us something and didn't know how to go about it."
"You're a shrink now, too? Being Georgia's hottest trial lawyer isn't enough for you anymore?"
Derek didn't flinch.
"What's in Texas, Dodge?" Julie asked again.
Her softness of voice got to him as Derek's badgering never could have. His shoulders slumped in defeat. "Not what. Who."
"Okay, who's in Texas?"