CHAPTER 76

The next morning, Miguel felt like absolute shit. He was feeling both the effects of his hangover, as well as the emotional aftermath of everything that had happened the night before. He was no longer the son of Carmen Diaz. He was parentless. Alone. He had officially broken ties with every single person he had previously cared about, the only people tethering him to the shore, and he was now floating down the open ocean, no sign of land in sight.

Guilt was the overwhelming emotion that loomed over his head throughout the course of the morning. He had completely missed Silver's trial the night before, right after Emily's dad had said that they wanted Miguel there. He had let down Emily, the person he loved most in the world. He had no clue how the trial had even ended, but he forced himself to carry on with his day. His first stop was the RV refuelling station. As Miguel was filling up his RV water tank, he closed his eyes and thought to himself about his situation. About everything. About the fact that at this point, he had no family. Barely had any friends. He could die tomorrow and nobody's lives would be affected in any way. He had truly become a hermit, plunged down a hole from thriving in life to mere surviving.

"We missed you last night…"

A familiar voice caused Miguel's eyes to snap open and he spun around to see Emily's dad standing behind him. Immediately, Miguel felt his heart begin to pound and his palms slick with sweat in nervousness as he stared at the man who had tried to help pull him back from the shadows by offering Miguel to come to the trial with him, but Miguel had in turn betrayed him and his entire family by not showing up.

Miguel, however, immediately turned away and began to scurry around his RV.

"Look, I gotta go. I got a lot to do today. RV needs to be recharged, gotta buy food, gotta…"

"You'll take a minute!" Emily's dad shouted in a firm tone that Miguel had seldom heard from him before. "For Emily."

Miguel stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back around to face the other man.

"George told me I would find you here." Emily's dad said as he walked towards Miguel. "I figured, despite not showing up, you would want to know what happened during the trial."

Miguel didn't say anything, but Emily's dad took that as a cue to continue.

"So we were all there. Mary. George. Emily's mother and myself. Emily was terrified, obviously. I mean, she hadn't even left the house since she got back from the hospital, and yet she was forced to be face to face with the man who kidnapped her. But she gathered the strength to make it to the courtroom and everything was going well. Until they let Silver into the room…"

Miguel's blood boiled at the mere sound of that name, and his head shot up worriedly.

"What?! He didn't lay a hand on her, did he?!" Miguel growled. Emily's dad sighed.

"He didn't have to. As soon as he was let into the room, Emily went into a panic attack, thrashing around and sobbing like I've never seen her do before. She had to very nearly be sedated by the doctor there to calm her down! Needless to say, as soon as we got home, Emily locked herself back in her room and hasn't come out since."

Miguel closed his eyes in pain, his first coming down hard against the side of his RV as he listened to the story of the trauma the love of his life was forced to go through the day before, while he was wallowing in his pit of misery and feeling too sorry about himself to go and help her.

"Look, we knew this was going to be difficult for her, but that's why we were all there. Her family. Friends. Everyone she loved. But the one person who actually stood a chance of helping her was not there! You were the love of her life, Miguel! What were you doing Friday night that you couldn't make it?!"

"I was in no shape to be around people." Miguel murmured. Emily's dad scowled at him as he responded.

"From what I've heard, you are in no condition A LOT." He snapped.

"Henry, listen…" Miguel started, but Emily's dad interrupted him.

"Miguel… you want to be a drunk, you be a drunk." He whispered. "But I won't allow you to blame my daughter for it!"

A tear rolled down Miguel's cheek as he watched Emily's dad walk away and out of sight…

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That night…

"Hey…" Miguel murmured, sliding into the second seat up at the bar. The man in the first seat turned to him, and his eyes widened as he saw him.

"Miguel?" Emily's dad stammered, shocked to see him there, especially after their earlier confrontation. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to talk to you." Miguel stated. Emily's dad raised an eyebrow.

"Wait… how did you find me here? I didn't tell anyone where I was." Emily's dad asked. Miguel shrugged.

"Nobody had to. It was pretty easy." Miguel stated. "I know that you love Emily more than anyone in the world. So do I. So I just had to think, where would I go right now? And first place I thought of was here. Guess I guessed correctly."

Emily's dad chuckled as he sipped his beer.

"Wow. That's… impressive." Henry admitted, as his eyes drifted away from Miguel and towards the center of the diner, where a small stage was. "The diner where my daughter used to work. You know I used to always worry, especially during her late shifts, that some drunk, huge guy would walk in and try something with her."

Miguel chuckled as he looked in the bar mirror back at himself.

"Guess you weren't wrong there, Henry." He joked. Emily's dad nodded.

"Yeah, little did I know that that guy would end up being such a big part of my family's life." Emily's dad remarked. "So you said you wanted to talk. What's up?"

"Can I buy you another drink?" Miguel asked. When Henry nodded, Miguel looked up at the bartender. "Hey, could I get another beer and a club soda. Thanks."

"You don't have to abstain on my account." Emily's dad said. Miguel shook his head.

"It's not just you." Miguel murmured, before taking a deep breath and beginning to talk. "You know, I'm starting to forget things about her. Little things. God knows I don't want to, but, um… I am and… I can't do anything about it. I guess that's what happens when it's April 20th and the last time you saw the person was February 14th. Nearly 2 months. 1 of which I knew exactly where Emily was, but was so absorbed with my one issues that I couldn't get my crap together enough to come see her. And every day that goes by that I don't see her… I feel even worse, and worse, and the chances of me ever gathering the courage to do so lessen by a lot."

"So let us help you through it. You're our family, Miguel." Henry said. Miguel chuckled and shook his head.

"No. She's your family. I was just lucky enough for a little while. I used to think being with her was like I'd won the lottery. You know, you're lucky enough to win once maybe, but no way in hell I'm winning again. But that's when I realised I was wrong. I can win again. And again. And again. And all I have to do is get my ass out of my janky RV and gather the balls to come and see her. Emily helped me through some of the toughest times of my life. I owe her the same. I want to help her recover. That's why I'm done drinking and moping around in my RV. I'm ready to be a real man again."

A small smile graced Henry's lips as he listened to Miguel's words. Finishing his drink, he stood up.

"9 am. Tomorrow. Emily's mom and I are both back at work by tomorrow so it might be good for her to know that there's someone else in the house looking after her and she's not home alone…"

Miguel nodded and watched as the other man left the diner. He couldn't help but smile to himself. He wasn't completely fixed yet, but he was on the mend at least, and for the first time in nearly 2 months, he felt the weight that previously sat right on his chest lighten a tiny bit…