What Breaks a Man

A Truth too Hard to Face Only one thing on earth pulls Reggie hard enough to land him in a junked car, in the middle of sweltering Texas.His estranged son Scotty.But when the trail goes cold, Reggie faces a hard choice.Fight for the sweet boy he remembers. Or let the strange man live his life unknown.How far can a father's love bend before it breaks? Also available in the collection Passages in the Real World Originally appeared in Fiction River: Dark & Deadly Passions. Featured under Other Distinguished Stories in the 2021 edition of The Best American Mystery and Suspense. An excerpt from What Breaks a Man: How many last chances does one man deserve? A click, and Scotty was gone. Reggie stared up at the fluorescent lights overhead, one buzzing, one out. A scattering of dead bugs dotted the plastic covers. He blinked away tears before the girl could see them, thanked her, and left. He sat in the car, face in his hands, trying not to shiver in the lingering heat. His damp shirt and