I'm giving it a little time. It hasn't been that long, I mean, someone might have seen him, or... he might just have taken a detour, coming back from wherever, working on...

[ they're excuses. excuses he's making to himself to try and calm the rising panic and keep himself from losing his head and just running off. he's a practical guy, he knows that's more likely to get him killed than solve the mystery of the missing parental figure. ]