Choosing You (Thirsty Hearts Book 2)

by Kris Jayne

  Taryn pulled Olivia’s curly blonde hair up and gathered it on top of her head. She tilted her own head to the side, taking a mental snapshot of the image staring back from the mirror. The little girl grinned. Her eyes rolled up to look at Taryn. Then, Olivia giggled.

  “I love it. Love it. Love it,” she said.

  “I think we should pull your hair up. Maybe a bun or a chignon with curls on top. And we can get you a tiara. How about that?”

  “Wow.”

  Taryn turned and saw Shannon slink into the dressing room. She looked about to cry.

  “You look so grown up, Olivia.”

  “I do,” the little girl agreed, proudly. “Taryn said I can pick out a tiara.”

  “You’ll look just like the princess you are.” Taryn beamed.

  Shannon came over to stand next to her daughter. Taryn took a step back, and Shannon dropped to a knee beside Olivia, wrapping her arms around her.

  “Look at you,” she said, tossing Olivia’s hair.

  At first, Taryn understood Shannon’s emotions.

  The baby Olivia had been was gone, and Shannon had missed it. Now, here she was, all little girl and on her way, one day, to being a teen and then a young woman. Time stood still for no one.

  Shannon let Olivia go, but then hugged her again. The woman stood and spun around, away from her daughter, covering her eyes and wiping away tears. Taryn reached out to touch Shannon’s shoulder, but Shannon threw off her hand and gave her a menacing look through squinted eyes. Luckily, Olivia couldn’t see it.

  Taryn stared at Shannon. Something was off. The glassiness Taryn had attributed to tears was widely dilated pupils. The dressing room featured numerous lights so you could examine yourself closely in the mirror. It was by no means dim. Shannon took a few steps toward the divan, nearly stumbling as her toe caught on the thick carpet. It was a slight misstep, but bells rang off in Taryn’s head.

  Had she taken something? What kind of drug would cause her eyes to dilate? Taryn had heard of speed and things like that making someone’s eyes dilate, but Shannon certainly didn’t look sped up. From what she remembered, Shannon’s problems had been with meth and prescription medications. Maybe she’d taken some OxyContin or something?

  “Would you like a glass of water, Shannon? I can get Ronaldo.”

  “I’m fine,” Shannon snapped. “You do look pretty, Liv.”

  Taryn squinted at Shannon, who had parked herself on the couch. Jeff was the only one who ever called Olivia by that diminutive name. Shannon’s eyes stayed locked on Olivia as she scooted forward to pick up a glass of bubbly.

  “Which one is mine?”

  “Mine has the strawberry,” Taryn replied.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Mine is real champagne.”

  “And you’re not drinking it? That’s a waste.”

  “I’m pacing myself.”

  Ever heard of it? Taryn didn’t know if she imagined all this.

  The seamstress dropped in to check the final fit of Olivia’s dress. She and Taryn decided she could take the hem up a bit and adjust the straps, but other than that, their choice of flower girl dress was perfect. They would wait until closer to the ceremony to do the final tweaks.

  Shannon piped up once with a “That’s a good idea” said with slow, deliberate speech. When Ronaldo came back in the room, he took one look at Shannon, who was stretched back on the button-tufted sofa and then raised his eyebrows. Shannon’s half closed eyes popped open as if sensing the scrutiny.

  “Are we done?”

  “Yeah,” Taryn answered. “We’re done. I’ll drop Olivia off and then drive you home.”

  Taryn would bet top dollar that some unknown chemicals prompted Shannon’s languid demeanor. There was only one way to find out for sure.

  The minute Taryn got back to her apartment, she strode to her office and searched through her emails to find the report from Rick Calabro. Shifting her weight in her office chair, she reached for her cell phone and punched in the number she’d found for Shannon’s probation officer. She saved it into her contacts and then called Jeff. She had to talk to him before she did anything.

  “Hey, sweetie, what’s up? How’s the bridal party prep going?”

  “That’s going fine. You should see Olivia in her dress. So adorable. I meant to send you some of the pictures I took. I’ll text you in a little bit.”

  Jeff groaned. “Something’s wrong.”

  “Yeah, something’s wrong. It’s Shannon.”

  “What happened?”

  “I picked her up, and obviously, I asked her about the custody papers. That predictably didn’t go well, but that’s not the problem. When we got to Danya’s, she ran off to the bathroom, and when she came back, she was more and more out of it. She wasn’t right, Jeff. Her speech was a little slow, and she looked like she might fall asleep. When I dropped her off, I thought I was going to have to help her up the steps to her apartment. She said she was tired, but I’m not buying it.”

  “You think she was high?”

  “I’m ninety percent sure of it, and a hundred percent sure that the last ten percent is foolish benefit of the doubt. I think you should have her drug tested.”

  Taryn empathized with Jeff’s exhausted sigh.

  “I’ll talk to Harold about it. He’s reviewing the papers her attorney filed. I wonder how quickly we could get before a judge?”

  Taryn’s mind quickly turned to a more expeditious solution. “You don’t have to wait for a custody proceeding. You could call her probation officer, and they’d likely pull her in for a drug test.”

  “That’s a rough thing to do, Taryn. I don’t know. But, look, I’ll handle this.”

  “Okay.”

  There was so much more she felt compelled to say, but the thoughts rambling through her head were nothing but an echo of past conversations. And she didn’t want to fight. Jeff needed her to trust him, and she would.

  Chapter Forty

  Taryn shouldn’t have answered the phone. Jeff’s house phone rarely rang, and she thought it likely to be telemarketers. But she stood in Jeff’s kitchen—directly in front of the damn thing—slicing onions to go in a stir fry. When it rang, she picked it up on reflex.

  “McConnell residence.”

  “Is Jeff McConnell there?”

  “He’s not available at the moment. Can I take a message?”

  “Yes. This is Bill Sandoval. I’m Shannon McConnell’s probation officer, and I’m trying to reach her. She left this number as an alternate contact.”

  “I’m not sure why she gave you Jeff’s house phone number instead of his mobile. But anyway, Shannon’s not here.”

  Taryn nearly added that she was rarely there these days, but she stopped short. Just get his info for Jeff and let him deal with the guy. Taryn pulled open Jeff’s junk drawer and located a pen, swirling it on a Post-It pad she found to make sure it worked.

  “Do you know where I might reach her?”

  “I’m assuming you’ve tried her apartment and her work. She has a cell phone.”

  “I’ve tried all of those. Who am I speaking to?”

  “Sorry. I’m Taryn Lieber. Jeff’s fiancée. I saw Shannon a couple of days ago, but we’re not in regular contact. Jeff is the one you should speak to. I’ll let him know that you called.”

  Taryn tapped her the tip of the chef’s knife impatiently on the counter.

  “Ahh! You saw her a couple of days ago. May I ask where you saw her? She missed two appointments with me in the last week.”

  “We were at a bridal shop. Jeff’s daughter…Umm, Shannon and Jeff’s daughter is going to be in our wedding, and we had a dress fitting. Shannon was there.” Taryn strove to keep her tone light.

  “Was everything fine with her? Last week or so has been strange. She used to check in like clockwork.”

  Taryn hesitated. The words she wanted to say floated in her mouth. She promised she wouldn’t say anything, and she wouldn’t.

>   “Ms. Lieber?” the man prompted.

  “Yes. Sorry. I’ll let Jeff know you called. Can I take your number?” Get off the phone.

  “That’s not exactly an answer to my question,” Bill observed.

  “You should speak to Jeff. I’m trying to stay out of the situation.”

  “There’s a situation?”

  “Again, I’d feel more comfortable if you discussed this with my fiancé. I’ll give him your contact information, and he’ll get back to you.”

  “Fine. And can you give me Jeff’s mobile number?”

  Taryn took down Sandoval’s number and told him how to contact Jeff directly. Once she hung up, she texted Jeff and let him know that Shannon’s probation officer was looking for her and that he’d be calling. Then, she went back to making dinner. The tension she’d felt dissipated with the knowledge that she’d done her duty.

  For a week, Jeff tried to connect with Shannon’s probation officer and kept leaving messages that went unanswered. He didn’t know what Shannon had going on, but it couldn’t be good. He picked up his office phone and called the probation officer again but couldn’t reach him.

  Jeff determined that he would wait for whatever court process was catching up to Shannon to play itself out. In the meantime, he’d spoken to his attorney about countering Shannon’s request for partial custody. Drug testing was non-negotiable.

  He looked back at his computer and paged through more emails. The scramble of names and subject lines rolled past. Jeff sighed and began the tiresome process of answering the ones his admin flagged for response. He allocated an hour for returning messages, and when the timer on his computer chimed, Jeff pushed back from his desk. The buzzing of his cell phone caught his attention. He looked at the screen and saw, “Unknown,” instead of a number. He ignored it. A minute later, the unknown number buzzed him again. Curious, he answered.

  “Oh, thank God.”

  “Shannon?”

  “Yeah.” Shannon’s heavy breath hissed at him through the poor phone connection.

  “What?” Jeff heard loud voices and scuffling in the background, and then Shannon spoke.

  “I need your help. I only have a few minutes. I…” she hesitated. “I’m at the police station. I got arrested.”

  Jeff’s head fell back against his office chair. He closed his eyes and wondered if he’d ever get back to his regular, peaceful existence. No doubt, she wanted him to bail her out of trouble—literally this time. He contemplated hanging up the phone and leaving Shannon to whatever wolves were at her door.

  Then, he remembered that she had no one. If he didn’t at least hear her, there wasn’t anyone else who would. Well, maybe the husband. Jeff wanted that guy out of his life, which would only happen if he got the crook out of Shannon’s life.

  “What did you do?”

  Shannon sighed. “My probation officer called me in the other day and made me take a drug test. I don’t know what happened. False positives happen all the time, but…it came back dirty. I didn’t even know until the police came to my work. They took me outside and arrested me in front of everyone. That jackass is about to revoke my probation. They’re trying to get me to say I’m on drugs,” Shannon cried. “I just need to get out of here. I don’t know when my hearing is, but if you call, they’ll give you the information. I might be able to get out by tomorrow. I know I keep asking you for things, and I’ve been a total bitch, but I swear—I swear that I will get things straight if you just get me out of here.”

  “Where is here exactly, Shannon?”

  “Lew Sterrett. You can get the number to call to get the information. It’s automated, but if you keep calling, they told me you can get to a real person. But you’re going to need my booking number.”

  Jeff pressed the fingers of his left hand into his temples. Lew Sterrett held Dallas County’s thieves, rapists, and murderers. “Give me the phone number and your booking number. Do you have an attorney that you used last time?”

  “Yeah. Lucy Crook. You’ll have to look up her number.”

  “Crook?”

  “Easy to remember at least.”

  He couldn’t believe he promised to get her out of jail. Now, he wanted to reach her probation officer even more. He had to find out what happened. He canceled his afternoon meetings and grabbed his keys to head home and start making calls.

  The afternoon traffic had begun slowing like molasses. Jeff took his hundredth deep, allegedly stress-reducing breath and gripped the steering wheel. He hadn’t mentioned to anyone why he was taking the afternoon off, but the look on his secretary’s face told him that even she knew it had to do with Shannon.

  As he sat in his car heading northbound on the Dallas North Tollway, he stared at the rows of red taillights and came to a conclusion. Getting Shannon out of jail was the last time he would help her, and the last time he’d cut her slack. From now on, the gloves were off.

  He didn’t regret doing what he could for her, but his well of patience had run dry. Whatever Shannon did with her life from here on out, she’d have to do it on her own.

  She could say all she wanted that false positives happen, but he knew the truth. She’d been high. She couldn’t afford for any slip-up, and she knew that and did drugs anyway. That was the woman who wanted joint custody of Olivia. Jesus, she couldn’t even go a week after filing the papers without getting into more trouble.

  The incident at the bridal shop was the first time she’d seemed under the influence, and he’d believed her when she’d said she was clean. Maybe it was just once, but honestly, it didn’t matter.

  When you live the life that Shannon had lived, you have to know that luck isn’t likely to be on your side. And she did have the worst luck. The probation officer called her in for a drug test at the worst possible time for her. Jeff stopped himself and reframed the thoughts in his mind. Her arrest was, after all, her own fault.

  The radio dropped out and the car audio system rang through the Bluetooth connection to his phone. He hated taking phone calls in the car, but pushed the answer button on the steering wheel anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, is this Jeff McConnell?”

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “I’m Bob Sandoval. I’m the probation officer handling Shannon McConnell. You’ve been calling and trying to reach me. I finally had some time to give you a callback.”

  “Well, technically, you were trying to get in touch with me. About what, I’m still not sure, but I’m guessing it has something to do with why Shannon is sitting in the county jail right now.”

  “She called you?” Sandoval asked. He sounded surprised.

  “Yeah. She called me. What happened?”

  “She failed her drug test, and I’m going to file paperwork to violate her. Staying clean was a condition of her probation. Test came back positive for alprazolam. That’s Xanax. And she doesn’t have a prescription.”

  “You just randomly drug tested her?”

  “No, but if I have reason to suspect that she’s using, I can call her in and make her pee in a cup. That’s what I did. She missed a check in with me. Then I called you because she listed you as a contact when she moved to Dallas. Look, you should probably get her an attorney and discuss all this with them.”

  “I don’t understand. You didn’t hear from her for a few days, and then you drug test her?”

  “It wasn’t just that. When I spoke to your fiancée, I knew something wasn’t right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She seemed iffy on what was going on with Shannon. Said she didn’t know where she was, and that she hadn’t talked to her in a couple of days. Your fiancée wouldn’t say what it was, but she did say that there was a situation, and I should talk to you. And since Shannon hadn’t checked in with me or returned my calls for days, I called her in and tested her. When you’ve been working in the system as long as I have, you get a nose for these things.”

  “I see.”

  After getting
a little more detail on what the process would be to get Shannon out of jail, he ended the call. Hot anger flooded him. Shannon faced a two-year prison sentence if the judge decided her violation warranted it. Damn it.

  Taryn had agreed to let him handle it. Then, the first chance she got, she spilled her guts to Shannon’s probation officer. It wasn’t Taryn’s fault, of course, that Shannon had been high, but that wasn’t what bothered him. Taryn didn’t trust him. Again.

  She kept taking matters into her own hands without talking with him first. He couldn’t live like that. He had enough stress with not knowing what Shannon was going to do from day to day. Now, he couldn’t trust Taryn either. They were going to have to have a conversation.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Taryn sensed trouble the minute she heard Jeff’s tone in his voicemail.

  “Call me as soon as you can. We have to talk.”

  Taryn had left a little early to meet her cousin Alexa, who’d driven up from Austin, and her mother coming down from Oklahoma. They were grabbing a late lunch at two o’clock. Part of her wanted to postpone whatever trouble until after, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to focus on anything until she knew what was wrong. She parked in front of the pizza place and called Jeff.

  “Hey, honey. What’s up?”

  “Shannon’s been arrested. Did you know that?” His sharpness cut into her. How would she know anything about Shannon? Was that why no one could get ahold of her?

  “No. I had no idea. What’d she do?”

  “You really don’t know?”

  Taryn threw up her hand and shook her head even though she sat in her car alone.

  “No. I don’t. What happened?”

  “You didn’t consider what might happen when you told Shannon’s probation officer that she was on drugs?”

  “Oh, my God, Jeff. I didn’t say anything, anything to the guy. He called, and I told him he should talk to you. He asked me if I’d seen Shannon. I told him that, yes, I saw her at the bridal shop, but I didn’t say anything else. He wanted to know how she was, and I told him to talk to you. I swear.”