Legacy of Lies

by Jillian David

  A rumbling dually sped onto the asphalt. The truck had barely stopped when Garrett burst out of the vehicle. The parking lot light cast shadows beneath the brim of his hat and enhanced his dark glower as he stomped over to her. Sara shuffled backward until she bumped into her sedan.

  “Why are you leaving?” he snapped, not bothering to button his sheepskin and leather jacket. His narrowed gaze raked over her, like she’d been indicted and found guilty before the trial.

  She gulped. “You said thirty minutes. I thought you’d changed your mind or were detained.”

  “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

  The aggressive stance made her shy away, but that low voice wrapped around her like a toasty wool blanket. Come to think of it, no blanket ever made her pelvis tighten.

  “Well, yes.” The cold air crawled under her coat.

  He ground his booted toe into the pavement and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “Um, I need to apologize.”

  “What?” He’d gone from mad to contrite in a millisecond. Her neck hurt from the emotional whiplash. Was he playing some game with her? She stepped forward to better study his face.

  “Apologize. Say I’m sorry. That kind of junk.” He grimaced and shifted from foot to foot. At least his discomfort rivaled hers.

  “Junk, huh?”

  “Um. Son of a bitch. Not quite the right word.”

  Hugging her arms to her chest, she tried not to quake as the icy air worked its way through her cotton slacks. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why do you need to apologize, Mr. Taggart?”

  He stared at the ground. His tense jaw relaxed, and his mouth turned downward. A softer, younger Garrison emerged from that rigid, angry facade.

  “I was, uh, a little short with you yesterday.”

  And you call today’s attitude warm and fuzzy?

  “If you say so.”

  “Look, Zach means the world to me, and I get mad if things aren’t going great for him. That’s all.”

  “He’s a good kid. And I expect some parents might get upset in the conferences if what I tell them isn’t 100 percent positive. But in the end, it’s all for the benefit of my students.”

  “I get it. So—” He held his work-roughened hands out, palms up. “Look, I’m sorry.”

  “All right, fair enough. Apology accepted. So about—”

  “So can I take you out to dinner?”

  With a step back, she bumped into her car door. “Come again?”

  “Out? To dinner. Together.”

  How in the name of God had this man switched gears so quickly from a grumpy, half-assed apology to propositioning her for a date? Keeping up with Garrison’s moods was like watching a human tennis match.

  “No, that’s not why I ... Look, I called you because I wanted to discuss Zach.”

  “I understand that.” He squinted up at the darkening sky. “It’s too cold to have this conversation outside. Your workday is over. I’m hungry. Let’s talk about this over dinner.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not? It would give us time to chat about Zach.”

  Since when did Garrison Taggart chat? “I don’t know ...”

  “It’ll give me a way to make up for being a jerk.”

  “Well, you have a point there.”

  At his lopsided smile, her heart flipped in her chest. It’s not a date, damn it. They were only going to discuss his son. So why, then, did she have trouble catching her breath? Had to be the cold air.

  “So?”

  When he stared at her like that, all focused and with a determined lift of his chin, he made her hungry, and not for dinner.

  She hit the button on her car fob, unlocking the door. “Fine. I’ll meet you at the Hungry Moose.”

  A shadow of a smile bent the slash of his mouth upward.

  Chapter 6

  A few minutes later, Sara slid into the vinyl booth seat at Copper River’s local diner. Garrison sat across from her. What in the world was she doing? Nothing like giving folks in town something else to talk about. Damn it, coming here was a stupid move. Even now, Sara felt the eyes of other diners on her, making connections.

  New teacher? Check.

  Shoplifting past? Check.

  Questionable parentage? Check.

  And, oh look, now she’s out with Garrison Taggart, whose wife left him. Isn’t that interesting?

  Fabulous. It didn’t matter that this was work related; it only mattered what people saw.

  Ducking her head, she studied the menu instead of the man sitting a few feet away. Even after she ordered and no longer had a menu to hide behind, she couldn’t figure out where to rest her hands and eventually chose to stuff them between her slacks and the worn vinyl cushion.

  Garrison stared at her with those amber-colored eyes dotted with gold flecks, a frown forming between his brows. What the hell was he staring at? She smoothed her cardigan and pushed her hair back over her shoulders.

  With his hat off, his hair glinted like banked embers. Curling back off his forehead, his hair remained wild despite his brushing a hand to smooth it. His thick fingers wrapped around a glass of water, and she fixated on the dark red hair on his wrists, peeking from under the edge of his thick flannel shirt. What would his skin look like under that sleeve? Would his arms have ropes of hard muscle, brushed with ruddy hair? Would his biceps tighten under her touch?

  He raised the auburn slash of his thick brows; her breath caught. “So?” he asked, startling her out of her unprofessional thoughts.

  They were having a work-related dinner, that’s all. She cleared her throat. “You recall my concerns about Zach and the other kids?”

  “Clearly.”

  No one could accuse Garrison of being verbose. Her face warmed. “He got bullied again today.”

  “Explain.”

  “After it happened, I took my concerns to the principal, but he blew it off.”

  “Butch Brand?” He bit out the name. Hopefully, no one in earshot heard.

  Whispering, she continued, “Yes. And, um, the kids picking on Zach were the Brand twins.”

  “Tommy Brand’s kids? Butch’s nephews? What did those hoodlums say?”

  It looked like the glass would break, so hard did he grip it.

  She needed to be careful.

  “They said stuff about Zach not having a mother around.”

  He cursed under his breath. “Those kids were out of line, but damn their parents. That’s who influenced them.” He shoved his hand through his hair, giving it a wilder, more untamed look.

  “I’m so sorry. I broke the kids up, but it was clear that what they said bothered Zach.”

  “The Brands have it in for our family. No idea why.”

  “Seems odd, since I had those two kids in class last year and they seemed like good boys.”

  “Something changed in the past year.”

  “With the kids?”

  “With all of that family.” He took a swig of water and set the glass down with a clunk. “The kids might be fine, but their parents are not. That whole family. They’re not nice people.”

  “I don’t know all of them. I’m good friends with Izzy Brand, and she’s nothing like her brothers.”

  “Sooner or later, she’ll join her family in hating us.”

  “That can’t be true, Garrison.”

  “Just you wait.” He dropped his hand on the table hard enough for her to jump.

  The food came—thank goodness she could focus on taking a few bites instead of trying to deflect Garrison’s anger.

  When his Adam’s apple bobbed with a bite, a quiver worked its way through her belly. Dragging her eyes from his corded neck, her gaze passed his stubbled chin and rested on his firm lips. Which moved as he talked.

  Pay attention.

  “... why are you sticking up for my kid? I mean, since you have ties to the Brand family—”

  “I have no connection to them,” she snapped. A patron at a nearby table glanced over.
She took a steadying breath. “Trust me. I don’t want anything to do with Hank, and the feeling is most definitely mutual.”

  “Why?” Garrison held up his hand. “I’m sorry. Forget it. It’s not my business.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll answer your first question. I’m sticking up for Zach because I understand why he got bullied.” She folded the napkin in half and half again, so neatly. “I grew up without a mother or a father.” The napkin morphed into a crumpled ball in her fist. “I spent my childhood being told I wasn’t good enough because I didn’t have a mom or dad. You’d think nowadays, kids wouldn’t get picked on for having single parents or absent parents. But yes, when I saw Zach being bullied, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

  Silence stretched as he studied her face. A muscle ticked in his jaw. The intense focus ... no. She wouldn’t squirm beneath the weight of his stare.

  She shifted in her seat. Damn it.

  “Thank you for watching out for my boy.” His voice, like coarse gravel, scraped over her raw nerves, and she shivered.

  “Of course,” she mumbled, concentrating on the drop of water scudding down the outside of her glass. Anything to avoid meeting those mesmerizing eyes.

  He shifted in the seat, drawing her attention. The harsh set to his mouth compressed into a grim line. “So, what happened when you talked with the principal?”

  “Simplest explanation? He blew me off.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “When I tried a second time to explain my concerns about Zach, Butch insinuated that my job was at risk if I intervened. And that was the end of the conversation.” Something about Garrison made her want to open up, just a tiny bit. “I feel like I failed Zach.”

  When Garrison grazed her wrist with his work-roughened fingertips, she jumped.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I care about my students.” Damn it if her eyelids didn’t burn. What was it about this man? Maybe it was the very real possibility that her job was at risk.

  The corners of his mouth bent downward as he rubbed the back of her hand, sparking sensations up her arm that also fell into the “unprofessional” category. His touch had the added bonus of triggering a sudden urge to cry. For her own sanity, she needed some space. When she withdrew her hand, the absence of his warmth created a strange emptiness inside of her.

  “Let’s change the subject, okay?” he said.

  The tightness lodged in her throat released. “Sounds good to me.”

  “You grew up here, right?”

  The one subject she didn’t want to discuss and he had to pick it? “Um, yes.”

  “Where did you move from?”

  “Texas.”

  He closed one eye and squinted. “But you lived with your aunt and uncle.”

  And now the urge to squirm started up again. “Yes. They’ve both passed away.”

  “That’s right. That was after high school, right?”

  What the hell, Mr. Twenty Questions?

  “But you came back after college? Even with the trouble you’d had earlier ...” When his voice trailed off, two patches of red tinted his hard cheekbones. “Son of a bitch, I stuck my foot in my mouth, didn’t I? Look, never mind. Forget I asked anything. Damn it, here I get all mad at you for prying and look who’s the Nosy Nellie now?” The repentant half-smiling guy across from her made her heart flop over.

  Sara ducked her head and put her hand to her temple, blocking her words from prying ears. “It was hard enough growing up here where everyone knew my family’s dirty laundry and my mistakes. When I came back, it was important to project a solid, respectable life.” She snorted a tiny laugh. “Little good that did, with the whole Hank thing.”

  Garrison frowned. “I’ve been out of the loop, obviously. I knew your aunt and uncle raised you, and so what? But what kind of trouble did you get into?”

  “You were wrapped up in rodeo and off at college then. Shelby and Kerr were a grade ahead of me and probably know a lot more.” She systematically shredded the napkin on the table. “I never had a father, and my mother left me here when I was around Zach’s age, when we moved here. Or rather, she dropped me off here. I never saw her again, but I kept hoping she’d come back and get me. Years later, when I found out about her death, I gave up and kind of rebelled.”

  “How?”

  Was that ... sincerity in his eyes? Like he truly cared about what she had to say. Like he wasn’t judging her. Long may Garrison’s acceptance last. She resisted the urge to cross herself.

  “Um, I shoplifted a few times in high school. Stupid stuff.”

  “Why?”

  She sniffed. “The head shrinks said I was acting out because of abandonment issues. But what do they know, right?” She continued to deconstruct the napkin into tiny pieces.

  “Yeah, about what I said yesterday about the counselor. That was stupid and—”

  Holding her hand up, she said, “It’s okay.” When he opened his mouth, she added, “Please. Let it go.”

  After mock wiping his brow, his expression softened. “So I’m having dinner with a hardened criminal?”

  “One petty theft away from wearing an orange jumpsuit. Or so I’ve been told.”

  He nodded and folded his hands on the table. “What about your family here?”

  The neat pile of paper continued to grow. “Staying with my aunt and uncle was safer than living hand to mouth and dealing with the never-ending line of Mom’s mean boyfriends. Problem was, most everyone in town here knew how messed up Mom was.”

  “Why did you return to Copper River later on, if you wanted a fresh start?”

  “No choice, unless I want to be in debt for the rest of my natural life. I’m working here through a program with the county department of education. To combat a shortage of teachers, they paid up front for my college. In return, I owe them four years of teaching, and then I’m footloose and fancy-free. That is, if I can keep my job. God, if I lose this teaching job, I’m on the hook for the full four years of college. Immediately.”

  He tapped her arm, startling her into halting her shredding activity. His crooked smile turned her to boneless goo. “Hey. It’ll be fine.”

  She folded her hands in front of the paper pile. “Sure.”

  “So how was it, coming back to Copper River?”

  “While I was in college, my aunt and uncle died in a car accident. So it wasn’t the homecoming I’d hoped for. But I have some friends here, and dating Hank was nice for a while.”

  “Really?” The gold in his eyes turned to crystals of yellow ice.

  “Yes, seriously. Believe it or not, he started out as a fairly decent guy. Last year, around this time, something changed. Like a switch flipped.”

  “Did he hurt you?” White lines formed at the corners of his mouth.

  When was the last time a man truly cared about her well-being? Damn it if her ovaries didn’t do a tiny tap dance in response to his protective tone.

  “No, nothing physical. I initiated the breakup, but he got pretty mean.” Although she aimed for a casual, couldn’t-care-less tone, her voice broke. “He said I came from nothing, I’d amount to nothing, and I am worth nothing. End of story.”

  Garrison grasped both of her hands in his strong, steady grip and squeezed. Warmth and unexpected pleasure flowed up her arms.

  “Look at me,” he commanded, and she complied. “Hank’s wrong. You and I both know it.”

  “Of course.” With reluctance, she pulled her hands out of his. “Look, can we talk about something else? This conversation has veered way off course. We’re not here for a pity party, and that’s not what you signed up for.”

  “Okay, but I’m, uh, glad you shared that stuff with me.” He looked about as comfortable with her sharing as a balloon in a room full of porcupines.

  “Sure you are.” She tamped down the sarcasm. He didn’t deserve it. “But we are here to help Zach.”

  Leaning back on the seat, he rubbed his
jaw. “I agree, but how?”

  Ignoring how his big shoulders flexed under the shirt fabric, she pressed ahead. “Not sure what’s best that doesn’t somehow draw unwanted attention to Zach.”

  “Or you.”

  She swallowed. He wasn’t wrong. If she didn’t tread carefully, her job and possibly her entire career could be at risk. “For now, I’ll keep an eye on him and try to make sure he’s around good kids.”

  “Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop those Brand kids from talking.” He crossed his arms, and his brows drew together. A wave of anger seemed to radiate off him as his expression darkened. A muscle in his jaw jumped.

  Garrison pissed off. Not something Sara wanted to experience again any time soon.

  “No, but there’s not much I can do about what kids say.” She took a sip of water. “So that I understand the whole situation, does Zach have any contact with his mother at all? Does she call or write?”

  “No. She left just under a year ago, before Christmas.” His casual shrug contradicted the drawn expression. “Sent me divorce papers and a letter that said she was gone for good. That was it. I haven’t heard from her since.”

  “Nothing? Just like that?”

  “Said in the letter that she didn’t want anything to do with Zach or me. Asked that I sign the papers and ‘leave her alone’ or she’d get custody of Zach and take him away.”

  “Wow.”

  “And right after I signed the documents, she drained our accounts. Almost like she knew when I mailed the papers.”

  “Did you get your money back?”

  “No. All calls went to a lawyer in Salt Lake City. That assho—sorry, jerk, wouldn’t tell me anything else, citing client confidentiality.”

  “I’ve never heard of anything like that happening.”

  “Me neither. But frankly, I was so scared to lose Zach, I just gave up.”

  “Really? Because you don’t seem like the giving up type,” she blurted.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Heat flooded her neck and face. “Nothing. It’s not my place to say anything.”

  He stared at the condiment holder for a long, uncomfortable minute. Almost like he wanted to set it on fire with his mind. Right as she was about to apologize, Garrison swung his head back and locked his eyes onto hers.