Page 4 of Legacy of Lies
“No, what I mean is, sometimes children in families without a parent present have a hard time processing things emotionally. Sometimes those kids might act out. They don’t know how else to express their feelings when they’re upset.”
“My son misbehaving?”
“More like he doesn’t know how to handle certain situations. When stressed out, like if another child teases him, Zach overreacts.”
“How?”
“Well, he yelled at one of his friends the other day and shoved another kid. And this isn’t the first time he’s lashed out at a classmate.”
He snorted. “Must’ve had a good reason.”
“Possibly. I do think there is some bullying that’s part of the problem, but Zach’s reaction is why I’m asking about his home life, so I understand how best to help him. Sometimes things going on outside of school affect my students. Does he act out at home at all?”
“No. He knows the rules and follows them.” A hard, blank expression descended upon his face. The emotional shutters were firmly closed.
She’d bet her left shoe that Garrison didn’t tolerate anyone who didn’t follow his rules.
Well, rough terrain ahead.
“So then, is his mother involved?”
Fwap, fwap. He flicked the edge of the hat brim. “You asked that already. It’s not your business. But, no, she’s gone for good. I thought people in town knew everything about everyone else’s business.”
She ignored the implied jab. The folks sure knew about her family and her mistakes. “How did he react when you and his mother split up?”
“What’s it matter?”
That bead of sweat on her chest tormented her. “Because I think that’s part of the problem.”
“We split up almost a year ago.”
If Garrison kept tapping on the hat, she’d have to reach over the desk and grab his hand. Everything about this man drove her to madness. Even worse, she swore he could tell and did the action just to be annoying. She rolled her hands into fists on her legs.
Keep going.
“Was it a rough separation?”
“Again, what does it matter? Ancient history. Everyone has a past they’d rather not remember. Wouldn’t you agree?” His amber stare pinned her in place.
So, to answer her question, yes, he knew about her poor choices, probably every one of them. Copper River being a small town and all.
Fair enough. He had a right to be irritated when someone invaded his privacy. But he didn’t get to shrug off his son, no matter how many buttons Garrison and Sara both ended up pushing.
She struggled to keep her comments to herself.
Trying a relaxation technique, she clenched and unclenched her hands in her lap. It failed.
Shifting to the edge of her seat, she stabbed the stack of papers with her index finger. “Don’t you get it? This discussion matters because your son matters. If he needs help dealing with his mother being gone so that he can continue being a good student and a good kid, I want to get him that help.”
“Fine. I’ll take care of it.” Blotches of red crept up his neck and face, and a muscle jumped in his neck. Good. Hopefully he felt as uncomfortable with this conversation as she did.
“I’m not telling you this information so that you’ll simply ‘handle it.’ Zach’s a good kid, but his behavior suggests there is something more going on inside of him that needs to be addressed. I recommend we get Zach in for regular sessions with the school counselor.”
“Absolutely not,” he gritted out from beneath a tight jaw. “My kid doesn’t need a head shrink.”
“Okay, welcome to the modern age. They’re counselors, not head shrinks. And it might be nice to have someone for Zach to talk to outside the family.”
“Son of a— Why would he need that?” He bit off the epithet like he was ripping through a piece of jerky. He froze, brows pulling together. “Is he behaving uh, weird or something?”
