Page 21 of Legacy of Lies
“Stay put.”
“I—”
The line went dead. Her heart rapped a staccato beat on her ribs. Good Lord, he sounded pissed.
Forty minutes later, Sara gave up on waiting and headed to her car. The parking lot was empty as frigid twilight turned the school grounds gray. Garrison Taggart probably had a million things more important to do. Zipping her winter coat closed, she bent into the biting wind. The heavy clouds threatened snow.
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.”
