Page 23 of Legacy of Lies
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.”
