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Heat crawled into her cheeks. It wasn’t that she was ashamed—the naked body was a beautiful thing—but the way he said it made it sound insulting. And most people found the fact that she’d grown up in an unorthodox household ripe for conversation. Frankly, she was over it.
“Well, we have something in common, then,” she quipped, turning to give him a cool look. “I heard you were raised on a racist compound. I guess you could say we were both raised in nontraditional households. Mine ran around naked and yours fantasized about genocide.”
That stunned him into silence but the lock that slid over his expression told her she’d gone too far. Damn her mouth. How was she ever going to make it to the big time if she couldn’t govern what fell from her lips? She ought to pull it back. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she raced through a number of different ways to apologize. But before she could settle on the best one—not that he would’ve accepted, judging by the stony look on his face—the door opened and Mrs. Hamby welcomed them with a warm greeting. Piper scuttled inside, eager to escape the shadowy feeling of guilt that followed.
HE SHOULD’VE KNOWN BETTER than to poke at her but when he’d seen her standing there, looking harmless as a daisy in her white sundress, her brunette bob framing her angelic face without a hair out of place, he’d dearly wanted to push her into a mud puddle. Barring any available mud, he’d settled for throwing a few verbal shots her way.
He’d hit a nerve with the nudist bit but she’d kidney punched him with a shot about his past. The ghosts of Red Meadows were alive and well in Dayton no matter what he did to try and atone for his father’s actions.
She was a damn reporter. Of course she knew about Red Meadows. That’s why he should’ve just kept his mouth shut.
It was true he didn’t have kids or nieces or nephews but his office manager, Gretchen Baker, had a daughter without a father and when she’d asked him to do this he didn’t see how he could refuse. He’d always gone out of his way to educate the public about logging but he also enjoyed doing what he could to change the town’s memory of the Garrett name.
So, it was a little self-serving coming to the classroom today and that damn journalist was bound to see right through him.
Mrs. Hamby, a short round woman with apple cheeks and puffy curls clinging to her head pointed to the tiny desk and chair, indicating that he and Piper would be sitting beside one another.
Piper took one look at that little red molded plastic chair and saw how close they’d be to one another and she opted to stand at the back of the room, citing the need to be able to move around for pictures.
He was willing to bet his eyeteeth she was lying. But that was fine with him. He didn’t want any part of him pressed against her, least of all their thighs and shoulders. He caught the eye of Gretchen’s daughter, Quinn, and winked when she brightened with a gap-toothed grin the width of Texas. This part he didn’t mind at all. Quinn was a great kid. It wasn’t her fault that her mom had terrible taste in men. Quinn’s daddy took off when she was just three years old and the newest baby daddy—because Gretchen was seven months pregnant—couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether or not he wanted to stick around.
“Class, we have very special guests today,” Mrs. Hamby said, her blue eyes twinkling. “Today, we have our mommies and daddies, uncles and aunts, or caregivers here to talk to us about what they do for a living. Remember, we must all show our guests our best manners so that they might want to visit us again sometime. And as an extra-special treat, we have a reporter from the newspaper who is going to do a wonderful story on our special day!” At that, twenty-seven kids turned toward the back where Piper was standing nibbling on her cuticle, causing her to straighten and flash a reluctant smile. Mrs. Hamby beamed at Piper, saying, “Piper Sunday was one of my very first students here when I came as a young teacher and it’s so wonderful to have her here today. She’s growing up to be a fine journalist. We might even see her go on to write for the New York Times or San Francisco Chronicle.”
Owen slid his gaze to Piper and caught hers. She seemed to blush a little but lifted her chin with a small smile for Mrs. Hamby’s benefit. He didn’t know anything about what it took to get to a big metro area paper but he suspected it didn’t involve biased reporting or Bring Your Parent To School events. So, in his opinion, she had a snowball’s chance in hell of making it anywhere other than little ol’ Dayton. She’d be writing about the dangers of riptides for tourists and preschool recitals for the rest of her life. Heh. That actually lightened his mood a bit. Just to throw her off, he sent her a blinding smile.
And it worked. She nearly dropped her writing pad.
Perhaps this day was salvageable.
PIPER SCRIBBLED A FEW NOTES and snapped a few pictures but she was on autopilot. Another part of her brain was processing that smile. From a purely objective place, she could see a certain rugged handsomeness to the man. When he wasn’t scowling hard enough to bring on a thundercloud, Owen Garrett wasn’t so hard on the eyes. She wondered what relationship he had with the cute kid who’d introduced him. She’d said Owen was her mom’s boss and friend. Hmm…translated, that meant boyfriend.
He was sleeping with his office manager. What a jerk. Her mouth tightened as a wave of indignant—something—washed over her. She shouldn’t be surprised. A man like Owen Garrett probably had to kick women out of his bed on a regular basis. He made a good living raping the land of its resources—okay, rape was probably a harsh word, but given her pique, she wasn’t in the mood to be politically correct—and he was unattached, which meant no ex-wife hanging around or siphoning from his paycheck. In other words, he was Dayton-delicious as her girlfriends would say.
It was a good thing she had higher standards. A girl could easily lose her focus around all that muscle and brawn. Speaking of, was it really necessary to wear that tight, artfully faded T-shirt that clung to his broad chest like a lover draped across all that hard skin? There were children around, for crying out loud. She pursed her lips and pretended to scribble some additional notes, when in fact, she was just tired of looking at him, which was a problem only she seemed to have as a quick glance revealed plenty of mommies caressing him with their eyes.
Eww.
And, naturally, he didn’t seem to notice the effect he had on the estrogen in the room. Why were some good-looking men oblivious to their charm? She drew a deep breath, glad it was nearly over. The next time Charlie couldn’t make it to work, she was going to insist their editor see a doctor’s note.
And unless he had Ebola, Charlie better have his skinny ass at his post.
Finally finished, she tried slipping from the room, eager to return to the office to write the silly story so she could get back to real journalism, but she was waylaid by an unexpected cute factor.
As the adults said their goodbyes and filed from the room, the little girl launched herself at Owen with the unabashed enthusiasm of the very young. He didn’t miss a beat and hefted her slight weight without blinking. She buried her face into his neck and he reciprocated with a tight hug. Before Piper put much thought into her actions, she snapped a quick picture of the scene.
“Thank you for coming, Owen,” she heard the little girl whisper, and he murmured something back that Piper didn’t quite catch.
Oh, dear. She didn’t want to see that. She ought to delete the picture right now before her editor saw it. She already knew from her gut that it was a great shot. He was under her skin again. Without even trying. She snared a look by a single mom who was eyeing Owen as if she wanted to give him a tongue bath. She was tempted to tell her “Go for it, honey, he’s all yours” but her mouth wouldn’t open. A little fact she refused to examine too closely. Instead, Piper edged past the two and nearly ran from the room.
CHAPTER FOUR
OWEN RETURNED TO THE OFFICE where Big Trees Logging administration did the magic of keeping the business afloat and immediately Gretchen was full of questions. “How’d it go?” she asked.
“It went great. Thanks for asking me to go,” he said, moving to the stack of mail he hadn’t had the chance to sort through just yet.
“I was going to ask Danny, but Quinn wanted you,” she said, almost apologetically.
At the mention of her newest boyfriend, the guy who knocked her up and then decided he needed space to think things through, made Owen want to scowl and say something rude but he held the urge in check. Gretchen had a soft heart and would likely get hurt feelings if he said what he felt right at the moment about the guy who’d bailed on her and their unborn child. “Yeah, not a problem,” he assured her, moving to his office. He paused as a sudden thought came to him. “Oh, and I’ve reconsidered my earlier request to send all calls from Piper Sunday to voice mail. Send any and all calls straight to me.”
Gretchen’s mouth pinched as she rubbed her distended belly. “Why for? So she can print more lies about you and Big Trees Logging? You ought to sue her and the paper for slander.”
“You mean, libel.” He grinned at Gretchen’s protectiveness. “I wish my lawyer agreed. Unfortunately, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. I just want to put the whole thing behind me. We’re better than that anyway.”
“Of course we are,” she agreed, nodding vigorously. “But still…seems wrong that she’s going to get away with being so mean.”
“She’s just doing her job, I suppose.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Gretchen said with a glower but finally sighed as she relented. “You got it. All calls from Piper Sunday will go straight to you.”
“Thanks, Gretchen.” He was midway to his desk when he remembered something else and poked his head out to call to Gretchen again. “Hey, anytime you need something for Quinn…it’s no imposition. Just ask. You got it?”
Gretchen’s eyes warmed and he half expected tears to follow as her pregnancy had been doing a number on the waterworks. Once he found her crying over the coffeepot when she’d run out of filters. But to his relief, her eyes remained dry, but appreciative.
“I wish more people saw what a good man you are,” she said, surprising him. “You act all gruff, but you’re really a sweet guy.”
Uncomfortable with the praise but knowing it came from an honest place, he simply cocked a grin her way and said, “Don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my rep as a badass.”
Gretchen winked with a broad smile. He returned the grin until he realized he had a missed call from Mama Jo. He frowned and quickly punched in the retrieval code.
The beloved voice of his foster mother sounded in his ear as she left a short message, wondering if he might be able to come visit soon, perhaps before the heat of summer got too bad. Since it was only spring, he smiled at the request even if a twinge of guilt followed. He hadn’t been home in a long time. He tried to go once a year but he’d been swamped as of late and the time seemed to get away from him.
Piper Sunday didn’t know everything about him. She knew only the surface stuff. Everyone knew that his father was killed in an FBI raid at the compound at Red Meadows. They also knew that his father was the head of the Aryan Coalition, a racist group with ties to bad things.
After it’d all gone down, he’d been sent to live with his only living relative, his aunt Danica on his mother’s side in West Virginia. But he’d proven to be too much of a handful for his aunt and she’d relinquished custody of the boy she’d never truly known anyway to the state. And he’d landed in the care of Mama Jo, a petite black woman with more heart and wisdom than anyone he’d ever met.
It’s also where he’d met his two foster brothers, Thomas Bristol and Christian Holt. He missed them all so much it was like a fire in his gut but he had a job to do here and he wasn’t about to walk away because it was easier.
Thomas and Christian had thought he was nuts to return to the town where his name was associated with something so dark and shameful. But he’d needed to give people something positive to associate the Garrett name with and he figured the best way to do that would be to become a productive member of the community.
To his dying day, he’d never forget Mama Jo’s advice to him as he broke the news that he was headed west.
“They got trees right here in West Virginia,” she’d said when he’d told her he was going to go into commercial forestry in California.
There’d been no sense in dancing around the truth— Mama Jo would see right through it anyway. She’d always had an uncanny sense about those things. It’d made it rough getting anything past her, which was probably why she’d managed to take three universally screwed-up kids and turn them into something useful to society.
“I have to go,” he’d said quietly.
“I know you do,” she’d said with a sigh. “I just wish you didn’t feel the need to prove yourself to a bunch of people who don’t matter anyway. All the people who know your heart are right here.”
“It’s not about me. It’s just something I need to do for my dad. The Garrett name doesn’t need to be forever associated with something bad.”
Mama Jo’s eyes had misted and for a second he’d felt like that lost eleven-year-old boy again. She’d cupped soft, careworn hands around his jaw as she’d said, “You’re a good son. You do what you feel is necessary to make it right for you. Your daddy is gone and it don’t matter to him none. You do this for you. And when you’ve done what you feel needs doing, you know where home is.”
He’d choked up and Mama Jo had wrapped him in a hug that said as much as her words.
Heading back to California, it’d felt as if he were going to battle.
Just thinking of that day so many years ago caused tears to spring to his eyes and, if he wasn’t careful, he’d end up a slobbering, bawling mess at his desk.
So when Mama Jo called, he always answered if he could.
“Hello, Mama,” he said when she picked up the line. A smile formed at the sound of her voice as her face appeared in his memory. “I just got your message. What’s going on? Everything okay? Did you get that package I sent?”
“Sure did. Never seen fruit arranged like that before. It was good, though Christian and Thomas wiped out the chocolate-topped strawberries before I could blink.”
“Oh, Mama, you should’ve smacked their paws as soon as they tried reaching for them,” he grumbled. He loved his brothers but he’d paid a pretty penny to have the fresh fruit arrangement delivered across the states. The overnight cold-storage shipping had been nearly as pricey as the arrangement but Mama was worth it. “I just wanted you to have something different for your birthday.”
“It was very thoughtful of you and I loved it, don’t you worry. But I wasn’t calling about the arrangement. I want to know if I can get a commitment out of you to come visit.”
She always asked, but there was something else in her voice—an underlying urgency perhaps that gave him pause. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Does there have to be some kind of calamity for you to visit your family?” she joked, but it didn’t escape his notice that she’d sidestepped the question. A trickle of unease made his heart race. “It’s just time to come home for a visit. Don’t you think? It’s been years,” she reminded him.
“It’s high time,” he agreed, but he was looking at his calendar and there weren’t too many open spots. Still, he couldn’t get himself to just shut her down. “I’ll see what I can do, Mama,” he offered, but the weight of her disappointment pressed on him to try harder. He flipped his calendar, scanning for any possible leeway. “How about I bring you here for a visit? We could take a drive into the Bay, see the sights…”
“Maybe another time. You let me know when you can come. I’ll see that your brothers are here, too. It’s time we spend some time catching up.”
“Okay,” he agreed, but he didn’t know how the hell he was going to manage it. “Everything okay? You sound funny.”
“Never tell a lady that, son,” she admonished. “Take care, honey. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mama,” he murmured, still troubled even as he disconnected. He’d have to call Thomas. His older brother always knew what was going on with Mama. He was the only one who’d stayed behind, getting a job with the local FBI office out of Pittsburgh. He’d recently moved back to Bridgeport with his wife, Cassi.
In Thomas’s case, he’d married his childhood sweetheart—eventually. Before the happily-ever-after happened, he’d been hell-bent on putting her in federal prison. From the stories he’d heard, Cassi had communicated her displeasure with that idea by repeatedly punching, kicking and scratching Thomas each time he tried.
As for Christian, he’d managed to fall in love with a woman on the run from a real bad character that had, for all intents and purposes, enslaved her for his own gain.
His brothers had a knack for finding the most difficult women on the planet and then falling in love with them. He was going to buck that trend. If he didn’t, he might end up shackled to someone like that reporter.
He waited for the shudder. But when it came, a shiver of awareness followed and that freaked him out more than finding a rattlesnake in his toilet.
PIPER DONNED A BIG, FLOPPY HAT to shield herself from the sun and exited her car, scanning the farm for her parents. She found them laughing and talking with Tia and Rhonda as they fawned over the new baby. She trudged that way, each step reminding her to stow her annoyance at being pulled away from spending time at the library going through the archived newspapers on microfiche, because she truly loved these weird, left-to-center people with all her heart.
Tia exclaimed when she saw Piper. “There she is. Little Miss Intrepid Reporter. Come here, you, and give me a hug,” Tia demanded with mock seriousness. “For a while, I started to think you’d forgotten all about your friends and family in your quest for journalistic fame.”
“You’re a hard bunch to forget,” Piper said, returning the embrace. “How’s the new baby?”
Tia glanced down at the sleeping baby tucked into a beautiful antique pram that Tia likely rescued from a garbage heap somewhere and the corners of her mouth tipped in a gooey smile. “She’s perfect.”
Rhonda smoothed a lock of jet-black hair from the baby’s porcelain China-doll face. “More than perfect. Divine.”
Piper smiled indulgently, but held her tongue. She’d never understood the baby thing. To her, the kid looked like any other newborn. Sort of smooshy and wrinkly. And helpless. Piper couldn’t even commit to a fish, much less a kid. “So what’s her name?”
“Echo Breeze,” Tia answered, sharing an adoring look with Rhonda.
Echo. Whatever happened to traditional names like Mary or Nicole? She’d often wished her parents had picked something a little less out there when they’d named her. The kids in school had teased her mercilessly. She gazed down at the baby with a rueful expression. Good luck with that name, kiddo. “She’s cute,” Piper acknowledged, then moved to her parents with an expectant expression. “So what’s the plan? I have an appointment later today and can’t stay the full day.”
Her mother frowned but seemed to understand. “We’ll start with the seed blessings and the offering to Gaia and then we’ll start planting. It’s a shame you can’t stay. Farley was going to sing at the banquet.”
“Yeah, bummer,” Piper said, nodding, yet inside she chortled at her luck. Farley sang like a boy whose balls hadn’t dropped yet. She found it odd, and not in a good way.
“So what are you working on these days?” Rhonda asked. “I read the piece on Big Trees Logging. Fantastic. It’s about time someone called that sucker out for what he’s doing to the land under the guise of legitimate business. Hopefully, a follow-up piece is on the horizon.”
“Actually, that was the third piece and I’ve run out of steam on that angle. I’ve been working on something different now.” Something far more interesting. She smiled. “But don’t worry. There’s always something to uncover.”
“You bet there is,” Rhonda agreed vehemently. “With the amount of corruption out there, you could find things to write about for years. However, I’m sure your parents told you about the tree-sit that’s coming up, right?”
They hadn’t but she’d had to cut their conversation short during lunch, so that could account for her not knowing. “They might’ve mentioned it,” Piper murmured vaguely, mildly troubled at the prospect. Tree-sits always made her nervous. If people were meant to sit in trees, God would’ve given them feathers. Her aversion to heights wasn’t phobic but she certainly wouldn’t volunteer to shimmy up a tree unless her life was in danger.
“Well, it’s going to be great. We have a good group this time.”
“Are they really that effective?” Piper wondered out loud, earning a quizzical look from Tia that made it seem as if Piper had just uttered something in a foreign language. “I mean, you go up in the tree, you manage to shut things down for a few days at most until Big Trees Logging manages to find a way to get you to come down.” She’d never truly subscribed to the ecoterrorism bent of her parents’ group but what could she do? They were her family.
“Of course they’re effective, particularly when we have our very own reporter to capture everything, right?” Tia smiled but Piper could only return a wan imitation. She was beginning to feel more like a tool to further the personal agendas of her “family” than an actual journalist. Not for long, a voice whispered in her head, bolstering her flagging spirit. Soon, she’d have the biggest story this town had ever seen.
“Well, tree-sits aside, this town seems to have more than its share of corruption from philandering politicians to drug-trafficking,” Piper said. “It’s not hard to find people doing things they shouldn’t, it’s finding people who will go on record with their proof.”
Tia and Rhonda agreed, but Piper could see their interest level had slipped. The baby made some kind of gurgle—or a burp—and they both dissolved into cooing, doting mommies with a one-track mind, effectively forgetting the grown-up talk in the blink of an eye.
Somewhat relieved, Piper went to search for her parents, who had slipped away to mingle before the blessing ceremony.
She found them in a cool, shaded spot, enjoying fresh lemonade.
“I can’t wait to have grandkids,” her father said, surprising her.
“Well, you’re going to wait a long time,” she quipped, shuddering at the thought of being a parent. “My biological clock is set to snooze, so don’t start picturing little heathens just yet.”
Her father nodded but he was plainly disappointed. “Of course, sweetheart. I was just saying…looks like a cool gig.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” For someone else. “But I’m nowhere near ready for that kind of commitment. Besides, I can’t be thinking about kids when I’m chasing after big stories.”
Her mother agreed, nodding resolutely. “That’s right, Piper. Keep your eye on the prize.”
Yep. Although she didn’t think she and her mother were on the same page as far as the prize went. However, that was a fight for a different day. “I think I need some lemonade, too,” she announced, but as she turned she found herself face-to-face with Farley. “Oh! I’m sorry, I nearly ran you over,” she said, trying hard not to let her lip curl in distaste. Why her parents thought he was a good catch she’d never understand.
If Piper had one word to describe Farley Deegan it would be lanky. In fact, he reminded her of Charlie Yertz, and that wasn’t a compliment in her mind.
Farley was at least six feet tall and probably weighed one hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet. He always seemed to slink when he walked and when he touched her, she was overwhelmed by the urge to wash. He wasn’t that bad, really. In fact, at one time she’d been briefly charmed by his gentle manner and passive nature, but as she’d matured, she found him…annoying.
