Justified Lies (Justified #1)

Chapter One

Lianna had just zipped up the lunchbox and stored it in the refrigerator when the doorbell rang.

“Annie, please start cleaning up that Play-Doh,” she called out to her almost four-year-old who was keeping herself busy, and messy, at the dining table.

Hustling down the hall, she pulled the door open just as a hurried knock sounded. A pair of big blue eyes twinkled up at her. Jacob Williamson, her son’s best friend, stood there expectantly.

“Is Harris ready for practice?” the boy asked.

Lianna had lost track of time. Turning, she hollered up to the second floor.

“Harris, Jacob is here, are you ready for football practice?” She hoped one of them was responsible.

“Mom, I can’t find my jockstrap.”

Lianna smiled, it was flag football. Harris barely needed any equipment, especially a jockstrap, but he loved to play the part.

“Did you look in your underwear drawer?” Lianna asked, knowing he didn’t.

Her answer was in the form of two heavy feet bounding down the stairs.

“Got it!” Harris exclaimed as the one-man stampede made it to the bottom.

“Do you have your water bottle?”

“Yep,” the boy replied, holding it up.

“Is it full?”

“No…”

“Okay, put on your cleats. I’ll be right back.”

Lianna sprinted down the hall and into the kitchen, filling up the bottle at record speed. She got it to Harris as he finished the laces on his cleats.

“Ask Gabe to double knot those when you get to the field.”

A deep blush crept up Harris’s face. “I can tie my own shoes, Mom,” he said bashfully, looking to see if his best friend had overheard.

“Of course, you can,” then she held out a fist to him. He obliged, by pounding his own fist to hers, but not without rolling his eyes heavily in Jacob’s direction.

“You too, mister,” Lianna extended her fist to Jacob as well. Being the good-mannered boy he was, he giggled profusely then fist bumped Lianna goodbye. Considering the eye rolls she might as well have grabbed them by the cheeks and planted a big wet one on their little lips.

“Have a great practice,” she called after them.

Lianna watched as the boys hurried towards the waiting SUV, prolonging the moment when she would have to acknowledge the driver. As the kids hopped in, she felt her gaze being pulled like a magnet to the front seat.

Gabe Williamson, Jacob’s father, sat behind the wheel looking as brooding and handsome as ever. She couldn’t see his chestnut brown eyes from behind the signature aviators, but knew they reflected his usual slightly bored, slightly annoyed expression.

She gifted him a smile and a wave. In return, he lifted his fingers from the wheel giving her the laziest wave in history, along with a head nod and the slightest pull of his lips. Lianna supposed it was a smile … or indigestion. It’s a smile .

Gabe turned to the boys as they clamored into the SUV and said something funny because both boys laughed. Like the kids, Lianna reveled in his dry sense of humor, his fleeting grins. When he did smile, it was like the first day of spring after a particularly rainy Vancouver winter.

While Gabe would never win Mr. Personality, he certainly was pleasant with the other parents and amazing when it came to the children. A sergeant for the Vancouver Police Department, he volunteered as an assistant coach for the boys’ flag football team. Luckily for Lianna, he lived one street over and offered to help with driving duties.

When it came to their interactions, however, he was short on words and patience. It wasn’t always this way between them—only recently had she started receiving the cold shoulder. Lianna had spent countless nights during the last few weeks lying awake. Most of the time it was due to the sinister calls she was receiving, but the rest of the time she was trying to pinpoint exactly why things changed with Gabe. The only thing she had gained from the effort were bags under her eyes.

After Gabe’s SUV backed down the driveway, Lianna closed the front door and headed to the kitchen. Noticing her daughter had ignored the earlier instructions to clean up, she sighed and opened the refrigerator. Several seconds later, the chime on the door started beeping obnoxiously, reminding her just how long she’d been gazing, waiting for dinner to miraculously appear. Grabbing the open pasta sauce, Lianna decided it was a spaghetti kind of night.

Preparing a pot of water to boil, she tried to temper her frustration. She was no longer in denial that she felt something for Gabe. But flirting with that man was the same as flirting with her refrigerator. Absolutely zero response. At least her refrigerator beeped at her when she stared too long. The shame she felt at her first nudges of attraction since her husband passed were gone. This made room for annoyance. In two years, the only man she was remotely interested in wanted nothing to do with her.

As she gave the linguine noodles a stir, the doorbell rang again. Walking briskly to the foyer, she opened the door for her sister-in-law, Nicki. Lianna owed her a contribution to the school bake sale. Nicki Bennett was the faithful parent association secretary, who kept Lianna in the know on everything, even the things she didn’t want to know.

Nicki wore a plum-colored tea-cup dress and heels, making her already long legs seem to stretch forever. Totally appropriate for an unseasonably warm weeknight spent cheering on her twin daughters’ soccer team. The heels were wedges, so Lianna supposed that counted for something.

“Give me two seconds and I’ll grab the brownies,” Lianna called out over her shoulder, already making a beeline for the kitchen.

Lianna snagged the chocolate treats she hoped weren’t too dry and hustled back to the door. Handing over the baked goods, she peered beyond Nicki’s shoulder and caught a glimpse of her brother-in-law, Darren, waiting in the car.

As usual, the President of Bennett Corporation, wore the scowl Lianna was sure he was born with. He was on a phone call, yelling at whatever unfortunate soul was on the other end. She avoided her brother-in-law at the office as if that were her actual job, not heading up the Community Relations Department for the family business.

As if he could read her thoughts, Darren looked up and their gazes locked. Lianna gave him a smile and he unabashedly glared in return. Somehow, she held the smile while cringing inside. There was always something about her late husband’s brother that made her uneasy.

While Darren Bennett had never been warm and fuzzy, he at least regarded her with some cordiality in the beginning. After her husband Scott’s passing, things went downhill fast. He was livid when the family encouraged Lianna to take Scott’s active role as a shareholder in the company. It seemed he almost blamed her for the accident. Lianna shook her head. It was the same argument she had with herself after every encounter with Darren.

Nicki had always been oblivious to her husband’s disdain for Lianna and today was no different. Nicki speculated about the only news in town.

“You know,” she curled a long strand of blonde hair around her finger absentmindedly, “that missing mom, Justine something, has been missing for two months already.”

“Starks is her last name. And I know,” Lianna replied. “I saw it on my news feed last night.”

“In August, when we had that parents’ night fundraiser at the swim club, she kept flashing everyone. Who even gets drunk at a school event?” Nicki paused, narrowing her eyes at Lianna. “And I thought you were going to try to make it to the Fall Hoedown?”

“Yeah, I got caught up with things at work,” she mumbled.

When Nicki rolled her eyes, Lianna conceded, “Fine, I didn’t want to go. You know I hate those things.”

“Hoedowns or anything remotely fun and social?” Nicki asked sarcastically.

“Both.” Recently, Lianna found every excuse she could to stay home. Her sister-in-law did her best to try and change that.

The sound of Darren’s booming voice made both women jump and turn in his direction. “Sorry to break up this gossip session, but, Nicki, I gotta get in front of my laptop now.”

The man even managed to yell in a snarky tone. Thrusting the brownie tray at Nicki, she gave her a quick squeeze and watched the woman sashay back to the car before closing the door. Lianna wasn’t sorry for the excuse to end the conversation. Being in Darren’s presence was always unnerving and tonight was no different.

Just then her phone chimed a reminder that lifted her spirits. Thursdays were great for two reasons. Gabe drove Harris to football practice, and even just a glimpse of that man made her day. Second, Thursday night was ladies’ night, and her phone was reminding her the evening started in a few short hours.