Read Online Living Lies by Dawn Brown - Free Book Online Page A

quite reconcile Dean with the person who had slit Michelle’s throat and buried her in a basement.
    Stop thinking about him.
    Intent on pushing him from her mind, she leaned forward, set her cup on the battered steam trunk she used as a coffee table, and picked up the want ads.
    Another posting for a bookkeeper in Toronto. Absently, she tugged her lower lip with her teeth. Should she send her resume? She doubted anyone would call. What could it hurt?
    But what if someone did?
    Her stomach quivered with a combination of excitement and terror. What if they did call? What if they offered her a job? Her heart accelerated when she thought of packing up and leaving, of walking away from the town where she had lived her whole life and being absorbed into the city.
    Yeah, right, who was she kidding? She wasn’t a kid anymore, or Paige. She couldn’t simply walk away from her responsibilities. Hareton Furniture Restoration was hers now, for better or worse. And there was also the small issue of her mother. If Haley didn’t look after Mom, she doubted very much that Garret would pick up the slack. Still, the idea of telling them all to go to hell held a certain appeal.
    She tore the ad from the paper and set it on top of the other similar clippings in the side table drawer. They were starting to pile up. She should go through them and throw some of the older ones away. Instead, she slid the drawer shut and turned back to the paper.
    The sudden pounding on her front door made her freeze. It couldn’t be Dean. Not this soon, and not at her house. She went to the window and pulled back the filmy lace curtain.
    Garret waited, looking down at something in his hand. God damn it, could she not have a moment of quiet? Haley stomped to the door and yanked it open.
    “What?”
    “I need to talk to you,” Garret said. Not bothering to wait for an invitation, he pulled open the screen door and let himself in. “Here.”
    Haley looked down at the crisp blank envelope in his hand.
    “This was wedged in the door.”
    “Thanks.” She took the envelope and turned it over in her hands.
    “What is it?” Garret asked, looking over her shoulder.
    She shrugged him off and edged away. “It feels like a card.”
    “Aren’t you going to open it?”
    “Later. What are you doing here?”
    He sat down on the sofa and glanced at the paper she’d left on the cushion. “Are those want ads?”
    “I’m thinking about taking some more courses,” she said and scooped up the newspaper.
    “What for? You’re doing fine at the store.” His voice raised an octave.
    “The more I can do myself, the less I have to pay an accountant for.”
    “If you’re concerned about money, you should reconsider moving back in with Mom. All of this—” he gestured widely, “—is an unnecessary expense. Besides, after everything that’s happened, I don’t like the idea of Mom alone so much. She could hurt herself or someone else.”
    Haley flopped into the armchair opposite him. “My sanity’s worth the expense. If you’re so worried about Mom, why not have her live with you?”
    “We’ve been through this. I can’t have her around the children.” He shook his head, his face etched with his well-practiced saddened-by-her-selfishness expression. At one time she would have fallen for it and let herself be sucked in by some misplaced sense of guilt. But not anymore. Garret continued, nevertheless. “Well, if you insist on your own place, at least buy something. A mortgage payment would only be slightly more than what you’re paying in rent, and you wouldn’t be throwing your money away.”
    She stifled a shudder. The idea of buying something here, in Hareton, left her feeling like a caged animal. “Look, if you’ve come here to lecture me about my finances, save it. It’s been a long day.”
    “Longer for some.”
    “So that’s why you’re here? You’re mad because I left early?”
    “No, that’s not why I’m here. I do think what you did was