Crooked Little Lies (34 page)

31

J
T turned down a second cup of coffee when Annie offered it. Since he’d gone back to work, he came to the café every morning on his way into Houston to have breakfast. Annie knew he did it for her because she said it reassured her to see him, to see that he was all right, that he was safe.

His anger, the lust for revenge that had driven him had eased in the weeks that Greg Honey and Jeff Wilder had been in custody. The media had picked up the story again, and they were making a lot out of the way the two men had, with cold deliberation and considerable forethought and planning, attempted to hide the shooting, causing the county thousands of dollars and man-hours in what they had known was a fruitless search.

Of course, Jeff Wilder’s legal trouble went even deeper, but Annie hadn’t really paid much attention to the news stories about it. She had heard that Lauren had started divorce proceedings. Sometimes she thought of calling her, but she had no idea what she would say. Maybe they would talk one day. Their paths might cross. Who knew? If she’d learned anything from the nightmare, it was that you could never tell about life, what it would do, how it might unfold.

Madeleine came from the kitchen, drying her hands, and when JT saw her, he said, “You women are going to make me fat.”

“Hah,” Madeleine said. “I’d love to think I could put an ounce of weight on you or Miss Annie.”

“Did she tell you she’s off to culinary school in Houston next week?” JT asked, and Annie’s face warmed at the pride in his voice, in his eyes.

Madeleine was talking about the recommendation she’d written on Annie’s behalf, and she was laughing, but looking over Annie’s shoulder toward the door, she sobered suddenly.

Annie looked, too, encountering Cooper’s gaze. Her heart bumped.

“Hey, Coop,” JT called. “It’s good to see you, man.” JT went to him; the men shook hands.

Annie was mystified. She hadn’t even realized they knew each other except on the most surface level. But they were chatting now like old friends. Watching them, she wondered why she’d ever been distressed about JT. Why had she felt as if they were such outsiders, so much so that she’d closed the door in Cooper’s face? He was laughing at something JT said, some joke they’d shared. Something eased in Annie’s heart.

JT turned, giving her a salute. “I’ll see you for dinner?”

She nodded and watched him go out the door.

Cooper took a seat in a booth near the kitchen and opened a newspaper.

“Could you take his order?” Annie asked Madeleine.

“Well, I would, but Carol’s in kind of a hurry, and I need to talk to her about the farm order before she goes.”

“Okay.” Annie smoothed her hands over her apron. If she didn’t know better, she might think it was a conspiracy; she might think she was being set up. But she couldn’t believe Cooper was here on purpose to see her, and he gave no indication of it, either.

When she asked what he’d have, coffee was all he said, and he barely glanced at her. Mostly, he kept his nose buried in the paper, the sports section.

She brought him a mug. “Black, right?”

He nodded, giving her another cursory glance.

She was stung by his indifference and then surprised at herself. But now, the prick of her tears annoyed her. What did she expect, after the way she’d put him off? She had what she wanted, didn’t she? Her space, her privacy . . . her lonely isolated life?

She left him to his coffee and his newspaper, doing her job as if he were just another diner. She pocketed the tip the young family in the booth near the door left her after they paid for their meal. She asked the couple who were still seated at the counter’s end if they needed anything more, and then, when there was nothing else left to do, she brought Cooper his check . . . taking it from her apron pocket, sliding it across the table.

And when he circled her wrist with his fingers, brought his hand up her forearm to cup her elbow, she met his gaze.

His eyes were full of questions.

She touched his temple, the fullness of his lower lip, and she smiled.

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
n the midst of working on this book, I moved, and almost everything in my life changed except one: my lovely and intrepid agent, Barbara Poelle, who is there at every hour, a constant guide and tireless cheerleader. B2, you are the best. Like me, Tara Parsons, my fantastic editor at Lake Union, moved, too, and she reached out to me in a way I will never forget. Her belief in this novel and in my work and her unflagging faith mean more to me than words can say. Thank you, too, as ever, to my critique partners, Colleen Thompson, TJ Bennett, Joni Rodgers, and Wanda Dionne. Even in absentia, I hear your voices. I wouldn’t be the writer I am without all our years together. Thank you to the early readers of this story, Colleen and my sister, Susan. And many thanks to Leslie McManus, who before I ever wrote down one word of this book, listened while I outlined the plot, contributing ideas of her own to consider, and all for the price of a cookie and a cup of tea. Huge thanks to my son David, who, once I did start writing, ever so patiently helped me work my way out of the many sticky fictionalized corners. And huge thanks to Jink Willis for her friendship, encouragement, incredible faith, spot-on advice, and tireless support, and to the members of both book clubs with whom I was able to connect through her. The evenings I spent with them will always mean more than they can know. Huge thanks to my copyeditors, Jerri Corgiat Gallagher and Carrie Wicks who, together, straightened out my words, sentences, and paragraphs with so much kindness and patience, page after page. Jerri and Carrie, this book is better for your expertise. And a beautiful bouquet of gratitude and appreciation to Gabe, Dennelle, and Tyler at Amazon, and to Robert, Sara, and Crystal at BookSparks—all of you have made me feel so welcome, so much a part of the team—the village, really—that it takes to bring a book to life. Thank you for taking this book into your hearts and for all your help launching it. And last but never least, a huge shout-out to readers everywhere, because without you, what would be the point? Sending my deepest thanks to you and enough joy to circle the world.

Q
UESTIONS FOR
D
ISCUSSION

1. After nearly hitting Bo with her car, Lauren stops to be sure he’s all right. Would you stop for a stranger in similar circumstances? Was Lauren foolish or compassionate?
   
2. Lauren called the sheriff’s office, asking for a welfare check on Bo. Was she interfering? Would you follow through, asking the police to check on someone you feel might be endangered?
   
3. Could you understand in the aftermath of Lauren’s accident, the long and painful road to recovery that she endured, how she could become addicted to OxyContin? Do you feel her husband and sister were right to have conducted the intervention? Were they right to threaten her with losing her children? How would you handle it if a relative were in similar circumstances?
   
4. Tara keeps secrets from Lauren. What do you think of her motive for doing so? Have you ever kept a crucial secret and felt torn about it? Have you ever regretted keeping a secret?
   
5. Issues of trust are a recurring theme of this novel. Lauren’s family has difficulty trusting her; she has difficulty believing in them and their support. Discuss the role of trust among family members. How important is it? Can a relationship survive without it? What happens if a family member is hurt in the way Lauren was? How would you handle it, if you couldn’t rely on your spouse because of such an event?
   
6. Annie blames herself when Bo goes missing, but given that he is a diagnosed schizophrenic, do you agree that she should have been paying closer attention? How much independence should those with mental conditions be given? What do you feel Annie’s responsibility to Bo was?
   
7. When Annie meets Lauren, she feels an instant bond because Lauren reminds her so much of her mother. Have you ever lost someone you loved only to see them again in the face of a stranger?
   
8. As a child, when Annie’s mother remarries and Bo becomes part of their blended family, she is resentful as many children can be. Discuss blended families and how you might ease the transition if you were called on to help children deal with what they might view as an imposition.
   
9. Annie clearly loved and admired her mother very much, and finding out that her mother kept secrets from her was hard. Have you or would you ever keep a secret from someone you loved in order to protect them? Or is keeping everything in the open, no matter how painful, the best option? Discuss how you and your family members have handled issues of this nature.
   
10. Cooper’s attempts to comfort Annie are rebuffed by her time and again, yet he doesn’t give up. Why is that? What does he recognize in Annie that she very possibly doesn’t see in herself?
    

A C
ONVERSATION WITH THE
A
UTHOR

A
t the beginning of
Crooked Little Lies
, Lauren Wilder is struggling to recover from both mental and physical damage she suffered in a terrible accident. She stops alongside the road to render aid to someone who is equally challenged. What was your inspiration for this story? How do you relate to Lauren?

Once when I was driving in a neighborhood where I used to live, I saw a young man walking alongside the road, just like Bo. I didn’t almost hit him, but I could see how it might happen. I dismissed the thought from my mind, but several days later when I saw him again, and then seemed to see him walking roadside, even on the freeway shoulder, nearly every time I went out, I started to worry that there was something wrong. I kept feeling as if I should pull over and check and felt terrible for it every time I passed him without doing anything. It was like a war in my head: Do I stop and risk my safety if he’s actually dangerous in some way, or keep going, hoping someone else will deal with the issue? Or suppose there is no issue? Finally, I called our local police department, and it turned out they were well aware of this young man. My head kept going, though, and soon there was an idea for a story.

Was the farm and what happened there part of the story from the beginning?

The two ideas were of a parallel track. The idea of what occurs at the farm in
Crooked Little Lies
was one I’d thought about off and on. How often can we be out doing something really innocent, having fun, not a care and then, boom, some horrendous event occurs, some calamity falls down on our heads, and not only that, but some action of our own brought it down on us. Now what? What are you going to do about it? And we aren’t talking about a scraped knee or spilled milk here.

Were Lauren’s and Annie’s characters mapped out from the start? Did you have the ideas for their families in place or did they come to life as you wrote? Were there any interesting surprises?

I have to admit, Annie and her family were an author’s dream, coming the way they did, almost of a piece, from the beginning. Lauren was more difficult. Maybe because she was so hurt, so fragile in the beginning. The surprise was huge. I had planned right down to the folks who would be in attendance what would happen at the farm, but when I wrote the scene, my muse took over. It didn’t go down on the page the way I thought it would. But I love that, being surprised in that way.

What is your writing process? What is the part of it that is most difficult and what is the greatest joy?

I write every day. Mornings are best for me. Usually I go over the previous day’s work and pick up from there. There is something about quickly skimming from the first page to the place where I’ve stopped that keeps the work coherent for me. But then, once I get too far in, more than fifty or seventy-five pages, say, it takes longer to read from page one. I don’t do it as often. I’ll try to stop myself at certain points, and then do an overall reading, but even with that, my threads are often knotted. I’ll drop one and pick up another. It can make for a pretty big tangle at the end. And that’s the most difficult thing, one of them. The joy is when the writing just falls out on the page, easy and fluid. Some passages will come and scarcely need a second glance. The other joy is sorting out those knotted places. One thing I find is almost nothing is wasted. Even when I toss in some detail or even a character that seems out of place, I’ll find out why by the end. I’ll see it and think to myself: Oh, now I know why I wrote that. To me, that’s a joy.

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Photo © 2013 Shannon Stroubakis

B
arbara Taylor Sissel writes issue-oriented, upmarket women’s fiction that is threaded with elements of suspense and defined by its particular emphasis on how crime affects the family. She is the author of five novels,
The Last Innocent Hour
,
The Ninth Step
,
The Volunteer
,
Evidence of Life
, and
Safe Keeping
.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she was raised in various locations across the Midwest and once lived on the grounds of a first-offender prison facility, where her husband was a deputy warden. The experience—interacting with the inmates, their families, and the people who worked with them—made a profound impression and provided her with a unique insight into the circumstances of the crimes that were committed and the often-surprising ways the justice system moved to deal with them.

An avid gardener, Barbara has two sons and lives on a farm in the Texas Hill Country, outside Austin.