Destiny (24 page)

She rose to her feet, annoyed Brian hadn’t been brought up yet. She couldn’t imagine what the holdup was. The attorney she kept on retainer had shown up and done his job, and Brian’s arraignment had been blessedly brief. So where was he?

Finally she heard her name called by a female voice. She turned and saw Dare walk out the door with a pretty female police officer by his side. Liza knew her name was Cara Hartley and she was a year younger than Liza’s twenty-eight. Dare was three years younger, making him twenty-five. From the way Cara and Dare were laughing together, it was apparent that they were close, and an unwanted ribbon of jealousy unwound in Liza’s stomach.

She ruthlessly forced it aside. Friends or otherwise, it didn’t matter. Liza had her hands full with her delinquent brother. The last thing she needed in her life was an attraction to one of Serendipity’s finest.

Her brother’s arrival reinforced that truth and she rose to meet him. He must’ve sobered since she’d seen him in court because he appeared more withdrawn and down instead of chipper and happy to see her. Since she’d paid his bail and signed all the appropriate papers, they headed out the door together.

Liza’s stomach growled, reminding her she’d been at the courthouse and the police station for the better part of the day. She waited until they were settled in the car before turning to her brother. “Hungry?” she asked.

He nodded. “But I need a shower more. I can’t go anywhere looking like this.”

Now he was worried? His white-collared shirt was wrinkled and dirty and he looked like he’d been on a twenty-four-hour bender. Which wasn’t true. Liza had seen him at work earlier this morning, at McKnight Architecture, the firm her grandfather had founded and where Brian was an accountant and bookkeeper.

“What do you say you drop me off at home and head out and pick up something for dinner,” Brian said.

It wasn’t a suggestion, Liza noted. She gripped her fingertips tighter around the steering wheel. “How about I drop you off home and I head out to get dinner like a human being. You can fend for yourself. I bailed you out, Brian. Isn’t that enough?”

He reached over and squeezed her arm. “You know I appreciate you, Liza-Lou.”

The nickname was a throwback to their childhood when he’d first seen
How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Liza used to wear her hair up in a high ponytail, reminding him of Cindy Lou Who. She’d liked the nickname then. Now all it served to do was remind her of the brother she’d lost. She wasn’t even sure when he’d taken that wrong turn. It just seemed that from the time he turned into an adolescent, trouble found Brian. Or maybe it was Brian who found trouble.

“If you appreciate me, how about you take a good look in the mirror.” She reached over and flipped down the visor, revealing a covered mirror that she also opened for him. “Who are you and what have you done to my brother?” she asked softly.

He shook his head and closed up the visor. “You know the cops in this town are hard asses,” he muttered. “They have it in for me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why weren’t you at the office this afternoon?” she asked, ignoring his stupid comment.

“I had a business lunch.”

“At Joe’s Bar?” she asked sarcastically.

“Nothing wrong with buying a client a drink.”

“What client would that be?” And since when did his job as a bookkeeper require him to schmooze with any client?

Brian let out an annoyed sound. “I don’t have to answer to you,” he said, folding his arms across his chest and looking out the window.

She ignored him once more. Nothing positive could come from engaging him in an argument. Besides, they were almost home.

In the distance, she saw the house on the hill, the main landmark in the town of Serendipity, looming in the distance, proud and majestic against a cloudless sky. There was a time Liza had visited the house often, back when she’d been friends with Faith Harrington, who’d grown up there. Her parents had remained there until last year when Faith’s father had gone to jail for securities and investment fraud, and Ethan Barron had purchased the house on the SEC auction block.

Dare Barron’s brother.

How could she stop thinking about him when he cropped up in her mind every time she turned around?

Liza shook her head and forced her thoughts elsewhere. Anywhere. Like back to the landmark she’d just driven past and its previous occupants. Liza had attended school with Faith, at least until Brian had started acting out and had gotten himself tossed out of public school. Livid that the institution to which they paid their taxes had treated their son so poorly, Liza’s parents had sent
both
kids to private school in a neighboring town. They’d ripped Liza away from her friends and her life, not that either of her parents had cared about that. Brian was always their main concern.

Liza managed to keep in touch with Faith and her other friends for a while, until she made other friends at school, most from the neighboring town where the private school was located. And though she would still hang out in Serendipity from time to time and run into her old girlfriends, things had never been the same. Eventually she’d drifted and lost touch.

She shook her head, wondering why all those old memories came back to her now. It was the house on the hill, she mused. The mansion wasn’t just a town landmark; it was a marker of many things to many people. On the positive side, Liza’s meeting tomorrow morning would renew her acquaintance with Faith. The new Mrs. Barron was the head of the Beautification Committee fund-raiser and Liza was to be her assistant.

Realizing she’d reached her destination, Liza turned into the long driveway of her parents’ house where Brian still lived. Though the home wasn’t as grand as the old Harrington mansion, it was a huge house on the “right” side of town. Her parents had moved to Florida full-time, but they’d kept the house, allowing Brian to stay on. Whether he paid them rent or not, she didn’t know nor did she want to. They were as bad as Liza when it came to enabling him.

She knew it. Understood Dare was right in his assessment of the situation, but damn it, what else could she do? Leave him in jail to rot?

Not after he’d come when she’d called him and saved her from her own poor judgment and mistakes. Brian might be a drunk, but he’d been there the one time Liza needed him. She might not be alive if it weren’t for Brian.

But that didn’t mean she had to take care of him or be around him any more than was absolutely necessary. At this point he could get help or not, but she wasn’t going to be his caretaker.

“We’re here.” She cut the engine and glanced over, realizing he’d passed out in his seat.

Liza jolted him by pushing against his arm. “Brian!”

“What?” he barked grumpily.

“You’re home. Go inside and clean up,” she said, more gently than he deserved. “And don’t forget to eat.”

“You’re the best, Liza Lou.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

She winced and tried not to gag at the smell of alcohol, sweat, and jail that surrounded him. “Night,” she managed.

He opened her car door and stepped out, stumbling once before righting himself and making his way to the front door.

Liza waited until he was safely inside before driving away. She was exhausted and looking forward to changing into sweats and going to sleep early. She’d microwave herself leftovers first, eat, and then fall into bed. No late night for her.

Tomorrow she had back-to-back meetings, beginning with a 9:00 A.M. with Faith. Liza had joined the Beautification Committee for two reasons, one altruistic, one not. The youth center in town was a place for kids to hang out, take art and music classes run by volunteers, and play basketball and other sports games in a safe environment. The place was close to Liza’s heart because it represented a future to kids who might have none. Maybe if it had been around when Brian was acting out, things might have been different.

Who am I kidding?
she thought with a shake of her head. Nothing short of discipline would have shaped up her brother and there’d been nobody to give it to him.

The youth center was new and always short of funds despite the police and firefighters’ annual fair, which raised money but never nearly enough. And that was because the wealthier residents, like her parents, couldn’t be bothered with a center that helped the less fortunate. Liza hoped to convince the Beautification Committee to steer some of its immense fund-raising ability toward the youth center instead of constantly funding the already-wealthy, beautiful parts of town.

Selfishly, she also hoped that working with the committee would up her credibility within her hometown. McKnight Architecture flourished thanks to out-of-town referrals and business. Their work spoke for them, but here where she’d grown up, Brian’s reputation had tarnished her own.

For the last two years, Liza had attended meetings and ignored the more uppity members who’d tried to freeze her out. Then at last month’s meeting, they’d surprisingly announced that Faith Harrington would be the new fund-raising chair. Surprising because Faith hadn’t been a member before, and because like Liza, there were members with immense bias against her, thanks to her father being a criminal. Still, Faith’s husband’s money and the fact that she now owned
the
premier landmark in town—rumor had it Ethan had given the mansion to his wife as a wedding gift—cemented Faith’s role as the fund-raising chair.

Liza couldn’t be more pleased. She’d liked Faith when they were kids and it seemed they had had a similar uphill battle against the snobs in Serendipity. She hoped to get Faith on board with her idea to use the money raised at the annual fund-raiser, a black-tie event of the elite and the wealthy, for the youth center.

She thought she had a shot. Unless, of course, Dare told his sister-in-law about her brother’s latest arrest and Faith decided working with Liza and implementing her ideas was a liability.

She’d know soon enough.