Liars' Games (Project Chameleon Book 1) (31 page)

When Steve
arrived and told Marcus where they were all going Marcus jumped with joy. On the way out to the car, he grabbed hold of their hands and asked them to swing him in the air, which they did, over and over again, until they got to the car.

They spent three hours in
a pizza restaurant, eating pizza, watching mechanical singing bears, which mesmerized Marcus, and watching him play in a large pen filled with multicolored plastic balls. Claire thought they must have put almost four dozen tokens into the slots of rides and games for Marcus. They didn’t actually get much opportunity for talk, but she didn’t mind. Being together and watching Marcus having fun was fabulous.

They left the restaurant and strolled around the Southwest Plaza Mall, window-shopping, browsing in bookstores and computer software stores. When they
came across a toy store, Marcus dragged them inside and Steve bought him his first toy airplane. Although Steve didn’t know it, Claire knew that he’d already endeared himself to Marcus as no other man had ever done.

When they returned to Claire’s home, she began cooking dinner while Steve and Marcus talked in the living room. After dinner, Claire helped Marcus into his p
ajamas, and kissed him goodnight.

“Can Steve read to me tonight?”

Steve, who was standing in the doorway watching, said, “I’d love to read to you, Marcus, if it’s okay with your mom.”

Claire smiled and handed him a
children’s book, then left to clear away the dinner dishes. After she loaded the dishwasher and began wiping off the kitchen countertop, she glanced back at the vase of roses in the middle of the dinner table. What had she done to deserve Steve? How many men would bring roses to his girlfriend and then read bedtime stories to her child?

“That’s one great kid you have there,” Steve said,
re-entering and interrupting her thoughts. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she folded her kitchen towel and laid it on the countertop. He pulled her close to him, and stroked her hair, then turned her around and cupped her chin in his hand. “I love you, Claire.”

She didn’t say anything right away. Looking up at him, her heartbeat was so loud she was afraid he’d hear it. “I love you, too.” Where did that come from? It must be true because she didn’t think it. The words came from her heart, not her head.

“Can we retire into the living room?” Steve said.

“Sure, you go ahead and I’ll be in there in a minute.”

She poured them each a glass of wine, and carried the long-stemmed glassware into the living room.

“Ooh,
now that looks splendid,” Steve said as he reached out and took his glass from her. “I think you read my mind. That’s not part of your high I.Q. is it?”

“Ha, ha,” Claire said. “Very funny. If I had that kind of ability, I sure as hell wouldn’t have had the problems I’ve been having, now would I?”

He laughed and nearly spilled his wine.

Claire smiled, set her glass down on the coffee table, and sat next to him on the sofa. She slipped off one shoe using the other foot, and then switched feet, and when both feet were bare, she tucked her legs under her
, reached over and picked up her glass, and leaned back against Steve. Steve put his arm around her shoulder. They talked about trivial things for a while, but she sensed he had something else on his mind.

She was starting to feel a little anxious
, not knowing what he was thinking, and finally took the plunge and asked, “Is something bothering you? You seem a little distracted tonight. ”

“Well, actually I want to ask you something.” He cleared his throat, and fidgeted. What was he up to? Should she be nervous?

“I don’t know how to say this. I planned out a speech, even practiced it. Now look at me. I can’t remember the speech, so I’m just going to come and say what’s on my mind.” He seemed nervous and excited at the same time.

“I want you to be my wife. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I love you and don’t want to risk losing you. I’ve given it a lot of thought. This is right.” He stopped and looked at her and an uncertainty crept into his face. He looked so vulnerable and she didn’t know what to say.

“Will you marry me, Claire?” His face was flushed and he reached out and took her hand in his.

She was dumbfounded,
certainly not seeing this coming. She struggled through emotions. She loved him, wanted him in her life, and wanted to have a real family again. Marcus adored him already. Didn’t a boy need a father? But it was all so complicated.

Continuing, Steve said, “I’ve been thinking about us a lot, and thinking about the school board. We made an agreement not to keep secrets from each other anymore. I think we shouldn’t keep secrets from the board or our friends, either. I want us to get married. We’ll tell them afterwards.”

“How can we get married? I’m in
witness protection, remember?”

“And they prohibit you from getting married?”

“Well, no, I don’t think so. But what if I have to move again and change my identity? What if the mob finds me? It could happen. Have you thought of that? What would we do?”

“We’ll deal with that. I’ll move if I have to, Claire.” Before she realized what she was doing, she nodded her head, and he let out a big breath and then laughed. He hugged her so hard she thought she’d burst. She laughed
, too, and they kissed.

Steve said, “I don’t know how you feel, but
I want to get married right away, maybe in Las Vegas this weekend. It’ll be a long weekend because of the holiday. Frank and his family could come with us so they can be at the wedding. Hey, maybe we could talk them into watching Marcus while we’re there.”

He seemed to be waiting for her response, and she thought he looked nervous. She wanted to agree with whatever he wanted, but she couldn’t squelch her fears altogether. “Shouldn’t we live together first? We’ve only known each other since
early September.”

“That would never fly with the school board,” Steve said. “They could fire both of us for that
if they found out. And with the private investigator watching us, John would find out.”

“
What if the private investigator knows we’re dating?”

“
If he does, I’m guessing he hasn’t told John yet.” Steve leaned forward and said in a soft voice, “I know I’m rushing things, but the sooner we get married, the better. The board, especially John, won’t like us getting married. However, they can’t fire us for that. If they find out before we marry, they’ll try to stop us. If you want a big wedding, we can wait. I know that’s important to a lot of women. Tell me what you want.”

“
A big wedding is certainly not something I want. I suppose a simple wedding in Las Vegas isn’t a bad idea. But are you sure the school district will allow us to work together after we’re married? Don’t they have policies against that?”

“Frank and Gloria work together. She teaches in one of our schools and he’s
an assistant superintendent. It’s allowed. He can’t supervise her. Some board members won’t like it that you and I will be married. They might feel threatened. Like I said, I’m pretty sure they would try to stop us from marrying if they found out ahead of time. That’s why we’re not going to tell them until later.”

Claire bit her lip. Though she wanted to marry Steve, she didn’t want to keep another secret or worry about another deception. But when she looked into his sparkling eyes, and at his grinning face, she knew she’d keep silent about her fear.

Steve spent the night, and in the morning Claire said, “I thought of another problem.”

“What’s that?”

“The private investigator threatened me at the school. He said that there were people who would pay for the information he had about my location.”

“Does he know who you are?”

“He knows I’m in witness protection. If he’s any good, he will find out.”

“Does he know who the syndicate members are and how to get hold of them?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. He might have been bluffing.”

“Most likely he was. I wouldn’t worry too much about him.”

“What if he tells John Richmond?”

Steve looked pensive. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to figure that out if and when it happens. Worse case, we have to move and start over, right?”

“You’re really sure you’d be okay with that?”

“I am.”

They spent all day Sunday together and making plans for the trip. After reviewing the calendar and making some online flight inquiries, they decided on the dates and also decided to move Claire and Marcus into Steve’s house two days before their flight on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. They would fly to Las Vegas, get married at one of the little wedding chapels that day, have Thanksgiving in Vegas with Frank and his family, and have a mini honeymoon there. They would come back Sunday night.

Steve said, “I’ll talk to Frank tomorrow and see if he and his family will go with us.” He stood up
, yawned, and stretched. “Well, I guess I better get home and get some rest. Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day at work, lots of meetings and appointments. And I’m gonna be making calls to make the hotel and airline reservations, assuming they aren’t all booked up.”

FRANK WAS IN his office
on Monday reading a report when Steve walked in. He looked up and smiled at his friend, surprised to see him at this time of day. “Hey, Steve. Been one hell of a week. Sure glad things are back to normal.”

Steve stuck his hands in his pant pockets and hesitated. “Well, kinda back to normal.”

Frank raised his eyebrows. “Uh oh. What happened now? Please don’t tell me the board changed their minds again.”

Steve chuckled. “No, not
hing like that. But I do have some news. Probably should have clued you in sooner. Don’t be mad that I kept it a secret.”

“Okay.
You’ve really got my attention. What secrets have you been keeping?”

“I, uh, well, Claire and I have been seeing each other
for a while. And we’re engaged now.”

Frank
opened his mouth wide, as if shocked, then smiled and said, “Just giving you a hard time. Don’t you think I know you well enough by now? I already knew something like that was going on, what with the way you two look at each other when you think no one’s watching. But engaged is a bit of a surprise.”

Steve chuckled. “
I should have known you’d figure it out.” He sat down in a guest chair facing Frank. “You know, I’m usually not secretive, but, well, I’m not in the habit of dating employees either. I wasn’t sure what you’d say about it. And I do have a pretty good idea what the school board would say.”

“Oh, yeah. I can hear them now,” Frank said
, pausing, thinking about the board. “Screw them. Anyway, I guess congratulations are in order, pal.”

“
Thanks. Are you super busy right now? I could use some food.”

“I’m b
usy, yes,” Frank said. “But I’m hungry, too. Let’s go out to JayJays Café. Celebration is in order.”

They walked a block to the café and continued talking over lunch. Frank agreed that he would love to go to their wedding and he was sure Gloria and the kids would feel the same way. He would call Gloria right away to confirm.

Frank was surprised
, though, when Steve told him that Claire had a son. He hadn’t expected that at all, but he told Steve that he didn’t think it would be a problem for them to take care of him on the trip. He’d let him know for sure after he talked to Gloria. Steve and Frank both agreed they shouldn’t tell anyone else about the wedding plans.

Late in the afternoon, while Steve was sitting at his desk working, Frank peeked into his office and said, “I wanted to give you a head’s up. I talked to Gloria and she’s thrilled. Says she wouldn’t miss it, so you can count us in.”

“
Thanks, Frank. This means a lot to both of us, all of you being there with us when we get married,” Steve said. “I’ll book the flights to Las Vegas right away. You’ll bring Amy and Kyle, too, right?”

“That’s okay with you?”

“Of course it is. They’re my godchildren after all.”

CLAIRE COULDN’T BELIEVE they were getting married. She loved Steve and she was excited about
marrying him, but it also felt more than a bit scary. Callum had proposed to her, too, and they’d been planning a big wedding until that fateful fall day in Boston.

She tried to imagine what it would be like living with Steve
. Her mind was so occupied with thoughts and daydreams about it that she couldn’t concentrate on her work. She found herself smiling all the time, and forgot about a few appointments. Staff were beginning to ask questions, wondering what was going on with her. Worrying that they would become too suspicious, she tried to push the thoughts out of her head at work and concentrate as best she could. It wasn’t easy.

Frank stopped by Claire’s office Tuesday
morning, shutting the door behind him, and smiled. “Congratulations, Claire,” he said. “I’m really happy for both of you.”

“Thank you. I’m grateful for your approval. Your blessing matters to me.
I know it means a great deal to Steve, too.”