Forward Passes (Seattle Lumberjacks) (22 page)

“When you recruited me, you played on my family loyalty, how a long line of Harris’s had been Cougars.”

“Sure I did. Art gave me the information I needed to have one up on the other schools. Of course, it helped that your dad was an alumni there, too.”

“Yeah, Dad really pushed me to attended Wazzu.” All the locals called Washington State University by the nickname of Wazzu. At one time the new president of the university attempted to ban the usage of the nickname because it wasn’t complementary. After a backlash, he conceded and gave it his blessing.

“I’m sorry your dad and grandfather didn’t get to see you play. They’d have loved that.” Coach looked up and caught Tyler staring at the pile of coaster pieces on the table. He shoved them out of the way. But his fidgeting didn’t stop, pretty soon he swirled the beer in his glass around and around.

Time to steer this conversation away from Tyler’s family and back to Gerloch’s family. “How did your ex’s mother end up with your family’s homestead?”

“She didn’t.” Coach seemed confused. He tipped the beer up to his lips and took a good swig.

“What do you mean she didn’t?”

“Not for lack of trying. Lavender’s mom knew how much I loved that place, which is exactly why she went after it in the divorce.” At the mention of his ex, Coach’s face turned hard, like it did when his team couldn’t score in the red zone.

“But it’s Doris’s.”

“If it was hers, it would’ve been sold by now. She knows that I pay all the bills. She doesn’t pay a damn thing.”

“But Lavender pays her rent.”

Gerloch shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Damn. That bitch never ceases to amaze me. She has no right to collect rent on that property. It’s mine, not hers. When we divorced, I put it in trust for the kids.”

Tyler didn’t know whom to believe, but he knew how to find out. Once he got back to the island, he’d research Coach’s claims. “Go ahead, tell me your side of the story. I’ve heard the ex’s.”

Coach stared over Tyler’s head, silent for a long moment. Finally, he drew in a breath and blew it out. He picked up a wine list and bent the corners. “What’s to tell? It’s an old story. I’m the bastard according to Doris, never paid child support—which is bullshit—never contacted the kids—bullshit again—had a problem with alcoholism and drugs, which is why her daughter divorced me—more bullshit. We divorced because she refused to move across the state. Not to mention we fought like cats and dogs and could hardly stand each other. I tried to stay in touch with the kids. After their mom died, they begged to stay with their grandparents for the summer. Then Doris and Larry filed court papers for full custody. Our battle over the kids was destroying them. She made their lives miserable whenever I tried to see them. Tore them in two, claimed they were disloyal. No matter how I looked at it, it was a lose–lose for them and me.”

Tyler signaled the waitress for a drink. “I wouldn’t have let that woman win. I’d have fought her with every penny I had.”

“Easy for you to say. As long as I was in the picture, Doris put the kids through hell. They were already reeling from their mother’s death. I didn’t want to pull them out of school and away from all their friends to move them across the state. I always sent birthday and Christmas cards and presents, called several times, but Doris claimed the kids didn’t want to talk to me. Several years ago, I received a letter from Lavender telling me to go to hell, essentially.”

Tyler absorbed his coach’s story, feeling more confused than ever. He wanted one person to blame for this mess, but right now, he faulted all three of them.

“I respected Lavender’s wishes even though it broke my heart. I haven’t talked to her for years until tonight. My son—her brother—Andy, called me a few years ago, and we met. We talked. He went away for a while. Then he came back. He’d done the research and confronted his grandmother on her lies. When he chose to reconcile with me, Doris wrote him off and convinced Vinnie to do the same. Andy misses his sister and grandmother, but I can’t talk sense into Doris. Her love is conditional. You’re either with her or you’re not. A relationship with me, the enemy, means betrayal and exile.”

Closing his eyes for a moment, Coach leaned his head against the wall of the booth. Finally, he opened them and continued. “Then there’s my daughter. Do you have any clue how it feels to be excluded from every facet of your child’s life? I was specifically told not to attend her high school graduation. That’s a memory I’ll never get back. My own sister took sides and has nothing to do with Andy or me.”

“That’s crazy. What grandparent wouldn’t want a child to have contact with a parent?”

“My new wife, Sarah, and I have asked ourselves that a hundred times. We’re attending counseling as a family with Andy. There’s no cure for what’s wrong with Doris. It even has a label, actually several, and it’s affected children of divorce for decades. But in the end the results are the same, the child is alienated from one parent, usually the non-custodial parent, and made to feel guilty and disloyal if they want a relationship with that parent. It’s really a form of brainwashing. It can even go so far as to alter the child’s memories of that parent.”

“Are you serious?” Tyler couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I’m very serious. It’s way too common with children of divorce. The person doing the alienating honestly believes they’re in the right. They’re on a mission to do what they believe is best for the child, which makes it even more difficult to treat.”

“Damn.” Tyler’s head spun with conflicting reactions. He needed time to weigh what his coach was telling him. He didn’t have any experience with divorce in his perfect family, but he sure as hell knew how much it hurt to lose a parent.

“Look, I gave up a long time ago trying to convince anyone that this black and white situation is really gray. It’s not to say I wasn’t faultless in this screwed-up mess. I let my ex mother-in-law get to me. I gave up. I went away. I’d like to say I did it for the kids, but I did it for my own sanity, too. I didn’t fight for them like I could have, maybe should have. I don’t know if it would’ve changed anything or made their lives more unbearable. I suspect things would’ve ended up the same. I’d have still gone away so they could have some sense of peace in their lives.”

Tyler scratched his pounding head, tried to fit all the pieces together to get to the real truth. “Vinnie misses you. I know she does.”

“Tyler, be careful. Don’t get in the middle of this. You won’t win with Doris. Her hold is too strong. Let it be.” Now the menu was missing corners.

“I can’t.” Tyler stared into his coach’s stricken eyes. He saw how difficult this had been for him. “I still don’t completely understand why you gave up and went away. Why you didn’t fight.”

“Because it hurt too much to try. Doris didn’t make it easy for me, but I chose to walk away. That’s on me.”

“Her grandmother is so convincing.”

“Andy filled me in on some of her stories. Judging by how he continues to keep me somewhat at arm’s length, I’d say he’s still uncertain who’s telling the truth.”

“Damn.”

“Tyler, form your own opinions. All of this state’s court records are online. Check it out for yourself. Run a background check on me. A bad ass like me should have domestic violence charges and DUIs, not to mention some kind of criminal record.”

“I’ll do that.” Tyler shook his head as he stared at the now shredded menu.

“Will you do one last thing for me?” Coach squirmed a bit in his chair, so unlike the confident man Tyler knew and once idolized.

“I might.” No way in hell would he commit to anything yet.

“Tell my daughter I love her.”

Picking up the tab, Coach walked out, leaving Tyler to sort out fact from fiction.

* * * * *

Tyler’s floatplane touched down at 11:58. He half expected the Brothers to be standing on the runway with watches, hoping he’d screw up. They weren’t.

Pausing on the large front porch of Twin Cedars, Tyler craned his neck to see Lavender’s house through the trees. The lights were out. He missed her. Too much. And they’d only been apart for a few hours. He fought the urge to go to her.

Not tonight, because for once it wasn’t about him. He’d give her the space she’d requested. Besides, he had work to do.

He walked in the door of his chilly mansion. Coug sat on the arm of his leather chair and bitched his head off. After he took care of the opinionated cat, Tyler called his mother and got her out of bed. Groggy as she was, she listened to the entire sordid story about Lavender’s family dysfunction. Her advice was simple.
Follow your heart. Do what you think is right but be prepared to live with the consequences.

Tyler conference-called his sisters next. He wasn’t surprised to find out they were still up at this ungodly hour. He explained the situation to them, minus the part about Coach’s daughter being not just his neighbor but his lover.

Unearthing dirt and getting to the truth happened to be a hobby of theirs. Being two of the nosiest women he’d ever known with type triple-A personalities, they were on it like an all-pro defensive end on a rookie quarterback.

Instead of going to bed, Tyler did his own research. He found the county website for property information and typed in his coach’s name in the search field. Brian Gerloch owned 142 Twin Cedar Lane. Not Vinnie’s grandmother. Not her grandfather. But her
father.
He’d caught Doris Mead in an out-and-out lie. He suspected one of many.

Tyler rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. Four a.m. Shit. Yet he couldn’t stop, not now.

Searching online he uncovered summaries of court records, no details. He ran a few background checks on Gerloch and came up with nothing. No protection orders, no records of domestic violence, no DUI’s, no drug charges, nothing that substantiated Doris’s claims. If she lied about legal issues easily proven false, what else would she lie about?

His sisters with their connections would get to the bottom of it. His job would be to figure out what to do with the information once he received it. Any way he looked at it, it wouldn’t be pretty.

A sick feeling took root and grew in the pit of his stomach. This may not end well for Lavender or him.

Several hours and no sleep later, he had lots of questions and no answers.

Chapter 24

Protecting the Blind Side

When it came to Tyler Harris, Lavender embraced dishonesty—with herself.

For example, she didn’t perk up when she heard his deep, teasing voice. And certainly, she would never crane her neck to get a glimpse of his to-die-for body. Nor, did she live for matching wits with him. Last of all, she’d never lay awake at night wondering where he was. Yup, definitely a first-class liar and a lousy one.

That very morning her grandmother invaded her privacy and spent the better part of the next few hours raging at her about jocks, how foolish Lavender was to fall for one—which Lavender denied—and hadn’t she learned any lessons from her mother. Then Doris delivered the ultimatum:
Dump the football player or find another place to live. I’m doing this for your own good because I love you and don’t want to see you hurt. I know you’ll do the right thing.
The implication hung heavy between grandmother and granddaughter. I’ll disown you if you don’t do as I say—just like she had Andy.

Lavender didn’t want to do the
right
thing, not yet. Nor did she want to lose her grandmother. After all, Doris and Larry were the only family she had left. Once Tyler headed back to the mainland, the problem would solve itself. Until then she’d keep her gram in the dark.

Lavender glanced up when the bar door opened. She’d been doing a lot of that all afternoon and evening. Tyler walked through the door, looking as male and gorgeous as ever in his usual faded jeans, scuffed cowboy boots, and well-worn, long-sleeved T-shirt. Her heart caught in her throat and took up residence. She breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been MIA since last night’s disaster at the awards banquet.

Last night when Lavender had caught a seat on a floatplane just as it was about to leave Lake Union, she recognized the pilot as the same one from the night before. He recognized her. His knowing smiling indicated he’d seen more of her than she’d hoped, which only added to her misery, as fate plotted against her. The older lady sitting next to her chattered non-stop about knitting and cooking all the way back. Lavender smiled and nodded through her pain, not hearing a word the woman said.

All she’d wanted to do was curl in a little ball and cry herself sick until she’d run dry of tears and fallen asleep. A few hours later, she did just that, except for the sleep part. Then her grandmother disrupted her pity party. She cringed to think how crazed Doris would have been if she’d know about Lavender’s brief encounter with Brian Gerloch.

By the time Tyler parked his fine ass on his favorite bar stool, Lavender was dragging. She poured a beer and slid it across to him. He thanked her. His steady gaze held hers as he worked his jaw, a sure sign something was on his mind.

Finally he spoke. “I’m sorry about last night. Coach wasn’t supposed to be there.” He leaned across the counter and took her small hand in his large calloused one. “I’d never put you through that on purpose. I hope you know that.” A flicker of regret substantiated the sincerity of his apology.

Lavender looked away, choking up again. She cleared her throat but still couldn’t find her voice.

A sad smile floated across his lips. “Vinnie, I’m sorry. I really am.”

She nodded, pulled her hand free, and turned away, wiping at her face with a napkin. The weekend had shaken up her house of cards, and she doubted it would survive.

“You know, Vinnie, you should give him a second chance.”

She turned around and faced him. “I can’t. You don’t have a clue.”

He looked at his beer as if it held life’s answers, then raised his gaze back to hers. Dark circles ringed his eyes and weariness shone there. Stress creased his handsome face. “I do have a clue. More than you can imagine.”

“You talked to him after I left, didn’t you?” Betrayal stabbed deep. Leave it to jocks. They always stuck together, just like her grandmother warned. Tyler didn’t understand. No one understood except for her gram—according to her gram. A sliver of doubt crept past her well-shored defenses and settled deep in her gut.

Warily like a man walking through a den of snakes, Tyler spoke with quiet determination. “Yeah. There are things you should know.”

“The only thing I need to know is that I love my gram, she’s always been there for me, and he wasn’t.” Grabbing a bar rag, Lavender walked around the counter.

“Vinnie, I—” He stood and held his hands out in a gesture of surrender, looking so lost she almost caved and ran into his arms.

“Drop it.” She snapped the bar rag and hit him on his thigh, dangerously close to his prized possessions. He jumped back, obviously fearing for his boys’ well-being. He tried one more time by taking a half-step forward. She snapped the bar rag again. He yelped as it narrowly missed his crotch.

“What the fu—hell is wrong with you? You’re nuts. Just like your effing grandmother.”

Oh, low blow.
By the look on his face, he regretted the words as soon as he said them.

“Get. Out.” She twisted the towel in her hands.

Keeping his eyes on her, Tyler backed to the door with Lavender dogging his every step towel at the ready. He lunged out the door and slammed it so hard the windows shook.

How dare he compare her to her grandmother? She’d never be that bitter and vindictive and unforgiving.

Never.

No, not her.

Oh, crap.

The cold hand of truth wrapped its fingers around her neck, choking her. Out of site of the patrons, Lavender sank to her knees behind the bar and gripped the counter.

That’s exactly what she was—just like her grandmother.

* * * * *

Tyler stood on the back porch on a rare sunny day and sipped his cup of coffee. Lavender drove out her driveway and never looked his way.

He sighed. He’d screwed up again and been an insensitive ass as usual. For two days, he’d stayed away, let her cool down.

But damn, he missed her.

He’d never worn regret well, but regret his actions he did. A lot. In fact, so much he felt like crap inside. Dredging up this stuff about her father hurt her deeply and uprooted her life. Damned if he knew whether it’d be worth it in the end for all of them.

A smart man would butt out, just as Coach warned him, but Tyler’s pigheadedness outweighed his intelligence. Always had.

Tyler’s father died without reconciling with his own father. Ryan died unable to say goodbye to his mother. If he’d learned anything, he’d learned life was too short for such bullshit. Too short for regrets. Better to try and fail than to regret not trying. Maybe he should follow his own frigging advice. Live so you won’t have regrets on judgment day.

And what would he regret when his ninety days on the island were up?

Tyler leaned on the railing and stared out at the peaceful bay. Sun shone on the water, and the old dock creaked from the wake of a passing motorboat. A seagull dropped an oyster on the dock to break it then dove down to collect his reward. A smile twitched at the corners of Tyler’s mouth.

Smart bird.

It was a beautiful spring day, warmer than usual, and Tyler decided to take a walk around the estate and make a list of outside projects.

He liked it here. This place gave him peace. It felt like home more than his ritzy Seattle condo ever had. For two more weeks, it
was
home.

Gravel crunched in Lavender’s driveway, and his heart sped up a beat. Expectantly, he swung his gaze back to her little house. Her grandmother’s car turned into the driveway, as disappointment flooded through him.

While Larry sat in the car reading a newspaper, Doris walked up the front steps and tried the door. The door opened, and she disappeared into her granddaughter’s house. Larry continued to read the paper, as if he expected to be there a while.

Tyler waited, expecting Doris to exit in a minute or two. She didn’t. His eyes narrowed. The woman had to be up to no good. The minutes ticked by. He checked his watch. Twenty minutes passed.

Unable to stand it any longer, Tyler slipped over to Lavender’s and opened the unlocked door.

With her back to him, Doris Mead rummaged through the contents of a file cabinet. Silently, Tyler watched as she picked up a folder of pictures and sorted through them. She wadded one up into a ball and tossed it in the nearby garbage can.

What the hell?

“What are you doing here?”

Doris spun around at the sound of his voice, hackles up and ready for a confrontation. “I could ask you the same thing.” Her gaze drilled into his, as if a mere dumb jock could never intimidate her.

“The door was unlocked. I knew Lavender wasn’t home. I’m a good neighbor and thought I’d check it out.” His gaze never wavered but neither did Doris’s. Like two prize fighters, they sized up each other.

“Well, you’ve done your good deed for today now get out.” The woman pointed at the door and stepped in front of the desk in an attempt to block his view. He’d already seen what he needed to see.

“Does Lavender know you’re going through her stuff?” Tyler pointed at the open file folders on the desk. “Just because you took care of her doesn’t give you the right to invade her privacy any time you please.”

“It’s my house.” Doris snarled at him like an enraged lioness.

Tyler almost grinned. Armed with his newly-discovered information, he relished having it out with this bitch. “You’re not the only one who’s nosy. This isn’t your house. It’s her house. It
was
her grandparents’ house,
paternal
grandparents.” He bent down, retrieved a wad of paper from the nearby wastebasket and uncrumpled it. Doris stiffened and looked ready to kick the crap out of him. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop the laughter. He had her where he wanted her.

“I wonder how this ended up in the garbage.” Tyler waved a picture of Lavender and her father in front of Doris’s face. It was like waving a red flag in front of an enraged bull.

“She must have thrown it away.” Doris fixated on the picture in his hand. “Lavender makes bad decisions. I have to watch out for her best interests.” Doris charged, lunging for the photo, but Tyler held it out of her reach, not hard to do since he towered over her by several inches.

“You mean you have to control her.”

“I care about her.”

Tyler shrugged, which infuriated her further. “She’ll never learn to stand on her own two feet, if you keep propping her up, but then you don’t want that. You want her dependent on you. You need absolute control.”

“I don’t have to explain my actions to you. I’m a protective, loving grandmother.”

Doris’s contemptuous glare didn’t faze him. In fact, he kinda liked getting under her skin. “You’re a selfish, narcissistic bitch.”

“How dare you.” She raised her hand, and Tyler braced himself for a slap across his face. Strained silence stretched between them. Tension clawed the air. The sharp sting never came. Doris lowered her hand and walked behind the table.

“Yeah, whatever. You’re a piece of work, lady. You should butt out of your granddaughter’s life. You’re the one with issues. Lavender’s relationship with her father is private between the two of them, and none of your business.”

She whipped back around to face him. If she’d had a knife, she would have gutted him from neck to bowels. “Lavender doesn’t need a relationship with her father, and she never will as long as I have anything to do with it. I’m only looking out for her best interests.”

“You need counseling.” Tyler advanced on Doris like Coug stalking a mouse. He gave her credit for not flinching. Instead, she stood up straighter and stared him down—or up actually, considering the height difference.
Crazy-assed woman.
The table separated them, which suited Tyler just fine. He preferred to keep his balls intact.

“Get out.” Doris pointed toward the door. Her pudgy fingers shook with anger.

“Don’t tell me to get out. You get out. Neither one of us has a right to be here without Lavender’s permission.”

“I have every right. She owes me rent.”

“You lying bi—you should be in jail for collecting rent on a place you don’t own. I know for a fact this property is owned by Brian Gerloch and put in trust for his kids.”

“How dare you accuse me of dishonesty.” Doris’s face turned crazy-assed ugly. She clutched a vase as if preparing to throw it at him.

“I’m not accusing you at all. It’s a fact.”

“I’ll have you out of Lavender’s life.”

“Just like you did her dad? I’m shocked you didn’t put out a hit on him. You’re that wacko.”

“The man is an alcoholic. He’s emotionally abusive. He’s toxic to the kids. Unfortunately, Andy fell under his spell.”

The door slammed open, hitting the wall with a bang. Tyler spun around as Lavender burst in the door. Chickenshit Larry slinked in behind her and stood in a dark corner of the room, out of the line of fire, and wisely keeping his mouth shut.

“What’s going on here?” Lavender looked from Tyler to her grandmother. “What are you doing in my house? Both of you?”

Doris lost it. Like a hyena on crack, she bared her teeth and threw a glass vase at Tyler. Athletic as he was, he dodged it. It slammed against the wall behind him and shattered. “Get out! Get out now! You’re causing problems. Brian Gerloch needs to be out of our lives for good. I hate him.”