Liars' Games (Project Chameleon Book 1) (23 page)

“I’ve been a few times
, but I’m very much a novice.”

“I love skiing. Maybe we can go up to one of the ski resorts together sometime.
Your son could even try skiing on the bunny slopes. They have good ski instructors for kids up there.”

“
I’m sure he would love that,” she said, pleased that Steve was thinking of including Marcus.

As they turned onto the freeway,
Steve told her about his summer vacation driving across the U.S. She was fascinated listening to him described the places he’d been. When they arrived in town, the ‘Springs’ as he called it, they stopped momentarily to purchase their picnic lunch, then got underway again. Steve told her their destination was just a few minutes away.

When they arrived at
the entrance to The Garden of the Gods, Claire was enthralled with the scene. The mountains in the background were picturesque, but she’d seen mountains before; but the stunning red rock vertical monoliths, stretching skyward here in the park, took her breath away.

After Steve parked and gathered the food and a blanket, they exited and walked a short way. They were not the only ones taking advantage of the warm day. Apparently many other souls had come out with spring fever driving them to enjoy a respite from Colorado’s long harsh winter.

Claire loved standing in the midst of this garden of rocks, soaked in the scenery around her, smelling fresh pine in the air, enjoying the deep blue sky backdrop against the red-orange rock pillars, making the panorama look like some artists surreal oil painting.

“What do you think?” Steve asked. “Should we eat first or explore first?”

“I’m fine either way.”

“In that case, let’s eat first. I’m starved. Looks like a good spot over there.” He pointed to a cottonwood shade tree.

“
That looks inviting,” she said.

Standing under the tree,
Steve handed Claire the red and blue plaid blanket. She unfolded it, shook it out, removed a few small rocks from the target area, and then laid it down on the sparse grassy ground. She knelt on the blanket, smoothed it out, and then looked up at him with a smile.

“Looks perfect,” Steve said
, smiling. He handed the basket with the food to her, and then he dropped down next to her as she began spreading out their meal. While they ate, Steve pointed out Pike’s Peak in the distance, and related some of the history of the area. He’d learned a lot about Colorado in the few years he’d lived here. He’d learned a lot about the geology of the area, too.

Steve said, “Geologists claim the story of the Garden of Gods began nearly 300 million years ago, when sediment from the Ancestral Rockies was carried eastward and spread out into great alluvial fans. This sediment was then reddened by ferric iron and long covered by a shallow inland sea.” He was pointing to the beautiful red rocks a few hundred feet from where they were sitting
.

Claire shielded her eyes from the bright sunshine as she looked at the rocks.
“I love the red rocks.”

Steve continued. “
I’ve read that some sixty million years ago—when the modern Rocky Mountains began their upward thrust—the horizontal sedimentary rocks were elevated and tilted. Later, the forces of wind and rain gradually stripped away the softer layers, sculpturing each rock into the forms we’re now seeing.”

“That’s fascinating. You must have been a great science teacher. Do you miss it? Teaching, I mean.”

“Sometimes. I like what I’m doing, of course, but I have to admit I’m a science junkie. I love talking about science, especially geology.”

She laughed, and said, “I do understand. Although much of my career was in teaching mathematics, I started out teaching science. I’ve always been torn between those subjects.”

He grinned and said, “Yeah, I suspect we’re both kind of fanatics when it comes to science, facts, and teaching, in general.”

Again she laughed. “I think that’s probably a true statement, I’m sad to admit. I shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m
also a science fiction nerd.” 

He laughed so loud that she felt her face growing red. He reached out and touched her hand. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. I don’t know anyone who’s as big a sci-fi nerd as yours truly. If people at work knew my passion, they’d tease me to no end. So don’t tell them, okay?”

“My lips are sealed, as long as you don’t tell on me,” she said, and then laughed.

After they finished and cleared everything away
and packed it back into Steve’s vehicle, they set out on a long hike, wanting to climb on some rocks, especially those known as Balanced Rock and Sleeping Indian, but Steve told her it was now prohibited, because of the damage people were causing to the soft sedimentary formations. Meandering through the little hills and gullies, they laughed, played at hide and seek, and sat on boulders soaking in the rare sunshine. He took her hand on several occasions to help her climb up onto the a few higher boulders, and she was conscious of where his warm flesh touched hers. As they meandered on, Steve took her hand in his and for the first time in a long time, Claire almost forgot about her problems.

She was interested in everything here, and she asked many questions that Steve seemed happy to answer. He told her about the plants—the
Mountain Shrub, Ponderosa Pines, and Pinion Junipers, and about the animal life and history of the area.

Steve said, “I can’t wait to show you
some of the other places in Colorado. You’ll love it here. I think you’ll love exploring up in the mountains. In spring and early summer, the wildflowers are spectacular. If you’re interested, we could even go snow skiing up at Vale. And in late spring or early summer, there’s river rafting up in Glenwood Canyon.”

Claire smiled and said, “I can’t wait. It
all sounds wonderful. In many ways this place reminds me of Albuquerque, where I lived before moving here. Seeing this makes me a little less homesick.”

“I remember you told me you lived there.”

By late afternoon, their legs were beginning to ache and their feet were tired, so they started back home. On the
drive, Steve said, “Why don’t we stop for dinner? I know a little hole-in-wall pizza restaurant on the way. They have the best pizza around.”  He gave her a sideways glance, and then added, “If you like pizza. I guess I should have asked, first, huh?”

She laughed, and said, “I do like pizza. But this time I’m buying.”

He smiled, and said, “Fair enough. We’re not far from the restaurant.”

“Oh, I do need to call the babysitter though to make sure it’s not a problem.”

“We’re almost to the restaurant. Why don’t we go in, get a booth, and then you can call her. If it’s not okay, we’ll leave.”

After they were seated at a booth in the restaurant Claire went to the ladies’ room and pulled out her mobile
phone. She made a quick call to Angie. Angie sounded happy and told her they would make sandwiches and watch TV together.

At dinner
Claire and Steve chatted for a while and then Steve paused and gazed at Claire, looking like he wanted to say something. She took a deep breath and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Well, I’ve told you a lot about my past, but I’ve noticed you’re holding back from me. Last week when I asked you about trust, you said you trusted me. I can’t help wonder if that’s true.”

She bit her lip. How could she answer that? For that matter, did she really trust him? If so, then maybe she could open up a bit more.

“I don’t talk much about my past. Not with anyone, really.”

“Not even with Marcus’s father?”

Claire smoothed back some hair from her eyes. “I did talk to him about it. I guess I don’t like
to talk about my childhood because it . . . well, stirs up bad memories. I’m sorry. I don’t like to admit some of the things my parents did.”

“You can tell me, Claire. It’ll help me understand you better.”

She sat silent for several minutes, staring off in the distance, without really looking at anything. Finally, she took a deep breath and let it out. “My dad was a disciplinarian. Strict not only with me, but also with my mother. He would lock me up in my bedroom after school and force me to study. He didn’t lock up my mother, but he severely restricted her. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without him.”

“Didn’t he
leave the house to go to work? What did your parents do for a living?”

“When I was young, my father worked on an assembly line in a car factory
during the day but worked on inventions at home the rest of the time. He pushed himself hard. My mother worked in the same factory answering phones and doing clerical work.”

Steve nodded.

“Later, my father quit his job and worked on his inventions full-time. He used my mother’s inheritance money to support the family. Sometimes he would travel to try to sell something he’d designed and built. During his away time, my mother took advantage and, well, let’s just say she did some things she shouldn’t have done.”

“While the cat’s away, the mice will play?”

Claire tilted her head and gave a half-smile. “Something like that. I discovered she was having an affair and she begged me to cover for her. I was torn. I was sixteen and I understood how it was between my parents, but I didn’t approve of her affair.”

“What did you do?”

“About a month later, my father left on a four-day trip. Two days later, he came home unexpectedly. His sales pitch hadn’t gone well. My mother wasn’t home. He questioned me about where she was and I tried to lie but botched it. I’m a terrible liar.”

“
So what happened?”

“When she returned that evening,
they argued. It was horrible. I’d heard them quarrel before. This was different. He hit her and she screamed. After the third scream, I was certain my father was going to kill her. He might have, too, but I escaped from my bedroom by smashing through the hollow-core bedroom door with my desk chair. When I reached my parents, he had her on the ground, trying to choke her. I pounded on my father’s back, surprising him and releasing my mother long enough for her to get out of the house.”

“Wow
! Where did you go?”

“We went to a neighbor’s house and stayed two nights. After that, we moved into Jack’s house.
Jack was the guy she was having an affair with. I stayed for a few months and was able to find a decent job. Once I had enough money, I became an emancipated minor and rented my own place.”

“So your parents never got back together?”

“No, they divorced. My father has spoken to me only once since.”

“Because you covered for your mother?”

“Yes. I helped her and left with her. He said I lied to him and betrayed him.”

“That’s sad. What happened to your mother? Did she marry the
other guy?”

Claire looked down at her empty plate. Steve placed another slice of pizza on it.

“Things didn’t work out between them. Karma maybe. Six months later she caught him with another woman. Mother moved in with me. She was depressed, and got fire from her job because she wasn’t concentrating on her work. After that, she would stay in bed half the day. One day, when I returned home, I found her in her car, dead from asphyxiation. She’d given up and taken her own life”.

Steve reached out and placed his hand over Claire’s.

“That’s really sad. But I’m glad you confided in me.”

When the conversation idled, Steve looked at her for a long moment, and then said, “Can I ask you something
else?”

“
Okay.”

“A while back, I overheard part of a conversation between you and John Richmond. He said something about you being Senator Reynolds’
s mistress. Is that true?”

“No. I’ve never
actually met the senator. I hadn’t even heard the name until John said it. I don’t know why he thinks I’m involved with the man.”

Steve nodded. “John gets something in his head and hangs onto it whether it’s true or not. Makes it hard to work with him sometimes.”

“He seems to have taken an instant dislike to me.”

“Yeah, it’s not the first time he’s done that.”

Steve told her a couple of short stories about working with John, while they finished eating. Claire paid the check and they left the restaurant.

They
arrived at her home around eight o’clock and stood near her door gazing at each other. Steve pulled her close to him, leaned down to kiss her, and then stopped.

He looked at her
, and Claire felt heat rising and her heart racing. She knew what he was asking without him speaking aloud, and she had to fight her own desires, as she said, “I had a wonderful day. I want to invite you in, but I need to get Marcus, and I’m not sure I’m ready.” She gave him a shy smile, and hoped that he wouldn’t be angry with her.

He sighed,
then said, “I understand. I don’t want to push.” Smiling, he added, “I’ll be calling you again soon.” 

After
a long passionate kiss, he turned and left.