Liars' Games (Project Chameleon Book 1) (30 page)

“It’s not you. I’ve wanted to tell you.”

“Promise me that from now on there will be no secrets between us.”

“I promise.”  She pulled back
slightly and looked up at his face. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

They spent the next hour talking about the attack at school
. Of course he already knew part of it since he’d seen the video. He understood why she’d kept it a secret.

When Claire had finished telling him all her secrets, she asked, “What about your ex-wife? How did you two meet? Do you ever see her? Talk to her?”

“Oh, well, that’s a whole different story,” Steve said. “We met in grad school, through my mother believe it or not. I had been teaching for several years but had taken some time off to go back and get my master’s degree. I was twenty-eight and was almost finished with my second round of school.” He paused and looked pensive.

“Janet was a law student and mom was one of Janet’s law professors. Three months after we started dating, we both graduated. She got a job first, in a law firm in Hartford, Connecticut. I accepted a job near hers and we got married.”

Steve glanced at Claire and she gave him a hint of a smile, hoping he’d keep talking, that he’d tell her more about his life.

“Things were good for a while
, but a few years into her job she became obsessed with working her way up in her law profession. She had to have designer label business suits, perfect hairstyles and makeup, and the most prestigious car we could afford, anything really that would scream out to the law firm’s partners that she was ready for the big leagues.” He sighed, and swirled the liquid in his glass, watching it swim around for a few moments. “Thing that made living with her so difficult was that obsession with perfection.”

“Did you do something wrong? Is that why she left you?”

“I didn’t cheat on her, if that’s what you think.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that
.”

He shook his head. “
No, I sometimes think she might have preferred it if I had. I wanted kids. She didn’t. Her career was her top priority and taking time off for a pregnancy was not a consideration. Not only that, but she was horrified at the thought of gaining weight even for nine months of carrying a child.” He took a swig of his wine. “It’s probably just as well. She wouldn’t have changed diapers, gotten up for midnight feedings, or stayed up all night with a teething baby anyway. It wasn’t her.”

“So what happened?”

“I guess for a while I still hadn’t accepted her refusal to have kids. I naively thought she would change her mind, or that her mothering instincts would kick in, so I kept working on her, trying to persuade her. After ten years of marriage, she found someone else who shared her obsession and who hated kids. They began an affair. I didn’t know until she said she was divorcing me. Six months after the divorce became final, I heard that she made partner at the law firm.”

“Are you sorry it ended?”

“No. It took me a long time to get over it, but I’ve come to realize it was the best thing that could have happened. After the breakup, I took two years off from work, went back to school, got my doctorate degree, and eventually became superintendent. I could have been trapped in a miserable life. Instead, I’m happy, have a good job, and I have a beautiful young woman sitting here in my living room.”

Claire smiled and pushed her hair behind one ear.

“Any more secrets you need to share?” he asked.

She bit her lip as she remembered something else. “All right. Well, I know this sounds weird
, but I only attended high school for about a year and a half, and yet now I work in a high school. Guess I’m making up for what I missed, huh?”

He raised one eyebrow.

“I skipped quite a few grades. I graduated high school shortly after my fourteenth birthday. When I was four, only a few months older than Marcus is now, I started kindergarten and within two weeks I was moved into first grade. At that point, the school gave me a test. Numerous tests. They said I was gifted. From there, they put me into an accelerated school program.”

“A child-prodigy. I’m impressed,
though not surprised. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

She sighed again. “Well, for one thing I
might have blown my cover. But it’s more than that. Haven’t you ever wanted to be known for your actions in the now, rather than known for some label that someone had attached to you?” She looked into his eyes and saw confusion. “I’m not saying this very well. I grew up with that label, child prodigy. It opened doors, certainly, but it also came with another label which I hated. Freak. After I went into the program, no one knew about me and I had the chance to start out with a blank slate. I didn’t have to be a freak. I didn’t have to wear ‘child-prodigy’ on my forehead. I could be normal. Does that make any sense?”

“Sure. It explains a lot.”

She smiled. “It turned out to be not quite that simple for me, though. Being stripped of the label left me confused. I hadn’t realized how it would affect my self-identity, and it’s been a tough road. I’m only now beginning to figure out who I really am.”

“
Interesting. I knew from the very beginning that you were special. It showed even when you were trying to hide it. I mean it’s obvious you’re intelligent. How else could you accomplish so much in the school in such a short time?”

“I almost gave up trying to fix the school. I’d lost confidence.
” She looked into his eyes, and said, “As a grad student, I taught a math and a science class. But I was a terrible public speaker, at least partially because I didn’t have much socialization and, consequently, I didn’t know how to relate to the students.”

She sighed, and whispered, “One day, in a packed lecture theatre,
I blundered and made a fool of myself. I ended up in tears. I rushed out, and ran straight to the dean’s office. I told him I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t cut out to be a teacher. I told him what had happened, and he laughed. He nearly fell off his chair laughing. After he recovered, he told me to ‘buck up’ and get myself back to work.”

“Yikes,” Steve said. “That
was harsh. I’ve never really thought about the difficulties child-prodigies face, trying to fit in an adult world. It probably made you a stronger person, I imagine. But I feel for you.”

“
It did, for a while. I finished out my graduate program and then taught math full-time. I learned how to talk to students and how to speak in front of an audience. But coming here and trying to be a principal, especially while hiding who I am, really threw me off.”

After that, she told him how she worried about Marcus having to deal with some of the same problems that had plagued her.

“So, is your dad a genius, too? What about your mom? Grandparents? I mean, it sounds like it runs in the family.”

She sighed, and wondered how much she should say. “My father is highly intelligent, a genius I think, but he didn’t go to college.
He didn’t finish high school either. For some reason I’ve never understood, he’s never been willing to seek the knowledge he wants.”

“Lack of self-direction? Maybe he needed someone to push him?”

“Possibly. Or maybe he lacked self-confidence. I don’t know. His father saw extreme musical talent in him and pushed him toward music, which he disliked. He wanted to be a scientist or inventor. His father wanted to send him to Julliard or the Sorbonne. They quarreled so often that my father quit school altogether and left home at fifteen.”

“That’s sad to waste all of his talent. Did he ever go back to school?”

She shook her head. “Over the years I think he came to regret his choice. Maybe that’s why he pushed me so hard to excel in all academics. He wouldn’t accept anything less than my best. He even withheld food when I didn’t perform as he expected.” She looked up at Steve and gave him a half-hearted smile. “He wouldn’t let me socialize at all because he thought I’d get too distracted. He wanted me to succeed where he had failed.”

“And you’re afraid of doing the same with Marcus?”

“I won’t do the same with my son. If he wants to learn and wants to go through school at an accelerated rate, I’ll help. But it will be his choice. I already see signs that Marcus has plenty of self-direction.”

“
That doesn’t surprise me,” Steve said. “He obviously seems gifted. What about your mom?”

“It’s hard for me to talk about her, you know. She was
of average intelligence but more social than my dad, at least when she was young.” Claire paused, then added, “Sadly, she never measured up to his standards, intellectually or morally.”

“Then why did he marry her?”

“Because she was everything he wasn’t. Beautiful, sexy, a social butterfly.”

Steve nodded. “A beauty and the beast kind of relationship?”

Claire laughed. “Well, not exactly. My father wasn’t gross or anything. He was average-looking. But he was, probably still is, uptight and stringent. I already told you about her suicide, didn’t I?”

“
You did. That’s really sad.” He hugged her. “What about your grandparents?”

“I barely remember
my mum’s parents,” Claire said. “They lived in New York, and I never had a chance to visit them after we moved away. My grandmother was a dancer and theatre actress, apparently lovely and talented. My grandfather was a producer. My father wasn’t on good terms with his parents, but I was allowed to visit with them. My father’s mum died when I was ten. She was a lovely and sweet person, smart and perceptive. My grandfather, my father’s father, was the genius. He died five years ago.”

“A musical genius?”

Claire nodded. “I think father and son shared the same talents and intellect. Either of them could have excelled in any number of areas. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to recognize how alike they were.” 

“I think you’re a combination of your grandparents, from what you’ve described.”

Claire smiled. “I like that. Though I don’t think I’m much like my maternal grandmother. If I had her acting ability, things would be much easier.”

Steve hesitated, then said, “Most of the time when you talk about your mother, you say mum. That’s British and I wondered about it but didn’t want to push you. You grew up in Oxford, England, near the university?”

She brushed her hair from her eyes, and said, “I was born in the U.S. but raised in England.”

“It doesn’t really matter. I want to know everything about you. I’m so glad you shared all of that with me,” Steve said. “It fills in
many of the missing blanks and really helps me understand you.”

She gazed into Steve’s eyes, so gentle and non-judgmental.

“I think I understand you better now,” Steve said. He set down his empty wine glass and patted the spot next to him. “Come over here.” He pulled her to him, and wrapped his arms around her, then whispered in her ear, “None of the secrets matter anymore. I’m glad we’re finally sharing our lives.”

Tears
flowed again and stung her cheeks. She brushed them away. When she pulled back enough that she could look at his face, she was stunned to see his eyes brimmed with moisture. She told him of her worries concerning John.

“His anger with me might spill over onto you
, especially if he discovers we’re dating.”

“I can handle John. I’ve had enough of his power play, his intimidation. Don’t worry about him, okay? Let me deal with him if it becomes necessary.”

“I don’t want you to protect me. I can take care of myself,” she said, “or face the consequences if I fail. Please watch out for your own backside, all right? I don’t want to drag you down with me.”

He smiled and nodded. “Fair enough. You are a stubborn
woman, aren’t you? You sure surprised the hell out of everyone when you stood up to John.”

“Hey, I’ve been dealing with hoodlums for a long time now. I’m tired of getting bullied. I tell students to stand up for themselves and not let bullies get to them. I have to practice what I preach, don’t I?”

“I guess you do,” Steve said, laughing.

She wanted to stay and talk more
, but it was getting late and she needed to get back home so that Angie could go home. He drove her home then, and on the way he said he wanted to see her again on Saturday. He told her there was still much to talk about and he didn’t want to waste any more time.

When he walked her
from his car to her condo, they made plans to spend Saturday afternoon together and take Marcus out for lunch. Steve suggested a pizza restaurant with a play area for kids. They’d never been there, but Steve said he was sure Marcus would love it. When they arrived at her door, he pulled her close and kissed her, at first gently, and then passionately and at length. He pulled himself away and said goodnight. As he walked away, she heard him humming, and she smiled. She was tempted to call out his name and get him to come back, but she hesitated a moment too long. He was out of sight.

FRIDAY MORNING CLAIRE
returned to work and planned to call Leo and tell him what had happened with John Richmond and with Steve, but the day was so hectic she didn’t have time. The following morning, she had to do laundry and run a few errands. By the time she finished, it was almost time for Steve to arrive. She had waited to tell Marcus about their outing because she knew he’d be excited, and she didn’t want him to get overworked with anticipation.