Liars (Licking Thicket 2)

I smiled as best I could and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too. I sure can get you something. Follow me.”

She led us back to an all-glass conference room with views of the river leading northeast to Opryland. I walked over to take it all in while Parrish continued to chat with Kerrianne.

I remembered wanting to go to the Opryland theme park when I was really little. By the time I was old enough to ask for a visit for my birthday, the place had closed down. After that, it became a fancy hotel and convention center, not at all the kind of thing a kid gives a shit about.

But my parents had tried to make up for missing the theme park by taking us on a riverboat cruise. It had been boring as hell, but Beth had gotten a new camera for her birthday that year, and the two of us had taken a million pictures in crazy poses on the deck. I wondered what had happened to all of those photos. Did the Kensingtons have a box somewhere in their attic full of my family’s memories?

“Babe?” I turned to see Parrish’s forehead crinkled in concern. He handed me a cold glass of Coke poured over ice cubes.

“Yeah, thanks.” I took it and swallowed down a big sip, letting the caffeine work its magic.

Parrish had known I wouldn’t want coffee. I was already sweating in the suit despite the cool air-conditioning in the office, but the cold soda was perfect. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” I said again, making sure he knew how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness. With him by my side, there was no reason to be nervous. We were going to be fine.

His face relaxed into a smile as he pulled out two chairs for us next to each other. “Anytime.”

When the attorneys and their assistants began streaming into the room, I had a moment of panic at the sheer number of people attending the meeting. Parrish reached for my hand under the table and held it steady.

The whitest-haired man of the group took the lead. “You must be Edwin. I’m Ian Merchant.”

Before I could react to being called a name I’d barely heard in the years since my parents died, Parrish leaned forward. “He goes by Diesel. It should be in your paperwork.”

Instead of the sneer or judgment I was expecting, he looked truly sorry for the misstep. “Oh, I apologize, Diesel. I remember Antonia telling me that, and I completely let it slip out of my head. I do know we are here to talk about sweet Marigold. First of all, I’d like to tell you how truly sorry we are for the loss of your sister, Beth. According to everything we’ve discovered in preparing for your case, she was a wonderful woman with a big heart. Please accept our condolences, Diesel.”

I nodded and swallowed. I hadn’t been expecting that sincerity, but then again, Beau was a kind, sincere man himself. It stood to reason he’d select good people to give his business to.

They began with a summary of the situation to make sure they understood the case the way I understood it. Parrish helped clarify some details when my nervous grunts didn’t seem to do the job.

“We understand you’re engaged to be married,” Ian said. “Congratulations. Having a solid, two-parent household will go a long way toward convincing the judge you can provide Marigold the family security she needs. In fact, we think this is such an important factor in your case, we’ve taken the liberty of drawing up some papers to get the ball rolling in the right direction, purely from a legal standpoint. Why delay, when acting quickly could save so many headaches down the line, right?”

I frowned but nodded again. Acting quickly sounded good.

“You’ll also see we’ve drawn up preliminary last wills and testaments for both of you—well, Parrish, you already have one, but this will replace it, of course—as well as an education trust Beau directed us to initiate. He feels that having financial security already set aside in Marigold’s name would help…”

The words began to get lost behind the loud rushing sound of blood in my ears. I felt light-headed and wrong-footed. While I knew intellectually this was the right move to help secure Marigold’s future, I felt completely turned around, that all of this was not of my own making and was a complicated set of gears spinning out of my control.

Parrish’s calm voice cut through all the noise. “Would you mind if we had a moment alone?”

I felt all of the eyes on me while I kept my gaze focused on a tiny scratch on the wooden conference table. That simple imperfection and Parrish’s warm palm in mine were the only things anchoring me here while everything else spun around us.