Montana Skies (You, Me and the Kids) (Harlequin Superromance, No 1395) (6 page)

“Your boss won't like it.”

“He'll be fine if you behave yourself.”

Skylar tapped the window with her rings. Should she tell her now? “I…got in trouble again today.”

Her mom's head jerked toward her. “What?”

The second light turned red.
“Watch out!”

The wreck flashed through her mind in an instant. Her dad driving, yelling at her. Cursing, swerving, weaving in and out of traffic trying to get there faster. Then he'd cut a delivery truck off and—

Her mom jerked the car to a stop at the last minute, but Skylar sat frozen, unable to catch her breath because the deafening sound of squealing tires and crunching metal filled her head, the horn blaring from where her dad lay slumped against it. Blood. His blood. All over everything.

If you'd only kept your stupid mouth shut.

“Skylar? Oh, honey, I scared you. I'm so—”

“I'm okay.” She tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat wouldn't let her.

“You had a flashback, didn't you?”

The tenderness in her mom's voice brought tears to her eyes and she blinked, belatedly realizing her mom had put her hand over hers where she clenched the seat like a baby holding onto a blanket.

“I'm okay,” she repeated, her voice sounding hoarse in her ears, unable to let go even though she told herself to.

“Yes, you are. You're fine and you're here, and I thank God for you every day.”

She laughed weakly. “Don't overdo it.” She unclenched her hand and pulled it from beneath her mom's, then slid her arms around her stomach and squeezed. She felt sick. Hot. Really dizzy. She leaned her head against the seat rest, stared straight ahead and tried to forget about everything but being in her mom's car right at that moment.

The light changed.

“Skylar—”

“It's green now. Go.”

A horn honked behind them. Some people were idiots. Always in a hurry. She wanted to flip the jerk off because she felt like it, but thankfully the horn made her mom get the car going again.

“So…how did you get in trouble?”

The sick feeling was slowly fading, but now she had the shakes. Quivering inside like a puppy on its first car ride. God, she was a mess. “The stupid teachers don't like me.”

“And you're completely innocent?”

Her mom's tone was soft, quiet, like she asked simply because she wanted to believe her.
Yeah, right.
“Me and a girl got into it, that's all.”

“What girl? Who?”

She shrugged. “Mandy somebody. She's a bitch.”

“Watch your language, Sky. That is not acceptable.”

“Well, she is. And before you say it's my fault, what happened to the whole spiel about not making fun of people? I don't say stuff to her, not unless she says things to me first.”

Her mom slid her a glance and pulled in to park right in front of the library. Geez, she really didn't trust her,
did she? So much for using the excuse of getting something out of the car if she needed a break.

“What's your punishment?”

“Another week.”

“Skylar!”

“It's not fair! She started it and she didn't get anything!”

“Were there any witnesses?”

“Only her friends. Look, just forget it, okay?”

“How can I when the drama never ends?” Her mom shook her head, her eyes sad when she looked at her. “What's next? Jail? Violent people lead violent lives. It's a simple fact. And eventually those people have to own up to what they've done.”

“
She
started it!”

Her mom sighed and grabbed her purse and the apron she'd left on the backseat. “Maybe she did. But from the sound of things,
you
ended it.”

Skylar sucked in a sharp breath. She'd ended it all right. Everything had happened because of her.

 

C
AROLINE STARED
at the new girl from school. Her dad would be picking her up soon and she needed to sit by the windows to see him when he drove up unless she wanted him getting out of the
police car
and coming in after her. Why couldn't he drive a normal car when he wasn't working?

“Hi.”

No answer. Caroline tilted her head and that's when she noticed the girl's boot moving steadily back and forth. She stretched out a hand, hesitating a second before tapping her on the shoulder.

The girl jumped and turned her head, yanking the tiny earphones from her ears. “What?”

Caroline swallowed. “Hi…um, can I sit with you?”

The girl stared at her a long time and then shrugged.

Caroline stepped around the chair and dropped her book bag on the floor beside the block table. “I wanted to call you, but I didn't—I didn't have your number,” she said, knowing the excuse was lame. “I'm Caroline.”

The girl's black lips turned down in a frown. “Skylar.”

“I know. It's such a cool name. I hate mine.”

“Change it.”

She stared at her, wondering if she'd ever have the nerve. “You have be eighteen to do that. Besides, it's a family name. My dad's mom's. She died when my mom was pregnant with me.”

Skylar blinked at her. “Don't change it then. Just get a name book and see if there're any nicknames for yours.”

“Oh.” She hadn't thought of that. Her time at the library had been spent poring over teen magazines on everything from hair and makeup to articles about sex and what guys liked. Tomorrow she planned on grabbing a couple more adult ones and trying to find a nice place in the back to read them before Mrs. Keenan showed up for the evening shift and watched over all the kids like the book police. “Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I—I wanted to say thank you. For today.”

No response again.

She squirmed in the chair. “I'm sorry you got into trouble. Mandy is my friend but—”

Skylar snorted. “Nobody who says stuff like that is your friend. You need to stand up for yourself and tell her to quit putting you down.”

Caroline pulled at her shirt to straighten it. “I know. She used to be my friend, though, and I guess I feel bad because I don't want to be mean to her even though she is to me. Stupid, huh?”

“It is if you want to get slammed every day.”

Caroline stiffened. “You didn't have to take up for me.”

“You
like
getting pushed around?”

“No, but…I'm sorry you got into trouble, okay?”

“I'm used to it.”

She looked like she was. Caroline remembered Skylar's face when the principal had given her another week of detention right there in front of everyone. She hadn't even blinked, but if Mr. Kline had said that to her, she knew she'd have bawled. Mandy really would've made fun then.

Caroline shifted in the uncomfortable chair and wished Skylar would smile or something. She should've gone outside to wait even though her dad told her not to because it wasn't safe. It wasn't like she was a kid who had to watch out for perverts or anything. Besides, who'd want her? She was ugly. Her mouth too big, her legs too short, her body too skinny and covered with ugly freckles. And how could she ever forget about the hair? She knew that somehow she was related to Carrot Top.

“I used to eat lunch with Mandy,” she murmured, trying to make conversation, “but now I eat by myself. Maybe we could, I don't know, sit together tomorrow? If you want.”

The girl stared at her, her black-lined eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Whatever.”

Caroline smiled, then felt stupid. She was such a geek. Biting her lip, she looked down, hesitant. “My dad won't be here for a little bit. Want to help me find a name book?”

J
ONAS HAD JUST
sat down at one of the counter stools in the diner when his cell phone beeped at him. He checked the number and groaned. It had been a long day and all he wanted was to go home and spend some quiet time with Caroline before having to spend the following two or three evenings cleaning the house before Marilyn's next weekly visit.

Dave was supposed to come with her, but Jonas knew his ex-father-in-law would cancel like he always did. Other than a weekend visit here or there, Dave stayed in Helena and let Marilyn do her thing on her own. Jonas figured it was Dave's way of getting some peace and quiet himself once a week.

He flipped the phone open with a sigh. “Taggert.”

“You at the diner, Sheriff?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Mrs. Keenan called. Said there's a disturbance at the library.”

He turned to look out the windows of the diner. A group of kids stood clustered inside the large windows, and from across the street, he spied Caroline's thick, curly mass of hair. “I'm on it.”

Rissa came out from behind the swinging door with a takeout bag, but hesitated when she saw him. “What's wrong?”

Jonas slipped the phone back in its place. “A problem at the library with some kids. Hang on to that for me, will you? I'll be right back.”

“The library?”

He nodded distractedly and headed for the door, made it across the street and inside the library before he realized Rissa had followed him into total chaos. A half dozen girls stood circled around two rolling on the floor. Both screeched, cursed and swore like pros.

“Break it up!” Jonas grabbed the spectators by their arms and pulled them out of the way until he got to the middle of the group. There he found some girl who looked like she'd come from an episode of
The Munsters
and Mandy Blake going at it like prizefighters. Just that morning he'd gotten a call from a concerned parent warning him there was a new girl at school who looked like a member of a cult, one who they felt needed to be closely watched. This was definitely her.

“Knock it off!” he roared when the girls kept swinging and screeching. A quick glance showed Caroline standing quietly in the windowed alcove, her hands over her mouth in wide-eyed upset.

Jonas separated the girls and shook them to get their attention before he glowered at the rest of the group taking it all in. “Go home.
Now.
”

The girls began to disperse. They whispered amongst themselves and shot speculative glances over their shoulders.

Jonas gently shoved Mandy into one of the nearby chairs, the girl in black in the other. “What—”

“
—
is going on?”
Rissa demanded hotly from behind him.

Jonas turned. Rissa looked primed for a fight herself due to the girls' antics, but when she noticed him staring at her, she bit her lip and a deep red flush crawled up her neck into her face.

“Rissa, go back to the diner. I'll take care of this and be there to get my food after I'm done talking to these two.”

Her shoulders slumped slightly. “I can't do that.”

Something about her expression warned him he wasn't going to like her answer to his next question. “Why not?”

She glared at the girl in black. “Because you're about to talk to my daughter and I want to hear what you have to say.”

Jonas turned to stare down at the frightening face of the girl in black, and tried to put two and two together. Chalky white makeup covered her skin, her black lipstick and blush smeared.
Rissa's daughter?
“What's your name?”

“Skylar.”

“How old are you?”

“Too young for you, perv.”

Her smug look and cocky response had his hands clenching into fists.

“Skylar!”
Rissa groaned softly. “She'll be fifteen in September.”

Less than a year older than Caroline. He would've guessed her to be much older. His daughter was just beginning to develop, whereas Skylar Mathews had the body of a woman. Although covered by her black attire, the girl's generous breasts heaved with the aftermath of the fight.

He split his attention between the girls. “What happened?”

“I didn't do anything, Mr. Taggert.”

“Dad—”

Mandy glared at his daughter, her chin lifted to a haughty angle. “Shut up,
Car-ly
.”

Carly? Jonas looked at Caroline and found her blushing furiously, her gaze glued to the floor.

“This is between freak-queen and me,” Mandy continued bluntly.

“Watch your mouth,” Rissa ordered Mandy. “Girls your age should know better than to call people names.”

Jonas held up a hand for silence. “What were you going to say?” he asked Caroline.

Instead of looking at him, his daughter glanced at Skylar, her eyes wide and questioning. Jonas almost missed the slight shake of Skylar's head. Unfortunately, Caroline heeded the warning and didn't speak.

“Girls, do I need to take you to the station to get to the bottom of this?”

“It was just an argument,” Skylar muttered. “No big deal.”

“She already has two weeks detention for fighting,” Mandy volunteered.

The Blake girl gazed up at him, pretending innocence despite the nail scrapes down Skylar's arm and the bruises beginning to darken beneath the other girl's light skin.

“She's caused trouble since she got here. Just ask Principal Kline.”

Jonas didn't like Mandy's attitude, but she was giving him needed information Skylar didn't refute. Nor did Rissa. Shaking his head, he glanced at Rissa, but saw she still glowered in the general direction of her daughter. He looked to Caroline next, but knew in an
instant she wasn't about to say another word in front of the two girls. What was it with females? Guys could beat each other senseless and get a beer right after, but females held a grudge for life.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “That doesn't tell me what started this particular fight.”

“She did.” Mandy pointed a glossy, fake nail at Skylar. “She said nasty things about me and called me a bitch.”

“Skylar, did you?”

Jonas heard the pain in Rissa's query and forced himself to ignore it. He'd known Mandy Blake since she was a kindergartner in the same class as Caroline, whereas Skylar—

He glanced at Rissa again. What was the deal? The girl couldn't drive, couldn't work. She couldn't have bought the makeup and weird clothes. Not without Rissa taking her to do so.
Allowing
it. How could Rissa look so normal and yet her daughter…

“I won't do it again, Mr. Taggert. All I want is for her to stay away from me and my friends. Right, Caroline?”

His daughter's face colored to yet a deeper shade of pink.

“I—I—”

The door to the library opened and Mandy's mother hurried inside. “What's going on? One of the girls called and said Mandy was attacked again.”

Jonas prayed for the day to be over. “No one attacked anyone.”

“You.”
Doreen pointed a finger at Skylar, and Jonas saw Rissa stiffen. If he didn't discharge the situation soon, another fight would take place—between the mothers.

“Doreen, nothing happened that I can't handle,” he stated forcefully. “And before you pursue this further, I
should warn you that if I have to, I'll take both girls to the station in the back of my cruiser.
Handcuffed.
Mandy caused quite a few bruises of her own as you can see.”

Just as he figured, Mandy hurriedly shook her head at her mom, visibly horrified at the thought of being so humiliated. “Mom, no. The freak knows to leave me alone now.”

“This is the third time she's come after Mandy, Jonas.
Do
something.”

“I'll take care of it.”

Doreen stepped closer to Skylar, her mouth flattened into a line of disdain. “Mandy says your father is dead, and all I can say is that it's a good thing he can't see you behave—”

Jonas rushed to step between Rissa and Doreen, vaguely conscious of the library door opening again. One of his deputies entered, along with Porter from across the street.

“How dare you say that to her!”

“Sheriff?”

“Rissa, what're you doin' over—”

“Why wouldn't I? Look at her! Not only does she look like a freak, she's violent and it's obvious where she gets it!”

“Being unique is better than looking like everyone else—and I sincerely doubt your daughter is all that innocent! Look at
her!
”

Jonas's head pounded harder.
“Enough!”
He glared at Rissa and had to fight back a smile when he saw her chin go up another notch. Her daughter might be…unusual, but Rissa was a protective mother.
If only Lea had been the same way toward Caroline.
“This ends now. Mandy, if I catch you and Skylar fighting
again, I'll take you both in for inciting a public disturbance, understood?”

“But—”

“Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Doreen, take Mandy home.”

“Jonas, I insist you— What about that
child?
” Doreen never took her poisonous glare off Rissa.

“I'll handle it.”

Mandy and Doreen shot them all killing stares before stalking out of the library.

“If she can leave, so can I,” Skylar declared, her tone lacking one iota of remorse.

“Skylar, sit down and
shut up,
” Rissa ordered.

Porter cleared his throat. “I've got a business to run. Rissa, settle things here and go on home. It's slow tonight.”

She closed her eyes briefly and nodded. “Thanks, Porter. I'll come in early this weekend and make it up.”

The older man shook his head in bewilderment and left the library after taking a long, hard look at Skylar. Jonas felt the same way.

“Sheriff?”

“Go on back to work, Tomblin. I've got this covered.”

The librarian had stood silent watching the whole unbelievable scene, and now the matronly Mrs. Keenan made herself scarce in the back of the library.

Rissa moved toward the chairs. “Skylar,
what
happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Caroline?” he pressed, gentling his tone.

Once again his daughter glanced at the black-clad girl, her head down. “Nothing,” she mumbled. “Mandy's just a spoiled brat. She wanted to sit here and
when we wouldn't move, she started saying things she shouldn't have. That's all.”

“Saying things is a lot different than throwing punches.”

Caroline's nose turned red and her lower lip trembled with the threat of tears. Skylar stared blankly ahead, silent, a sneer on her face.

Jonas shook his head and looked for signs of drugs, but saw nothing. He turned to Rissa and his words stuck in his throat when he took in her vulnerable expression. Like Caroline, her eyes were bright with unshed tears. He found himself wanting to offer comfort, though not the fatherly kind he'd offer his daughter.

“One day, Sky? You couldn't make it
one day?
”

Caroline's head lifted at the raw, husky sound of Rissa's voice, and his daughter watched the exchange, biting her lip before she stepped forward. The moment she opened her mouth to speak, however, Skylar launched herself out of the chair.

“Arrest me, or I'm outta here.”

He jerked a thumb toward the door. “You can go. But don't let it happen again or I will.”

“Wait for me in the car,” Rissa ordered, pulling a key from her pocket.

Skylar swiped it out of Rissa's hand. “What
ever
.”

“I'm going, too,” Caroline added softly, glancing at him quickly before looking away. “I'll be outside, Dad, okay?”

He nodded. The library door closed behind the angry teen and his daughter, leaving him and Rissa alone. Silence stretched between them. Finally, Rissa sighed. “Thank you for not—thank you. It seems I owe you again.”

“Has she ever threatened you?”

“
No
. And thanks for the vote of confidence.” She laughed wearily, the sound lacking all traces of humor.
“You're like them, aren't you? After one look, you think you know everything there is to know about her.”

“I know what I saw and heard when I pulled her and Mandy apart, and that's enough to have me wondering why you've put up with it. Why you're
putting
up with it.” Jonas rubbed his neck. “Rissa, from one single parent to another—that girl is out of control.”

Her chin raised, her cornflower blue eyes filled with upset. “‘That girl' witnessed her father's death firsthand. You're the sheriff, Jonas, have
you
ever seen a gory accident?”

He nodded slowly, reluctantly.

“Then you have an idea of what she's seen, what she's been through. She had to watch it all. She
heard
what they said and did when they cut her dad out of the vehicle to get to her. When I got to the hospital she was covered in blood—
his
blood. If that's not enough for you to have a little compassion, I don't know what is.”

“I'm sorry about your husband, and that Skylar had to go through that, but it doesn't excuse what just happened. Her behavior—”

“She's not the only teenager out of control. What about the other girl?”

“You're making excuses. Yes, Mandy is at fault, too, but Rissa, you strike me as a levelheaded woman. Are you really going to stand there and talk up Skylar's behavior and attitude in an attempt to pass it off as
normal?
”

“I'm
saying
I'm not perfect,” she bit out, her voice low, shaking, “and while I would love nothing more than to be able to compare my angry, self-destructing daughter to your quiet, sweet Caroline, I can't. I don't have a magic wand to make her better. If I did, I'd use it!”