Susannah's Garden (Blossom Street #3)(93)

Troy turned and stared at Susannah as she walked through the door. He said something to the blonde and disengaged himself from her embrace. His gaze holding Susannah’s, he motioned with his head toward the bar.

As on her previous visit, Sharon was bartending. Susannah saw her former classmate stiffen at the sight of her. Susannah went rigid, too, still not sure she was doing the right thing.

Troy moved down to the far end and Susannah met him there.

“You have the money?” he asked coolly.

Clutching her purse close to her body, she nodded. “I have a few concerns we need to discuss first.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Don’t try to screw me over,” he said in a heated whisper.

“I’m not. You’re asking for a lot of money and I want some guarantees.”

“Like what?”

“How do I know you won’t contact Chrissie at a later date?”

“Forget it,” he scoffed. “I’ve got other fish to fry.”

“You mean you make a practice of this sort of thing?”

“No,” he said as though her questions bored him. “I’m tired of her. What’s that old saying—out of sight, out of mind? She’ll go back to Seattle and that’ll be the end of it.”

This was what Susannah hoped would happen. “There’s no guarantee Chrissie will leave Colville,” she said.

Troy dismissed her concern with a shake of his head. “She will.”

Susannah wasn’t convinced. Her daughter was stubborn and might just decide to stay. In which case, everything could explode in Susannah’s face.

“Are you changing the ground rules?” Troy asked, leaning one elbow against the bar.

“No, but I want Chrissie to go home where she belongs.” She paused. “More precisely, I want her back in school.”

Troy shrugged indifferently. “Works for me. I sure don’t want her hanging around here. She’ll go home, don’t worry about it.”

Susannah was worried. “She doesn’t know anything about this, right?”

“You think I’d tell her?”

Susannah had the feeling Troy would do whatever it took to get whatever he wanted. If that meant disclosing the fact that Susannah had paid him off, she wouldn’t put it past him. She couldn’t help wondering if her father had experienced the same doubts when he’d paid off Jake’s. Had he wondered if he was doing the right thing? Had he questioned his own judgment? Like her, she suspected he had. “I don’t want Chrissie finding out I was involved in any way,” she said sharply.

“Fine. Now give me the money.”

“Not yet.”

“Listen, I don’t have time for this crap. Give me the money or I’ll screw up your sweet little girl for the rest of her life.”

Susannah didn’t take his threat lightly. She sensed that Troy would derive real pleasure from hurting Chrissie out of spite.

Figuring any further discussion would do more harm than good, Susannah set her purse on the scuffed bar and unzipped it. Taking out a stack of twenties and fifties, she handed it to Troy.

He grabbed the money and thumbed through the bills. A minute later, he raised his hard eyes to lock with hers. “This is only half of what we agreed.”

“The other half is at the house. You’ll get it after Chrissie leaves for Seattle.”

He clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t have any choice. Susannah wasn’t about to give him everything at once and risk being cheated. This was the only recourse she had and she intended to use it.

He seemed to deliberate, then slowly nodded. “Fine. But you better come through.” He stuffed the money in his wallet, which was connected to his jeans by a chain. Without another word, he walked back to the table where he’d been sitting and pulled on the blonde’s arm. Hands linked, the couple walked out of the tavern. Jenny, if that was her name, swayed her hips provocatively. Susannah would’ve been embarrassed if that was her daughter.

“He’s a handsome man, my son, isn’t he?” Sharon sauntered up. “He looks more like his father every day.”

Susannah ignored the comment. While it was true that Troy did resemble Jake, he lacked every other quality Susannah felt was important in a man—dignity, honor, character. All were missing in Troy and apparently in Jake, too. That made her more sad than angry. She’d honestly felt they’d shared something special. She’d been far too stubborn—not unlike her own daughter—to realize how right her father had been to get him out of her life. All the years she’d harbored this resentment against him and now…now she understood and it tore her apart. She’d wasted all those years, bitter and angry about the way he’d manipulated her life, and here she was, doing the same thing. She was doing it out of love, just as her father had.

“The minute you left for France, Jake came to me.”

“That isn’t true.” For her own sake, Susannah wanted to believe otherwise—wanted to believe what his letters had implied.

Sharon laughed contemptuously, but Susannah didn’t care.

“Jake was never interested in you. Not like you were in him.” She held her ground, unwilling to let Sharon rattle her.

“Think what you want,” Sharon said, as though it was of little concern. “Troy is all the proof I need.”