McKettricks of Texas: Garrett by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

ought to know better than to throw in with a crook like that.”
    Just then, Rachel Strivens appeared in the doorway of Julie’s office. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, seeing that Julie wasn’t alone, and started to leave.
    â€œWait,” Julie said.
    Helen was already turning off the TV set, unplugging it, rolling it back out into the hallway on its noisy cart. If Helen had planned on staying to talk, she’d clearly changed her mind.
    Blushing a little, Rachel slipped reluctantly into the room.
    â€œRachel,” Julie said quietly, “sit down, please.”
    Rachel sat.
    â€œWhat is it?” Julie finally asked, though of course she knew. She’d announced the suspension of plans to produce the showcase—it was only temporary, she’d insisted, she’d think of something—in all her English classes that day.
    Rachel looked up, her brown eyes glistening with tears. “I just wanted to let you know that it’s okay, about the showcase probably not happening and everything,” she said. The girl made a visible effort to gather herself up, straightening her shoulders, raising her chin. “I can’t do any extracurricular activities anyway—Dad says I need to start working after school, so I can help out with the bills. His friend Dennis manages the bowling alley, and with the fall leagues starting up, they can use some extra people.”
    Julie took a moment to absorb all the implications of that.
    Rachel hadn’t said she wanted to save for college, or buy clothes or a car or a laptop, like most teenagers in search of employment. She’d said she had to “help out with the bills.”
    She wasn’t planning to go to college.
    â€œI understand,” Julie said, at some length, wishing she didn’t.
    Rachel bit her lower lip, threw her long braid back over one shoulder. “Dad tries,” she said, her voice barely audible. “Everything is so hard, without my mom around anymore.”
    Julie nodded, holding back tears. In five years, in ten years, in twenty, Rachel might still be working at the bowling alley—if she had a job at all. Julie had seen the phenomenon half a dozen times. “I’m sure that’s true,” she said.
    Rachel was on her feet. Ready to go.
    Julie leaned forward in her chair. “Have you actuallybeen hired, Rachel, or is the job at the bowling alley just a possibility?”
    Rachel stood on the threshold, poised to flee, but clearly wanting to stay. “It’s pretty definite,” she answered. “I just have to say yes, and it’s mine.”
    Things like this happened, Julie reminded herself. The world was an imperfect place.
    Kids tabled their dreams, thinking they’d get back to them later.
    Except that they so rarely did, in Julie’s experience. One thing led to another. They met somebody and got married. Then there were children and rent to pay and car loans.
    Rachel was so bright and talented, and she was standing at an important crossroads. In one direction lay a fine education and every hope of success. In the other…
    The prospects made Julie want to cover her face with her hands.
    After Rachel had gone, she sat very still for a long time, wondering what she could do to help.
    Only one course of action came to mind, and that was probably a long shot.
    She would speak to Rachel’s father.

CHAPTER THREE
    T ATE WAS WAITING AT THE AIRSTRIP in his truck when Garrett landed the Cessna around five that afternoon.
    Garrett taxied to a stop outside the ramshackle hangar that had once housed his dad’s plane and shut off the engines. The blur of the props slowed until the paddles were visible.
    He climbed down, shut the door behind him and walked toward his brother.
    They met midway between the Cessna and Tate’s truck.
    Obviously, Tate had heard about the scandal in Austin by then, and Garrett figured he was there to say, “I told you