of a relationship, wasn’t it?
But I know she’s lying.
Did that excuse him? He wasn’t sure. Was he exhibiting signs of major paranoia? Probably.
But he hated lies with a passion. And he faced the fact that he had to know, one way or another. Please God, may she never find out he’d made this call, he thought, dialing the number for information.
A couple of minutes later, he was talking to a school secretary at Fairfield High School. He claimed to be a potential employer wanting to verify attendance and graduation.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” the woman said cheerily.
He heard a keyboard clicking, some mumbles.
“I’m sorry,” the secretary finally told him. “I’m unable to find any student named Allie Wright. I tried Allison and some other variations. What years do you believe she attended?”
He told her. More tapping.
The answer was “no.” There had been students with a last name of Wright, of course. Perhaps Allie was a middle name or nickname? He said he’d find out and ended the call.
He swore aloud, resisting the urge to throw the phone.
Now what? Call her on her lie? But what if Allie was her middle name? Did he admit what he’d done?
“Goddamn it,” he growled.
His doubt hung heavy on him all day, disrupting his concentration. He got careless and broke a saw blade, the piece flying away barely missing his arm. He swore some more and managed to pay more attention until the time came to pick up Sean again after practice.
He’d vowed not to say anything to Sean about his fear that Allie was lying to him. “I don’t seem to have it together today,” he admitted, once Sean got in and slammed the door. “You okay with stopping for a pizza on the way home?”
“Is Scarlett Johansson hot?” the teenager said.
Nolan had to blink. Well, yeah. He’d take that as a yes.
At his favorite pizza parlor, they ordered, then settled at their table with glasses of soda. He wasn’t much of a drinker; he had an occasional beer at home, but he wanted to be sure he set a no-drinking-and-driving example for a kid Sean’s age.
“So, did you ever ask Allie about the Oklahoma thing?” Sean surprised him by asking.
“Yeah. She says her mother is the one who wants to pretend they never lived there.” He should stop there, he knew he should. “But I could tell Allie was uneasy about the whole thing. Wish I knew why.”
“You can look, you know.”
Nolan stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, lots of high schools have their yearbooks online now.” He shrugged. “I mean, you guys were in high school a long time ago. Maybe those old yearbooks aren’t up, but you could check.”
“Allie is only twenty-eight,” Nolan said mildly.
Sean looked at him as if he was an idiot. “That’s ten years ago.”
“You’re making me feel like an old man. I don’t like it.”
The kid laughed at him. “You’re getting, like, middle-aged, you know. That’s almost old.”
“Thank you.” He shook his head. “They just called our number. My arthritis is acting up. You go get the pizza.”
Sean thought that was pretty funny. He was chortling when he slid out of the booth and headed toward the front.
“Yearbooks are really online?” Nolan asked him, when he returned with two plates and an extra-large pizza with everything on it. “Where anyone can look at them? I didn’t photograph well.” Or should he have said, I don’t photograph well?
Sean surveyed him with a critical eye while still managing to take a bite and chew enthusiastically at the same time. “Yeah,” he finally decided, “that’s probably because your face isn’t really together. You know? It’s kind of bony, and your hair is always sticking out, and...”
Nolan held up a hand to silence him. “If you keep going, my ego may never recover.”
Sean shrugged. “Allie likes you, so what difference does it make what you look like?”
“That’s true.” Of course, that was assuming Allie wasn’t conning him big-time.
But...why would she be? What did she have to gain from pretending to like him? From making up a background that would satisfy him?
None of it made any sense. His original questions had been casual; he didn’t care where she’d grown up or gone to high school. He’d never have given her answers a second thought if she hadn’t been so obviously evasive, and if then she hadn’t lied.
Or her mother lied, he reminded himself.
“I can help you find her yearbook online if you want,” Sean offered. “If you don’t think you can.”
“It’s