2
GARRISON
Dahlia was going to drive me to the brink of insanity. Not only was she pushing me away, denying every one of my overtures of marriage, but she was lying. Blatantly and inexorably lying. There was no Opal Banks, for I'd known Dahlia so long that I knew all of her friends. Hell, everyone knew everyone within fifty miles. If there were a woman who was unwed in that range, she’d have been known to every bachelor.
For over fifteen years, we'd bickered and fought and dared and cajoled and all but tortured each other. It was true, I had stuffed a snowball down the front of her coat, but even at the very young age of five, she'd been… different. I'd been a hellion—my mother's word—and I'd recognized a kindred spirit in the sprite-sized Dahlia. When we were older, I hadn't wanted to
