Boots & Bones Bonanza by Ann Charles

Author:Ann Charles [Charles, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ann Charles Firsts
Publisher: Ann Charles
Published: 2016-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Wednesday, April 21st

Claire marched into the General Store, chased by a midmorning breeze heavy with the scent of warm greasewood and filled with sizzling promises.

“Where’s your mom?” she asked Jess, who was sitting behind the counter with her school books scattered around her.

“In back.” Jess nudged her head toward the curtain without looking up from the colored pages of her U.S. History book. “She’s busy ruining my life.”

Spoken like a true teenager. Claire bit back a smile. Ever since Ruby and Jess had returned from Tucson, the decibel level in the house hadn’t dropped much below fire-whistle intensity.

Playfully messing up Jess’s hair as she passed, Claire pushed through the curtain, noticing the faint smell of cigar smoke clinging to the velvet—the same smell that permeated the sofa cushions in Gramps’s Winnebago. That might explain Gramps’s red cheeks last night when he’d scampered in with pink lipstick on his collar.

Ruby sat on a stool at the bar, pouring over a stack of papers, a pencil in her hand and a furrow on her brow.

“What are you doing?” Claire plopped onto an adjacent stool.

Ruby tapped the eraser on the bar. “This damned new school of Jess’s has more paperwork than an IRS 1040 with twenty attachments.”

Claire shoved the framed newspaper photo of Joe’s grand opening toward Ruby. “Do you know who this guy is?” She pointed at the man standing next to the Johnny Cash painting.

As she stared at the picture, Ruby’s frown deepened even more. She took the frame from Claire and lifted it closer to her face. Several seconds passed. “No. Who is he?”

“According to Willis Rupp,” Claire threw out the name of the owner of Creekside Supply Company, “he’s Joe’s cousin.”

Ruby’s gaze whipped to Claire. “Joe’s what?”

“Cousin. Did Joe ever mention having a cousin?”

Shaking her head slowly, Ruby handed the frame to Claire.

Claire sighed and tossed the picture on the bar.

She’d figured as much. Ever since she’d started digging into Joe’s past, there was something about Ruby and Joe’s relationship that had bothered her.

She took a moment to form her next question, choosing her words carefully. “I know you didn’t really get into Joe’s business dealings, but were you ever curious about where he was and what he was doing while he was off on his sales trips?”

“Of course I was curious.” Ruby rested her jaw on her palm as she leaned on the bar and stared at Claire. “But in a marriage, there’s a thing called trust, and I had a lot of it.”

Claire nodded. That made sense. Ruby had trusted her from the moment Claire had walked in carrying the Help Wanted sign. But still…

“Plus,” Ruby continued, “I had this park to keep me busy. When I took over, the store was on the verge of collapse, the river flooded the campsites every spring, and the ground was riddled with rattlesnake holes. It took two years just to get the store and campsites back in shape.”

“Then we had the rare White-Eared Hummingbird flutterin’ around that summer, and the bird lovers flocked here in masses to see it.

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