Wild Fire by Linda I. Shands

Author:Linda I. Shands [Linda I. Shands]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441239532
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

THE THERMOMETER IN THE rec room read 90 degrees, and the square dance petered out after two rounds. The only ones who seemed to be having a good time were Colin and Laura.

Laura Anderson. Tall and perky, with cropped blond hair and a peaches-and-cream complexion that had probably never seen the sun. She had latched onto Colin like a lasso on a bull, and Colin had a ring in his nose before he knew it.

Dad walked by with a stack of almost empty popcorn bowls and interrupted Kara’s thoughts. “What would you say to a couple of days in Lariat?”

She nearly dropped the bag of empty pop cans she was carrying to the kitchen. “What? You mean that?”

Dad laughed. “If I had known you’d be that eager, I’d have tried to arrange it sooner.” His smile faded. “Are you doing okay, Wakara? You’ve been working pretty hard. I know it’s been a while since you’ve had a break.”

His voice sounded raspy, and he cleared his throat. “Uh, I’ve been wanting to tell you how much I appreciate all you do for us. With your mother gone, I couldn’t . . . Well, I just couldn’t get along without you, Sweetheart. You know that, don’t you?”

Kara felt the tears sting her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his damp cotton shirt. His hug was strong and comforting. When his breath caught on a sob, she couldn’t hold back.

Dad held her for a few minutes while they both cried, then he dropped a kiss on her hair and pushed her gently away. “Well, as your mom would say, I guess we needed that.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and grabbed a napkin from the box on the serving counter to blow her nose. Dad pulled a clean kerchief from his back pocket and did the same. They looked at each other and laughed.

“It’s going to be a slow week. The guests will all be gone by noon tomorrow, and there are no more scheduled until Saturday morning. Colin and Anne can hold down the fort for awhile.”

He patted her cheek. “Get some sleep, Sugar Bear. We’ll tell Ryan in the morning.”

Her first thought after he had gone was, Thank you, God. They were going home, and she hadn’t even had to mention Greg. Now maybe Dad could find out for himself, and she wouldn’t have to be involved.

Coward. Dad was hurting enough already. Now he had to find out his oldest son was in trouble. She thought about Greg’s sullen attitude. He was barely civil to anyone, and more than once she’d smelled beer on his breath, but he’d never done anything really horrible. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as Tia said.

Between Colin and Greg, her mind was spinning. But the crying must have done her some good, because her head had barely hit the pillow before she was out.

The next morning they took off right after breakfast and landed in Lariat before the sun was high.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.