Read Online A Cold Creek Reunion by RaeAnne Thayne - Free Book Online

for the momentary pleasure he had found with his latest honey. Mingled with the anger and hurt was no small amount of guilt. If she had tried a little harder to open her heart to him and truly love him, maybe he wouldn’t have needed to seek out other women.
    She was doing her best, she reminded herself. Hadn’t she traveled across the world to give them a home with family and stability?
    “This was fun,” Caidy said, drawing her back to the conversation. “Thank you so much for inviting me, but I probably better start heading back to the ranch. I’ve got a buyer coming today to look at one of the border collies I’ve been training.”
    “You’re going to sell your dog?” Alex, who dearly wanted a puppy, looked horrified at the very idea.
    “Sue isn’t really my dog,” Caidy explained with a smile. “I rescued her when she was a puppy and I’ve been training her to help someone else at their ranch. We have plenty of dogs at the River Bow.”
    Alex didn’t seem to quite understand the concept of breeding and training dogs. “Doesn’t it make you sad to give away your dog?”
    Caidy blinked a little, but after a pause she nodded. “Yes, I guess it does a little. She’s a good dog and I’ll miss her. But I promise I’ll make sure whoever buys her will give her a really good home.”
    “We have a good home, don’t we, Grandma?” Alex appealed to Jan, who smiled.
    “Why, yes, I believe we do, son.”
    “We can’t have a dog right now, Alex.”
    Laura tried to head him off before he started extolling the virtues of their family like a used-car salesman trying to close a deal. “We’ve talked about this. While we’re settling in here in Pine Gulch and living with Grandma here at the inn, it’s just not practical.”
    He stuck out his lower lip, looking very much like his father when he couldn’t get his way. “That’s what you always say. I still really, really, really want a dog.”
    “Not now, Alexandro. We’re not getting a dog. Maybe in a year or so when things here are a little more settled.”
    “But I want one now!”
    “I’m sorry,” Caidy said quickly, “but I’m afraid Sue wouldn’t be very happy here. You see, she’s a working dog and her very favorite thing is telling the cattle on our ranch which way we want them to go. You don’t look very much like a steer. Where are your horns?”
    Alex looked as if he wanted to ramp up to a full-fledged tantrum, something new since his father died, but he allowed himself to be teased out of it. “I’m not a steer,” he said, rolling his eyes. Then a moment later he asked, “What’s a steer?”
    Caidy laughed. “It’s another name for the male version of cow.”
    “I thought that was a bull.”
    “Uh.” Caidy gave Laura a helpless sort of look.
    While Jan snickered, Laura shook her head. “You’re right. There are two kinds of male bovines, which is another word for cow. One’s a bull and one is a steer.”
    “What’s the difference?” he asked.
    “Steers sing soprano,” Caidy said. “And on that lovely note, I’d better get back to the bulls and steers of the River Bow. Thanks for a great breakfast. Next time it’s my turn.”
    “Alex, will you and Maya help Gram with clearing the table while I walk Caidy out? I’ll do the dishes when I come back inside.”
    To her relief, her son allowed himself to be distracted when Jan asked him if he and Maya would like to go to the park later in the day.
    “I’m sorry about the near-tantrum there,” she said as they headed outside to Caidy’s pickup truck. “We’re working on them, but my son still likes his own way.”
    “Most kids do. My niece is almost ten and she still thinks she should be crowned queen of the universe. I didn’t mean to start something by talking about dogs.”
    “We’ve been having this argument for about three years now. His best friend in Madrid had this mangy old mutt, but Alex adored him and wanted one so badly. My husband would never allow