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

it and for some reason Alex got it in his head after his father died that now there was no reason we couldn’t get a dog.”
    “You’re welcome to bring your kids out to the ranch sometime to enjoy my dogs vicariously. The kids might enjoy taking a ride, as well. We’ve got some pretty gentle ponies that would be perfect for them.”
    “That sounds fun. I’m sure they would both love it.” She was quite certain this was one of those vague invitations that people said just to be polite, but to her surprise, Caidy didn’t let the matter rest.
    “How about next weekend?” she pressed. “I’m sure Ridge would be delighted to have you out.”
    Ridge was the Bowman sibling she had interacted with the least. At the time she was engaged to Taft, he and his parents weren’t getting along, so he avoided the River Bow as much as possible. The few times she had met him, she had always thought him a little stern and humorless.
    Still, he’d been nice enough to her—though the same couldn’t have been said about his ex-wife, who had been rude and overbearing to just about everyone on the ranch.
    “That’s a lovely invitation, but I’m sure the last thing you need is to entertain a bunch of greenhorns.”
    “I would love it,” Caidy assured her. “Your kids are just plain adorable and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you’re back in town. To tell you the truth, I’m a little desperate for some female conversation. At least something that doesn’t revolve around cattle.”
    She should refuse. Her history with Taft had to make any interaction with the rest of the Bowmans more than a little awkward. But like Caidy, she welcomed any chance to resurrect their old friendship—and Alex and Maya would love the chance to ride horses and play with the ranch dogs.
    “Yes, all right. The weekend would be lovely. Thank you.”
    “I’ll call you Wednesday or Thursday to make some firm arrangements. This will be great!” Caidy beamed at her, looking fresh and pretty with her dark ponytail and sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
    The other woman climbed into her pickup truck and drove away with a wave and a smile and Laura watched after her for a moment, feeling much better about the morning than she had when the previous Bowman sibling had driven away from the inn.
    * * *
    Taft had visitors.
    The whir of the belt sander didn’t quite mask the giggles and little scurrying sounds from the doorway. He made a show of focusing on the window he was framing while still maintaining a careful eye on the little creatures who would occasionally peek around the corner of the doorway and then hide out of sight again.
    He didn’t want to let his guard down, not with all the power equipment in here. He could just imagine Laura’s diatribe if one of her kids somehow got hurt. She would probably accuse him of letting her rambunctious older kid cut off his finger on purpose.
    The game of peekaboo lasted for a few more minutes until he shut off the belt sander. He ran a finger over the wood to be sure the frame was smooth before he headed over to the window to hold it up for size, keeping an eye on the door the whole time.
    “Go on,” he heard a whispered voice say, then giggles, and a moment later he was joined by Laura’s daughter.
    Maya. She was adorable, with that dusky skin, curly dark hair in pigtails and Laura’s huge blue eyes,
almond-shaped on Maya.
    “Hola,” she whispered with a shy smile.
    “Hola, señorita,” he answered. Apparently he still remembered a little of the high-school Spanish he had struggled so hard to master.
    “What doing?” she asked.
    “I’m going to put some new wood up around this window. See?” He held the board into the intended place to demonstrate, then returned it to the worktable.
    “Why?” she asked, scratching her ear.
    He glanced at the doorway where the boy peeked around, then hid again like a shadow.
    “The old wood was rotting away. This way it will look