Read Online Ask Me to Stay (Honky Tonk Angels #4) by Ciana Stone - Free Book Online Page A

she think people would do if they knew about her? Again, she hadn’t done anything wrong. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell them about her life. Not even Jayce.
    Which told her that she was ashamed. Ashamed of how she’d come to have Lily and ashamed of the choices she’d made that had finally led her to run as far away from Nashville as she could. Callie didn’t know how to combat that shame. She didn’t know that she ever would, but she did know that until she could, she didn’t stand a chance of ever having anything with a man like Jayce.
    And that made her feel pretty damn hopeless.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    Cody was stocking the bar when Nancy Denton walked in. “Hey Nancy.” Cody smiled. “How’re you doing?”
    “Good.” Nancy climbed onto a stool and sighed. “God, that feels good. Can I get a draft?”
    “Sure thing, hon.” Cody grabbed a mug to draw the beer. “Long day?”
    “Girl, I had not one but three perms today and every one for one of those Red Hat ladies.”
    “Poor thing.” Cody snatched up a bottle of tequila and a shot glass. “Here ya go, hon. On the house.”
    “Bless you.” Nancy downed the shot and blew out a breath. “Wooo, that hit the spot.”
    Cody had known Nancy for a long time. Nancy’s family had moved to Cotton Creek when she had been thirteen. Her mother was a hairdresser and had gone to work at the local beauty salon. By the time Nancy graduated, her mother had bought the shop and Nancy ended up following in her footsteps.
    She’d been doing hair since she was twenty and Cody didn’t envy her one bit. Listening to women moan and gossip all day had to be tough. Kind of like being behind a bar, but without the alcohol, and no guys.
    Men were a lot easier. They might come in sporting a bad mood, but after a beer and a couple of laughs, they tended to perk up. But then men didn’t like to hang onto their mad, sad or annoyed near as much as women. And the ones who did quickly found themselves sitting alone with no one to listen. Cody didn’t have time for all that negativity and she couldn’t tolerate whiners for more than five minutes.
    “So what’s the hot topic at the Cut and Curl?” Cody asked.
    Nancy shrugged, a gesture not exactly normal. She usually started spilling the gossip as soon as she downed her free shot.
    “Everything okay, Nance?”
    “Well.” Nancy took a drink of her beer. “Well, dang it, those Red Hats are on about you and Hannah.”
    “Me and Hannah?”
    “Yeah, ya’ll and them oil men. Wes Pursell and Cooper Quinlan and ya’ll’s going on’s.”
    “Our what?”
    “Well you know, there was some talk about you and Wes Pursell for a while, but it started to die down right about the time him and that Cooper Quinlan went into business. Then gossip started warming up about you and Quinlan.”
    “Oh really?”
    “Yeah. According to the Red Hats, you been cozying up with Quinlan for near on a month, but then starting a couple of weeks ago, people starting spotting him with Hannah. At the dry cleaners and gas station and one night here, when you were off. This morning they were outside that new boutique and they were looking mighty friendly.”
    “Is that right?”
    “That’s what they say. Seems like you and Hannah are both after the same man and it’s causing quite the stir in your family.”
    Despite the annoyance she felt, Cody smiled. “Well, if they say it, then it must be the gospel, girl.”
    “Oh don’t I know. I swear to god sometimes I think those ladies sit around inventing gossip.”
    Cody chuckled. “Well, they need some way to pass their time.”
    “This shit really doesn’t get to you?”
    Cody shrugged. “Why should it? We all know how they are.”
    “That’s the god’s honest truth. So, if you’re not having a hot and heavy with Pursell or Quinlan, what have you been up to?”
    “Work, girl. Between this place and the ranch, a big night for me is eight hours of sleep.”
    “I heard that.