Read Online Dodge the Bullet by Christy Hayes - Free Book Online

their
last days in Georgia. She heard sadness in his voice as he told her
about leaving his friends and with wicked glee he told of Kevin’s
tearful goodbye to his new girlfriend. Sarah had to roll her eyes
as he over exaggerated the drama of their parting.
    She felt a part of her settle with her kids
back within arms reach. When she’d led them to the spot where she’d
parked Dodge’s truck, she had to call Kevin as he’d passed it in
search of her old clunker. “We’re right here, Kev.” She lowered the
back and began heaving the luggage into the truck bed.
    “Whoa, don’t tell me you finally upgraded
the old truck.” Kevin stood gaping at Dodge’s nearly new Ford
F250.
    “Get rid of my truck? No way.” Nobody
appreciated a classic.
    “Whose truck is this?” Jenny asked.
    “A guy whose been helping me make some plans
for the ranch. His name’s Dodge and he insisted I take it.” Sarah
knew Jenny would read more into Dodge’s offer than she should.
    “Oh really,” Jenny said with a smirk. “You
haven’t mentioned him before.”
    Sarah ignored her sister. It was a good
thing Dodge insisted she bring his truck because they never would
have fit themselves and the luggage into hers. They filed into the
truck, the kids in the back and she and Jenny in the front. Before
long they were heading along Denver’s highway system back south
toward Hailey. The kids settled in for the long haul after giving
half-hearted answers to Sarah’s questions. They were soon plugged
into their iPods. Normally she would have insisted they turn off
the gadgets, but this gave her and Jenny a chance to catch up
without the boys listening in.
    “So, tell me about this Dodge
character.”
    “Not much to tell,” Sarah hedged. “He came
out to the cabin the weekend I arrived as a request of some friend
of his and he’s been helping me out ever since.”
    “That’s not what I’m asking and you know it.
Is he young? Old? Hot? Married? Missing a limb? What?”
    Since her divorce almost five years ago,
Jenny couldn’t have a conversation about a man without asking about
his physical description, marital status and possible average
yearly salary. “He looks to be around my age and he’s not married,
or at least he doesn’t wear a ring and never speaks of a wife.”
    “Is he hot?”
    “He’s attractive, I guess, if you like tall,
dark and chauvinistic.”
    Jenny looked at Sarah between narrowed eyes.
“I’m sensing some hostility. Is there something you’re not
telling?”
    “He’s just old-fashioned in his views about
women. He worries about me being at the ranch alone and questions
most of the decisions I’ve made. He has a lot of sisters and I
think he views women as helpless.” Sarah shrugged. “It’s just a
guess because he doesn’t like to talk about himself.”
    “Will I get to meet him before I go
home?”
    Sarah watched tumbleweed cross the highway.
“I’m pretty sure he hasn’t grown so enamored with my truck today
that he won’t be interested in switching back.” Sarah could feel
Jenny’s eyes on her. “What?”
    “God, you’re being sarcastic again. Being
out here has helped you already.”
    “Is that a compliment?”
    “You sounded more like the old Sarah just
then, that’s all. I wonder if it’s Colorado or this Dodge fellow
that’s got your spunk level back to normal.”
    Sarah shook her head and snorted. “I knew
you were going to blow this way out of proportion. I just knew you
would.”
     
     

Chapter 8
    The
afternoon sun beat down on the balding head of Fred Saxton. No
wonder everybody around here constantly wore a hat of some kind. In
the winter, a hat provided protection from the bitter cold and
biting wind that always blew through the valley. In the other, more
pleasant seasons of the year, a hat provided shade from the sun
that had a tendency to blister the head of any fair-skinned
mid-westerner who ventured to higher ground. In every direction he
peered, mile after mile of