Read Online Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] by Mother Road - Free Book Online

them for dinner.”
    After a lengthy quiet, she looked over her shoulder to see him lounging in the doorway, his shoulder against the jamb. His silence mangled her nerves. Aware that he watched her, she tilted the skillet over a plate and scooped out the scrambled eggs and forked several strips of crisp bacon onto the plate. Then, ignoring him, she carried the plate and eating utensils through the front room to the porch and placed them on the small table beside the chair.
    He was still standing in the doorway when she returned to the kitchen. Ignoring him, she poured a cup of coffee and turned to find that Yates had moved from the back door to the one leading through the house, blocking her way to the front porch. Without hesitation she thrust the cup of hot coffee in his hands.
    “I hope you like scrambled eggs,” she said with all the poise and self-control she could muster.
    “I like them any way as long as they're not raw.” His eyes clung to her face. A dimple he hadn't noticed before appeared in her cheek. She was so confident, so calm and so damn pretty. She turned back to the stove and he spoke to her back.
    “The camper wants to stay another day so the women can wash some clothes. He'll keep an eye on things while I go get my car.”
    “You're taking the responsibility for leaving a stranger in charge of the garage?”
    “Mr. Oliver seems a decent sort. He tried to give me a five-dollar bill he found by the gas pump.”
    “Found
by the gas pump? Were you testing him?”
    “It's a good way to tell if a man is honest.”
    “The girls and I will be ready to go as soon as they have their breakfast.”
    “What about you?”
    “What about me?”
    “Have you had breakfast?”
    “I'll eat with the girls. You'd better get to yours before it gets cold.” With that she dismissed him and turned back to break more eggs into the bowl.

Chapter 7
    Y ATES DROVE ANDY'S CAR INTO TOWN . Ruth Ann sat between him and Leona. JoBeth sat on Leona's lap. For once, Leona was grateful for the child's excited chatter, so that she didn't have to make polite conversation with the stony-faced man.
    As soon as Yates parked the car in front of the post office, they got out. He came around the car and handed the keys to Leona.
    “Are you goin' with us to buy stamps for Daddy?” JoBeth had wiggled her small hand into Yates's big one.
    “No. I'm going to the hotel and check out of my room, then to the store.”
    “I've not been in a hotel. What's it like?”
    “It's a place people stay all night when they are traveling.”
    “Don't they stay in campgrounds?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Don't you know anything?” Ruth Ann said impatiently. “Stop asking so many questions.”
    Ignoring her sister, JoBeth continued. “Whatter you goin' to buy, Mr. Yates?”
    “I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions?”
    “Come on, girls,” Leona said quickly, pulling on JoBeth's other hand. “We'll be back in time to fix your dinner, Mr. Yates.”
    “I didn't doubt it, Miss …Leona.” He watched her and the two girls until they entered the post office, then walked on down the street to the hotel.
    Leona had put up a thicker wall since last night, he mused. Hell, he'd only touched her chin. What would she have done if he'd kissed her? Gone up in blue smoke? He found himself chuckling. It surprised him. He had chuckled, smiled, laughed more since he'd met Leona and the girls than he'd done in a month. He decided that he liked kids, especially that little one. She was a ring-tailed tooter.
    When he came out of the hotel, he paused on the steps and looked up and down the street. Downtown Sayre consisted of a dozen or so business buildings strung down both sides of a poorly paved street. It looked much like other small towns he had been in. All had suffered from the Depression. A fourth of the buildings along the main street were vacant. If not for trade from the highway the town probably would have dried up and blown away long ago.
    Andy's car was