Read Online Down Home Dixie by Pamela Browning - Free Book Online Page A

you went to the back. Where Kyle came from, only family was supposed to use the back door. Everyone knew that, or at least they did up north.
    â€œAnd so,” Milo said after finishing his ice cream, “what is it that you do, Kyle?”
    Kyle explained the whole farrier thing. Milo had noticed his truck parked outside and was curious about the customizing. “I’ve got a Dodge Ram 2500 with extended cab myself,” Milo volunteered. “It has a heavy-duty Cummins turbo-diesel engine and oversize tars.”
    At Kyle’s puzzled look, Milo explained. “Those things that go on the wheels.”
    Tires. Kyle still hadn’t caught onto the twangy Yewville accent, but it was clear that Milo was making the point that he was a manly man who drove a manly truck. Kyle was willing to give the guy some leeway on the subject, since he himself wasn’t remotely interested in the macho aspects of vehicles.
    â€œWhat do you do?” Kyle asked Milo.
    â€œI’ve decided to go into business,” Milo said. “With new homes going up all around the lake and the retirement village being built between here and Florence, I figure there’s a chance to own the biggest plant nursery anywhere around. I learned a lot about the business from my uncle, and he’s downsizing now. I figured, hey, why not?”
    After that, the conversation thankfully stalled, and Dixie did nothing to jump-start it. Still, Milo tried to drag out the visit by asking questions about virtually every person in their mutual graduating class at Yewville High. Kyle was stifling his third yawn before Milo finally asked Dixie for her phone number and said he had to be going.
    â€œIf you need to reach me, you can call me at the office,” Dixie said crisply as she whipped a business card out of her pocket. She didn’t volunteer her home or cell-phone numbers, and Kyle gave her points for that.
    â€œYewville Real Estate,” Milo said, studying the card. “I was surprised when Priss told me you’re selling houses. I thought that you’d be working at the department store in Florence like you did in high school.”
    â€œYes, well, it’s a living.”
    â€œYou sell people the houses, I’ll landscape ’em.”
    Dixie managed a polite smile, yet as Milo was walking toward the door she rolled her eyes for Kyle’s benefit, which let Kyle know that she could be— could be— as eager for Milo to leave as he was.
    With a cheery grin at Dixie and a subdued nod for Kyle, whose presence surely must be the subject of curiosity, Milo edged out the door and loped down the steps toward his truck.
    â€œWhew,” Dixie said, closing the door behind him. “I didn’t need any of that.”
    Kyle smiled at her, not stating the obvious: that he didn’t, either. The two of them were finally alone, and perhaps they could finally get down to business. First he had to ask the obvious question.
    â€œI gather Milo’s recently arrived back in town and that you haven’t seen him before this,” he said carefully.
    â€œCorrect.” Outside, Milo’s truck started and he threw the engine into Reverse. Through the kitchen window, Kyle caught a glimpse of a bright red finish and fearsome front grille.
    Kyle moved closer to Dixie. She seemed like the last person to be impressed by the size of a man’s truck. “Dixie, is there anything between you and Milo? Even a little bit of feeling?”
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. For a long moment, they gazed at each other, her mouth opening gradually as if she intended to say something. The manly roar of Milo’s pickup receded into the distance, leaving a blessed silence.
    The air between them seemed to thicken, grow heavy. Dixie’s luminous eyes stared up him with an expression of utter helplessness, which at the moment, was exactly the way Kyle felt,