Read Online Dress Me in Wildflowers by Trish Milburn - Free Book Online Page A

hell” attitude.
    “Do you need someone to drive you home?” The people Farrin worked with could say whatever they wanted — she was too darn nice for her own good. Okay, so perhaps there was the tiniest bit of morbid curiosity about what kind of house Mommy and Daddy Carlisle had no doubt built for their precious, perfect daughter. She could live in a house as big as the county and it wouldn’t change the fact that it was still in Oak Valley.
    Or was it? Honestly, Farrin had no idea where Janie lived, what her current last name was, if she had a family, if she worked. Not that it mattered.
    “I hate to ask, but I think I do,” Janie said.
    “I’ll see if someone can drive you home.”
    Janie’s eyes darted to Kurt and Tammie standing several yards away. “Can you do it?”
    “Why?”
    “One person seeing me like this is bad enough.”
    “Still more concerned with appearances than anything, I see.” Farrin’s compassion hardened.
    “Please.”
    The look of pleading wrapped in embarrassment in Janie’s eyes softened Farrin a little. She would have never thought it possible to forget who and what Janie was, even for a second. Fine, she’d earn herself some more cosmic kudos. She’d be out of here tomorrow and back to her normal existence, normal people, normal problems.
    She turned and walked toward Tammie and Kurt. From the look on Tammie’s face, Farrin knew she’d identified Janie. “Before you say anything, yes I know who it is. But she’s really sick, and all I’m doing is being a Good Samaritan and driving her home.”
    “You don’t have to be so snappy,” Tammie said, the hurt tone back in her voice again.
    Damn it, why was everything she touched lately turning to crap?
    “I’m sorry. This is awkward and I’m too tired to rehash old grievances.”
    “Fine.” The word was clipped, cool.
    “I’m sorry to inconvenience you, but can you follow me to her house?”
    Farrin stared at Tammie, and gradually her friend’s eyes reflected more of the kind person she was underneath the hurt. The friend who had been her shield in high school.
    “Kurt can drive her.”
    Farrin almost sighed in relief. Evidently, Tammie wasn’t bone deep mad at her if she was still trying to protect her from Janie. “It’s okay. I’ll do it.”
    Maybe Tammie had mellowed a bit with marriage and kids, but once upon a time she would have left Janie out in the parking lot alone even if she was puking her guts out and had turned three shades of green. All in defense of her best friend. And Farrin would never forget it.
    As Farrin slid into the driver’s seat of Janie’s car, she felt as if she’d morphed into a confusing mixture of her past and present selves, each part vying to overtake the other.
    “Where do you live?”
    “Mountainview Apartments.”
    Farrin turned to stare at Janie’s tired profile. Janie’s eyes were closed, so she didn’t notice. What Farrin wanted to say was, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” but instead she started the car and drove out of the parking lot. She glanced up to see Kurt pull out behind her.
    Thank God, the trip across town required less time than it took Starbucks to brew her coffee each morning. There wasn’t much traffic in Oak Valley during the day. At night, it was nonexistent. The only signs of life were the people whose idea of fun was sitting on their truck tailgates on the court square watching the same people drive by on their continuous cruising routes between the Big Al’s Auto Parts and the IGA grocery. God, how had she ever done that and thought it would somehow make her cool? All it had been was a waste of gasoline and time.
    As they rolled by the darkened courthouse and closed Main Street shops, she wondered if the kids sitting on the square were the children of some of her former classmates. Generation after generation of cruisers and loiterers. How sad was that? But really, what were you supposed to do in a town that rolled up the streets at 5