Read Online Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) by Sara Walter Ellwood - Free Book Online

life, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. He’d promised to help her with Jesse, but he went back to his high life, leaving her to work everything out again.
    Her heart ached over losing Jesse to her father, and the loss of her family in the crash. Helping the women from church pack away Sam and Frankie’s life had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. She was also scared her mother wasn’t being truthful about her level of pain. Momma had become withdrawn, her speech more slurred, and her appetite was nearly nonexistent.
    Closing the stall door, she met his skeptical expression and reiterated a little more forcefully, “Cash, I’m okay.”
    They left the barn together, and he looked around. “What do you have in mind for today?”
    “We need to get some hay out to the cattle across the creek. With this drought, they’re burning through that piss-ass poor grass over there.”
    He rubbed his hand over the back of his sunburned neck. “How much hay do we have?”
    Micki shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. They were so faded that the blue was washed almost white in places. “Enough for two weeks. After September thirtieth, feeding the stock will be the problem of the corporation.” She swallowed and looked toward the bunkhouse. Eddie Rodrigues loaded a warn La-Z-Boy onto the back of a pickup. He was the last of the full-time hands to move.
    “Where’s Eddie going?”
    She kicked at a clump of dry dirt with her boot. “He got a job on a ranch somewhere south of Dallas with his cousin.”
    He shook his head. “Eddie’s been here forever.”
    “Yeah, I know. He didn’t want to go but didn’t really have a choice. Even though the new owners offered jobs, none of the hands applied for them. We all hate these faceless corporations that are buying up ranches and farms and destroying them.”
    “Damn.” He cleared his throat and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. “Do we still have to vaccinate the cows?”
    God, why couldn’t things have stayed as they were? “The cattle have to be counted and vaccinated by Wednesday. Eddie and I did about a hundred fifty of them yesterday.”
    “That gives you less than a week to do the rest.” He paused and faced her. “We can start with those cows across the creek today.”
    She kicked at the dusty gravel in the driveway with the toe of her worn boot and slapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s go get something to eat first.” At the steps of the cottage, she turned to him, squinting into the bright morning sun to look up into his face. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how I would’ve survived if I would’ve had to take care of this place on my own.”
    Pink flared to life in the cheeks of his baby face, and his earlobes turned red. He looked at the ground and shrugged. “What are friends for if we don’t help each other out?”
    * * * *
    “Hello.” The soft and sleepy word sounded through Gabe’s cell and did all sorts of things to parts of him that had no business responding to anything Michaela Finn said.
    “Hi, Michaela.” He shifted in the leather seat of the BMW convertible and cleared his throat of the gruffness. He must have strained his voice singing the last song during the concert tonight.
    “About damned time you call me,” she snapped without preamble, and he smiled. Michaela always was a straight shooter.
    When the light changed, he flipped on his turn signal and maneuvered into the driveway of the hotel. The streets of downtown Cheyenne were virtually deserted.
    She yawned and didn’t bother hiding it from him. “It’s one thirty in the morning.”
    He winced and slowed the rental car as he pulled into the parking garage of the luxury hotel where he and the band were staying. “Sorry it’s so late. I just listened to my messages.”
    “Nice to see I rate in importance to you. I called at ten a.m. this morning.”
    “I’m sorry. I was busy all day. My concert