Read Online I Want to Hold Your Hand by Marie Force - Free Book Online

of body work. No one did bodies the way Skeeter did, which was one of many reasons Nolan tolerated his flakiness. When he decided to show up, that is.
    “Had to help Dude with the puppies.”
    The best part of Skeeter’s flakiness was the wide variety of excuses he always arrived with. “What puppies?”
    “Her bitch Maisy had a litter couple weeks ago. Them pups are driving poor Dude crazy with their nonstop yippin’ and crappin’.”
    “What breed is Maisy again?”
    Skeeter snorted out a laugh. “Who the fuck knows?”
    “Take me to see the puppies.” The words were out of his mouth before he took the time to think about what he was saying.
    “Right now?”
    “Yeah. Now.”
    “As long as you ain’t gonna blame me if the work don’t get done.”
    “Now, Skeeter, when have I ever blamed you for not getting your work done?”
    “ Shit ,” Skeeter said with a low chuckle as he spat out a stream of chewing tobacco into the parking lot. “When doncha blame me?”
    Chuckling, Nolan wiped the grease off his hands, closed the main garage doors, switched the office phone over to the answering service and locked up. When he emerged into the parking lot, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Skeeter sitting in the passenger seat of his truck. He was miserly when it came to gas, hoarding the free gas Nolan gave him once in a while.
    Nolan drove through town, over the one-lane covered bridge and past the huge red barn on Hells Peak Road where Hannah and her siblings had grown up. The sight of the barn spurred the memory of her parents catching them sleeping together on the sofa that morning. So embarrassing . Nolan hoped Mr. and Mrs. Abbott didn’t think less of him, because that would truly suck. He’d always loved them and their family had given him a respite in the storm of his childhood. He would hate to lose their respect.
    “Whatcha want with puppies anyhow?” Skeeter asked as Nolan navigated the twists and turns on the way to the home of Gertrude “Dude” Danforth, Skeeter’s so-called girlfriend.
    “A friend of mine recently lost an older dog, and she might be in the market for a puppy at some point.”
    “A friend, huh? Would this so-called friend be related in any way to Hannah Guthrie?”
    Damn if the question didn’t make Nolan want to fidget. He resisted the urge and shrugged in reply to the question. “Maybe.”
    “Heard she lost old Homer yesterday.”
    “Yeah.”
    “He was Caleb’s dog, right?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “That’s gonna be tough on Hannah.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “You’re sweet on that girl, ain’tcha?”
    Nolan released a gruff laugh. Sweet on her. That was putting it mildly. “Something like that.”
    Skeeter grunted in reply, but didn’t pursue the matter any further. For that, Nolan was grateful as he pulled into the long dirt driveway that led to Dude’s place. The rusty wagon wheel that held up her mailbox was the only indication that anyone lived in this remote corner of Butler, and Nolan drove slowly as one never knew what creatures they’d find patrolling Dude’s property.
    People in town called her Snow White because of her eclectic collection of “pets,” which ranged from a bombastic rooster to a domesticated raccoon to coyotes that used to run wild until Dude took them in and made them part of the family. Some believed Dude was responsible for converting Fred the Moose from a wild animal to the somewhat civilized fellow he was now. The Snow White nickname was particularly amusing once you got a load of Dude, who stood well over six feet tall and at least two feet wide. Nolan had never seen her in anything other than denim overalls, flannel shirts, shitkicker boots and a huge straw hat. Since she was never without the hat, people speculated as to whether or not she slept in it.
    Nolan would’ve asked Skeeter if that was true, except for the idea of Skeeter sleeping with Dude wasn’t something he wanted to think about, so he kept his curiosity to himself. He