Read Online Jailbird by Heather Huffman - Free Book Online Page A

but had some business to take care of this evening.
Hopefully he can have dinner with us tomorrow.”
    “Oh, I hope so. I’d love to meet him.”
    “I’d like that, too,” and surprisingly
enough, I meant that. It would assuredly complicate matters, but I
did want him to meet my friends.
    Manny came in, still sweating from a day
spent in his workshop, wrapping Anjelita in a big, stinky hug. She
squealed and shoved him away. I giggled until I realized he was
headed towards me. I shrieked and darted behind Charlie.
    “Don’t even think about hugging me, man,”
Charlie warned, forgetting for a moment that he was angry with
me.
    Anjelita laughed and called us to the table,
explaining that Mamá Torres was at bingo so there was no point in
waiting on her. After dinner, Manny gave us a tour of his workshop
at Anjelita’s insistence.
    “This is amazing,” I ran my hands along a
gleaming piece of woodwork. “I had no idea you could do this.”
    “Neither did I, and I’ve known you for
years,” Charlie gave a low whistle as he knelt to inspect a coffee
table.
    “We’ve been saving for the tools, and cutting
the wood on our days off. I work in here when it rains, since we
can’t work the fields anyway… it’s a slow process, but we’re
getting there.”
    “Isn’t it amazing?” Anjelita’s eyes shone
with pride.
    “He’s an artist,” I agreed. “Please let us
know if we can do anything to help. I mean me. Let me know. Charlie
can probably speak for himself. Damn... I mean dang. Sorry.”
    “I’d be happy to help, too,” Charlie offered,
his lip twitching in amusement. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Neena has
somewhere she wants me to take her still tonight, and I have an
early day tomorrow.”
    “No dandelions?” I tried not to look
hurt.
    “No dandelions,” he might have looked
apologetic.
    “Will you be staying with your brother
tonight?” Anjelita gave me a quick hug.
    “Probably,” truth was, I didn’t really
know.
    I borrowed Anjelita’s phone to call Conrad’s
cell to get his room number. The weight of Charlie’s gaze never
left me. I tried to make small talk on the way to the town’s only
motel. My attempts were met with stony silence. Apparently without
the buffer of Anjelita and Manny Torres, he was still super ticked
at me.
    There were so many words I wanted to say. But
they were all stopped short by the knowledge that I hadn’t even
known this man for a week. Even for the romantic girl I had been
ten years ago, that wasn’t long enough to trust someone. For the
woman I’d become, it was ludicrous to risk my life to reassure a
man I didn’t know.
    So maybe it was something other than sanity
that compelled me to walk around the car to Charlie’s door in the
motel parking lot. Perhaps some grand puppeteer was at the strings
when I opened his door, took him by the hand, and led him
reluctantly to the door.
    One thing I hadn’t counted on was the look on
Conrad’s face when he opened the door to his motel room. I almost
took a step forward to place myself between him and Charlie.
Instead, I took a deep breath and plunged ahead with
introductions.
    “Conrad, this is Charlie. Charlie this is
Conrad. Conrad, before we go any further, can you please tell
Charlie the exact nature of our relationship?”
    “I’m her brother,” Conrad took a step towards
Charlie, straightening to his full six-foot-four height. “What’s
the exact nature of your relationship with her?”
    “That’s a very good question,” it was
Charlie’s turn to scowl. “I’ll let you know if I figure it
out.”
    “If you hurt her, they’ll never find all of
the pieces of you,” Conrad growled low in his throat.
    “Is that really necessary?” I placed a hand
on his chest and shoved him back into the room.
    “I can assure you I have absolutely no
intention of hurting her,” Charlie moved in towards Conrad. I’m not
sure if I attributed his actions to bravery or stupidity. Sometimes
it was hard to tell