Read Online Kiss Me That Way: A Cottonbloom Novel by Laura Trentham - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Laura Trentham
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excellent overall physical condition meant he wouldn’t need many more sessions before he would be close to a hundred percent. Then what? No doubt he’d hightail away and probably flip Cottonbloom the bird on the way out of town. A full, exciting life awaited.
What would her life have been like in some other town in some other state? More fulfilling? Lonelier? It was a useless road to travel. She tried to put Cade Fournette out of her mind while she focused on her last client and failed.
* * *
Cade wandered back over the bridge to his side of Cottonbloom. Restlessness pervaded his mood, but not the kind that sent him climbing the nearest cliff. While he couldn’t qualify the feeling, without a doubt Monroe was the cause.
Bees darted through Sawyer’s wildflowers. Who would have thought Sawyer had such a wide sentimental streak. He snapped one of Sawyer’s flowers off, closed his eyes, and took a breath of the sweetness. The sorrow that welled up was tempered by a strange happiness. His mother lived on in the flowers and his father would live on in the old Dodge truck. Cade had moved the rusting hulk to Sawyer’s garage.
The internals were in better shape than the frame. There wasn’t much to those types of trucks. The mechanics were simple, and the truck was released before everything went computerized. Every spare moment he had would be spent on getting the truck running. It had become an obsession.
Rufus waved from the front of his restaurant. As Cade approached, Rufus wiped his hands on a stained formerly white apron, a gold-and-purple LSU emblem emblazoned across the front. Cade’s heart grew in his chest.
Rufus had been the first one to give him a job. It had paid next to nothing, but Rufus had let Cade take home leftovers. For a while the Fournettes had eaten well, but the need to bring in cash had forced Cade to find something else. Still, it hadn’t been uncommon for Rufus to press food into Cade’s hands whenever he had wandered by the restaurant in those first tough months.
“Heard you were back. Del keeps me up on the news. You’re a big shot, I hear.” Rufus’s voice sounded like it had been infused with river rock. All the years working his smoker had taken a toll.
Words failed Cade, so he threw an arm around the other man’s shoulders and gave him a half hug. Rufus was lean and a good five inches shorter than Cade. He had the skin of an aged outdoorsman, leathery and wrinkled. The comb-over he’d maintained a decade ago had been buzzed short, leaving the top of his head as bare and brown as an acorn.
“I’ve traveled the country sampling barbeque. None of it came close to yours. You got some fresh back there?” Cade dropped his arm and stepped back. The unusual show of emotion on his part was another surprise.
“Actually, I’m getting ready to pull my smoker around for our little party.”
“What little party is that?”
“Why, your welcome home party, of course.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Del called me this morning. It won’t be as big as one of our regular block parties, but we’ll get up to some fun, and I’ve got the food covered.” Rufus retreated back into the restaurant, and Cade followed. Nothing had changed, except the addition of more autographed pictures of LSU football players lining the walls.
“I don’t want a party.” A thread of desperation sharpened his words.
Rufus’s laugh was smoky and rough. “Exactly why no one told you about it. Tally was supposed to knock you out and drag you along if necessary. We can call it a get-together if it helps. A get-together with welcome home cupcakes.”
His frustration was offset by a warm fuzzy feeling and a shot of dark humor. A forced-home welcome party. Without being asked, he helped Rufus set up the smoker and carried out folding tables and chairs. By the time they were done, people were showing up.
Tally strolled down from the gym and gave him a hip bump. “Didn’t even put up a
What would her life have been like in some other town in some other state? More fulfilling? Lonelier? It was a useless road to travel. She tried to put Cade Fournette out of her mind while she focused on her last client and failed.
* * *
Cade wandered back over the bridge to his side of Cottonbloom. Restlessness pervaded his mood, but not the kind that sent him climbing the nearest cliff. While he couldn’t qualify the feeling, without a doubt Monroe was the cause.
Bees darted through Sawyer’s wildflowers. Who would have thought Sawyer had such a wide sentimental streak. He snapped one of Sawyer’s flowers off, closed his eyes, and took a breath of the sweetness. The sorrow that welled up was tempered by a strange happiness. His mother lived on in the flowers and his father would live on in the old Dodge truck. Cade had moved the rusting hulk to Sawyer’s garage.
The internals were in better shape than the frame. There wasn’t much to those types of trucks. The mechanics were simple, and the truck was released before everything went computerized. Every spare moment he had would be spent on getting the truck running. It had become an obsession.
Rufus waved from the front of his restaurant. As Cade approached, Rufus wiped his hands on a stained formerly white apron, a gold-and-purple LSU emblem emblazoned across the front. Cade’s heart grew in his chest.
Rufus had been the first one to give him a job. It had paid next to nothing, but Rufus had let Cade take home leftovers. For a while the Fournettes had eaten well, but the need to bring in cash had forced Cade to find something else. Still, it hadn’t been uncommon for Rufus to press food into Cade’s hands whenever he had wandered by the restaurant in those first tough months.
“Heard you were back. Del keeps me up on the news. You’re a big shot, I hear.” Rufus’s voice sounded like it had been infused with river rock. All the years working his smoker had taken a toll.
Words failed Cade, so he threw an arm around the other man’s shoulders and gave him a half hug. Rufus was lean and a good five inches shorter than Cade. He had the skin of an aged outdoorsman, leathery and wrinkled. The comb-over he’d maintained a decade ago had been buzzed short, leaving the top of his head as bare and brown as an acorn.
“I’ve traveled the country sampling barbeque. None of it came close to yours. You got some fresh back there?” Cade dropped his arm and stepped back. The unusual show of emotion on his part was another surprise.
“Actually, I’m getting ready to pull my smoker around for our little party.”
“What little party is that?”
“Why, your welcome home party, of course.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Del called me this morning. It won’t be as big as one of our regular block parties, but we’ll get up to some fun, and I’ve got the food covered.” Rufus retreated back into the restaurant, and Cade followed. Nothing had changed, except the addition of more autographed pictures of LSU football players lining the walls.
“I don’t want a party.” A thread of desperation sharpened his words.
Rufus’s laugh was smoky and rough. “Exactly why no one told you about it. Tally was supposed to knock you out and drag you along if necessary. We can call it a get-together if it helps. A get-together with welcome home cupcakes.”
His frustration was offset by a warm fuzzy feeling and a shot of dark humor. A forced-home welcome party. Without being asked, he helped Rufus set up the smoker and carried out folding tables and chairs. By the time they were done, people were showing up.
Tally strolled down from the gym and gave him a hip bump. “Didn’t even put up a
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