Read Online Lois Greiman - [Hope Springs 02] by Home Fires - Free Book Online Page A

okay?”
    “Yeah.” He nodded. It was hard as hell to speak past the lump in his throat. His mother was right. He was weak. Weak and sentimental. He swallowed the lump.
    “Drive fast,” Sophie ordered.
    “If you have trouble, stick your hand between the slats on the left side,” Casie said. Her voice was tight with worry. “I’ll pull over as soon as I can.”
    “It’s like living in the dark ages,” Sophie said. “If you had a cell phone I could—”
    “Complain about my Neanderthal ways later,” Casie said. “You ready?”
    They both nodded. She closed the door. It swung on rusty hinges, groaning as if in pain. Inside, it seemed unreasonably dark. Puke rattled loudly when Casie turned the key. The first few crunching feet of gravel were as bumpy as a roller coaster. It was a little smoother on the road. Angel flipped her tail and cranked up her left hind leg. He put a hand on her neck. It was wet and cold with sweat. Forty-five minutes was an eternity, and he had no idea how they could make it that fast.
    Sophie moved around Angel’s tail and stepped up next to him.
    “I know you think I’m a bitch,” she said.
    Her words, pitched high to be heard over the sound of the wheels, surprised him. For a moment he tried to come up with a disclaimer, but seriously, she was a bitch. And although he didn’t exactly consider himself a social genius, he didn’t think now was exactly the right time to voice that opinion. He remained cautiously mute.
    “But I don’t care what you think. We’re going to have to work together on this.”
    He managed a nod. It was stupid hard to think when she was standing right next to him. He scowled, trying nevertheless.
    “I don’t like it any better than you do, you know.”
    He nodded again, not sure if it was called for.
    “Whatever,” she said then. “Let’s push her up against the side of the trailer. Then we can both support her on this side. Okay?”
    He blinked, tried to marshal his senses despite her proximity and managed to shake his head. “No.”
    “What?” She sounded dismissive and already angry. “Listen, if she goes down, we’ll never be able to—”
    “She’s my horse.”
    She snorted. “Like I’d even want her.”
    He felt his molars grind. “So I’ll be the one taking care of her.”
    “Well, that would be just awesome if you could, wouldn’t it? But since you can’t, I’m going to help out.”
    “That’s fine by me. Just so long as you do the helping out from over there,” he said and jerked his chin toward the back of the rumbling trailer.
    “Oh sure,” she said and hissed a laugh. “Because you’re the man? ”
    Her words seemed to stop his heart for a moment. Was it possible that she thought of him like that? he wondered, but he found his footing in a moment. “Because if something happens to you, your father’ll kill me dead.”
    “Are you kidding?” She snorted again. “My dad couldn’t care less if I—” She stopped herself.
    He scowled at her, wondering. What the hell was she thinking? Her father had probably never even raised his voice to her. Then again, maybe there were different forms of hate. Forms he didn’t understand. The idea made his gut cramp up.
    “Listen,” she said, breaking his line of thought. “Hercules wouldn’t be able to hold this horse up alone. So we’ll both stay on this side. If she starts to go down we’ll keep her tight between us and the wall.”
    “Sounds like an okay plan,” he said and shifted his eyes to her for a second. She glowed in the dark. Swear to God she did. “If we want to get dead fast.”
    She scowled at him. “You have a better idea?”
    Angel lifted a sharp forefoot and pawed with rapid-fire panic, nearly striking Sophie’s leg.
    Ty drew her lead up tight, lifting her head, doing his best to keep her from collapsing. “Yeah,” he said, heart in his throat. “If she goes down, we’ll just keep her down. Make sure she doesn’t roll. Make sure she doesn’t