Read Online Storm Warning by Caisey Quinn, Elizabeth Lee - Free Book Online Page B

with jugs of sweet tea and fresh baked cookies.”
    “However you want to remember it.” Penny Cooper laughed before turning her attention to her oldest boy. “So, Brantley,” she said, calling him by his first name. His mama was just about the only one who called him that. Well, her and the teachers at school when he was clowning around in class. “How is my future daughter-in-law?”
    “Doubt that’s gonna happen,” Coop mumbled under his breath. His parents had teased him mercilessly about liking Ella Jane for as long as he could remember. “She and I are friends. That’s it.”
    “Okay, buddy,” his dad condescended with a smirk. “Whatever you say.”
    Coop huffed out a loud breath. “Let’s just say I’m not her favorite person right now.”
    “She’ll get over it,” his mom said. “I always forgave your father for acting like a jackass.”
    “Who said I was acting like a jackass?” Coop sat up, grabbing a throw pillow off the couch and folding his arms around it.
    “You are your father’s son.”
    Coop and his dad exchanged smiles as they shook their heads. They really couldn’t disagree with her. She was the only woman in the house and knew her four boys inside, outside, and upside down. Speaking of knowing things, Coop remembered there was something he wanted to know about.
    He decided it was as good a time as any to relay the message George had sent that afternoon. “Hey, Dad, George Harwell said that you need to stop in and see him at the station. Something about a missed payment on the farm account.”
    “Oh, yeah.” Jim straightened up in his chair, obviously surprised by what Coop had just said. “Yeah, I’ll, er… I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”
    He watched his parents trade a look. A look that told him they were hiding something. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing you need to worry about,” his mother said, her tone patronizing him even though he knew that probably wasn’t her intention.
    “I’m seventeen. I can handle whatever it is. Is the farm in trouble?” For months Coop had been trying to get his parents to give him more responsibility. He’d been on this farm since birth. In fact, he was pretty certain that any past lives he had lived had been as a farmer. It was in his blood and he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Well, maybe racing dirt bikes. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
    “You’re right,” Jim agreed. “Here’s the deal. Costs have gone up, income has not. We’re just a little behind on a few things. We’ll get caught up when the crops come out this fall.”
    “No need to worry though,” his mother continued, sugarcoating the truth until it shined. Coop knew she just couldn’t turn off her protectiveness.
    “What can I do?” he asked. “I can get a part-time job or cut back on racing.” He offered up two ideas that he really didn’t want to do, but his duty as a son outweighed his desires as a teenager.
    “You can get on up to bed and let us worry about it,” his mother replied. He should have known his mother would say that. She was always harping on Jim to give Coop a break when it came to work. “Let him be a boy. He’s got the rest of his life to work,” she would say when he wanted to take a day off to race or “jack around” as his dad called it.
    Coop nodded as he headed toward the stairs. “Well just let me know if there is anything I can do. Kyle’s gone most of the week and Ella Jane isn’t speaking to me at the moment.” His parents both offered him heartfelt smiles as he went up to bed. “I got nothin’ but time.”
    After taking a shower, he had one more thing he had to do before tossing and turning all night over the crap day he’d had. So he picked up his cell phone.
    I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.
    He typed it out and hit send, hoping he’d get a reply. Maybe she’s over it. By the time he finally fell asleep, two hours later, it was abundantly clear that she was definitely not over