Read Online Summer Winds by Austin, Andrews & Austin - Free Book Online

fewer friends, yet when someone was in trouble, he showed up. That was one of the measures of a person’s worth out on the prairie. When you were down, who showed up.
    “What’s this?” I pushed several paper towels off the table into a wastebasket.
    “Treated Bo Waters’s hunting dog awhile ago. Got tore up in some underwater barbed wire.”
    He picked up a used needle next to the debris and ran water over it as if he were going to use it again.
    Cash looked downright green. “You’re not using that on me.”
    She drew back in the face of the contaminated needle as I reassured her under my breath that everything was fine.
    “No?” Doc looked playful for the first time. “Bo’s old hound doesn’t have any communicable diseases. Probably cleaner than some of the boys you’ve dated.” He opened the fridge and took out a tiny see-through jar of liquid and acted like he was going to use the dog’s needle to extract serum, then at the last minute tossed the old syringe in the trash and took a clean package out of the drawer.
    “She’s a squeamish one.” He eyed me and I shook my head, having seen this ruse before.
    I reached for the vial of serum, reading the label on it to make sure he was giving her the right thing, then handed it back to him.
    “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” I asked the question Doc should have been asking.
    Cash shook her head no.
    He grabbed her arm and pushed up her sleeve and, before she could say anything else, jabbed the needle in roughly, then swabbed it off with an alcohol rub. “There you go.”
    “Thanks, Doc, what do we owe you?” I asked.
    “You owe me the courtesy of not calling me late on a Friday.
    If your workers want to do something stupid to themselves, keep it within hours.” He didn’t look up and I slid a twenty-dollar bill onto the counter just before Cash and I headed out the door. As we climbed into the truck, she rooted around in her jeans pocket for money to pay me back and I refused.
    “Think of it as ranchman’s comp. Your arm hurt?”
    “Yeah. And you took me to a witch doctor! He treats dogs on the table where he treats patients.”
    “But they’re clean dogs,” I joked. “Want to stop at the Dairy Queen?” I turned the truck around and headed in the opposite direction, outside town. Cash sagged back in her seat, her eyes half closed.
    I pulled into a spot in front of the giant swirl of ice cream that formed the top of the building and turned off the ignition. “You stay. I’ll get it.”
    “How do you know what I want?” Her brow furrowed.
    “I’ll get what I think you should have.”
    I bounced out of the truck and up to the window. The young boy behind the counter was Donnetta’s chubby nephew, Spiff, and he greeted me jovially.
    “Coming right up,” he said as he made the cones. “That your new gal?” He nodded toward the car.
    “My ranch hand.”
    “Driving her around buying her dip cones. I want to work your ranch.”
    “Gave everybody in town the chance but no takers,” I said to the soft teenager who wouldn’t lift a bale of hay if it were lying on top of his grandma.
    “She dating anybody?” He goose-necked to get a better look into the vehicle.
    “Too old for you, Spiffo.”
    “I like older women.”
    “I’ll let her know that, and if she’s interested I’m sure she’ll call you, but I think your cell-phone minutes are safe.”
    I paid him and headed back to the truck, handing Cash her cone through the window. She was smiling now.
    “I heard what he said.”
    “Small gene pool constantly in search of new material.” I sat back in the seat, not starting the truck, and bit into the dark chocolate tip and down into the cold ice cream. “What?” I stopped mid-chew, seeing Cash watching me.
    “Very telling about the way people eat.” Something about her made me grin all the time and I felt foolish. “You bite right into the cold center.”
    I shrugged at her comment and spoke between bites.