Read Online The Bull Rider's Homecoming by Jeannie Watt - Free Book Online Page A

repair the tornado-damaged outbuildings. He’d also offered more than once to help her financially, but Annie didn’t feel right taking his money. She’d made her choices in life, just as he’d made his. Not that she was unhappy with her life...she just wished she had more earning power—but that was what happened when one dropped out of college due to an unplanned and difficult pregnancy. Earning power decreased and she didn’t see a whole lot she could do about it until the twins were older. In the meantime, she’d be thankful that she had a job she loved, which paid the bills—as long as there were no unexpected ones—a place to live and healthy girls.
    She’d also hope that the heating system held out until payday so that she could hire a bona fide repair guy instead of doing it herself.
    Annie crossed the basement thinking that the furnace didn’t seem any happier to see her than she was to see it. The rattling sound intensified as she came to a stop in front of it.
    â€œThree weeks, okay? I’ll turn you on only when it’s absolutely necessary to warm the house. Just...hang on, okay? Because if you don’t, then I have no choice but to try to fix you myself and I don’t want to do that.”
    After the pep talk she turned off the power, turned it on again and the furnace began to hum as if it were brand-new. Annie suspected it was faking her out and that in a matter of an hour or two it would once again make the noise. As it turned out, she barely made it upstairs before the hum turned into a rattle. She crossed the room to the thermostat and turned it off with a snap of her wrist. The rattling stopped and the house was quiet—for two whole seconds until a squeal erupted from one of the bedrooms. A happy squeal, which again reminded Annie to count her blessings.
    She went back to the cupcake batter she’d been in the middle of making when she’d received the furnace alert and lost herself in the soothing routine of baking. She’d just opened the oven door to pop in the first batch when Kristen appeared in the kitchen doorway.
    â€œMom?”
    Annie looked over her shoulder before sliding the pan into the oven. “Yes?”
    â€œIt’s getting cold in here.”
    â€œPut on a sweatshirt. We’re giving the furnace a rest.”
    Her girls exchanged looks. “For how long?”
    â€œUntil ice forms.”
    The twins’ eyes widened—with excitement rather than alarm. Annie laughed, thinking that she needed to take a more childlike approach to the adventures of life. Ice-skating rink in the kitchen? Not a problem. She crossed the room to wrap an arm around each girl, hugging them close. “Kidding. But we’re only going to run the furnace a little bit because of the noise. I’ll get the heaters out of the shop, but we can’t run them full-time because they—”
    â€œEat dollars?” Kristen asked.
    Annie hated that the girls had heard her say that enough that they could repeat it, but facts were facts. The heaters did eat dollars. “Pretty much.”
    â€œThat’s okay, Mama. We’re tough.”
    â€œGirls can be tougher than guys, you know,” Kristen added. “Uncle Grady told us we were way tougher than him when he had to take the slivers out of our feet. He said that he had to get an’thesia to have his slivers taken out!”
    Annie smiled as she got to her feet. A bit of an exaggeration, but she did appreciate his encouraging the girls’ toughness factor.
    â€œWhy don’t you two find your boots and put them away so that we can find them easily next Sunday?” The day of the big trail ride. The no-complications trail ride. Oh, yeah. Annie had the feeling that she was standing at the top of a slippery slope and getting a little too close to the edge. But was she backing up an inch or two in the name of safety and sanity? She was not.
    â€œWe