Read Online The Cowboy's Homecoming by Brenda Minton - Free Book Online

stay.”
    â€œBless your heart.” Vera stepped off the sidewalk. Her dark hair was shot through with gray and her skirt and blouse were not as crisp as usual. She walked up to the truck and leaned in the window. “Honey, you need to move the pews and make room for cots. Wyatt Johnson has quite a few in storage at the Community Church. They also have blankets and other emergency supplies. The Red Cross will be showing up, too.”
    Go Wyatt. Jeremy just smiled.
    Beth jumped into the conversation. “We’ll need flashlights and plenty of bottled water.”
    Vera patted her arm. “Already taken care of. Jason was through here earlier and he’s going to bring a tank of water and set it up at the church.”
    Jeremy accepted that the church wouldn’t turn itself into a shelter. But people in Dawson were prepared the way they were always prepared. People here knew that in the space of a heartbeat, life brought change. He’d experienced plenty of change in his own life.
    In the last few weeks he’d gone from being a guy with a plan to the guy everyone wanted to stop. And now this. He shook his head and he let it go because his plans being halted were nothing compared to people losing their homes.
    â€œI guess we should get on the road and see if there’s anything else we can do.” Jeremy shifted into gear. “See you later, Vera.”
    â€œOkay, but be careful. And don’t worry, I’ll bring up a big batch of barbecued pork for sandwiches to feed anyone that shows up this evening.”
    â€œThanks, Vera.” Beth reached through the window and gave Vera’s hand a squeeze.
    â€œDo you mind riding along with me while I check on my mom?” He shifted his truck into gear and peered to the left, at a field littered with debris, including what looked like it might have been part of someone’s roof.
    â€œOf course not.”
    He slowed as they neared emergency vehicles, lights flashing. A first responder in an oversize coat stepped out to stop them and then walked up to his window. Jeremy waited.
    â€œGot power lines down in the road, Jeremy. I can’t let you drive through.” The volunteer was young, maybe in his late teens. Jeremy wasn’t sure if he should know the kid or not. But the kid knew his name so he guessed he must.
    â€œI need to get to the nursing home to check on my mom.”
    â€œYeah, there isn’t a way to get there right now. Part of the Lawtons’ barn is in the road up here, and farther up there’s a big old tree across the road.”
    â€œThanks, I’ll try again this evening.”
    The volunteer in his gray jacket with neon stripes nodded. His safety helmet was loose, a little large on his head. The jacket swam around his thin frame. But in a small community, it took everyone to pitch in when disaster struck.
    Jeremy backed his truck into a drive that led to someone’s field. He pulled around and headed back to Dawson. Beth leaned back in her seat and sighed. He glanced her way.
    â€œI can drive you back to your place,” he offered, slowing as the truck got close to a side road that would lead them to the Bradshaw ranch.
    â€œI’m not in any hurry.”
    Yeah, neither was he. Even at thirty, he didn’t want to meet up with Buck Bradshaw. Beth’s dad was a big man and probably still willing to take care of business if anyone messed with his little girl.
    â€œRemember your sixteenth birthday?”
    She turned pink, so he knew she remembered.
    â€œI remember.”
    He’d kissed Beth on her sixteenth birthday. They’d been at a rodeo and her friends had teased her for smiling at him. Later he’d led her to the creek and held her close, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. He hadn’t been quite eighteen. She’d been so far out of his reach, it had been like grasping at a star.
    And her dad had caught them down there. Man, he’d cussed Jeremy a