Read Online Whenever You Come Around by Robin Lee Hatcher - Free Book Online Page B

trout. Buck’s senior photo was next to that one. He looked the way she remembered him best—handsome, self-confident, and full of youthful exuberance. Next to it was one of Buck on horseback, brown cowboy hat shading his face. A string of packhorses followed behind him, and tall pines framed both sides of the trail. The final photograph was an eight-by-ten of his parents on their wedding day. Where were they now? she wondered. Had someone told her and she’d forgotten? Obviously they weren’t in Kings Meadow or they would have been the ones looking after their son.
    The telephone rang, shattering the silence that had filled the living room.
    Buck grabbed the handset. “Hello . . . Oh no. Sorry to hear that . . . I understand. Can’t be helped . . . Don’t worry about it. I’ll find somebody . . . No, don’t bother. Really. It’s all good . . . Okay. Talk to you later.” He ended the call and glanced toward Charity. “My friend’s got a sick kid and can’t come feed the horses tonight. I’ll have to call around to find somebody else to do it.”
    The way he said it revealed his intense dislike for asking for help. She empathized. “I can do it,” she said as she stepped away from the bookcase.
    “Oh, no. That’s asking too much.”
    “You didn’t ask, Buck. I offered.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I’m sure. I like horses. Always have. You’ll just have to tell me what’s on the menu for them.” She stood. “But we get to eat first because our dinner is about to come out of the oven.”
    “You won’t have to tell me twice,” he said, reaching for the handlebar of the scooter.
    Charity went into the kitchen, arriving at the stove as the timer buzzed. In no time at all she had their meal on the table. Buck asked if it was all right for him to bless the food. That surprised her. She didn’t remember him being much of a churchgoer back in high school. Then again, she hadn’t been much of one once she started college. Only recently had she begun to look for a church to attend.
    He’s changed. So have I. At least a little .
    After the prayer, Buck stabbed the salmon with the fork in his left hand. Fortunately, no knife was required. He brought the fish to his mouth, closed his eyes as he chewed and swallowed, then released a satisfied, “Mmmmm.”
    The pleasure she felt in that moment was all out of proportion for what the sound deserved, but it stayed with her for the remainder of the evening. Through dinner. Through feeding the horses. Through washing the dishes. Through going home, checking and answering her e-mail, watching a movie, washing her face and brushing her teeth, and getting into bed. And that night, for the first time since her arrival in Kings Meadow, her sleep was undisturbed by bad dreams.

Chapter 7
    O VER THE NEXT WEEK , C HARITY SPENT LONG HOURS at her computer, writing hard on the new novel. Buck didn’t require a lot of her time. His brother and friends had taken over the job of fixing him breakfast and warming up something for his dinner, so she had no excuse to break away from her work. Sometimes she wished she did, for she still didn’t feel that special connection with her story.
    Finally, she decided to call her editor in New York.
    “Bridget Steele.”
    “Good morning, Bridget. It’s Charity Anderson.”
    “Hello, Charity. How are you?”
    “Fine, thanks.”
    “Are you still staying at your parents’ home in the mountains like you thought you would?”
    “Yes. I’ll be here all summer.”
    “Remodeling coming along okay on your house?”
    Charity nodded as she answered, “Yes.”
    “That’s good. So tell me: how’s the book coming?”
    Charity had known that would be the next question. The voice in her head screamed for her to lie, but she didn’t. “Not as well as I’d like. That’s why I called. Maybe I can’t write a romance.”
    There was silence on the other end of the line. Long enough to make Charity’s pulse hum with dread.
    But finally,