Arizona Heat Read Online Free PDF Page A

Josie. You’ll boil out there.”
    “Thanks Mr. Lewis, ” I say with a small smile.
    “Reagan is in the back, should be out soon. Want somethin ’ to drink?”
    “A glass of water would be great, ” I say, taking a seat at the dining room table. He walks around the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it from the water dispenser. He fixes a cup of coffee for himself and sits across from me.
    I notice a large portrait on the mantel in the living room. Mr. Lewis is much younger, with a classic nineties mustache, and an unfamiliar woman stands by his side. She has long black hair with the most beautiful brown eyes. Reagan is the spitting image of her and I know this woman must be his mother.
    “She’s gorgeous, ” I comment, staring intently at the photo.
    “Yes, Adriana, my wife. Reagan got all his looks from her, ” he says with a sad smile.
    “Where is she now? ” I ask.
    “With the good Lord, ” he says, abruptly getting up from the table.
    “I’m so sorry, ” I offer, unsure of what to say.
    “It’s okay. She left us long ago, while Reagan was small.”
    “Tell me about her.”
    “Really? ” he asks, turning to me with an astonished expression.
    “I want to know, ” I say, offering him an encouraging smile.
    “Well, where do I begin? ” He scratches his chin as he sits back down at the table. “Adriana was born in Mexico but her parents came to the states while she was still a baby so she grew up here. She and her parents were livin ’ with her grandma and we met one summer in town. I was sellin ’ knick knacks to the tourists and she was waitressing at the smokehouse across the street. I spent my afternoons watching her from the shop. She knew I was lookin ’ at her and one day she dropped her tray and came haulin ’ toward me. Do you know what she said?”
    I nod excitedly, pretty sure the question was rhetorical.
    “She said, ‘you gonna stare at me all day or are you gonna ask me out? ’ I knew right there that she was the love of my life. We went on a few dates and it took some convincin ’ but her mama warmed up to me. Not a year later we were married and Adriana was pregnant with Reagan.”
    “That’s so romantic.”
    “It was, ” he nods, happy to be talking about his late wife. “She got sick a few years after Reagan was born and–”
    “Ready? ” Our conversation is interrupted by Reagan appearing around the corner with a duffel bag and guitar case in hand. His hair is pushed out of his face, still wet from a shower, and his soulful eyes look up and down my physique. A wave of nervousness ripples through my spine as I start absentmindedly picking at the fibers of my white t-shirt.
    “Josie?”
    “Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m ready. ” My chair scrapes against the floor as I stand and head toward the front door. Mr. Lewis walks us to the car, taking Reagan’s bags and throwing them into the trunk.
    “What’s with all the luggage? ” I tease as Reagan slides into the passenger seat.
    “I don’t go anywhere without my guitar, ” he shrugs.
    “And the duffel? ” I ask, with a raised eyebrow.
    “Stuff, ” he mutters and turns toward the window. Okay. I guess that is it for talking. This should be fun. I wave goodbye to Mr. Lewis as I pull out onto the dirt road.
    “Soooooo, ” I say, unable to handle the silence for longer than a few minutes.
    “Yeah, ” he says, his voice monotone. Alrighty then. He might be a super good-looking rock star and this might be the closest I ever come to hanging out with a celebrity, but I don’t need to talk that bad. I turn the radio on and start flipping through the stations. It’s been a while since I’ ve lived in the area but I remember which stations are which. I flip from the rock station to the country station and stop when I hear the Rascal Flatts. Reagan scoffs and flips back to the rock station. I shoot him a glare and change it back to country. His hand reaches out to turn it again but I swat it