Catch a Falling Star Read Online Free PDF Page B

“C’mon. I’ll show you what I’m working on now.”             
    Justine grabbed her cane. She found herself needing it more than usual. Billy was in his home surroundings, and she’d never seen him more relaxed. Even with her around. But worry deepened in his eyes when he looked at Maddie. Yes, she didn’t envy him and his brother keeping an eye on a fifteen-year-old. She remembered how she was at the same age.
    Billy unlocked the simple wooden door. “This is the first building on this property, built by Ira Hamilton, one of the first settlers in Starlight back in the 1870s. He had a ranch here since it was so close to the Santa Fe Railroad. After a family feud, the property was subdivided and sold off in parcels. Dad snapped this up as soon as he could after we moved here.”
    The limestone glowed in the June sunlight, and once inside the low building, Justine blinked at the sudden darkness. The scent of leather and oil tickled her nose.
    Billy flipped the light switch. Strips of leather covered a long wooden work table.  A rack of tools, stamps, and a set of hammers were tucked close to the wall.
    Some kind of stretching tool clamped a boot upside down.. Heels and soles of different sizes fit into little cubbies next to the stretcher.
    The upper part of the boot sported the Texas flag flanked by a pair of pistols and a yellow rose at the bottom.
    “Wow, those are gorgeous.” Justine looked at the uppers more closely. “It’s amazing, all the detail you can include with these.”
    “It’s taken me a couple of months to get this far on them,” Billy said. “They’ll be done by the Fourth of July, though, for the customer.”
    “How much does a pair like this run?”
    “Close to eight hundred dollars.”
    “They’re for the governor!” blurted Maddie.
    Billy gave his sister a sharp look. “I’m not supposed to talk about them. Not yet.”
    “Ha,” said Justine. “I’m not about to call the networks or anything. These are truly magnificent, Billy.”
    He reached for the boot uppers and pulled them off the stretcher. “Just getting a hand on how they’re going to wrap when I get the soles on. I still have to finish this part up here around the edge. Stars, he wants, around the tops.”
    “Can. . . Can I put a few on?” Justine asked. She sounded almost like Maddie did, pleading. But the governor would wear those boots. . . . She’d met the man once, when she was shooting a film near Austin and the producer had finagled a cameo role for him.
    “Might as well.” Billy gestured to a stool. “Take a seat and I’ll show you what I do.”
    “Wow, Ms. Campbell, Billy never lets me sit and work.”
    “That’s because you’re a royal pain, Missy,” Billy said. But he winked at his sister. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” He settled onto the stool beside her, their knees touching. 
    Up until now, she’d ridden next to Billy Tucker in his truck, hobbled next to him across parking lots. But this was a lot closer. Close enough that Tyler would turn green as a lizard if he saw them. If the dolt would ever call her back .
    Billy picked up the boot top and held it so she could see the edge. His eyes reminded her of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate was good for people. She wasn’t sure what his eyes would do for her health, though.
    “So, um. . .” Billy said. A horn honked outside, and Maddie darted out the door.
    “Be right back.” Maddie’s words drifted into the workshop.
                 
    #             
     
    He was sitting so close to Justine Campbell that he could see tiny freckles on her nose, close enough to see flecks of green around her blue irises. What had he been thinking, inviting her to see his workshop?
    Oh, yeah. He was thinking about getting her out of his hair as soon as possible. But short as his actual hair might be, she’d been tangled in his thoughts since that rainy night last week. He gripped the nearest mallet.
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