Dragonfly Creek Read Online Free PDF Page B

tremulous smile back. “No kidding.”
    “Huh. Think Perry County can stand having all us Campbells here at once?”
    She squeezed him with a suddenness that made him squeak. “I’ve missed you.”
    Amelia peeked around the corner of the dining room. “Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to come eat? I held dinner.”
    Ben scowled and tousled her hair. “I told you to not do that, Pip.”
    “Well, I didn’t do it just for you. Mom isn’t back from John and Zanny’s yet. The pasta’s on the verge of turning to mush.”
    “So she doesn’t know yet?” Ben asked Emma.
    “No.” Her trepidation was plain to see.
    He tightened his arm around her shoulders in a supportive squeeze. “It’ll be okay. How’d Dad take it?”
    “Okay. He’s at the barn. Needed a few minutes. I understand it’s been a rough couple of weeks.”
    “You could say that,” Ben agreed as they sat down at the table. “Yeah, you could definitely say that.”
     

 
    Chapter Six

     
    B y late April, grass-cutting season had started in earnest, and Ben was working ten- and twelve-hour days. When a late-afternoon shower rained the crew out one Wednesday, he was grateful for the reprieve. After an extra-long shower, he pulled on some old comfortable jeans, then ambled into the living room. His apartment faced out over the parking lot and the river beyond, and he opened the window to let in some fresh air. The rain was still falling, though it had slacked off a bit, and the building’s overhang kept Ben mostly dry. When a sheriff’s department cruiser parked next to his truck and his cousin Rick got out, Ben whistled down at him.
    “What are you doing, Trouble?”
    “Coming to see if you’re busy tonight.”
    Ben pretended to primp. “Well, I was gonna wash my hair.”
    Rick shot him a rude gesture, and Ben laughed.
    “Thought we might tag-team John, get him out of the house,” his cousin called up. “He gets off work in about an hour. Interested?”
    “Absolutely. Let me grab a shirt. You coming up or want me to come down?”
    “How long you gonna take to get a shirt on?”
    “Two minutes.”
    “I’ll wait.”
    He actually took closer to five minutes, but he didn’t figure Rick minded, given the way he was flirting with one of Ben’s neighbors on the back stoop.
    “Hey, Mary.”
    “Ben. You and your cousin should come by the bar tonight. Have one on me.” Mary was a waitress at the Bent Wheel bar up the street, and she’d been eyeing Ben since he moved in.
    “We might do that,” he told her. He was feeling a little raw, and the idea of spending some simple time with a pretty face and a curvy body was appealing. Rick smacked his arm lightly.
    “Let’s get John before he heads home. Mary, nice to see you again.”
    When the woman gave Rick a once-over that was just a little too familiar, Ben realized there was more to the story than met the eye. He stopped Rick when they got to Ben’s truck.
    “You and Mary…?”
    “We’ve spent some time together. Why? You interested?”
    “Nah. Not really. I didn’t realize you two were involved.”
    To his surprise, Rick’s face flushed a little. “We’re just… we’re not really involved. After I broke up with Jennie, Mary kind of… We’re just friends.”
    Ben clapped his shoulder. “I understand. I’ll follow you up to John’s. Otherwise, people might think you’re chasing me.”
    “Yeah, you look like some dangerous criminal. Tell you what, I need to get cleaned up before we go out. Why don’t you stop and ask him, since it’s on the way, and you guys just come on over to the house if he’s interested. We’ll take his car.”
    Following Rick’s cruiser up Highway 15, Ben let his thoughts stray to the place he’d tried to keep them from all day. He’d worked on a new client’s yard that morning, and when Ben had seen whose house it was, he’d almost quit on the spot before Kyle told him why they were there.
    “Old Mrs. Brewer passed