Ever After at Sweetheart Ranch Read Online Free PDF

room along one side for research books and index cards and, on the other end, her laptop. She swiveled her office chair easily down the length, trying to stare at the bright screen of her computer, but the scene just wouldn’t come to life, the characters wouldn’t effortlessly talk to each other. As usual when the words were slow, she gazed into the distance. The desk overlooked a wide window and a view of her garden, with its mix of annuals, perennials, and shrubs. Above that rose the majesty of the Elk Mountains, still occasionally spotted with snow up above the tree line, like someone had licked ice cream and let drops fall where they might.
    But the sun had set a while back. Against the gray darkness, the dark mountains rose up like jagged teeth to take a bite of the first stars.
    But she was still thinking about ice cream, which led her back to Will. He’d caught her to keep her from falling, then he’d taken a step back like he’d been trying to get away. She slid her hand down her face, grimacing, wondering what he’d seen in her expression. She’d been careful to school her features, worried about her new sensitivity to him.
    And there was his conversation with the Ackers, and how it sounded like he’d been visiting their farm all these years. It kind of surprised her, and her memories fell back in time. She and Brittany had known each other from the beginning of school, although they’d never been truly close friends. In a small town, you graduated with the same ­people you started kindergarten with, shared lunches, and played school pranks using farm animals or manure. They’d gone to parties in the woods, and once, Will had made a swimming pool with a waterproof tarp in the back of his pickup. Brittany had been at his side in the water, had drunk beer with him by firelight, and disappeared into the woods for make-­out sessions for which Lyndsay had envied her.
    But her envy had disappeared the stormy night Brittany had driven off the road and slammed into a tree in her little car. She’d died instantly, but the grief had seemed to drown the whole school for many weeks. Will had walked around as if in a daze. That summer, Lyndsay hadn’t even seen him at the ice cream stand or on the ball fields. He’d thrown himself into ranch work, Tony had said.
    But thankfully, that fall he’d been his old self, enjoying his senior year. He must have had a girlfriend eventually, but Lyndsay couldn’t remember who the first one was. Not that it mattered. They’d all been young and ready to face the world again.
    But Will hadn’t forgotten Brittany’s parents, and that touched something deep inside Lyndsay’s heart, surprising her in a way she thought he never could. After all, she’d been telling herself for years that she knew everything about him. But obviously she didn’t. She rather liked knowing he could be loyal to a memory.
    She’d been thinking about Will too much, ever since she’d realized that her subconscious had played a little joke, basing her hero, Cody, on Will. She’d assumed these resurrected feelings would fade away eventually, but after a week, they still lingered. Her dating life was in a rut, she was about to publish a book based on a guy she’d never even dated—­so what was she waiting for? Maybe it was finally time to date Will Sweet and get him out of her system.
    She knew the drill: he dated and dumped and everyone moved on without too many complications. After all, he never let a relationship get far enough for anyone to be hurt. So it was her turn—­and it wasn’t as if Tony could object. She was thirty-­three years old. His friendship with Will could take the “strain.”
    She exhaled a long breath, feeling better at having made a decision. She’d ask Will out, and he’d say yes, because surely he was running out of women to date who didn’t live two towns