Long Road Home Read Online Free PDF

thing for you and Cooper,” she said quickly, not wanting to throw cold water on what had turned out to be a true love match.
    “It was obvious, when you had dinner at the Bar M your first night in town, that the chemistry between you and Cooper was off the charts,” Mitzi told Rachel. “But the fire that gutted the New Chance’s kitchen turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because while you were busy rebuilding, you had time to get to know each other before things got physical.”
    “True. There was also Scott to consider,” Rachel said of her nine-year-old son. “Which kept me from jumping Cooper’s bones every chance I got.”
    “Kids are the ultimate birth control,” Heather agreed. “Which is why, thanks to you taking ours, Tom and I are going to be able to spend our anniversary in Ashland. Tom even surprised me with tickets to the Shakespearean Theater to see Twelfth Night .”
    “I’m happy to take the kids,” Rachel said. “Scott’s excited about the sleepover, and fortunately, since business has taken off, allowing me to hire both a sous chef and a manager last month, I’m finally able to take some evenings off.” Her lips curved in a slow, secretive smile. “And maybe start working on making a baby brother or sister for Scott.”
    And didn’t that comment sidetrack everyone for the next ten minutes?
    Finally, everyone settled down with their wine and brownies, which won unanimous approval. Then, contrary to what Austin’s father had suggested, Jenna opened up the discussion of this month’s book.
    The conversation flowed easily as they shared insights and opinions about the fictional Gray and Addie’s winding road to finding each other again.
    “Do you think it’s truly that easy?” Austin asked what she’d been asking herself for the past week since staying up way too late finishing the novel. “Would just saying, ‘Here I am,’ actually get a man to notice a woman? In that way?”
    “Sweetie,” Heather said, “if you’re talking about Sawyer, he hasn’t stopped noticing you since grade school, and from the way he kept watching the door all during the party, I’d bet nothing’s changed.”
    Austin wasn’t so sure Heather wasn’t engaging in hopeful thinking. She certainly hadn’t gotten that vibe from Sawyer when they’d checked out the pasture. In fact, he’d seemed more interested in Desperado than her. “I called to say we couldn’t make it.”
    “That didn’t seem to stop him from acting like a bird dog on the lookout for a covey of quail.” Heather reached out and snagged a second brownie from the tray Rachel had set in the middle of the coffee table. “The problem, the way I see it, is neither one of you have ever actually done anything about what’s obvious to everyone else in River’s Bend.”
    Since not every woman in the room knew about the kiss, Austin chose not to share that debacle. “It’s scary,” she admitted.
    “Hell, hon, love is always terrifying,” Mitzi said. “Like I told Rachel when she and Cooper were doing their dance around the situation, I sure as hell wasn’t looking to fall in love when I walked into the New Chance that day.
    “But then I saw Dan and my heart went all pitty-pat”—she patted the front of a pearl-decorated peony-pink spring sweater—“and I knew I’d finally met my soul mate. Which didn’t mean that things fell right into place. Oh, no.” She wagged a finger lacquered in a shiny hot pink polish. “It took me a while, not to mention a lot of pillow talking, to convince him to take another ride on the marriage-go-round.”
    As one of the people who hadn’t believed the citified blond real estate agent who’d come to town in search of ranch property for a wealthy client would ever stick around, Austin envied Mitzi’s confidence. Especially since her own self-esteem had taken a major dent after her husband texted that he’d fallen in love with another woman.
    One, it turned out, who could better