One Last Sunset (The Long Ranch Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

unforgiving alarm that wouldn’t allow her to hit the snooze. Not that her brother would let her anyway. Longs could party as hard as they wanted, but when mama called they were to rise. Whether they be child, spouse, or grandchild.
    Shoving Monty playfully off her bed, he slid to the floor with a thump. She sat up and cricked her neck to knock out the last of the hard night of dreams. Jesus, it’d been at least six months since she last thought of Sunny. Now he was back front and center. Who was she kidding? He was always front and center in her mind. Maybe it was time he could see her as something other than the little cousin of his best friend.
    After a quick shower and dressing, Mel found a piece of fruit so she could head out before her mother’s lecture.
    “You’ll never get a man if eat like that.”
    Lecture avoidance tactic one, failed. “What’s wrong with an apple,” she mumbled around it. When she bit down the crunch echoed down the hallway.
    “You need hips for a man to hold onto and never want to let go.”
    “Is this about me being a lesbian again?” she asked after swallowing her bite.
    “Where were you last night?”
    “In bed.”
    “Before that,” she snipped and crossed her arms.
    “Pickin’ up chicks.”
    “You better be talking about taking some farm animals out of an incubator.” Her mother crossed to her and fiddled with Mel’s hair. “Mel, there aren’t any eligible men in this area. You can’t expect to find a good man hanging out at some country western bar.”
    “You did,” she challenged.
    “I did not. I met your father in class.”
    “And you thought he was a hick not worth your time,” Mel teased back having heard the story a hundred times.
    “Fine, just go check on your MeMaw.” She sighed. “She’ll feed your skinny ass.”
    Mel drove past the main house and went to the other side of the ranch where the small retirement home had been built when Mel was little. She had no memory of when MeMaw and Papa lived in the main house. MeMaw never wanted to leave the ranch once she’d married Thomas Long. So, when Papa had to start using the walker, they’d built a three bedroom ranch style home.
    “Knock, knock,” Mel called as she entered through the screen door and into the kitchen where MeMaw was drinking her morning coffee.
    “Is that my grandbaby here to fix that damn shit eatin’ sooner?” The older MeMaw got, the saltier her language got around the grandkids.
    “What’s wrong with Lester?” she asked as she kneeled down and scratched the mutt’s ears. He was a traditional summertime dog. Medium sized, shaggy, some of this and some of that. She’d found him as a puppy three years ago and begged MeMaw to take it in. It had been an argument no grandparent could win against their only granddaughter. The rule for seventy years may have been no animals in the house, but Lester had become a constant companion that spent his days with his head resting either on MeMaw’s feet or lap, depending on where she was sitting.
    “I told you not to take his nature.”
    “MeMaw, his nature probably spawned twenty puppies that are now roaming wild around the farm.”
    “Snip the girls, not the boys. He’s always been a lazy shit eatin’ sooner, but now…” she shook her head in defeat. “I swear he stopped lifting his leg when he pees.”
    “He’s perfectly healthy.”
    “Yep and he’ll let the devil himself through that front door without so much as a sniff to his ass.”
    Mel shook her head and nuzzled it against Lester’s soft fur.
    “This dog would kill anyone he thought was a danger to you.”
    Her grandmother pishawed her as she waved her on and Mel stood up.
    “Your dog is perfectly fine,” she assured as she patted MeMaw on her shoulders. Sitting slightly humped over with a bed jacket and slippers, she brought her coffee cup to her dry lips then coughed spit back into the cup.
    “Tell your daddy he needs to check the pipes. I think they’re rusted