Taking the Bull by the Horns, a Cascade Texas novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

his eyes.
    “Thanks for the beer.”
    “Where you going?”
    “I’m more tired than I thought. I... Thank you.” She turned and wove through tables to where Melissa sat alone. Laurie and Jerri were dancing. She unlooped her purse from the back of her chair, made her excuses and bolted from the Longhorn Saloon.

Chapter Four
     
     
    Ah, yes, another exciting Friday afternoon grocery shopping at the Handy Andy with her grandmother. Gertrude Cates insisted on the weekly outing to beat the Saturday crowds. Lavender hadn’t really minded until today. She wanted to be anywhere but in public.
    Jerri, Melissa and Laurie had been waiting for her when she got to school this morning and she’d cursed herself for not giving into the desire to take a personal day. But that would have been the coward’s way out and she’d used up her allotment of coward last night.
    “Where’d you run off to last night?” Jerri had asked.
    “You looked completely freaked out,” Melissa added. “What did he do to you?”
    Nothing. She hadn’t given him time to do anything. She’d berated herself all night, consoling herself that she’d never see him again.
    Lavender had turned away and unlocked her classroom door. “I hadn’t realized how tired I was.”
    “You didn’t look tired. You looked upset. Like he’d upset you.”
    “I just felt ridiculous,” Lavender admitted, though saying it aloud made her sick. She didn’t know these women well enough to know if they’d hold her confession against her, but clearly they weren’t going to leave her alone till she said something. “He’s so young and he bought me a beer and was flirting with me. I felt like he was making fun of me.”
    “Why would he do that?” Laurie asked, her tone shrill with concern.
    “It was just a feeling.”
    Melissa shook her head. “He asked me to dance and didn’t buy me a beer. He asked me about you.”
    Lavender reddened. God only knew what Melissa told him, and she didn’t want to ask. She didn’t want to read anything into his curiosity. She was never going to see him again, remember? And if she wondered what he saw in her, didn’t they? She’d never been so glad to hear the bell signaling the start of classes.
    She lost her grandmother in the store, which was a trick since it was only tens aisles. She was pretty sure she’d left her back in the jelly aisle trying to decide if she wanted to buy a new flavor or stick with the same strawberry preserves she always bought. She’d get the preserves. Gertrude Cates was the one member of her family who acted with any kind of predictability.
    Lavender turned her cart back around, her list done, and her heart jolted when she saw a lean cowboy surrounded by several older women, including her grandmother.
    Gertrude’s voice carried down the aisle as she gestured to Taylor’s hand basket. “What kind of meal do you think you’re eating there? That’s nothing for a growing boy to eat—no nutrition at all.”
    Despite her better judgment, Lavender crept closer to see what products had earned Gertrude’s ire. Macaroni and cheese, beanie weenies—she didn’t even know they made those anymore—Pop Tarts. She was right. He was a child.
    “Now, ma’am, I’m fully grown.” Taylor’s deep voice carried, too, and hit a chord in Lavender that had her vibrating with an energy she didn’t want to name.
    “You’ll hardly stay healthy enough eating like that. What you need is a good home cooked meal,” one of Gertrude’s friends, Corrinna, chided.
    “It’s been awhile since I’ve had one of those,” he admitted.
    “Gertrude is a very good cook,” another friend, Fiona, chimed in. “And she’s training her granddaughter to do the same. You can’t find many young women who like to cook these days.”
    Old busybody. Where was she going with this?
    “Granddaughter, hm?” And as if he’d known she’d been standing behind him the whole time, Taylor turned and smiled, not even bothering to