The Three Miss Margarets Read Online Free PDF Page A

questions? What was it about him that made her keep answering them?
    “We were scared shitless. So Denny got stoned and drove our pickup into an embankment on I-Eighty-five. We were lucky we weren’t killed. The good news was, that time when his family put Denny into rehab, it took. He’s been clean ever since.” The bad news was, the newly careful twelve-step-alumnus Denny never talked about leaving town again. Now he did his music in the Sportsman’s Grill, which happened to be his daddy’s bar.
    Josh threw her a glance. “Where did that leave you?”
    “Here.”
    “You couldn’t go to Nashville without him?”
    “Music was Denny’s dream, not mine.”
    “What’s yours?”
    “I don’t dream. I just wanted to get the hell out of town.”
    She leaned back and closed her eyes to show him the conversation was over. The SUV drove smooth. Not like her ancient Camaro, which registered every bump in the road. This was like riding in a steel womb. She was starting to drift. Maybe if he’d just keep his mouth shut she could get her balloon back in the air before they got to her place.
    “Before you pass out on me, where are we going?” asked the irritating voice next to her.
    “I’m not gonna pass out. I was resting my eyes.”
    “Uh-huh. Where are we going?”
    “Stay on this road. It’ll split down either side of a chunk of land that’s shaped like a piece of pie.” For a second, she thought he gave her a strange look. But he didn’t say anything, so she figured she imagined it. “There will be a sign saying GARRISON NATURE PRESERVE with arrows pointing to the left and right. The piece of pie sits in the middle of the nature preserve. When you see the sign, bear right. You with me so far?”
    “Yeah. I got a wedge of land shaped like a piece of pie on my left and whole lot of nature on my right. What does a nature preserve look like, by the way?”
    “Trees. And there’s lots of wildlife. You’ll pass two houses on your left. The first one will be behind a big stone fence and the gate will say GARRISON COTTAGE big enough for you to see it in the dark. The second one will look like Scarlett O’Hara should come running down the front steps, and there will be a lot of magnolias in front of it.”
    “You live in Tara?”
    “I live across the highway from Tara. In the nature preserve.”
    “With the wildlife.”
    “I find it soothing.”
    “Okay.”
    “About five hundred feet past Tara, you’ll see a dirt road that crosses the highway. Turn right and go into the Nature Preserve. My house is in there. There will now be a short quiz.”
    “Pass Tara, turn on the opposite side of the highway.”
    “Just make sure you don’t turn on the Tara side and go into the wedge.”
    “Got it. Why are you living in a nature preserve? Isn’t the whole point to preserve the place for nature?”
    She sighed. The world was full of men who didn’t want to communicate. Why the hell did she have to wind up with one who did? “It’s a long story.”
    “We seem to have a lot of time.”
    “Not long enough. This is the South. You need a map, a scorecard, and a family Bible to follow one of our stories.”
    He seemed to be satisfied with that. So just to prove she could rest her eyes for a few minutes and not fall asleep, she closed them again. This time Josh Wolf Eyes didn’t disturb her.
             
    P EGGY LEANED AGAINST THE WALL and watched Maggie and Li’l Bit move around the cabin bedroom. They looked oddly graceful, like dancers in a sad ballet. For a month the room had been equipped as a makeshift hospital room, waiting for the moment when it would be needed. That moment had come, and they had done what they promised they would do. Now her two friends seemed beautiful and almost otherworldly as each brought the night to a close in her own way. Maggie finished the last prayer of her rosary, crossed herself, and bent over the figure on the bed. “Rest now, dear one,” she murmured, so softly it