The Trouble with Texas Cowboys Read Online Free PDF Page B

worry. We’ll hold down the fort until you are all better. I’ve done a little bartending in my day. It wasn’t an operation like this, but I know how to fill beer pitchers and make a few fancy drinks.”
    â€œAnd I’ll take care of you. When you get released from the hospital, you can come to my house, and we’ll do just fine,” Gladys said.
    â€œThe store?” Jill whispered.
    â€œI’ll take care of it in the morning while you do the ranch work, and then in the afternoons you can relieve me, just until Polly gets better. Can’t leave her all day by herself,” Gladys said.
    â€œThat’s doable,” Jill said.
    They could hear the ambulance long before two big strapping men brought in a stretcher. They loaded her up, and Gladys glanced at Jill.
    â€œGo with her,” Jill said. “Call us when you need a ride home or want us to bring anything to you. Keep us posted and, Aunt Gladys, don’t worry. Sawyer’s got the bar, and I’ve got the store. The ranchin’ part we might not do just like you do, but we’ll get it done.”
    Gladys started out the door and turned around to say, “My cows are used to breakfast at eight. Don’t go spoiling them by giving it to them at six. You treat Fiddle Creek like it was your ranch and do whatever you see that needs done.”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” Sawyer said.

Chapter 3
    A cold north wind whipped down the rolling hills of North Texas, creating music in the bare tree limbs as it rattled through them. After living right next to the Gulf of Mexico the past two years, in the balmy salt air and year-round pleasant weather, Jill could scarcely believe she was in the same state.
    â€œIt’s as different as the tropics and the North Pole,” she mumbled on her way from Gladys’s truck to the general store. According to the old wooden sign swinging between the two porch posts, the official name was The Burnt Boot General Store. But local folks referred to it as the store , just like they called The Burnt Boot Bar and Grill, the bar or else Polly’s place.
    Jill hung her coat on the rack behind the counter and wandered through the store. It was good to see that some things never changed. The shelves were full and free of dust. The meat counter looked like something out of an old black-and-white movie, but the glass was sparkling clean, showing a display of pork chops, bacon, hamburger, steaks, and big thick roasts.
    Her phone rang, and she grabbed for it. Gladys said they’d done preliminary work and decided that Polly would need surgery. They were taking her in right then, and with any luck, they would release her in a couple of days. Verdie, their other lifelong friend, had already come to the hospital and would bring Gladys home when the surgery was done, and Polly was settled into a private room.
    Gladys sighed. “I’m sorry to unload all this on you, kiddo. Did Sawyer stay with you?”
    â€œYou just worry about making Aunt Polly happy,” she said. “And Sawyer isn’t here. It’s so boring, we sure don’t need two of us to take care of the place. He’s out making sure the fences are mended from yesterday and that things are quiet on the ranch. I’ll be fine. It’s just a little store, Aunt Gladys, but I promise if there’s a problem, I’ll call you.”
    â€œJust ring up sales and take their money or put their charge tickets in the little box under the counter. They’re listed alphabetically. Best way to learn to swim is to jump headfirst in the water,” Gladys said.
    â€œI’m not so sure I know about the meat sales, though,” Jill said.
    â€œThere’s a scale and a calculator back there. Prices are on the front of the glass as well as taped to the wall by the scale. I made up enough last evening to last all day, and the shelves are stocked and dusted. If you get hungry, make yourself a sandwich.