A Creed in Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

characteristic of him. “The band used it, mostly,” he admitted. “I traveled by plane.”
    “Right,” Steven said, amused. “More like a private jet, I think.”
    Brad shrugged again and looked away for a moment, the grin still tugging at the corner of his mouth.
    Steven had never met a famous person before—not one from the entertainment world, anyway—and he was pleasantly surprised by this one. O’Ballivan was not only a down-to-earth guy, he was generous. He clearly loved his wife and kids more than he’d ever loved bright lights and ticket sales.
    “I appreciate this,” Steven said.
    “Just being neighborly,” Brad answered, his tone easy. No big deal, was the unspoken part of the message. Heturned, paused beside the door to scrawl a couple of numbers onto the small blackboard above the desk. “Let us know if you need anything,” he said.
    Steven nodded. “Thanks,” he replied.
    He stood in the doorway and watched as Meg and Brad drove away in their truck. Matt was so excited, he was practically bouncing off the walls.
    “This is amazing, ” he marveled. “Can I have the room with the bunk beds?”
    With a chuckle, Steven turned to look down at Matt. The kid’s face was joy-polished; his eyes glowed with excitement.
    “Sure,” Steven replied.
    “Can we go back to town and get a dog now that we don’t have to live in a tent while our house gets fixed up?” The question itself was luminous, like the boy.
    Steven felt like a heartless bastard, but he had to refuse. “Probably not a good idea, Tex,” he said gently. “This bus is borrowed, remember? And it’s pretty darn fancy, too. A dog might do some damage, and that would not be cool.”
    Matt’s face worked as he processed Steven’s response. “Even if we were really, really careful to pick a really, really good dog?”
    “ Good has nothing to do with it, Bud,” Steven said, sitting down on the leather-upholstered bench that doubled as a couch so he’d be at eye level with the child. “Dogs are dogs. They do what they do, at least until they’ve been trained.”
    Matt blinked. Behind that little forehead, with its faint sprinkling of freckles, the cogs were turning, big-time. He finally turned slightly and inclined his head toward the blackboard over the desk. “Maybe you couldcall Brad and Meg,” he ventured reasonably. “You could ask them if they’d mind. If we had a dog, I mean.”
    “Tex—”
    “I’d clean up any messes,” Matt hastened to promise. He seemed to be holding his breath.
    Steven sighed. Got out his cell phone. “You’re the one who wants to get the dog now instead of later,” he said. “So you can do the asking.”
    Matt beamed, nodded. “Okay,” he said, practically crowing the word.
    Steven keyed in one of the numbers Brad had written on the board, the one with a C beside it in parenthesis. When it started to ring, he handed the device to Matt.
    “Hello?” he said, after a couple of moments. “It’s Matt Creed calling. Is this Mr. O’Ballivan?”
    The timbre of the responding voice was male, though Steven couldn’t make out the words.
    “My new dad says we can go to the animal shelter in town and adopt a dog if it’s all right with you,” Matt chimed in next. Inwardly, Steven groaned. My new dad says…
    The boy listened for a few more seconds, nodding rapidly. “If my dog makes any messes,” he finished manfully, throwing his small shoulders back and raising his chin as he spoke, “I promise to clean them up.”
    Brad said something in response, after which Matt said thank you and then goodbye and finally snapped the phone shut, held it out to Steven with an air of there-you-go.
    Steven accepted the phone, dropped it into his shirt pocket, and ran a hand through his hair. “Well?” he asked, though it was pretty obvious what Brad’s answer must have been.
    “It’s okay to get a dog,” Matt announced, all but jumping up and down with excitement by then. “Let’s go.” He