Acting Happy (Texas Desires #2) by Rylie Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

jacket. It’s getting colder.”
    “You want me to go?” she asked, keeping her hands up until her father was back on safe ground.
    Those irritating primitive defense mechanisms spiked at the mere suggestion she put herself in front of those men again. She had no desire to see any of them, especially the one who paid so much money for those chairs. An intense anxiety hit hard. She’d already prepared her excuse for missing work in the morning in order to stay far away when they came to retrieve their merchandise, and now her parents wanted her to deliver them personally.
    “Well, I think you should. Ma says they were taken with you and paid a lot of money. You should thank ’em again,” her father said, moving to the side of the truck, throwing a rope across the back to tie the chairs down. Her mother grabbed the rope on her side and they worked together to secure the chairs while Kenzie just stared at the both of them. What the heck was going on? They were supposed to be inside that house, watching Wheel of Fortune, eating whatever artery-clogging food was designated for Friday night’s dinner.
    “Get your jacket, Kenzie. We’re almost ready to go. I don’t like being out much past dark,” her father encouraged again. Out of excuses, she did what they asked, walked inside the house still completely confused. She grabbed her jacket, made a pit stop by the bathroom, and stopped short at what she saw in the mirror. She looked a mess. She’d worked twelve hours today. Her hair was tousled, her face had a smudge, and the little bit of makeup she wore was now underneath her eyes.
    Quickly, she pulled the hair tie from her hair and turned on the flat iron, surprised when she didn’t smell dust burning after how long it had been since she’d used the thing. She raked a brush through the long stands and prayed there might be a wife or two at the house with the guys tonight. Wasn’t that how those things normally played out? Innocent flirting until the wife was around? Yet something unknown drove her to clean herself up because she certainly didn’t want their advances.
    She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and used the straightener over those pieces of hair that bent where the tie had held. The curls she added were just because the flat iron was on.
    “Babe, we need to get goin’!” her mom hollered from the back door.
    “I’m coming,” she called out and quickly added eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. She couldn’t have been inside for any longer than ten minutes, but by the time she reached the back door, night was already settling in. She quickly zipped up her hoodie and went out to the truck. “Why don’t I drive?”
    “You can on the way home,” he father said. Her parents were already loaded inside the single cab pickup, her mom sitting close to her dad, and she stalled. How long had it been since he’d driven at night?
    “What if they aren’t there?” she asked at the driver’s side window.
    “Then we’ll leave ’em on the porch.”
    “What if it’s the wrong house?” she asked, telling herself it was more her father trying to drive than the nerves of going over there.
    “Then we’ll leave our number. Get in, honey.” Her father rolled up the window on her, and she reluctantly went around the hood of the truck, piling in next to her mom.
    “I’m glad you wore your hair down. You look so pretty this way,” her mom said, smiling brightly.
    “Thanks, Mom. I can’t believe you’re missing TV tonight.”
    Her father hit the ditch at the end of the driveway, bouncing them all over the front seat. With both hands on the dashboard, she tried again, “You sure you don’t want to me drive?”
    “Brace yourself,” he teased. Her mom laughed too. It wasn’t so funny to her, and she would have sworn she lost years off her life on that little ten-minute trek down the road.
     
    ~~~
     
    Cole pulled a few cold Bud Lights from the refrigerator and began tossing them around the kitchen as