All of Me by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

rang.
    “Hey,” she told Mutt. “This could be it. Your long-lost family.” She flipped open her phone. “Hello?”
    “Jillian Samuels?”
    “Yes?” She hadn’t put her name on the craigslist ad. The call couldn’t be about the dog.
    “This is Hamilton Green. I’m Blake Townsend’s attorney,” the man said.
    At the mention of Blake’s name, she curled her fingers tighter around the phone. “Yes?”
    “I need to speak with you in person.”
    “What’s this about?”
    “Mr. Townsend has left you an inheritance and a sacred responsibility. May I have my secretary pencil you in for a three-thirty
     appointment on Tuesday?”
    “H OW WAS THE SWEAT LODGE? ” Ridley asked Tuck as they drove to the construction site on the other side of the mountain the following morning. They were
     both working as contract labor—Ridley hired as an electrician, Tuck as a carpenter for a new spec house going up.
    Ridley was behind the wheel of his SUV. Tuck was ensconced in the passenger seat wishing he’d driven alone. But he’d woken
     up in the sweat lodge that morning, and Ridley had just assumed they’d carpool to the job site.
    Tuck shrugged.
    “Did you have a vision?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “You sure? Because sometimes vision quests can be pretty intense.”
    “Mule deer in the bar ditch.” Tuck pointed not so much to warn his brother-in-law just in case the animal decided to dart
     into the road as deer often did in that part of the country, but to distract him from the conversation. That damn vision was
     imprinted on his brain. It made him feel horny and guilty as hell. He was afraid of his own subconscious, and the last thing
     he wanted was to have Ridley Red Deer analyze it.
    His brother-in-law slowed.
    The doe raised her head as they motored past, and she stared Tuck squarely in the eyes. The deer looked accusatory, as if
     she knew all about those shameful sweat lodge happenings.
    You’re losing your marbles. Snap out of it.
    “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Ridley asked. “It might help to powwow.”
    “I’m good, thanks.”
    “That bad?”
    “We’re not talking about this.”
    “So you
did
have a vision?”
    “That constitutes talking.”
    “Gotcha. No talking about the vision quest.”
    “Thank you.”
    A long moment of silence stretched out. Tuck let out a relieved breath. Ridley was gonna drop it. He stared out the window,
     studying the fall scenery. This time of year, most of the leaves were gone. The snow on the ground was light, but there would
     soon be more.
    “So how’d you end up in the lake last night?” Ridley ventured. Apparently, he just wasn’t going to let it go.
    “My sister put you up to this conversation, didn’t she?” Tuck asked.
    “How’d you know?”
    “You’re not usually so intrusive.”
    “Come on, dude. Throw me a bone. You know Evie. She’ll gnaw my ear off with questions if I don’t bring her something.”
    “Sort of like what you’re doing to me?”
    “So you can see how annoying it is.”
    “She’s my sister. I know how annoying it can be.”
    “About the lake …”
    Tuck sighed. “I was feeling sorry for myself. Took a boat ride on the second anniversary of my wife’s death. That’s not so
     crazy.”
    “In the middle of the night? In Colorado? In October?”
    “Hey, at least it wasn’t February.”
    “Valid point. Although if it had been February, you could have just skated out on the lake.”
    Ridley shut up again, but this time Tuck was afraid to count on the silence.
Note to self: Find another carpool buddy.
    “Your sister loves you. She worries.”
    “I know.”
    “We both care about you.”
    “I know that too.”
    “There is life after Aimee.”
    That one he wasn’t so sure about it. He might be breathing, but it sure as hell wasn’t much of a life. Walking around with
     only a small shred of heart left inside him.
    “You should start dating again.”
    Tuck folded his arms over his