Buckle Down by Melissa Ecker Read Free Book Online Page A

truck. Her dad kept his truck meticulous, which was nearly impossible
living out in the countryside. After she finished rinsing and drying the
outside, she pondered vacuuming the inside, but didn’t relish the idea of
dragging the shop vac from the garage and through the house since the garage
door still would not open.
    A truck pulled in behind her dad’s and kicked up a cloud of
dust.
    “Dammit, Luke. I just washed dad’s truck.”
    Her brother grinned. “Sorry, short stuff.”
    “I’m not short.”
    “Sure, whatever you say.” He moved closer and pulled her
into his arms. “I’m sorry about the other day. I was being an asshole, but I
worry about my baby sister.”
    Tess tried not to hug him back, but she couldn’t resist and
wrapped her arms around his torso. “Don’t let it happen again.”
    “Promise.” He released her and stepped back. “Nice job.
Wanna wash my truck now?”
    Tess stuck her tongue out at him. “No. But, hey, the garage
door won’t open. Can you take a look at it? I’d hate for dad to have to come
home and fix it right after his vacation.”
    “You’re home for a couple of weeks and already tearing the
house up.”
    “I didn’t break it.”
    “I’ll check it out.” Luke disappeared inside the house.
    Tess was wiping down the inside of her dad’s truck when the
garage door engaged and slid open.
    Luke walked out. “Didn’t check the breaker box, huh?”
    “Breaker box? You mean all this time, it was just a tripped
breaker switch?”
    He nodded. “Happens sometimes during the storms.”
    “I almost called a repairman out.”
    “Good thing your big brother looks out for you.”
    “Luke, you are both a blessing and a curse.”
    After he left, Tess opened a can of soup and sat at the
table with her laptop. She perused her email and dropped goldfish crackers into
her chicken noodle soup. Nothing interesting jumped out. A few jokes from her
roommate back in California and then a message from Dex:
     
    Hey T,
    How’s your summer? Kind of miss your smile. Give me a
call sometime.
    Love,
    D
     
    Tess sighed. Sometimes she missed Dex. They’d had fun
together. He had a wicked sense of humor, but could not keep his dick in his
pants and couldn’t tell the truth to save his own life. She hadn’t been able to
find anyone who was happy with just her. They all had to have someone else, even
Shane. She wondered if she would ever be enough for anyone. Her appetite wasn’t
great and she finished about half of her soup before giving up.
    She shut her laptop down and put her dishes away. She poured
a little bit of cat food into Gypsy’s bowl and went upstairs to get her purse. Despite
her misgivings, she needed to go see Tippi and spend some time with her. If she
ran into Shane or Phoebe, she’d just have to deal with it.
    The radio played country songs that all sounded the same,
like stories out of some teenage love confession magazine. There was the girl
with a broken heart who threw her engagement ring into the river and some
cowboy who was tired of playing the field and looking for a nice girl. Tess’ mind
was preoccupied with revenge fantasies of what she might say to Phoebe or Shane
or both if she happened upon them, especially if they were together. She
imagined turning her nose up at them and telling them they deserved each other.
    Of course, she wouldn’t do that. She’d be nice because
that’s who she was. Sweet Tess. She parked her truck in the empty lot. With the
big competition starting in a few days, she figured no one would be here.
They’d be off at the arena in Little Rock.
    Tucking her phone into her back pocket, she headed for Tippi’s
stall. The horse poked her nose out as if she heard Tess approaching. Tess
smiled and petted the mare’s head, rubbing the course hair between her ears.
“Hey, girlfriend. Miss me?”
    She saddled the horse and led her out to the pasture.
Climbing up, she held onto the reins and gave Tippi a gentle kick. The sun was
warm on