Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1) by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online

swimming, that you could hit if you pushed off hard enough.
    Somehow, they had managed to hit that deep spot every time. Never once had they landed short and broken a leg in the shallows. How they’d done that
    was beyond her, because it looked almost impossible from her grown-up perspective. They just hadn’t known any better, she guessed.
    She was glad Robert wouldn’t be coming tonight. She wanted one more night alone here. And this night was perfect.
    The sun had gone down, and the sky was starting to come alive with stars, a handful at a time. As she sat there on top of the boulder, hugging her knees to
    her chest, a lone bullfrog croaked once or twice. And then another one joined in, and then some crickets started chirping along. It got noisier as it got
    darker. And when the fireflies came out, it was purely magical.
    She reached into her coat pocket for the leather pouch she’d been carrying with her ever since she’d left the city. There was a plastic bag
    inside, and inside that, were Kendra’s ashes. Holding the leather in her palms, she said, “We were supposed to do this together. We were gonna
    come down here and pool our funds and buy our home back. We vowed it when they took us away and Daddy went to prison. Remember? I don’t know how you
    could leave me like you did.”
    Kendra had left her long before she’d died. They’d left each other, really, gone their separate ways, fallen out of touch. Kiley hadn’t
    heard from her in a year, when she got the news of her sister’s death along with her ashes, by mail.
    “I’m gonna live a good life, Kendra. The kind of life we’d have had if Mom had lived. And I’m gonna do it for both of us.”
    She looked at the pouch, thought about opening it, tearing the plastic and pouring her sister’s ashes out right there in the place where they’d
    been happiest. But something stopped her. Doubt, that’s what it was. Doubt that this whole thing was gonna work out for her. Doubt she’d get to
    stay. Doubt that she even had it in her to make an honest living and not have to con people to get by. If it all fell apart and she had to go, it would be
    easier if she could take Kendra with her.
    Nodding, she tucked the pouch back into her jacket pocket. Maybe she’d just give it a few days or even a few weeks. Make sure this dream come true
    was for real, and sustainable, before she committed. After all, her plans had not included a partner. A co-owner.
    “There you are.”
    She turned and saw Rob McIntyre standing in the wildflowers a few feet away. She hadn’t heard him coming. The river was far enough from the house
    that she hadn’t even heard his truck arrive. “Oh, hey. I thought you were waiting for tomorrow.”
    “I planned to.” He lowered his head, smiled. “I guess I was too excited to wait. Same for you?”
    “Yeah.” She slid down off the boulder, landed in the grass, started toward him. “You been in the house, already?” She thought about
    her clothes and sleeping bag and all her other stuff, still in the upstairs bedroom just as she’d left them this morning. She’d expected to
    have more time to get her things out of there.
    “Yeah, briefly, looking for you. I didn’t get far though. My uh...my family is here. Part of it anyway.”
    “Your family?” His great big, giant-sized family? She lifted her eyebrows.
    “Apparently there’s a tradition of swarming new homes with buckets and mops and pizza and beer.”
    Her lips pulled into an involuntary smile. “Pizza and beer sounds good.” She sighed, took his arm, turned him around, and started back across
    the meadow. “They’re at the house now?”
    “Vidalia and two of the girls are. Kara and Selene. I’m told more are on their way.”
    She’d been thinking she’d have to tell him tomorrow that she had nowhere to stay. She hadn’t quite perfected the story as to why, or what
    had happened to her former living arrangements. His family being there was actually good. It would