On Lone Star Trail by Amanda Cabot Read Free Book Online Page B

Gillian had no idea what she wanted to do with her life now that she couldn’t play the piano. All she knew was that she needed something to fill the void.
    As she’d told Kate, music had been the most important thing in Gillian’s life from the time she was five and a bored nanny had set her on the bench of the family’s Steinway grand. That had been the beginning. The end had come on a Manhattan sidewalk last September, making her future an enigma.
    Gillian knew she wasn’t the only one with problems. The man in the passenger’s seat had his share. As the car tires crunched on the gravel drive, TJ stared across the road at the RVs settled into Firefly Valley, his expression pensive, his shoulders as tense as they’d been last night when they’d approached the RV settlement.
    Gillian didn’t know what was bothering him, but something was, and her instincts told her this was different from the sorrow she’d seen in his eyes. This wasn’t sorrow or pain; it was discomfort. Though it might be connected to TJ’s cynical comment after they’d seen Brianna and Todd kissing last night, Gillian doubted that, since she’d noticed the discomfort before they’d met the teens. It almost seemed as if the sight of the motor homes had triggered it both last night and this morning.
    For a second Gillian was tempted to scoff at the idea of an inanimate object causing fear until she remembered her reaction to TJ’s motorcycle. Fears weren’t rational. She knew that as well as anyone. She also knew that talking about them didn’talways help, and so she decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed TJ’s uneasiness.
    â€œSo you don’t think I’d make a good chauffeur,” she said, hoping the silly speculation would distract him.
    â€œI don’t imagine there’s a lot of call for chauffeurs in Dupree, anyway.” TJ’s voice held more than a note of amusement, telling Gillian he’d deliberately repressed whatever melancholy thoughts Firefly Valley generated. That was good. That was very good.
    â€œThat may be true now,” she said, keeping her own voice light, “but you never can tell what will happen once Drew Carroll’s web design company opens. Dupree could turn into a new boomtown.” And pigs would fly. Though Kate had said that the town council was optimistic about the city’s prospects, neither she nor Greg expected anything more than moderate growth, even with the addition of Greg’s former partner’s company.
    â€œAre you a cockeyed optimist?”
    Gillian turned to stare at TJ, startled by the question. “No, but the woman I’m going to visit is.” Kate’s grandmother Sally was both a self-confessed cockeyed optimist and a fan of South Pacific , and since Gillian had spent countless hours visiting Kate, she had more than a passing acquaintance with the songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
    Now happily married for the second time, Sally was a firm believer that every woman would have a “Some Enchanted Evening” moment when she met the man of her dreams. The best part of that was that Sally had never tried to push Gillian toward the altar. Thank goodness.
    â€œWhat about you?” Gillian asked TJ. “Are you an optimist, cockeyed or otherwise?”
    â€œMe?” He shook his head. “Why would a man who crashed his only form of transportation be optimistic?”
    There it was again, the cynicism that clung to TJ like mud to Gillian’s best suede shoes. She wouldn’t pry, she remindedherself. TJ’s expression left no doubt that he would not welcome meddling any more than she would welcome matchmaking. Besides, they’d be in Dupree in a minute. That was not enough time to start a serious discussion, and so Gillian said only, “Kate tells me Eric’s the best. He’ll have you back on the road in no time.”
    A grunt and a