Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood Read Free Book Online

a sign announcing that she was crossing Parson’s Creek. The creek didn’t have a drop of water in it, and as she clattered across, she read a warning posted on the railing that the bridge was impassable during high water. Not much of a concern today, she thought. The creek was as dried up as the town appeared to be.
    On the other side of the bridge, a wooden sign painted forest green with bold white letters greeted her: WELCOME TO SERENITY, GRADY COUNTY, TEXAS. POPULATION 1,968 . In smaller, hand-painted letters were the words, “New home of the Grady County High School Bulldogs.”
    The farther east she drove, the larger the homes became. She pulled to a stop at a corner, heard children laughing and shouting, and turned toward the sound. On her left was a neighborhood swimming pool. Finally, she thought. She didn’t feel like she was in a graveyard anymore. There were people and noise. Women were sunbathing while their children played in the pool, and the life-guard, baking under the sweltering sun, sat on his perch half asleep.
    The transformation after crossing the bridge from one county to another was astonishing. On this side of town, people watered their lawns. The area was clean, the houses well kept, the streets and sidewalks new. There were actual signs of commerce with shops open on either side of the main thoroughfare. On the left, a beauty shop, a hardware store, and an insurance office, and on the right, a bar and an antiques shop. At the end of the block, Jaffee’s Bistro had tables and chairs set outside under a green-and-white awning, but Jordan couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to sit outside in this heat.
    The sign on the door said “Open.” Her priorities immediately shifted. Air-conditioning sounded like heaven at the moment, and so did a nice cold drink. She’d find a mechanic and a motel later.
    She parked the car, grabbed her purse and her satchel with her laptop, and went inside. The blast of cold air made her knees weak. It was blissful.
    A woman sitting at one of the tables rolling silverware into napkins looked up at the sound of the door opening.
    “Lunch hour’s over and dinner isn’t being served yet. I can do you up a nice tall glass of iced tea if you’d like.”
    “Yes, thank you. That would be lovely,” Jordan replied.
    The ladies’ room was around a corner. After she washed her hands and face and ran a comb through her hair, she felt human again.
    There were ten or twelve tables with checkered cloths and matching cushions on the chairs. She chose a table in the corner. She could see out the window, but the sun wasn’t in her face.
    The waitress returned a minute later with a frosty glass of iced tea, and Jordan asked her if she could borrow a phone book.
    “What are you looking for, honey?” the waitress asked. “Maybe I can help.”
    “I need to find a mechanic,” she explained. “And a clean motel.”
    “That’s easy enough. There are only two mechanics in town, and one of them is closed until next week. The other one is Lloyd’s Garage, and that’s just a couple of blocks from here. He’s kind of difficult to deal with, but he’ll get the job done. I’ll get you the phone book, and you can look up his number.”
    While she waited, Jordan pulled out her laptop and set it up on the table. She’d made some notes the night before and a list of questions to ask the professor, and she thought she’d look them over again.
    The waitress brought her a thin phone book open to the page with the listing for Lloyd’s Garage.
    “I went ahead and called my friend Amelia Ann,” she said. “She runs the Home Away from Home Motel, and she’s getting a room ready for you right now.”
    “That’s very nice of you,” Jordan said.
    “It’s a lovely place. Amelia Ann’s husband died several years ago and didn’t leave her anything, not one dime of life insurance, so Amelia Ann and her daughter, Candy, moved into the motel and started managing it. They’ve made it real