Small Town Girl by Patricia Rice Read Free Book Online

with, if you want." Jo pulled a crumpled paper out of her pocket. "But the words aren't all there yet. They need some work." The lines needed a lot of work. Kind of hard to do upbeat with a broken heart. Or even a numb one.
    Eddie took the paper from her and scanned her nearly illegible handwriting. "Kinky. You've got a way with words, girl." He passed the paper on to Slim and strummed a few chords. "Same key?"
    "Y'all know I can't compose worth diddly. You work it out. I gotta make a few calls." She left them with her foolish verses and ran back upstairs. She'd taught herself basic piano and guitar, but mostly she hung around the band because they were willing to play her ditties. She'd given up hope of singing her way out of here after the Atlanta humiliation. Then Randy had come along and played on her hunger for respect by claiming her songs and his singing could make them rich.
    Well, he'd taken himself to fame and fortune, although that probably had more to do with his good looks, charm, and sexy tenor than it did with her rhymes. If she scratched both singing and songwriting, she didn't have too many escape hatches left.
    Nights like this, she was so lonesome, she could cry, just like the song said.
     
    Chapter Five
     
    SPECIAL_IMAGE-Previous.gif-REPLACE_ME SPECIAL_IMAGE-Top.gif-REPLACE_ME SPECIAL_IMAGE-Next.gif-REPLACE_ME
     
    "George Bob, so help me, if you don't give Flint a good deal on that insurance, I'll tell your mama about the time you took me behind the shed and talked me out of my panties." Jo slid a doughnut and a coffee mug to her childhood nemesis.
    George was three years older than her twenty-eight, and he looked every year of it. Tall and thin, he'd never been bad looking, but his nondescript brown hair had grown thinner, and now that she looked close, so had his mouth. He looked like a priggish stickler who sold insurance. When had they become their parents?
    He shot her an annoyed look. "You were five and I was eight. This is business, Joella. A man has to make a living. Keep your nose out of it."
    "When pigs fly, Georgie-boy," she sang, unfazed by his refusal. He'd remember her threat when the time came.
    "Which reminds me, that blasted flying pig you talked me into is blocking the sign on my door. Why don't you sweet-talk your new employer into taking it?"
    "Flying pig?"
    Jo rolled her eyes as Flint used his amazing timing to walk up at the wrong moment. Familiarity hadn't bred enough contempt yet, she reflected, nor driven out the memory of his mind-melting kisses. She'd woken up in the middle of the night sweating over a tasty dream of his buff chest all naked and propped above her.
    She tried not to admire the way his short-sleeved shirt clung to his muscular biceps and his too long hair brushed the collar, but every damned woman in here had taken notice. Even the blue-haired ladies had flirted when Flint had walked by. And he smiled at all of them—just as he had at Jo that first night. And hadn't done since.
    "The flying pig is the very best one," she told George, ignoring her boss. "It's bound to win the prize. Move the pedestal."
    Jo sauntered on to the next customer. Both men watched in appreciation. She was wearing a narrow, black miniskirt and hot pink golf shirt under her apron today, color-coordinating with the cafe's fifties colors. The apron hid nothing from the rear.
    "She's a bossy brat," George Bob opined. "I don't know how you put up with her."
    Flint gazed around at the customers occupying his tables. The ones remaining after rush hour were all men. "It helps to pay her," he said noncommittally, sliding into the booth seat across from George. "I tried calling Charlie last night, but his wife wouldn't let him come to the phone. Says he needs his rest, and worrying about this place won't help him. So I'm out on this limb alone." He produced a sheet of paper from his pocket. "I picked up a few estimates before I called you."
    George held out his hand. "Mind if I see them?"
    Flint