Texas Tough by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

up and take it easy. They could drive into Blanco Springs for burgers and shakes.
    â€œCome with us, Sky,” Will said as they walked out to the truck. “I’ll be dropping Beau at Natalie’s after we eat, and then picking up Erin at Tori’s place, so it won’t be a long night. But it’ll be a nice break.”
    Sky could’ve warmed some leftover chili in his own small kitchen, but an evening in town did sound like a good idea. And it would give him a chance to tell the brothers about the pocketknife. They might wonder why he hadn’t told them earlier. For that there was just one honest excuse—he’d needed time to think.
    Blanco Springs, the county seat, was a twenty-minute drive from the ranch. Its population of 3,082 souls, not counting those who lived on surrounding farms, was served by a gas station and garage; an old-fashioned movie theatre; a grocery store; the Burger Shack, which served sandwiches, shakes, and pizza; and the Blue Coyote, which welcomed cowboys, truckers, and anyone else old enough to drink. Will’s ex-wife, Tori, a lawyer, lived in Blanco. So did Beau’s fiancée, Natalie, who had her veterinary practice there.
    Sky had thought about telling his story in the truck. But with the oversized tires rumbling over the rough asphalt and the radio blaring country music, serious conversation wasn’t worth the effort. He would have to wait for the restaurant.
    Even for a weeknight, the Burger Shack was quiet. The three ordered cheeseburgers with fries and shakes at the counter and took a seat in one of the empty booths. In the interval while they waited for their meals, Sky drew the folded knife out of his pocket, laid it on the red Formica tabletop, and forced himself to speak.
    â€œI’ve been waiting for the right time to show you this. It was lying on the ground, close to the place where Jasper was shot.”
    Will picked up the knife, frowning as he examined it. “Looks like something a kid might have dropped. Are you thinking it has something to do with our shooter?”
    â€œTurn it over,” Sky said. “Look at the initials on the back.”
    Will stared at the crude carving on the handle. His dark eyebrows came together in a puzzled scowl. “I’ll be damned. Those are your initials.”
    â€œI know. I carved them myself.”
    â€œYou’ve already lost me,” Beau said. “I hope you’re going to fill us in on the whole story.”
    Sky took the knife from Will, balancing it on the flat of his palm the way he’d done years ago. Except for the fact that his hand was bigger now, it felt much the same.
    â€œI was in third grade when I found this on the way home from school,” he said. “It was lying in the road, like somebody’d dropped it. Just a cheap little knife, but I’d never had anything much of my own. To a boy like me it was a treasure. I scratched those initials on it and kept it hidden so my older cousins wouldn’t take it.”
    â€œYour older cousins? You mean Lute’s brothers?” Beau asked.
    Sky nodded. “They were big enough and mean enough to take anything they wanted. Lute was just a toddler when I found the knife, and his sister, Marie, the only girl, named after my mother, wasn’t much older.”
    Sky had always felt protective of the two young ones and tried to shield them from the brutality that was life in the Fletcher family. Not that it had done much good. Lute was dead now, and the last he’d heard of Marie, she’d run off with a boyfriend.
    â€œI hung on to the knife till I was fifteen,” Sky said. “You already know some of this. My uncle had whipped me pretty bad, and I’d had enough. I packed my clothes and a little food in a pillowcase and waited till the middle of the night when the family was asleep. Then I snuck through the house to the back door. I thought I’d made a clean getaway, but I was