Wife Wanted in Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad Read Free Book Online Page B

talk about engines when you eat.”
    He was watching Katrina get her nephews settled at the kids’ table. She put a bib on the youngest boy and handed both boys the crayons. They all seemed happy enough.
    “Engines run the world,” Conrad said when he looked back at Linda.
    She rolled her eyes. “I’m not putting any napkins by your plate. All you do is draw those diagrams on them. I know Tracy wouldn’t have minded, but this woman probably doesn’t think like we do around here.”
    Conrad had to agree with that, but all he could say was, “I only diagrammed that forward thrust vector once. It got us to the moon.”
    “If you’re going to talk about the moon, go outside and look at the moon.”
    “It’s raining.”
    “You know what I mean.” The café owner had lost her hesitation and seemed to be veering in the opposite direction. “It wouldn’t hurt you to say a few nice things to the woman. She probably expects some oohing and ahhing. She’s gorgeous. Men probably tell her that all the time. You better, too. And ask her what her favorite movie is. Make her think you have a life.”
    “I do have a life,” Conrad said, but he was talking to the air. Linda had already walked away.
    Before he could gather himself together, Linda was standing at the table where he should be.
    “Good, you found the bib and got everyone settled down,” the café owner said to Katrina.
    Conrad was almost afraid to join Katrina at the adult table with the pink plastic roses on it. But then he looked behind him and saw his aunt and uncle and Pete and Tracy all staring at him. He wouldn’t want to make the explanations he’d need to make if he didn’t sit down with Katrina and eat.
    He smiled at the rear guard. Tracy’s face looked pinched and she’d added some blonde to her brown hair and fussed it up some. Pete had on new boots.
    “Just having a late breakfast,” Conrad said with a forced smile. “Tracy, Pete, good to see you.”
    Both Tracy and Pete looked startled.
    “We’re not together.” Pete’s face reddened.
    “I’m just here early for lunch,” Tracy said at the same time. She took a step away from the ranch hand. “I was going to put another streak in Linda’s hair before I eat, but—”
    It was hard to know which way the wind blew there, Conrad thought. Ordinarily, Pete would be working at this time of day. He was dressed up in a clean snapped shirt and he had his dark hair slicked back though so it must mean something. Now that Pete was getting older, he’d make some woman a good husband, Conrad thought and then winced. People had probably been saying that same thing about him for years. Maybe Pete was just in town to buy some nails at the hardware store. A man could dress up without needing to walk down the aisle.
    Conrad nodded to everyone and turned around to step closer to the table where his fate awaited him. Linda made her coffee strong and he was glad for it. He figured this breakfast would be a long, painful one. Linda might think he should take his chances, but he wasn’t one to throw his heart out there where it was going to be trampled. There was nothing wrong with being cautious when it came to picking out a woman to date.
    He sat down at the table and looked up to see Tracy still standing there. Now why couldn’t he be sitting here with her? She wouldn’t care if he rambled on about farm equipment or engines or the price of wheat. And, if she was going to trample on a man’s heart, she wouldn’t do it when she was wearing lethal high heels with those black straps that tied a man up like they did. Tracy could give him free haircuts, too. That had to count for something.
    He picked up his menu. The thought came unbidden that he and Tracy had known each other for thirtyyears. Granted, she hadn’t lived around here for all of that time, but she’d been back and forth. If they were meant to be together, wouldn’t they have noticed it before now? He glanced back up at her. He wasn’t