Callie's Cowboy Read Online Free Page A

just read Callie’s mind. “I’m sure Sam will be pleased.”
    â€œSam?” Lana’s interest perked up as she buttered a roll.
    â€œI’m not sure he’d be pleased with anything I did,”Callie said dismissively. She turned to Lana. “How’s Rob? Did he win his football game Friday night?” Rob was Lana’s eight-year-old son.
    â€œHe fumbled twice.”
    â€œCallie, why won’t you talk about Sam?” Millicent persisted. “I know you still have feelings for him. You’re both free. Are you sure you don’t want to get reacquainted?”
    Callie shook her head. She knew Millicent was only speaking out of concern, but thoughts of Sam brought back too many painful memories.
    Millicent sighed. “How is Theodora’s prediction ever going to come true if you won’t get within a hundred feet of a cowboy?”
    â€œTheodora?” Lana looked quizzically at Millicent. “We haven’t talked about her in years. I thought we all agreed to forget about her.”
    â€œThat was before her predictions started coming true,” Millicent said. “Callie became a newspaper reporter, just like Theodora said, and I became an artist. Now Lana is surrounding herself with flowers.”
    â€œHey, that’s right!” Lana said. “Theodora did say she saw me surrounded by flowers. I’d forgotten about that.”
    â€œThen there’s the poem,” Millicent continued. “She had us pegged there, agreed?”
    â€œShe made vague predictions,” Callie argued.
    â€œHow’d she know about the hickory trees?” Millicent persisted. “That burial plot’s been in Ronnie’s family for fifty years.”
    Callie shrugged. She’d thought that Millicent had deliberately picked a plot with hickory trees, a self-fulfillingprophecy. “I’ll agree she’s made a few lucky guesses. But none of us have married the men she predicted for us.”
    â€œRonnie was a paramedic,” Millicent said. “That’s close enough to the doctor she chose for me.” She smiled mischievously at Callie. “And Theodora must have had Sam in mind for you. It’s not too late.”
    â€œOh, please. Like he wants anything to do with me. And I’m not moving to Nevada, anyway. Besides, I’d have to deal with Deana, and I’m not the stepmother type.”
    Lana laughed in between bites of her roll. “We hear you, Callie. How many more excuses can you come up with? But I never have understood what you have against Nevada. I wouldn’t mind going to live on a big ol’ ranch.”
    â€œThen you marry Sam,” Callie teased.
    â€œOh, no, I couldn’t do that. I’m waiting for my policeman.”
    Millicent frowned disapprovingly at her friends’ ridicule of a subject she took quite seriously.
    Their food arrived, and the conversation turned to more mundane matters. But Millicent didn’t want to let the matter of Theodora’s predictions drop. “Callie, won’t you at least consider spending some time with Sam while he’s in town? Y’all have both grown up a lot. Things might be different.”
    Callie pushed aside her half-eaten turkey sandwich. “Millicent, I know you want everyone to be happy, but I’m not interested in Sam anymore.” Never mind that not an hour had gone by in the last twenty-four that shehadn’t thought about how his hands had felt on her. “He means nothing to me.”
    â€œWell, in that case, here comes nothing,” Lana said in a wary voice.
    Callie followed her friend’s gaze. Sure enough, there was Sam Sanger walking through the restaurant, bearing down on their table. His work jeans and battered boots looked out of place in the frilly, feminine tea-room.
    â€œOh, no,” she murmured, bowing her head and pretending to study the dessert menu. Maybe he would walk on by and not see