The Cowboy's Homecoming Read Online Free Page B

“Or public nuisance.”
    He unlocked the door and she stepped out of the room, a pitiful figure in a housedress, gray hair sticking out in all directions and a gaunt face. Her attention quickly turned to Jeremy. She frowned and stomped her foot.
    â€œI’m not going with him.”
    â€œMrs. Hightree, you don’t have a choice.”
    She flared her thin nostrils at them and shook her head. “I have choices. I can walk out of here. I can head on home without his help.”
    Heat crawled up Jeremy’s cheeks. After a lifetime of this, a guy should be used to it. It wasn’t as if her behavior took people by surprise. What did surprise him was how old she looked, and how bad. He’d seen her less than a week ago and she hadn’t looked this old.
    She had been a pretty woman twenty years ago. Thirty-one years ago she had obviously turned some heads. He pushed that thought aside because now wasn’t the time to get caught in the muck.
    â€œMom, we’re going home.”
    â€œJanie, my name is Janie.”
    He grabbed her arm, loose flesh and bones. “Right, Jane.”
    He hadn’t called her mom since he was ten and he’d found her passed out in the yard when he came home from school. That had been enough to take the word “Mom” right out of his vocabulary.
    â€œYou don’t have to hold me. I’m not going to run.”
    â€œNo, but you might fall down.”
    She wobbled a little, as if to prove his point. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
    Jeremy shot a look back at Carl. The cop stood behind them, sorry written all over his face. “Thanks, Carl. You’re sure there weren’t any expenses this time?”
    â€œNot this time. Do you want me to call the hospital in Grove? Maybe she should be seen?”
    â€œI’m fine, I said.” She jerked her arm free from hishand. “I don’t need either of you holding me or telling me what to do. I just need to go home.”
    â€œI’ll take her home.” Jeremy opened the door and motioned his mother through. “See you later.”
    â€œYeah, we’ll see you around. Maybe we can meet for lunch at the Mad Cow tomorrow?”
    â€œRight, and you can try to talk me out of what you all think is a big mistake.” Jeremy smiled, and Carl turned a few shades of red, right to the roots of his straw-colored hair. “I’ll meet you for lunch, but if everyone was so worried about this church, why didn’t you all do something sooner?”
    â€œYeah, I guess you’ve got a point there, Jeremy. Maybe we just thought it would always be there.”
    â€œIt would have fallen in, Carl.”
    Carl stood in the doorway while Jeremy held on to his mother to keep her from falling off the sidewalk. “My grandpa goes up there once a month to check on the place. I think a lot of the older people in town would love to have it opened up again, but nobody had the money and the younger families have moved away.”
    â€œCall me and we’ll talk over burgers at Vera’s.”
    Carl nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”
    Jeremy escorted his mom out the door and down the sidewalk. She weaved and leaned against him. Tires on pavement drew his attention to the road. Tim Cooper. Yeah, they’d have to face each other sooner or later. They hadn’t talked since the day Jeremy learned the truth. The day Tim Cooper wrote him a check, because it was the right thing to do.
    Jeremy opened the door on the passenger side of the truck. Jane wobbled and her legs buckled. When he tried to lift her up she swatted at his hands.
    It took a few minutes but he got her in the seat and buckled up. They headed down the road, toward Back Street but then turned east. The paved country road led to a tiny trailer surrounded by farmland. It had two bedrooms and a front porch that was falling in. More than once he’d tried to get her to move. But this was her