Page 39 of Stormy Ride

Savanna smiled. “Thanks.” She pushed her damp hair back from her face. “It’s coming down hard and the weatherman says it’s not going to let up for a couple of days.” She drank down a big swig of her beer. “Can I look in your fridge to see if you have anything I can cook for dinner?”

“Help yourself,” I said. “I should’ve gone to the market with Billy coming home and Harlan coming, but I had too much shit going on with the murder and the funeral.”

Savanna stood with the fridge door open and peered at the meager offerings. The shelves were almost bare. “Looks like I could make spaghetti. How about it?”

Harlan nodded. “I like spaghetti. And pie. I like pie.”

Savanna laughed. “I don’t have any pie on me, but I’ll keep it in mind for another day. We’ve got a nice little bakery on Main Street, and they have great pie.”

“You doing okay with the way things are with Jack?” I got Savanna another beer from the fridge.

“It’s not too bad for me, but I can’t go to the roadhouse right now. It will take a while before we can look at each other and not be upset.”

“Glad I don’t have a girlfriend,” said Harlan. “Girls are a big fuckin pain in the ass.”

“Yeah,” I said, “enjoy your freedom while you can, kid. A good-looking stud like you will have girls climbing all over him.”

He laughed, then turned to Savanna. “The guy you dumped must be shittin’ bricks. Losing a babe like you would be a steel-toe to the nuts.”

“It was a mutual decision,” said Savanna. “It wasn’t working out.”

“Still, mutual or not, breaking up is hard to do.”

Harlan looked at me kind of funny. “What kind of talk you got going on there, Sheriff?”

“Texas talk. I’m a Texan.”

“Goddamn,” said Harlan. “Am I gonna start talking like that if I live here?”

“Could happen,” said Billy. “I saidy’alla couple of times before I bit the end of my tongue off.”

Savanna laughed as she dumped a package of spaghetti into a big pot of boiling water.

Billy pointed across the room. “Stove is dying down. Come in here, Harlan. I want to show you how to take care of the woodstove. If we don’t keep it going, we’ll freeze our asses off in this house.”

Harlan seemed to pay attention when Billy talked. Maybe it was thearmyBilly still had in him.

After dinner we sat in the living room and had a couple of beers. The wind howled through the stand of spruce that formed a barrier around the house. “It’s so stormy out there, Savanna. Why don’t you sleep here?”

“You don’t want to go out in that,” said Billy.

“I don’t,” she said. “It’s cozy in here with the fire on. Have you got a spot for me to lay my head down?” She winked at me.

“Let’s check out the upstairs bedrooms. I’ve got to get a room ready for Harlan. Got caught a bit short because I didn’t know he was coming to live with us until today.”

“Let’s go up and take a look at what you’ve got,” said Savanna.

“Somebody can take my room,” said Billy. “I won’t be doing stairs for a while yet.”

“I put you in Tammy’s room, Billy,” I said.

“Who’s Tammy?” asked Harlan.

“Umm… I guess she’s kind of like your sister.”

“Never had me a sister before. Got a picture?”

“Yep.” I fiddled with my phone and pulled up a picture of Tammy Traynor sitting on her horse.

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