Crashing Into Tess Read Online Free

Junction. Do you
know where that is?” she asked anxiously, sliding her
fingertips to her hip pocket, feeling for the key.
“Sure, the old Sherman place.”
“ What’s it like?”
“The house? It’s a big white Victorian, built before the
turn of the century by a man named Carson Sherman.
Green Junction is a rail transfer hub for wheat and cattle,
and the Sherman family operated the rail yard.”
She liked the friendly twang in his voice. He sounds
like a cowboy . He continued, “The last surviving Sherman
sold the old house to Elmer Freethy about ten years ago,
and he cut it up into rental apartments. There’s a yard in
front, lots of windows. Plenty of room, but it’ll be drafty
come winter. The neighborhood is quiet and safe. My
daughter and her mom live right around the block.”
Tess ran her hand down her dog’s back. “I hope the
landlord won’t have a problem with Rhiannon. I picked her
up on the highway, in eastern Missouri. She’s come this
whole way with me.”
“Rhiannon put up a fuss when the ambulance pulled
away, didn’t you girl?” he asked, scratching between the
dog’s ears. “She’s real attached to you already. Elmer
probably won’t mind Rhiannon, if nobody complains. Run
it by the other tenants in the building first. Where are you
working?”
“At the vet clinic. With Doc Harnes.”
Jake’s brow wrinkled. “Last I heard Doc was going to
sell the practice, and retire to Florida.”
Her chest pinched. “Nobody said anything about that.
I’ve been counting on this job, at least until spring. Doc’s
wife Bea found my apartment and Alice, the woman who
works there, helped me with everything else over the
phone.”
“Alice is a friend of mine. She works days at the clinic,
and helps her husband Lotts out with their bar downtown.
Maybe I heard wrong. If Doc brought you on board, he’ll
likely be around for awhile yet. He’s a good man, and a
great vet. Where’d you come from?”
“Pennsylvania.”
He glanced over at her skeptically. “Girl, you’ve come
a long way for a job in a vet’s office.”
. He doesn’t know I’m a vet, yet. But if things work out,
I’ll see him on ranch calls. Stroking Rhiannon’s pale silky
coat, she let Neil Young and the hum of the diesel engine
distract her from a throbbing headache and worries about
her new job.
The barest glimmer of eastern light was just visible
above the jagged mountaintops when Jake took the Green
Junction highway exit, carefully navigating the tight curve.
Ugh. She saw a ribbon of black rubber tread marks as
they approached the stop sign, criss crossing the road. “It’s
where we met,” she blurted.
Clearing his throat, Jake tapped his fingers on the
steering wheel. “Are you always this funny, or does it have
to do with the head injury you sustained last night?”
Quirking her lips in a half-smile, she raised an
eyebrow. “What head injury?” Jake grinned back, flashing
teeth that were even, and very white.
Rosy morning light shone on a fresh row of well-kept
brick Victorians, with fancy gingerbread porches as the
truck crossed the intersection, starting down a residential
street. At the next intersection, he paused. “Tess, the body
shop doesn’t open until seven. I know you need your stuff,
but the tow lot’s still locked. It’ll be another hour at least.”
As his voice trailed off, she heard the nervous staccato
of his fingers on the steering wheel. He turned to her. “You
want breakfast? The diner’s open.”
*****
    Two blocks from the diner, Ron Karachek heard tires crunching gravel outside the Green Junction Police Station.
Hastily, he tucked the auto accident report into a folder,
stuck it in the filing cabinet and poured a cup of fresh
coffee.
    The back door swung open, and Sergeant Fuller came
in, fifteen minutes early for the morning shift. When Ron
set the mug on his boss’s cheap brown Formica desk, the
Sergeant said, “So Jake McGreer hit a girl out near