Every Yesterday (Boot Creek) Read Online Free

bag.
    The flight had left California late, but made up time along the way, arriving early at the Raleigh-Durham Airport.
    Noah traveled often, and it was usually his luck that when his plane arrived early, they’d get stuck sitting on the tarmac waiting on a gate. Not so today.
    Their gate was open and they’d pulled right in. Ahead of schedule. Hopefully, Jackson would already be here. Noah would have preferred to rent his own car, but Jackson had been adamant about picking him up. And since Jackson was the whole reason Noah was in North Carolina, he’d saved the argument. Besides, Ford was supposed to be coming in today too. If he knew Jackson, they were in for a good time tonight.
    It had been a while since he, Jackson, and Ford had all been together in one place at the same time. Nearly two years actually. They were long overdue for a good night of beer, brown liquor, and basking in stories of the glory days back in Nashville. Even if what brought them together was a wedding. Bad enough he was getting married after knowing the girl less than a year, but here? In a town with a population so small that every one of the townsfolk could fit in the Grand Ole Opry at one time?
    Seriously, in a town that small how was a guy supposed to have any privacy? He snickered at the thought of dating in a town like Boot Creek. He loved women, but he also loved his freedom, and from what he found online about the town, it wasn’t big enough to keep a secret in. And with a dating pool that small, someone was sure to drown. And it would probably be him when he ticked some girl off. No, the last thing he wanted was a serious relationship. Been there, done that—twice—and he had no intention of starting a line of those T-shirts.
    What the hell had Jackson been thinking? Maybe it was something in the water.
    Note to self: Don’t drink the water. Probably tastes like old sweaty boots anyway.
    He’d take Los Angeles and its quirks any day over a small town. Heck, he’d go back to Nashville, or his hometown of Franklin, before settling in a little town, and he hadn’t even left Nashville on good terms.
    The airline attendant finally opened the door and cleared them to exit.
    The couple and two businessmen from the first row filed out, and then Noah followed the girl with the pink luggage up the ramp toward the airport terminal. The air on the jet bridge held the pungent aroma of sweat and fuel. Holding his breath, he swept around the girl and then the old couple who were dawdling in the suffocating space, arguing about how to dial their granddaughter to come pick them up from their new smartphone. Text or call?
    At least the air in the terminal was cooler. He wove between haggard travelers to make a pit stop in the men’s room. By the time he came out, darned if that same old couple from his flight weren’t just making their way through the terminal.
    “I don’t know,” the woman said.
    The old man’s head bobbled. He grumbled, but it sure wasn’t under his breath. “I told you to ask, Suz.”
    “Didn’t need to. I read the booklet in the seat pocket like they told us too. It looked easy. There should be signs.”
    “Well, clearly there aren’t, else we’d know which way to go.” The old man shoved his hands in his pockets. People nearly plowed into the old guy as they hurried past to make their next connection.
    Noah could picture his grandparents trying to navigate the airport. Probably would have looked like this couple, although Granddad never would’ve flown. He loved to drive. Noah stepped in front of the couple. “Is there something I can help you with?”
    The old man spun around, then slowly raised his head from his slumped stature all the way to meet Noah’s grin nearly a foot above him. “Why, yes. I think you can. Where is the baggage claim?”
    “Easy,” Noah said. “Follow this long hallway all the way to the center. Then turn left.”
    The old man glared at his wife.
    Noah stifled a grin, about to even