Hotel Ladd Read Online Free

whole by the luminous
glow of a nearby lamp.
    “ I want something to do,
Cal. I want something exciting, challenging.”
    “ More challenging than
paintin’ all those pretty nails?” he teased. Annie clamped her
lips, but he gently shook her. “Aw, c’mon Annie. You know I’m just
having fun. I think you’re the best in the business, but I
understand what you’re saying. The same goes for me. I need a new
direction. I’ve been helping my Daddy out at the ranch but all he
keeps trying to do is lasso me into the bank. It’s not what I want
to do.”
    “ Did you not like working in
Arizona?”
    “ Arizona was real fine, but
once you sold one house, you sold them all.”
    “ I thought you managed the
community.”
    “ I did, eventually, but even
then it was all the same. Selling, or managing the selling, all
began to feel the same. It made me itch for something new.” He
paused, allowing a swell of regret to pass through him. He might
have been bored with his work life, but not his personal. At home,
he’d been happy. He loved his wife, loved his daughter.
Unfortunately, it was they who got their fill of him. He tamped
back a swell of regret. “I want to try my hand at something
different. Ever since I gave up the drink, I’ve been
driftin’.”
    “ Is it hard for you to be
back home?” she asked. “You know, with all the memories? Your
brothers?”
    Cal shook his head. “Not really. Not
when you’ve changed your heart, it isn’t. Now if I was still
struggling with it, sure. But I’m not.” He couldn’t afford to
struggle with the bottle. He had too much riding on his sobriety
back in Arizona, and he was determined to make things right. Moving
back to Tennessee was his chance to prove himself, prove he could
remain sober, hold down a job, and be the man his daughter needed
him to be.
    “ What do you think you want
to do?” Annie asked.
    “ Not sure.” And that was the
hardest part of all. Cal had no burning desire to do anything. He
loved working with horses, but he was getting too old to spend
every day in dusty corrals and pens with wild stallions. He liked
investing money. Found he had a knack for it, but he didn’t want to
invest other people’s money, only his own. Cal didn’t know what he
wanted to do and that was his problem. A problem he needed to
solve. Proving he could walk the straight and narrow meant getting
his life back—the most important piece, anyway. His wife was
through with him. She’d moved on and Cal didn’t blame her. But his
daughter was a different matter.
    Emily needed him and he needed
her.
    “ Seems we both have a lot to
think about,” Annie murmured.
    Cal nodded. “Agreed.” Why Annie had to
withdraw her hand from his was perplexing. Did she want those
thoughts of hers to include him?

 
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Annie walked her last client of the day
to the receptionist’s desk and caught a glimpse of a dark-haired
woman walking in the front door. Long black hair fell in a
straight, sleek line behind her back, her very narrow back. She was
almost a stick of a figure, draped in gold jewelry and expensive
leather jacket. As she neared, Annie noted her lips were glossed a
tawny brown, a sheer tone that melted into her brown skin. But it
was her eyes that leapt out at you. Cat eyes, turned up at the
ends, or maybe it was the heavy black makeup that created the
effect. Annie guessed her identity in a heartbeat. Jillian Devane.
She had to hand it to Lacy. Her sister had described the woman
perfectly. Wealthy, stylish, she looked right at home amidst the
ultra-modern interior of the Trendz salon with its minimalist black
and white design and cool blue ceramic lamps hanging overhead in
the way of lighting.
    Annie turned to her client. “Bobbi Jo
will get you scheduled for next time, okay?” The woman smiled and
the two hugged. “See you then.”
    Ms. Devane hovered near the desk,
waiting her turn to speak with the receptionist. But there was