Ruby Falls Read Online Free Page B

stuffed.”
    Steve looked at the food still left on her plate and pointed at it with his fork. “You’re gonna hurt Margie’s feelings. She’ll think you don’t like the food.”
    “I liked it. It was great. There’s just way too much of it,” Summer said defensively.
    Steve smiled and stole a sausage off her plate.
    Summer rolled her eyes and laughed.
    He finished his plate, paid the check, and they headed back to the truck.
    He opened the door for her, and she climbed in. He closed the door, walked around, and climbed in the driver’s side. Starting the engine up, he backed out and headed down the street.
    “Mind if I smoke?” he asked, turning to look at her and reaching for a pack of cigarettes sitting on the dash.
    “No. Go ahead, but those things will kill you, you know?” She watched him shake a cigarette out of the pack with one hand and put it in his mouth.
    He tossed the pack back up on the dash, took a lighter out of his pocket, and lit it. Rolling down the window, he blew the smoke out and turned to look at her, smiling. “I know. I need to quit, huh?”
    “Yes, you do,” she agreed, smiling.
    “I’ve tried, but it’s damn hard,” he confessed, taking another hit off the cigarette and looking over at her with a sheepish look on his face.
    “If at first you don’t succeed…”
    “Try, try again. Yeah, I know,” he finished the saying.
    She smiled, shaking her head and looked out the window.
    “Hey, you’re not going to nag me day and night, are you?”
    She turned back to study him for a moment and then smiled. “I might.”
    “Oh, Lord,” he said, shaking his head.
    Steve drove down the street to the Super Center at the outskirts of town. He pulled in the lot and parked.
    Summer looked over at him. “What are we doing?”
    “I thought we’d pick up a few things for you. Toothbrush, underwear, whatever basics you may need. If you can wait on clothes shopping, I think my daughter may have some clothes that would fit you,” he replied, opening the door and climbing out.
    They went into the store.
    “I need to go to the automotive department. Why don’t you get whatever you need and I’ll meet you in about twenty minutes? Is that enough time?”
    “Yes. Sure.”
    Summer picked up some toiletries and some underwear, and met him at the cash registers.
    He had a case of motor oil under his arm and a pack of spark plugs in his hand. They checked out and Summer grabbed her bag of items, while Steve put the case of motor oil on his shoulder, and they walked back out to the truck and headed back to the farm.
    Steve pulled the truck down the gravel drive and parked behind the farmhouse. It was the first time that Summer got a chance to see the place in daylight. She looked around as she reached for the door handle.
    There was a large gravel area behind the house with a huge barn set back and to the left from the house by about fifty feet. It was unpainted, and the weathered wood had turned to a light gray. There was an attached corral on the far side. She glanced around and noticed a very small second house with a front porch set back about the same distance to the right, under some tall pine trees.
    She climbed out of the truck and shut the door. The yard was neat, without a lot of clutter and junk lying around. Just then she noticed a cat rubbing up against her leg, and she bent down to stroke its soft gray fur.
    “That’s Eddie,” Steve informed her. “There are about a dozen more cats around the place. They live out in the barn. Except for Eddie. He’s Jessie’s cat.”
    “I see,” Summer acknowledged. She picked up the cat and scratched behind its ears. “Well, hello, Eddie.” The cat purred and closed his eyes.
    “Now you’ve done it. You’ll never get rid of him,” Steve warned her. “Come on. I want you to meet Pop.”
    Summer set the cat down, followed Steve up the back stairs, and through the screen door.
    “This is the mudroom,” he said, over his shoulder.
    It