Sparks & Cabin Fever Read Online Free

the happy couples dancing and enjoying themselves. She didn't belong here. She belonged at home curled up with a good novel.
    The Dusty Road was packed to capacity since there was the usual Friday night band. Occasionally a band also played Saturday nights, but never a Friday night went by that a band wasn't present. Garden Grove didn't have much else to offer in the way of entertainment. There wasn't even a movie theater anymore.
    Garden Grove at one time had been a small, but thriving community. Until the town's only manufacturing plant, which had employed a good portion of the citizens, had closed its doors after operating in Garden Grove for almost one hundred years. The closing of the plant had signaled a death knell for the small town that used to boast a large department store, movie theater, three restaurants, a hotel, and numerous shops. Stefani longed for those days when she had to go no farther than Main Street to find anything she was in need of. She missed the old drug store with the lunch counter and the snack shack where the kids would hang out after school. She'd spent many long lazy afternoons there as a teen. Now it was boarded up along with many of her other once familiar haunts.
    She sighed. She'd never liked change, but there was nothing she could do about the economic downturn of Garden Grove. It was only one of many small communities that was rapidly turning into a ghost town. Harper worked at a hair and nail salon, and Stefani knew she only stayed in Garden Grove because of her elderly parents. They were in declining health and lived in Garden Grove's assisted living facility.
    She wondered what had brought Deacon Travis here. He'd listed his address as the old Browning house. The Browning's had moved away a couple of years ago and their house had been on the market almost as long. She was surprised that anyone would buy it. Not because of the property, but because of the price. It was the most beautiful and expensive home in town with lavish rolling lawns and the most elaborate and striking gardens Stefani had ever set eyes on. It sat on several acres and had been in the Browning family for generations. But it, too, had succumbed to the times. The heir to the Browning fortune had been young and foolish, squandering away most of his inheritance. The last Stefani had heard, he'd set off for California with dreams of making it in the film industry. Only someone financially well off could afford the home. It must have been a very quick and private sale or else she, as well as the rest of the town, would have heard about it.
    If Deacon had a wife, he hadn't listed her name on the post office box application. Could he actually be single? Her heart fluttered. Her initial reaction to Deacon Travis surprised her. She'd never had such a reaction to a man before him. But, instinctively, she sensed he was different from the men around here. Maybe that was the reason. He wasn't from around here and she knew nothing about him. But she'd also never seen a man with such refined good looks. She scolded herself. She'd never been one to judge a person just on their looks and now realized she was acting like Harper. Well, it didn't matter. Even if he were single, he'd never be interested in someone like her. No, he'd be more drawn to sexy and vivacious Harper. But then again, just maybe he'd be interested in someone who could hold her own when it came to discussions on world events. Harper wasn't much of a conversationalist unless the topic involved the latest fashions, hairstyles, or shopping.
    Harper warned Stefani that getting herself so worked up over politics and everything else happening in the world was a turn off for most men. Harper had no interest in world events. She only cared about what was happening in her own little corner of the world. But those were the topics that interested Stefani. She liked to keep abreast of what was going on in the world outside of Garden Grove. She craved lively intellectual