Daisies in the Canyon Read Online Free

didn’t argue or comment, which made him wonder if she’d even unpack her bags. By Monday morning she could easily be headed back south to Galveston.
    “How about you, Shiloh? Where’d you come from?” Rusty asked.
    “Lewisville, Arkansas, since I graduated from high school. Before Mama went into business with her sister in a truck stop, we lived in Jefferson, Texas.”
    Bonnie didn’t wait to be asked. “We got our mail out of Chappell, Kentucky, but we lived between Harlan and Chappell, back in one of the hollers. I was six when we moved there from Texas.”
    Rusty nodded. “I can hear the Texas accent in all your voices. Ezra only spoke of having three daughters that last year of his life, and I wondered where you were located. Now let’s talk about bedrooms. I’ve moved my stuff out of the room I’d been using since Ezra got sick and back out to the bunkhouse. There are three bedrooms down the hallway off the living room and one bathroom.”
    Abby cocked her head to one side. Another gesture like Ezra’s.
    “Tub or shower?” she asked.
    “Claw-foot tub and a small walk-in shower we had installed when Ezra couldn’t get in and out of the tub anymore,” Rusty answered. “One room was Ezra’s. I’ve cleaned out the closet and the drawers. Packed it all up and put it in storage out in the barn. Who wants that room? It does have the added benefit that it has a small half bath to go with it.”
    Bonnie blanched and shivered like someone had shoved an icicle down her backbone. Shiloh’s nose practically curled.
    “I’ll take it,” Abby said.
    “Did he die in there?” Bonnie asked.
    Rusty nodded. “But he did not die in the bed. He got so weak that we rented a hospital bed. I sent it back yesterday. I was hoping Abby would take that room. Bonnie, you can have the room across the hall from her and Shiloh gets the last one.”
    “Why?” Abby asked.
    “That’s the way Ezra said it was to be done. I didn’t ask questions, but I would have changed it if no one wanted to stay in his old room,” Rusty said.
    Abby shrugged and went back to eating. Someone dying in a room didn’t appear to bother her one bit. She polished off her first plate of food, trashed it, and filled another, taking two chicken wings and a thigh, another helping of potato salad, and a big scoop of sweet potato casserole.
    She sat back down beside him and their knees bumped against each other as she got settled. The heat in his leg took a while to cool even after she moved hers.
    “Hungry?” Cooper asked to take his mind off the electricity bouncing around under the table.
    “In my business, you eat when you can and especially when the food is good like this is,” she answered. “So, Rusty, what’s the plan? I know nothing about ranching. Do lessons begin tomorrow or Monday?”
    “Work is every day. If you want to learn, you get up at five, have breakfast, and be ready to go by six,” he said. “Quittin’ time is dark or when the job is done.”
    “Then I’ll get up at four to get my PT—that’s army lingo for exercise or physical therapy—done before five. I started in the army as a recruit. I’m willin’ to start on the ranch in the same capacity.”
    But for how long? A day, a week, a whole month? Cooper wondered.

Chapter Three
    A few snowflakes drifted down from the gray skies and came to rest on Abby’s jacket when she left the house right after lunch. Her duffel bags and the rest of the things from her truck were stacked neatly in the corner of the bedroom. She had taken time to unpack her snack suitcase, and now the top drawer in the dresser was filled to capacity. A bulging pocket gave testimony that she couldn’t get another piece of candy or bag of chips tucked in that drawer.
    The small wooden box holding her mother’s ashes sat on the dresser. They’d never traveled with her before, but she couldn’t leave them behind this time. The rest of her things she could unpack and arrange after dark, but