How to Rope a McCoy (Hell Yeah!) Read Online Free Page B

had any idea
her less-than-perfect daughter was about to venture into the unknown world of
social interaction—with a boy! Skimming her hands down her body, she wished she
was thin. Oh, she wasn’t fat—not hugely fat, or morbidly obese as they called
it—which was the worst possible name, anything with the word morbid in it had to
be horrible. Cato preferred to think of herself as pleasantly plump. Actually,
anyone who was fatter than the skinniest girl in school was fat to someone.
    Being
curvy these days was an automatic social death sentence. Couple plumpness with
deafness and what did you get? A social pariah, that’s what. Or that’s what her
mother would have her believe. Feeling less than enthused, Cato leaned forward
and rested her elbows on the sink, staring right into her big brown eyes. There
were weird golden suns around the pupils. She must have gotten that from her
dad.
    Her
dad.
    Cato
would give just about anything for him to walk through the door and rescue
her.  Edith had nothing good to say about Bill Vincent. Of course, that
didn’t surprise Cato. Edith had nothing good to say about her either. According
to her mother, Cato’s father was a no-count gambling drunk and she harped on
Cato all the time about the dangers of alcohol and cards. One of these days,
when she was old enough, Cato vowed she was going to go to a casino and play
the one-armed bandit.
    Just
because.
    “Oh,
no!” Widening her eyes, she popped up, bouncing. She’d forgotten to use
mouthwash. What if a boy wanted to kiss her? Giggling at the complete audacity
of the thought, she ran to her mother’s bathroom and nabbed hers, then ran back
to gargle. Cato would have to remember to take the mouth freshener back, so she
wouldn’t have to explain to her mom why she wanted minty breath. Anytime she
could avoid explaining anything to Edith, it was a good thing. 
    For
years, Cato had struggled with the relationship between her and her mother.
There were times when she felt as if Edith hated her, but Cato knew that
couldn’t be true. Mothers had to love their kids. After all, she fed Cato and
kept her clothed and a roof over her head. No, their misshapen relationship was
Cato’s fault. She was a disappointment to her beautiful, thin, eloquent,
tiara-wearing mother with perfect hearing. Cato was defective and the elegant
beauty queen was humiliated for people to know that Cato was her child.
    Hugging
herself, she replayed her mother’s words in her head. No one wants you. No
one will ever want you.
    Stiffening
her spine, she mentally fought back. “That’s not true. I’m nice and sweet and
cute and honest and…adorable!” She finished with a laugh. Right now, not even
the bag boy at the Piggly Wiggly could get her down.
The other day he’d made some obnoxious noise at her, one she couldn’t readily
identify by lip-reading. Cato had thought he’d been howling at her, but Edith
had told her with a knowing glance that he was mooing at her—because she was a
cow. Cato was pretty well used to the sting by now and took immense pride in
not reacting, either to the bag boy or to her mother. She was what she was.
“I’ve got to be me!” she sang as she padded out of the bathroom to find her
purse. Aunt Flo would be there in five minutes and Cato had new worlds to
conquer.
     
    *  *  *
     
    She
looked up at Troy Keller through her lashes. He was cute. Not as cute as the
guy who’d fought for her at the library. That boy would forever be her perfect
knight in shining armor—but Troy would do in a pinch.
    Tessa
had explained to him that Cato was hearing impaired and even though he didn’t
sign, Troy had been careful to look at her when he spoke so she could read his
lips. Yea, she’d like to do something else with those lips. And she would if
Troy gave her half a chance.
    “What
was the last good movie you saw?” Troy asked as Tessa and Jack giggled in the
front seat. This was almost like a date—not quite, but a close