Linny's Sweet Dream List Read Online Free

smiled, and rolled down the window.
    On the way to her mother’s house, Linny called her sister. Kate’s lilting hello made her feel better. “I just hit a man in the head with a bottle,” she announced.
    â€œWow,” Kate said in the extra mellow voice she got after she did her Tai Chi, “He okay?”
    Linny breathed out as it dawned on her that she could have badly hurt the man. “I think so.”
    â€œGood to hear,” Kate said with her usual equanimity. “I’ll be out tomorrow morning to help you size up repairs. I’m also going to bring sage stick bundles and we can smudge the place. Get rid of any bad energy, cleanse the karma.”
    Her sister had taken one too many trips to Santa Fe. But then again, she herself was currently two-stepping with a tigress. She’d take any help she could get. “Okay.”
    Kate paused a beat. “I know it may be too soon, but I think you need a dog to keep you company. So many dogs at the animal shelter need homes.”
    â€œI don’t need a dog,” Linny said firmly. She felt a flash of apprehension, though. Kate’s ideas had an uncanny way of materializing. “There’s too much going on right now.”
    Her sister’s voice was even. “I understand.”
    Linny thought about her sister’s sweet heart. Yesterday morning, she’d called Kate in a panic after Buck’s slick-haired partners showed up at the door to give her twenty-four hours to vacate, so they could put their home on the market. Kate had flown to her side, dubbing the partners the Shark Brothers. After a quick discussion, they decided not to involve her attorney. If those sleazeballs wanted her out of the house, Linny sure as heck didn’t want to stay there. She and Kate had rocketed into action; between the two of them, they’d called sixteen apartment complexes, but none had any vacancies. “All the people who still can’t get home loans are renting,” Kate grumbled, before hitting on the idea of Mama’s trailer. It was definitely a temporary solution, but workable. Right now, Linny desperately needed workable.
    Her voice choked with emotion. “Thanks for saving me yesterday, Kate.”
    â€œNo biggie,” her sister assured her. “Best to get out of that haunted house.”
    â€œJust Thursday, I was making a list of the pros and cons for staying married. I was going great guns on the cons . . .” she trailed off.
    â€œWell, you couldn’t very well have stayed married to an unfaithful man,” Kate said, sounding reasonable.
    â€œI know.” Linny’s voice was small, and she paused. “So, am I supposed to call the place a trailer, a mobile home, or a house?”
    Kate said quietly, “For now, I think you call it home.”
    Â 
    Linny bumped down the dirt road that led to her mother’s farm and pulled up behind the carport of Dottie’s tidy brick ranch house. Wincing, she saw the I B RAKE FOR Y ARD S ALES sticker on the bumper of her mother’s Buick. Hoo boy. She took a breath, and walked up the paver stones, noting the freshly mown lawn, perfectly pruned azaleas and dandelion-free yard. Outward appearances could be deceiving.
    Dottie answered her knock and gave her a hug. “Hey, there.” Her eyes flickered over Linny’s Too Sexy for My Skin shirt, and her lips pursed.
    Linny ignored her mother’s look. “Hey, Mama.” As usual, Dottie wore clothes that were usually worn by women twenty years her senior. Today, she had on a mauve zip-up housecoat and pink tennis shoes. Twenty years ago, she’d had her colors analyzed at The Baptist Women’s Conference in the mountains, and still took her Spring designation very seriously. Linny peered at her. Did her mother’s hair also have a pinkish tint to it yet again? “Did you find the keys?” Linny asked.
    â€œI did. Come on in.” With a wave, Dottie