Bring on the Rain Read Free Page A

school. She was a person who interacted with the public on
her job, was too polite not to speak to a young man. Those photos
were taken at the old mill and here, riding horses, lazing on the
porch, sitting by the creek. Jude took them, having been his shadow
in those days.
    Not the kind they’d taken when Ronda
and he were together. The formal setting in her father’s elegant
home. Jason unearthed it when he’d been packing his own school
things away, getting ready for adulthood. Jason’d brought the album
all the way to the barn and grilled him about it, laughing, and
teasing him for holding some dark secret.
    It was obvious the couple were intent
on each other, more often than not touching and looking at each
other.
    Mitch sighed and rubbed the back of his
neck. He had told Jason it was a last fling, a summer romance
before college. Jason never bought that explanation. He saw no
point in spilling his guts. Considering he’d wed a woman like
Ronda, it was understandable his son would freak seeing photos of
Madeline and him together. Ronda was high class, a sleek model type
who never rode anything to the point of getting mussed, including
him. She’d been Dovie’s choice and his son knew it.
    Jason also knew the older Coburn’s now
suffered the consequences of allowing Dovie to dictate who they
married. She raised them rough and rugged, gave them plenty of
wide-open space and money to play with.
    Nevertheless, she tried to marry them
to class and culture, none of which ran in their roots. Coburns
were raised playing music and competing with each other. Every
homegrown sport they played was a damned war zone. They worked
hard, and were part of the land. Coburn's loved their horses,
cattle, pickups, four wheelers, and wide Copper Creek Lake— where
they raced boats, water-skied, and fished. Beer, BBQ, and
cornbread, Mitch often joked. It was true, they were who they were,
and never apologized.
    They’d tried it Dovie’s way,
but when it didn’t work, Mitch said to hell with it. The only one
who stuck with it was Deena, their sister, because she was
determined to win at something. Hell, to her staying wed to the
wrong man was a challenge. Of course, she found someone to overlook
her faults and allow her to continue to be the bitchy,
miserable, wanna-be she was.
    The stereo got louder. He was about to
get up and seek out coffee when he spied the old Bronco flying up
the two-lane hollow. Mitch sucked in air and cursed. It was
Madeline. If the sound of the old engine grinding wasn’t a warning
to her mood, the fact she’d flown by Eula Mae Short and splashed
mud on her was.
    Eula Mae was shaking her fist in the
air, hopping mad. The mouth of the south, an old prude who felt it
her business to run the whole county. It was no small thing to
upset Eula Mae.
    He sat there, bare feet on
the grass, watching the Bronco slide in beside the Mazda,
shuddering to a noisy stop. A few tings and knocks later, the engine
sighed.
    Madeline got out. The slam of the car
door echoed down the hollow. He noticed her typical work clothing
of jeans, T- shirt, and boots. Madeline was generous in the hips,
with an ass that made him take note whenever he was at the Tavern
watching her work.
    She was damned healthy looking. Mitch
loved the feel of soft womanly flesh beneath him. Unfortunately, he
hadn’t felt much of it in years.
    She took the concrete steps swiftly.
Mitch saw the threatening darkness in her violet eyes before she
stopped in front of him.
    “ Is my daughter
here?”
    “ In the den.” It was the
first words they had exchanged in nineteen years. Hell, mad, she
was a cross between Katherine Hepburn and her own pissed hauteur.
He had observed that look from a distance over the years. Madeline
had learned how to intimidate men she didn’t care for.
    “ May I go in and get
her?”
    “ I figured she wasn’t
supposed to be here.” Mitch could almost hear her teeth
grind.
    “ You figured right,” she
muttered. Then walked past