Green Calder Grass Read Free

occupied the back streets. In their place were a few modern brick buildings, a scattering of new houses, and a trailer court to house the employees of Dy-Corp’s nearby strip-mining operation.
    These were the changes Chase always noticed when he drove into Blue Moon, like the fresh coat of paint on the exterior of Sally’s place. The combination restaurant and bar had long been the sole watering hole for the surrounding area. In his youth, the site had been the home of a roadhouse complete with whiskey, women, and gambling. Prior to that, it had been a general store and saloon, established by the town’s first settler, Fat Frank Fitzsimmons.
    Fat Frank was also the man who nailed up the first sign, dubbing the location Blue Moon. Local legend had it that the name was a gift from a passing cowboy who predicted failure for Fat Frank’s fledgling establishment, declaring that people came this way only once in a Blue Moon.
    Blue Moon was still a place rarely visited by strangers, as evidenced by all the local license plates on the vehicles parked in front of Sally’s. Chase found an empty space and pulled his truck into it.
    Sally Brogan, the restaurant’s proprietress, was at the cash register when he walked in. Her face lit up with pleasure the instant she saw him, a special light shining in her blue eyes, one that was reserved especially for Chase Calder. A widow of a Triple C ranch hand, Sally had fallen in love with Chase years ago and didn’t bother to hide it anymore, even though she knew friendship was all he offered in return.
    “You’re late.” Self-consciously she smoothed a hand over the front of her apron, as if the years hadn’t added a few pounds to thicken her waist and turned her copperred hair to a striking snow-white. “Ty and Jessy were just about to give up on you and order.”
    “I got on the phone and the call took longer than I expected.”
    Over the years, Sally had come to know Chase in all his moods. That hard, preoccupied look to his eyes was one she instantly recognized.
    “Trouble?” she guessed instantly.
    As if catching himself showing his feelings a little too plainly, he threw her a quick smile, his dark eyes lighting up for the first time. “Nothing that I haven’t been dealing with for years.”
    “Old troubles are always with us.” Sally came out from behind the cash register. “It’s when new ones come along that I worry.”
    “You’re probably right.” Chase waited to let her walk him to the table where Ty and Jessy waited.
    Out of habit, Chase ran an inspecting glance over his tall, broad-shouldered son, seated next to Jessy. The unmistakable stamp of a Calder was there in his dark hair and eyes, and in the hard, angular cut of his features. On the green side of forty, Ty was a man in his prime. Best of all, except for the sling holding his left arm, Ty was the image of robust vigor. Chase could no longer detect any trace of the sickly pallor that had lurked below the deep tan of his son’s face. There was a sense of genuine relief in that.
    Beside Ty sat Jessy. As always, when Chase’s glance fell on this slender woman with honeyed-gold hair, he experienced a mixture of satisfaction and approval. As slim and long-legged as a boy, she possessed a subtle beauty that went beyond simple good looks. There was a strength and a steadiness about her that radiated an aura of calm. Jessy wasn’t the kind of woman to lead a man—or be led by him. But she would stand tall at his side. More than that, Jessy had been born and raised on the ranch. Like the rich tough grass that was the Triple C’s wealth, her roots were sunk deep in Calder soil.
    A better mate Chase couldn’t have picked for his son. Or a better mother to his grandchildren, Chase thought as he took note of the protruding roundness of her stomach, made all the more obvious by her boy-slim figure.
    “It’s about time you got here,” Ty declared as he slid a possessive hand across the back of Jessy’s