Small-Town Brides Read Free Page B

there.”
    Rene shrugged. “I don’t think we need to worry too much about what the clerk said about the weather forecast.”
    â€œHe got the information right off the television in the back room.” Clay turned to look at her. “It sounded pretty solid to me.”
    â€œBut it’s almost April,” Rene protested. “It can’t snow like that now. Spring should be here soon.”
    Rene figured the weather, at least, needed to act like it was supposed to act. The rest of her world was tilting. Some things needed to stay steady on their axes.
    Just then she saw a snowflake fall on the windshield. It appeared as though God wasn’t going to give them any breaks on this trip. But then that shouldn’t surprise her. That’s how her life had been going lately.

Chapter Two
    â€œI can’t believe it’s still snowing like this,” Rene whispered. They were parked in the middle of the one street in Dry Creek, Montana. It was past midnight and thick wet flakes filled the black night, landing softly on the windshield of the truck. “My aunt said to just ask anyone for directions to her house, but—”
    Rene hadn’t realized the town was so very tiny. Because her mother couldn’t travel, Aunt Glory had always visited them at their home in Rosemead, California, instead of inviting them to Dry Creek.
    The snow was falling so fast Rene could barely see the buildings on either side of the one street. The lone streetlight glowed in the darkness, but all it showed were some parked cars half-buried in the snow. She’d seen abandoned buildings in Los Angeles that showed more signs of life than this little town.
    â€œThere must be other houses somewhere,” Rene said as she looked around in bewilderment. “I count—what—seventeen? And that looks like a café. And that one’s a store of some kind. Can this even add up to a town?”
    â€œIt does in this part of Montana,” Clay said. He was glad to see Rene’s face lit up with interest as she looked around. “I’ve seen towns with less in the Dakotas.”
    â€œWell, at least we shouldn’t have any trouble finding my aunt,” Rene said. She could see the white puffs she and Clay made with each breath. “If we don’t freeze to death first.”
    â€œA blizzard always looks worse in the night,” Clay said. “We could just knock on one of the doors and ask where your aunt is. Everyone would know in a town like this.”
    They’d driven straight through from their stop at the fast-food place. The roads had gotten worse with each hour that passed.
    â€œI suppose.” Rene crossed her arms in an effort to get warmer. Neither one of them made any move to open the doors of the tow truck. Rene knew it was more than just figuring out which house to go to that was holding her back. She was puzzled by something. After she’d eaten that hamburger, the night had become enchanted.
    It almost felt like she and Clay were in the middle of a snow globe that someone had turned upside down. She’d even felt faint a time or two when she looked over at Clay as he drove. His profile intrigued her in the night. Before her lesson with Trace, she might have thought that meant she and Clay had the beginnings of a grand love affair.
    Now, she had to conclude that it was just the natural effects of the cold and her lack of sleep. Granted, there had been something cozy about traveling north with this man in his tow truck, but he was just doing his job. He didn’t even talk like he believed in love.
    Rene might be disappointed in love, but she still knew it existed for other people. She looked over at Clay.
    â€œI’ll send you the first money I get—” she swallowed. It suddenly occurred to her that no one would be working on the mural in this kind of weather. She hadn’t mentioned to Clay that the mural was going to be painted on the