Suddenly Texan Read Free

drink?” the waitress asked.
    â€œIced tea, please.”
    â€œSure. The special tonight is pot roast, and the regular menu is on the table.”
    â€œPot roast sounds good,” Amanda said. “Does that come with biscuits?”
    â€œHot rolls.”
    â€œOkay. Sounds great.”
    The waitress smiled and walked away. Amanda finished looking at the people in the café. Some of them looked back at her. They were identifying her as a stranger, someone new in town. Why was she here? Where was she from? She knew they wanted to ask, but they probably wouldn’t come right out and grill her. They’d be more polite.
    Would her brothers be polite? Or would they deny her existence? They might still be bitter about their mother’s leaving, since according to Luanna, she’d never explained why she’d deserted them. They might say that even if Amanda was Luanna’s daughter, she wasn’t a full sister. She couldn’t possibly have the same father. Things could get ugly, and she really didn’t want to open herself up to that kind of suspicion and rejection.
    Not that she had a lot of choices. Some events didn’t wait for convenient times. She could only control what she did, how she reacted. She had one opportunity to find out everything she could about her family.
    â€œHere’s your tea,” the waitress said. “Dinner will be out in a few minutes.”
    â€œThanks. Looks like a nice crowd tonight.”
    â€œBusiness is pretty good, especially with the refurbished motel and the other new businesses in the old train hotel.”
    â€œI was at the coffee shop earlier, and I’m staying atthe motel.” At least for two nights, which was about all she could afford.
    â€œOh, yeah? So, are you visiting someone in town?”
    Amanda shook her head. “Doing some genealogy research for a client.”
    â€œReally? I’ve never known anyone who did that for a living.”
    â€œIt’s a hobby that’s turned into a profession.”
    â€œThat’s neat, to do something you love.”
    More of a necessity than a labor of love, but she didn’t want to burst the waitress’s bubble about following a dream. “You probably wouldn’t know anything about the person I’m researching because they left here around twenty years ago.”
    â€œReally? You might want to come by at noon tomorrow. There’s a group of older ladies, and sometimes younger ones, too, who have lunch here most days. They might be able to help you. You can’t miss them.”
    â€œI’ll do that. Thank you.”
    â€œWell, I’ll check on your dinner.”
    Noon tomorrow. That gave her the rest of the night to do some planning, get out her maps and reread the letter her mother had left her.
    And a whole morning to do some sightseeing at the Rocking C.
    Â 
    L EO LOOKED FOR A CERTAIN cute newcomer inside the Coffee Crossing the next morning, but saw only the usual patrons. He felt disappointed that Amanda Allen wasn’t there as he greeting his friends and acquaintances. While he waited for his to-go cup, he discovered from Riley that their interesting visitor had indeedchecked into the Sweet Dreams Motel, as he’d assumed she would.
    It was the only motel in Brody’s Crossing, after all.
    Amanda intrigued him more than anyone he’d met in months, and that was saying a lot because he found most people pretty fascinating.
    One of the downsides of living in his small hometown was the lack of strangers. New people. Lately, there had been some interesting goings-on in town. Newcomers moving here, businesses opening. Trouble was, all of them were hooked up already. Cal and Christie, James and Sandy, Wyatt and Toni. Cassie McMann had moved to town when Wyatt returned from California, but she seemed more like a little sister than a possible love interest. That was the problem with several eligible young women he knew. They were