TAKE A CHANCE (Chance Colorado Series) Read Free Page B

ago—a pitiful, starving kitten wandering downtown and, when no one claimed him, she’d made her decision. Fate had dropped him in her path so he was her responsibility. And responsibility was something Allie took very seriously.
    “Only communicating with us, huh?” Matt shook his head, but kept his eyes closed. “You’re starting to sound as crazy as that cat of yours.”
    Allie didn’t bother to respond. Matt’s assessment wasn’t that far off the mark. She felt as if she were indeed perched on the edge of Crazy Canyon right now, with one foot already dangling off the wrong side. Over the last several months, everything she’d found comfort in had been snatched away and her plans for her life had been turned completely upside down.
    When she’d left her hometown of Chance, Colorado eight years ago, she’d sworn never to set foot in that gossip-filled little backwater again. But life had a way of taking your dreams and even your best-laid plans and crushing them to dust.
    Her life did, anyway. And now, here she was, barreling toward Chance at sixty miles an hour as if she had good sense.
    Which, obviously, she didn’t, or she wouldn’t be headed back there, no matter what the reason.
    Beside her, Matt shifted in his seat, a movement that brought with it an involuntary grunt of pain. His face paled and his lips clamped in that same determined grimace he’d worn ever since she’d first visited him at the military hospital in San Antonio.
    “Want to stop and stretch your legs for a bit? There’s a little town up ahead where we can pull off.”
    “I’m okay. We’re only a couple of hours from home. I can make it.”
    Matt’s words denied his need, but the pain etched in the lines of his face told another story. He needed to keep those muscles moving. She’d been sitting there when his doctor had told him so before he’d left the hospital.
    Damn that stubborn Flynn pride of his for getting in the way of common sense again. She of all people should know. She suffered from the same problem too often not to recognize it when she saw it in her brother.
    He might not be willing to admit what he viewed as a weakness, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do what was necessary.
    “Maybe the way you drive it’s only a couple of hours. But since I’m not up for any speeding tickets on this trip, it’s going to take us a little longer than that to get home. I’m stopping off.”
    She headed down the next exit, toward a little town called Scarlet Springs. It turned out to be one of those classic old Colorado mining towns, its main street lined with eclectic buildings. Not so very different from Chance, really.
    Though she’d filled up her tank before they’d left Boulder, she turned off into the Pump-N-Go gas station, pulling her old car up close to the first pump.
    “What?” Matt opened his eyes and sat up, immediately alert. “Why are you stopping?”
    “I told you,” she answered with as much patience as she could muster. “Why don’t you go inside and grab something for us to drink. I’ll do the honors out here.”
    Matt stared at her for a moment before getting out of the car. His weary expression as he untangled his wooden cane from the handle of the cat’s cage served as all the proof she needed that her excuse to get him up and walking was completely transparent.
    Whatever. He might be her big brother, but if he wasn’t going to do for himself what he needed to, it was up to her to see it done. Those damaged leg muscles weren’t going to get any relief with him all cramped up in the front seat of her little car.
    She went through the motions, not surprised when it took less than five dollars to fill her tank. She really hadn’t needed gas. But, since Matt hadn’t yet returned, she had accomplished what she’d wanted. He was up and moving around.
    Inside the building she spotted him immediately, hunched over the racks of junk food, hunting his favorites. If he were hungry, maybe she could