Texas Thunder Read Free Page A

these leftovers, too. I bet those pigs in a blanket would go over way better than a crab dip.” Les headed for Selma, pausing only to wave at Loyd Vickers who, rumor had it, was this close to retiring and putting his pharmacy up for sale so he and the wife could move down to Port Aransas and fish their days away. While Haverty’s didn’t specialize in commercial properties, Les was always looking to make his next buck.
    Callie turned her attention back to the dessert table and a mouthwatering tray of peanut butter blossoms. Her stomach hollowed out and her hands trembled.
    â€œWho knew they made so many different kinds of egg salad?” The question came from the young woman who waltzed up next to Callie, effectively distracting her from a temporary fall from grace. “I thought one was bad, but we’ve got six.” She gave a shudder. “If I didn’t hate funerals before, I’d definitely have ammunition now.”
    At twenty-one, Jenna Tucker was Callie’s youngest sister. With her blond hair and green eyes, she looked like all the Tuckers who’d come before her. Even more, with her bossy manner and ballsy attitude, she acted like a Tucker.
    At least that’s what their granddaddy had always said.
    â€œWhy, that gal’s the spitting image of my daddy, she is. She’s got his eyes and his mouth. She’s a ballbuster if I ever seen one.”
    A good thing to Grandpa James, who’d always had a good chuckle over Jenna’s bold ways. A bad thing to Callie, who’d been the one dealing with all of the messes caused by said ways.
    With their parents gone and their grandfather too old to take care of himself, much less anyone else, Callie had been the one trudging to the principal’s office whenever Jenna had called someone a name or picked a fight or set fire to the boys’ locker room.
    Not that her little sister had been a bad kid. She’d just never taken any crap. Not from the Sawyers. Not from well-meaning school officials. Not from anyone. She’d never had to because she’d been young.
    Free.
    Meanwhile, Callie had been the one stuck making the meals and washing the clothes and apologizing for every one of her sister’s transgressions. She’d looked after everyone, including their grandfather.
    Gone.
    â€œYou might not like egg salad, but I’m sure there are a lot of people here who do.” Callie motioned to the influx of bodies pushing through the double glass doors and crowding around the food tables. “It sure is a big turnout.”
    â€œFor one reason only. You know half these folks didn’t even speak to Granddad, don’t you? They’re just here so they can get to all the dirt. And when they realize there’s nothing to dig, they’ll just make up something.” Jenna motioned to their sister, Brandy, who stood in a nearby line behind Pastor Harris, waiting to get a cup of punch.
    Their middle sister had the same Tucker good looks, but she also had an overabundance of curves that put her right up there with Kim Kardashian.
    â€œI’m sure tongues are wagging right now,” Jenna went on, “because Brandy is standing too close to the good reverend. And flirting shamelessly.”
    â€œShe’s doing no such thing.”
    â€œYou know that, and I know that. But by the time this thing is over rumor will have it that she jumped him just as he was about to reach for a cup of sherbet shebang and humped him like a rabbit in high heat.” She shook her head. “You know how this town is.”
    Boy, did Callie ever.
    Which was exactly why she’d always wanted out. She’d hated the whole small-town life where everybody knew everybody’s business, and if they didn’t, they eagerly made something up. She’d wanted the bright lights of a big city like Houston or Dallas or Austin, and she’d been well on her way. She’d worked her buns off in high school,