The Mane Attraction Read Free Page B

and looked into the angry wolf eyes of Bobby Ray Smith, Smitty to his friends.
    “Don’t get mad at me because I’m only trying to be helpful.”
    That got Mitch a flash of wolf fangs before Jess pushed Smitty away.
    “If either of you get blood on my dress, there will be hell to pay,” she told them.
     
     
    “Sissy Mae!”
    Sissy turned from the bar and faced her most favorite aunts in the world. Her mother’s sisters, but she didn’t hold that against them.
    Squealing, she threw herself into their arms, and her aunts hugged her and showed her she wasn’t a complete failure, no matter what her mother said.
    “Look at you, darlin’ girl. Ain’t you as pretty as a picture!” her Aunt Francine, the oldest of the Lewis sisters, exclaimed.
    “Thank you.” Her momma had told her to lose a few pounds. “I have to admit, I was afraid of what the wild dogs would come up with for the gowns. Especially when I saw Jessie Ann’s wedding gown.” It wasn’t that the bride’s gown wasn’t beautiful. But it probably fit in a bit better in the year 1066.
    Leave it to Jessie Ann to go for the weird.
    Sissy pulled back from her aunts.
    “I like that color on you, though,” Francine told her. “Although brown at a wedding ...”
    “It’s not brown,” Sissy explained because she’d heard it ten thousand times in the past six months. “It’s chocolate. Dark chocolate. Seventy-two percent—”
    “Stop.” Francine held her hand up. “I can’t listen to any of that.”
    Sissy laughed. “Leave it to Bobby Ray to catch himself a Jessie Ann.”
    “Has she forgiven you?” Roberta, the next oldest, asked.
    “She says she has, but I don’t believe her. I come in the room, she finds a way to leave it.”
    “No one to blame but yourself on that, Sissy Mae.” Francine never let Sissy forget anything. “You tortured that little thing something fierce.”
    “Torture is a harsh word. Accurate,” she added, “but harsh.”
    Sissy smiled warmly at her Aunt Darla, the youngest of the sisters. “How’s my Uncle Eggie? I wish he’d come.”
    “Aw, darlin’, you know better than that. My man is not good in crowds.” And Darla wasn’t much better.
    “He’s probably in a Dumpster somewhere in Smithtown.”
    “He better not be,” Darla playfully growled. “I warned him I better not find him in one again.”
    “And Dee-Ann?” Sissy asked about her favorite cousin, Darla and Eggie’s only child.
    Darla opened her mouth, then shrugged. “Honest, darlin’. Your guess is as good as mine.”
    “I wouldn’t worry, Aunt Darla. I’m sure Dee-Ann’s just fine.” At least Sissy hoped so. She loved her cousin, but Dee worked for the government and whatever she did kept her away from her family and out of touch for way too long in Sissy’s estimation.
    “So ...” Aunt Janette asked, her eyes bright, “when are you coming home, Sissy Mae?”
    “Aww. Do you miss me?”
    “Sure ... and some cat heifers need another smack-down.”
    Typical. “No. Absolutely not.”
    “Oh, come on, Sissy—”
    “No, Aunt Janette.” Sissy shook her head for emphasis. “I told you before never again, and I meant it.”
    “Ungrateful.”
    “Am not, and stop trying to use guilt.”
    “Now,” Francine cut in, “when are we gonna get our Sissy Mae settled?”
    “Uh ...”
    But before panic could set in fully at that ugly question, Mitch suddenly grabbed her from behind.
    “Excuse me, ladies. I need to use Sissy as my human shield.”
    He lifted her up, and not surprisingly, she was abruptly face to face with her brother.
    Sissy sighed when she saw her brother’s scowl. “What did he do now?”
    “The boy needs to keep his hands to himself.”
    “Actually, my hands weren’t involved at all.”
    Bobby Ray reached around her, trying to grab Mitch’s throat.
    “Now ya’ll stop it, right now! Bobby Ray, go on. Dinner will be soon, and you need to drag that bride of yours away from the other Pound Puppies.”
    “Stop