Free Stuck Together (Trouble in Texas Book #3) by Mary Connealy Page A

had to leave the train and ride in a carriage?
    “Is there any food left for me?” the driver asked. He looked right at Glynna, then at Tina and Melissa. The man looked stunned to be surrounded by so many pretty ladiesin a little town like Broken Wheel. He dragged his hat off and couldn’t know that his hair stood straight up on top of his head. Clutching the hat brim, he looked around at the women, seemingly in no hurry to eat. The man even took a long look at Mother. Flattering, considering she was thirty years his senior.
    Vince noticed Paul go by the diner window dragging something. It had to be one of the trunks, which must weigh so much the boy couldn’t entirely lift it. Had they moved their entire household to Broken Wheel?
    Janny quickly got the coach driver a meal, and he took a seat at an adjoining table, as if content to sit there and wolf down his food while leering at the women.
    Glynna hurried to get more cups before her daughter could take over and run the whole diner herself. A scraping sound from outside drew Vince’s attention, and he saw Paul pass by the window going back toward the carriage. The boy had gotten himself saddled with a big job.
    “So, Vince, introduce us,” Jonas said, always the one doing the thinking.
    “Father, these are friends of mine from the war,” Vince replied.
    There was no attempt to conceal Father’s sound of disgruntlement. He’d had the money and influence to keep Vince out of the war, yet Vince had shoved the offer back in his father’s face.
    “I was in Andersonville Prison with Jonas and Dare. Jonas Cahill is the parson here in Broken Wheel, and Darius Riker is the doctor.”
    Father gave Jonas a dismissive glance. A man of God didn’t warrant much notice from Julius Yates. No moneyin that profession. Then he turned to watch Dare pace. A doctor could be successful, if he was shrewd.
    Dare was shrewd enough to note the dismissal of Jonas, the best and most decent of them. Jonas had a streak of shrewd in him too, because he noticed the lack of respect and tensed beside Vince.
    “This diner is owned and operated by Dare’s wife, Glynna. Her son, Paul, is lugging your trunks, and her daughter, Janet, is serving your coffee.”
    That earned a grunt from Father. Instead of appreciating the help, he’d just lowered his opinion of Dare’s whole family because serving others marked them as low class.
    “Sitting beside you is Tina Cahill.” A woman I would like to drag outside and kiss the living daylights out of. There was an introduction that would get a strong reaction from everyone. “She’s Jonas’s sister.”
    Vince sincerely hoped Jonas couldn’t read minds, because he was an overprotective big brother. If Jonas caught him kissing Tina, he’d probably shoot Vince dead, even though that was completely against Jonas’s religion. Anyway, Vince knew it would never happen, because getting shot would be a relief about now and Vince just wasn’t that lucky.
    Vince was discovering all his childhood training in manners was easy to use if he had a mind to. “These are my best friends in the world.” He glanced around the table, and even Tina looked at him for a second. “I’d like you all to meet my father, Julius, my mother, Virginia Belle, and my sister, Melissa.”
    “Julius.” Dare reached out a hand to Father.
    Who nodded and shook it. “Dr. Riker.”
    In that moment of tension, with Father looking down his nose at everyone, the women bustling in and out with coffee and pie, Janny asking questions quietly in the background, Vince only distantly noticed the diner’s front door open and close quietly.
    Several minutes had passed before Melissa cut through the chatter. “Where’s Virginia Belle?”
    Vince jumped to his feet. Father scowled and looked around the room.
    “She must’ve gone out the front.” Glynna stood in the kitchen door, the only back way out of the place. She looked confused. As if wondering why someone stepping outside would be