Free Lone Star Burn: Love On Tap (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Judy Kentrus Page A

appearance. They expected to see a floozy with loose morals, but she’d turn the tables on them. Dr. Jennifer Reynolds, Ph.D. was about to take on the town of Fort Mavis.
    She loved driving Gray’s Maserati and got gas first, but used her own credit card. No sense giving them something else to talk about. She stopped in at the local pharmacy and selected a high-end brand of toiletries she’d need for the rest of her trip home. The young female clerk was curious, pleasant, but asked for ID when Jennie used her credit card.
    Her next stop was a gift shop that featured local artists. She selected a painting of wild horses and had it shipped to her brother and his wife. A pair of hand-painted originals caught her eye when she was about to leave. The first one was of a lone gray wolf standing on a small cliff, looking over the rich, fertile land below. His strong body was straight as an arrow, with his head thrown back in triumph. The wild animal’s powerful jaw was open and appeared to be howling in declaration. The second one was of his mate. The artist had painted the lighter gray female wolf and her two cubs exiting a stone den.
    She purchased both with the stipulation that the painting of the male wolf be delivered to Grayson Wolff’s home in two weeks. It was to be a surprise. The one with the female and her cubs was to be shipped to her brother’s address in Laurel Heights. It would look great in her new office. The older woman who owned the store couldn’t have been more gracious, since Jennie spent a thousand dollars. She’d deliver the painting to Mr. Wolff’s home personally.
    Fort Mavis Savings and Loan was her next stop. Before she could walk up to the window to cash a personal check, the manager approached her with a forced smile that didn’t reach his eyes and asked how he could be of help. She went through the I’m-a-stranger-in-town routine. When she mentioned the name of her host, he puffed out his chest and took care of her personally.
    Presenting the persona of an uptown, well-spoken woman had knocked them off their high horse. Inside, Malibu Barbie gave herself a high five.
    Her last stop was the market to get very specific items for the party. She slowly pushed her cart up and down the aisles and wasn’t oblivious to the curious glances from the other customers. Most were women. She helped an older woman reach an item on the top shelf because she was too short, and was given a very friendly smile in return.
    Before entering one of the five checkout lines, she reviewed the items in her cart. The green Gatorade would be Yoda soda. The small figurine of Hans Solo she’d purchased would be trapped inside blue Jell-O she’d call carbonite, and the giant marshmallows were needed to make Storm Trooper pops. It was going to be fun painting the faces on them this afternoon using a black edible paint pen. She went a little overboard selecting bags of candy needed for the piñata in the shape of Darth Vader’s helmet. The giant red gumballs would go in a separate bowl to represent thermal detonators.
    Yesterday afternoon, she’d made oatmeal raisin cookies, added white candy eyes, and called them Wookie cookies. Matt went bananas when she showed him the pretzel sticks she’d dipped in red, blue, and white melting chocolate to represent light sabers. He declared this was going to be the best party ever.
    When she approached the checkout line, three women huddled together, and their quick glances in her direction were obvious. They had school-age children, considering all the sugarcoated cereal, juice boxes, and fruit chewies in their carts. One of the women’s cell phone rang, and Jennie was close enough to hear the woman say, “She’s here now.”
    The small-town grapevine was going strong. She’d better get used to the way locals communicated, since she was moving to a rural area that shared the same characteristics. These three were primed for gossip, and Jennie was about to feed their catty