The Lost Daughter Of Pigeon Hollow. Inglath Cooper

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СКАЧАТЬ stood behind the front counter, filling a pitcher with iced tea. She wiped a hand on her just-above-the-knee black skirt, then glanced up at the TV hanging from the ceiling. It had also snagged the attention of Harold Pinckard and Stanley Arrington where they sat drinking a late morning cup of coffee.

      “A Bland County woman, twenty-three-year-old single mother, Teresa Potter, was the winner of last night’s five million dollar lottery—”

      “Can you believe that?” Judy Parker set a coffeepot back on its burner and scowled at the TV. She pushed her glasses back on her nose, only to have them slide right back to their previous position. Mid-forties, Judy barely broke the five-feet mark, weighed less than a hundred pounds and still managed to be known as a small tornado of energy. “I mean she just buys a ticket in the Mini-Mart, and presto, her life is changed overnight.”

      Willa began filling a row of glasses with tea. “Only happens in fairy tales.”

      Judy reached for a towel and began wiping down the Formica counter. “Does that mean something good can’t happen to a person once in a while?”

      “No. But I’m not going to stand around waiting for it.”

      Judy made a sound of disapproval, then moved to the sink, rinsed her towel and wrung it out. “So what would you do with it, if you believed in the lottery and if you won?”

      “I don’t, and I wouldn’t,” she said, lifting a shoulder.

      “Indulge me. And let’s just go ahead and assume you’d give a good portion to your favorite charity. Save the beagles or whatever it is. I want to hear about the you stuff.”

      Willa smiled. “The me stuff. Okay. I’d buy a black Lamborghini.”

      “You would not.”

      “Hey, I thought this was my fantasy.”

      “Fair enough,” Judy said, one hand in the air. “So we have one flamboyant sports car. Proceed.”

      Willa squinted in thought. “Maybe a nip and tuck at one of those fancy canyon-something spas.”

      Judy shot her a look, eyebrows raised. “What in the world would you nip and tuck?”

      “Decrease size of fanny. Increase size of breasts.”

      Judy rolled her eyes. “You barely have a fanny. If you go in for that, I’ll have to ask for the complete overhaul. So what else?”

      Willa pondered for a moment. “My own tab at any Barnes & Noble. Better yet, my own Barnes & Noble with unlimited iced lattes.”

      Judy made a face. “I never have gotten the whole cold coffee thing.”

      “Acquired taste,” Willa said.

      “Apparently. So once you’ve made the plastic surgeon rich and become the queen of lattes, what else?”

      Willa began lining up another row of glasses, quiet for a moment, and then said, “Go back to school, I guess.”

      Judy reached for the Curel lotion bottle beneath the counter, squirted some on her hands and began rubbing it in. “Dr. Addison. I always did like the sound of that. And you know what? That one shouldn’t have to wait around for lottery winnings.”

      “Yeah, well, the chances of my ever getting to med school are about as likely as my winning the lottery.”

      “If it’s about money, you could always sell this place.”

      “Right now, I’ll be lucky to get Katie through high school. Med school at the same time? I don’t think so.”

      “You could do it,” Judy disagreed.

      “Maybe someday,” Willa said, hearing the doubt in her own voice.

      “Speaking of the teenage terror, did she get home okay last night?”

      Willa sighed. “After midnight.”

      “That girl is gonna make you old before your time.”

      Willa opened another box of tea bags. “I get a time?”

      “Not if you stand around waiting for it.” Judy threw Willa’s words back at her with a pointed look.

      Willa knew better than to get this particular conversation started. “I’ll be in the back paying bills.”

      Thirty minutes later, she closed the checkbook, defeated as always by the dwindling funds in her account. She leaned back in the desk chair and stretched. Sam lay at her feet, snoring.

      Katie. Willa hadn’t let herself think about her all morning. She’d dropped her off at school without either of them saying a word to each other.

      On the subject of her sister, Willa felt as if she’d been dumped out in the middle of the ocean only to discover she couldn’t swim. She simply didn’t know how to reach Katie anymore.

      And if she didn’t figure something out fast, Katie would end up derailing her entire life at the age of sixteen.

      The office door opened. Judy poked her head inside, her eyes wide, her smile a little giddy. “To the front, please. Two o’clock.”

      “What is it?”

      Judy made a fluttering gesture over her heart.

      Willa gave her a look. “The last time he was a long-haul trucker with the amazing ability to forget he had a wife.”

      “This is no married truck driver,” Judy said. “This is a winning lottery ticket.”

      Willa shook her head, then smiled and got up from the chair. “Okay. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

      At the register, she picked up a stack of menus, straightening them. Shania Twain sang on the jukebox.

      “Over there,” Judy stage-whispered.

      Trying to look casual, Willa let her gaze wander to the right-hand corner of the diner. A very good-looking man sat in the booth, rubbing a thumb against a glass of iced tea, a newspaper in front of him. He wore blue jeans and a light blue polo-type shirt. His dark hair was short, and he had nice wide shoulders, well-muscled arms.

      “Was I right or what?”

      Willa looked back at the man. He was staring at her. Dead-on. She turned around abruptly and bumped into Judy who was holding a tray of cookies that went flying toward the ceiling. Willa and Judy both juggled for them to little avail. Most landed on the floor. They dropped to their knees behind the register, scooping up cookies and aiming them at a nearby trash can.

      Judy gave Willa a smug smile. “Winning ticket, right?”

      “I think I’ll just crawl back to the office now.”

      Judy chuckled. “I’m sure he didn’t notice.”

      They catapulted to their feet at the same time. The man stood on the other СКАЧАТЬ