Christmas Cowboy Duet. Marie Ferrarella

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СКАЧАТЬ nearly jumped out of her skin. The woman had seemingly materialized out of nowhere again. Didn’t anyone else find that annoying? she couldn’t help wondering.

      Taking a breath to steady nerves that were becoming increasingly jumpier, Whitney turned in her seat and focused on what the older woman had just said rather than the fact that she was beginning to view Miss Joan as some sort of a resident witch.

      “Do you think you can fix this?” she asked Miss Joan, allowing a trace of hope to enter her voice for good measure.

      Miss Joan looked at the phone in question. “Depends. This just happened, right?” she asked, raising her eyes to look at Liam’s companion.

      “Right,” Whitney answered quickly.

      Miss Joan put out her hand. “Let me take your phone apart and put it in a container of rice.”

      “You’re going to cook it?” Whitney asked warily.

      Miss Joan laughed. “Hardly. Rice draws the moisture out. Doesn’t work all the time but it’s the only shot your phone has.”

      With a sigh, Whitney handed her phone over to the woman, although she was far from confident about what was about to transpire.

      “Okay.”

      Taking the phone, Miss Joan pocketed it for a moment. “By the way, these are for you,” she said, offering the younger woman what had caused her to return to the table before Angel had finished preparing their orders.

      Whitney then noticed that the older woman had brought over a couple of items of clothing with her—a light blue sweatshirt and a pair of faded jeans.

      Instead of taking the items, Whitney stared at them. “What am I supposed to do with these?”

      Miss Joan pursed her lips, a sign that she was banking down a wave of impatience. “Well, this is just a wild guess on my part, but if it were me, I’d put them on. In case you didn’t know, the clothes you have on will dry a lot faster without you in them—especially if I put them in a dryer. Unless, of course, you like looking like something the cat dragged in,” Miss Joan added whimsically.

      “Ladies’ room is right through there,” she told Whitney, pointing toward the far side of the diner. And then she held the defunct phone aloft. “I’ll go get your orders after I put this baby into the rice container.”

      Whitney felt as if she’d just been doused by the flash flood a second time, except that this time around, it had come in human form.

      After a beat, she gazed at Liam. “I think I’m beginning to see what you mean about Miss Joan.”

      “Miss Joan likes to look out for everybody,” he explained. “Like a roving den mother. Takes some getting used to for some people. Now, I’m not telling you what to do, but it might not be such a bad idea putting those on.” He nodded at the clothes she was holding in her arms.

      She’d felt rather uncomfortable in the wet clothes, despite the jacket Liam had given her. But she hadn’t felt it was worth drawing attention to the fact. After all, it wasn’t as if anyone could do anything about it. Except that obviously Miss Joan could—and had.

      Whitney rose without saying a word and walked to the rear of the diner, holding the clothes Miss Joan had brought her.

      She had definitely fallen down the rabbit’s hole, Whitney thought as she changed quickly, discarding her wet outer garments and pulling on the sweatshirt and the jeans Miss Joan had given her.

      Dressed, Whitney didn’t know what surprised her more, that the strange woman with the flaming red hair had brought her a change of clothing—or that the clothes that Miss Joan had brought her actually fit.

      “You look a lot drier,” Liam commented with a smile when she finally returned and quietly slipped back into her chair.

      Whitney’s eyes met his. He couldn’t quite read her expression. It seemed to be a cross between bewildered and uneasy.

      “How did she know?” Whitney asked.

      “That you were wet?” It was the first thing that came to his mind. “It might have to do with the fact that there was a small trail of water drops marking your path to the table.”

      He tactfully refrained from mentioning that both her hair and the clothes beneath his jacket were plastered against her body.

      She shook her head. “No, I mean how did Miss Joan know what size I took? The jeans fit me as if they were mine.” And she found that almost eerie.

      Liam laughed again. These were things that he had come to accept as par for the course, but he could see how they might rattle someone who wasn’t used to Miss Joan and her uncanny knack of hitting the nail right on the head time and again.

      “Like I said before, that’s all part of her being Miss Joan. The rest of us don’t ask. We just accept it as a given.”

      The next minute, Miss Joan was at their table again. This time Whitney didn’t jump and her nerves didn’t spike.

      “You look better, honey,” Miss Joan said with approval. She’d brought their orders over on a tray and now leaned the edge of it against their table. She proceeded to divvy the plates between them. And there was more.

      “Figured you might like a hot cup of coffee with that.” Although she had brought two coffees, she directed her comment to Liam. “It’ll take the rest of the chill out of your bones,” she promised with a wink that instantly took thirty years off her face.

      The tray now emptied, Miss Joan deftly picked up the discarded blouse and tailored slacks from the floor next to Whitney’s chair. “I’ll just take care of these for you,” the woman said.

      “I usually have those dry-cleaned,” Whitney protested as the other woman was beginning to walk away with her clothes.

      Miss Joan paused, glancing down at the wet clothing she was holding. “I think we both agree that there’s really nothing ‘usual’ about this now, is there?” she said knowingly.

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