Читать книгу Avalanche Of Trouble онлайн | страница 21

“Exactly.” She didn’t even try to hide her surprise.

“We may be a little out of the way here in Eagle Mountain, but we’re not completely backward,” he said.

“Have you ever been to a poetry slam?” she asked.

“No. But then, I can’t say I’ve ever cared much for poetry. Probably comes from having to memorize ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ when I was in fourth grade.”

“My poetry isn’t like that.”

“I kind of figured.”

She fell silent and Gage focused on his food as soon as Sasha had placed the dishes on the table. When he looked up again, Maya was staring at him. “I’d like to see Angela,” she said softly.

He should have seen that coming. “I can arrange that. Maybe late tomorrow.” He leaned toward her. “Is there someone else you should call to be here with you? Another sibling? Your parents?”

“I spoke to my parents after I talked to you,” she said. “They live in Arizona. My mom isn’t in good health and traveling is hard for her. And there’s nothing they can do. I told them they should stay put until we know more. And there aren’t any other siblings.”

“Okay.” So she had to bear this all by herself. He would do what he could to ease the burden for her.

“What about you?” she asked. “I know you have a brother—the sheriff. Any other brothers and sisters?”

“I have a sister. She’s a graduate student at CSU. Our parents have a ranch just outside of town.”

She speared a cherry tomato on her fork. “A ranch as in cows?”

“And horses. The Walking W Ranch has been in operation since 1942. My great-grandparents started it.”

“So do you, like, ride and rope and all that stuff?” she asked.

He suppressed a grin. “All that stuff.”

“That explains the belt buckle.”

He glanced down at the large silver-and-gold buckle, which he had won as State Junior Champion Bronc Rider in high school. “I was riding horses years before I learned to ride a bicycle,” he said. “And I still help out with fall roundup.”

She shook her head. “Our lives are so different we could be from two different countries.”

“We’re probably not that different,” he said. “I’ve found that people behave pretty much the same wherever they’re from.”