Hooked by Cat Johnson Page A

she appeared. He wasn’t sure if he found the fact that she was as shaken as he comforting or frightening.
    Luke moved closer and pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Love you, Mom.”
    She looked up in surprise. “I love you too.” Her attention moved back to counting out the scoops. “Go get the truck and let me finish this.”
    “Mr. Collins offered to take us in his car, if that’s all right with you.”
    Glancing over her shoulder, she gave Chris’s father a smile. “That would be lovely. Thank you, Jack.”
    He nodded. “My pleasure.” He hooked a thumb in the direction of the door. “I’ll just go pull it up front so it will be all warmed up and ready to go whenever you are.”
    “Perfect. Thank you.” She glanced back to Luke. “Luke, you going to put on that tie I got you?” His mother continued what he knew now to be an act and his only choice was to play along.
    “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do it right now.”
    They rode in the car in silence after a few more words of gratitude from his mother to Mr. Collins. When they arrived at the church, it was to find people already arriving.
    By the time the preacher began the service, there was not an empty pew to be had. Luke wasn’t really surprised by that. His father was well liked and active in the community. Or had been, anyway. He’d have to start to think of his father in the past tense now, as hard as that was. What did surprise Luke was his reaction to seeing the crowd gathered to honor his father’s memory. The outpouring of support for his family by the entire town had him getting a little emotional. He felt Lilly rubbing his back, and the first tear of the day fell.
     
    “For a little thing, you sure do walk fast.”
    Mustang’s amused voice came from behind Annie as she strode from where they’d been forced to park the trailer. The damn thing was so big it was nearly impossible to park anywhere anyway, but with the lot of the church full to overflowing, there’d been no hope at all. Mustang had simply driven until he’d found a feed store with a large enough parking area they could park off in the corner. Never mind that now they had to hike about a quarter mile, Annie in high-heeled boots, to get to a service they were already late for.
    “I hate being late.” She shot a look over her shoulder at the two cowboys who were not using their long legs to Annie’s satisfaction. Couldn’t these guys move any faster?
    “I called Luke. He knows we’ll be a little late.” Slade even talked slow. Annie used to find that cowboy trait charming. Today, the slowness annoyed her, along with pretty much everything else.
    Damn flat tire. What luck.
    “Still. I don’t like it.” She was rarely late for anything. Showing up after a funeral had already started was incomprehensible to her. Annie let out a sigh and realized she was getting winded from walking so fast.
    “It’ll be a’ight. Promise.” Mustang’s voice sounded amused and she fought the urge to spin around and shoot him a nasty look.
    Finally, they reached the church. She strode up the stairs as quietly and quickly as she could. Mustang’s hand shot in front of her to grab the door handle just as Annie reached for it. Acting the gentleman as always. She wished his attention to polite details had included getting her to the church on time. Though she really couldn’t blame him they’d run over a nail and gotten a flat.
    Now that they were here, Annie’s heart began to beat even faster, if possible. She blew out a slow, steadying breath and stepped from the bright sunlight into the dim quiet of the church. There were the echoing sounds typical of a cavernous space filled to the rafters with people. A cough here. A shuffling of position there. A child’s voice followed by a parent’s shush. Then the voice of the preacher filled the room.
    Annie’s gaze sought and then found Luke’s figure seated in the front pew next to who she assumed was his mother. She’d recognize him