Just Down the Road Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY

  “Filled with amazing people that many of us can relate to … I love the characters and I love the caring, sharing, squabbles, and oddball individuals who live there.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “A delightful story with as much love and warmth as there is terror and fear … This is terrific reading from page one to the end. Jodi Thomas is a passionate writer who puts real feeling into her characters.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Thomas once again brings to life this fascinating little Texas town and its numerous characters. The reader is expertly drawn into their lives and left eager to know what happens next.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Extremely powerful and gripping writing. It’s full of passionate moments, hidden secrets, and likable characters.”

  —Roundtable Reviews

  “Distinctive … Memorable.”

  —Publishers Weekly (online review)

  WELCOME TO HARMONY

  “The characters are delightful, and a subplot about mysterious fires balances the sweet stories about being and becoming family.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A fast-moving, engaging tale that keeps you turning pages … Thomas’s characters become as familiar as family or friends.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A heartwarming tale, with plenty of excitement, Welcome to Harmony is Jodi Thomas all the way—super characters, lots of riveting subplots, and the background of a realistic Texas town. Don’t miss this terrific novel.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “A wonderful novel of three interwoven stories, peopled with characters you will care for deeply.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  REWRITING MONDAY

  “Jodi Thomas again delivers a delightful, character-driven tale of modern Texas…. Heartwarming, heart-tugging, and just plain good reading.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Thomas seamlessly weaves past and present into a gripping novel of contemporary romantic suspense, as Pepper begins to appreciate the accomplishments of previous generations and to enjoy true friendship and a sense of belonging for the first time in her life.”

  —Booklist

  “[Jodi Thomas] paints beautiful pictures with her words, creates characters that are so real you feel as though they’re standing next to you, and she has a deliciously wry sense of humor…. I enjoyed this book from page one until the end—and thoroughly recommend it.”

  —Romance Novel TV

  “If reading a new book is like opening a box of chocolates, then I got the one with cherry inside—my favorite—when I read Rewriting Monday…. This is quite a rich story with touching characters that seem real and behave like real people…. I loved it.”

  —The Book Smugglers

  TWISTED CREEK

  “Twisted Creek will weave its way around the reader’s heart. Compelling and beautifully written, it is exactly the kind of heart-wrenching, emotional story one has come to expect from Jodi Thomas.”

  —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times best-selling author

  “Jodi Thomas is a masterful storyteller. She grabs your attention on the first page, captures your heart, and then makes you sad when it is time to bid her wonderful characters farewell. You can count on Jodi Thomas to give you a satisfying and memorable read. Twisted Creek is absolutely delightful.”

  —Catherine Anderson, New York Times best-selling author

  “Thomas sketches a slow, sweet surrender, keeping the tension building to a rewarding resolution in this unsentimental, homespun romance.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Twisted Creek is a wonderful, character-driven tale that tells just what a family can be, even if it’s made up of a bunch of lonely friends…. Romance blooms slowly, but for two nearly lost souls, it’s rewarding when it does…. As usual, Jodi Thomas kept me up way later than normal! Twisted Creek could be anywhere, but Ms. Thomas makes it uniquely Texan with her wonderful characters and great dialogue. This is another thought-provoking novel to add to your Jodi Thomas collection.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Romantic suspense and sweet women’s fiction are an unlikely combination, but in Twisted Creek, veteran storyteller Jodi Thomas makes the pairing work quite well. Allie’s love for her aging grandmother is sensitively portrayed, while her blossoming relationship with Luke simmers unforgettably in the background. This is a moving story about overcoming hardship and bitterness and about being brave enough to make a happy ending—no matter what it takes.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Titles by Jodi Thomas

  JUST DOWN THE ROAD

  THE COMFORTS OF HOME

  SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY

  WELCOME TO HARMONY

  REWRITING MONDAY

  TWISTED CREEK

  ***

  TEXAS BLUE

  THE LONE TEXAN

  TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN

  TEXAS PRINCESS

  TEXAS RAIN

  THE TEXAN’S REWARD

  A TEXAN’S LUCK

  WHEN A TEXAN GAMBLES

  THE TEXAN’S WAGER

  TO WED IN TEXAS

  TO KISS A TEXAN

  THE TENDER TEXAN

  PRAIRIE SONG

  THE TEXAN AND THE LADY

  TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART

  FOREVER IN TEXAS

  TEXAS LOVE SONG

  TWO TEXAS HEARTS

  THE TEXAN’S TOUCH

  TWILIGHT IN TEXAS

  THE TEXAN’S DREAM

  Just Down

  the Road

  JODI THOMAS

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  JUST DOWN THE ROAD

  A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley mass-market edition / April 2012

  Copyright © 2012 by Jodi Koumalats.

  Excerpt from Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas copyright © 2010 by Jodi Koumalats.

  Cover art by Jim Griffin. Hand lettering by Ron Zinn. Cover design by George Long.

  Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purcha
se only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  ISBN: 978-1-101-56148-5

  BERKLEY®

  Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  BERKLEY® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  ALWAYS LEARNING

  PEARSON

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 1

  SATURDAY NIGHT

  SEPTEMBER 2011

  HARMONY COUNTY HOSPITAL

  DR. ADDISON SPENCER STOOD BETWEEN THE EMERGENCY room doors of Harmony’s only hospital and waited for the next wave of trouble to storm the entrance. The reflection of her tall, slim body dressed in white appeared more ghost than human in the smoky glass. For a blink, Addison feared she might be fading away like an old photograph facing the sun. When she’d been a child with light blond hair, her father had called her his sunshine; now there seemed little sunshine left. If it weren’t for her work, she’d have no anchor to hang on to in life.

  Saturday night always promised a full house in the ER, yet the howling wind just beyond the glass whispered change. She’d already been up since four A.M. delivering twins to a teen mother who yelled all the way through the birthing, but Addison’s shift wouldn’t be over tonight until the bars closed. If a fight didn’t break out in the parking lot of the Buffalo Bar and Grill, maybe, just maybe, she could be in bed by two.

  She thought of the silence at the little place she’d rented ten miles from town. An old four-room house with hand-me-down furniture from decades past. Nothing special. Nothing grand. Only the porch wrapped all the way around, and in every direction she saw peace. A single neighbor’s place spotted the landscape to the south. Cornfields were to the east and rocky untamed land to the north and west. Closing her eyes, she wished she were already there.

  “Dr. Spencer?” Nurse Georgia Veasey’s voice echoed behind her.

  “Yes?” Addison turned, trying hard not to show any hint of the exhaustion she felt. One of her med school professors had drummed into everyone he taught that a professional gives her best until she drops and can give nothing at all. He often ranted that a career in medicine left little room for life beyond the hospital walls, and for Addison that seemed perfect. One bad marriage had taught her all she wanted to know of the world outside.

  “Harley phoned in from the bar.” Georgia moved closer, as though looking through the night for trouble. “Appears we got a pickup load of roughnecks coming in all bleeding and cussing.”

  A year ago she wouldn’t have known what the nurse was talking about. She’d learned that roughnecks were oil field workers. “Who’d they fight?” Addison asked without any real interest. Half the time the drunks couldn’t answer that question themselves.

  “One man apparently, but the caller said it was Tinch Turner. From what I hear, he never joins in a fight unless the odds are five to one.”

  Addison understood. “Get six rooms ready.” She’d be stitching up the load of roughnecks and probably operating on the fool who took them all on. “I’ll go scrub up. You know what to do.”

  The head nurse nodded. She’d start the staff cleaning up blood and giving shots while their drunken patients turned from fighters to babies. The nurses and aides would comfort the boys in grown men’s bodies as they sewed them up and called someone to come get them.

  Addison knew Georgia would send the one who was most seriously hurt to the first room. She would be waiting there, ready to do her best one more time.

  As she moved inside, Addison stopped long enough to pour a strong cup of black coffee. She hated coffee and yet seemed to live on it lately. Going into her twentieth hour on her feet, she needed something to keep her awake. Odds were good that in a few minutes she’d be going into surgery trying to save the life of some jerk who should have gone home to his wife and family after work.

  Some doctors loved the emergency room and practiced there for their entire career, but Addison knew only that she wanted to be a doctor. Her father had spent years pushing her toward what he called a more promising career, meaning more money, more praise, but no matter how hard she tried, she never measured up to his standards. If she’d told him she simply wanted to practice medicine, he would have screamed his disappointment. But these past few months in Harmony had allowed her to love her career again and to think about what she wanted.

  The latest problem between her father and her, the one that had driven her here, might be over by the time she returned home and she could finally tell him of her plans. If she was lucky, the career path he’d planned for her would no longer be an option.

  Chapter 2

  TINCH TURNER WAITED IN HIS PICKUP FOR ALL THE OIL field workers to pile out and go into the ER. They’d have a few black eyes, a few stitches, but he knew from experience that none of them was hurt bad enough to be admitted. Tinch just had to break up the fight as fast as he could, and sometimes the easiest way to get trouble’s attention is to hit it between the eyes.

  Next week he’d buy the boys a drink and explain to them that if they were in Harmony they needed to behave. Howard Smithers shouldn’t have started calling them oil field trash, but every one of the roughnecks had been flirting with Howard’s wife. She was barroom beautiful and tended to forget she was married when she drank. Tinch had seen her flirt before, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she wanted Howard to be jealous or dead.

  Closing his eyes, Tinch told himself he should have stayed out of it. Several others in the bar could have stepped in to help Howard. But Tinch had tossed caution out the window about the time he gave up on caring whether he lived or died. Somehow, taking a few blows reminded him that he could still feel, even if it was only pain.

  Not that he wanted to feel again. He wanted to die and lie next to his wife in the cemetery. He just wasn’t able to kill himself. It bothered him that he was just one breath away from her. All he needed to do was not breathe and he’d be with his Lori Anne. Only God had pl
ayed a trick on them. He’d made Lori Anne fragile and Tinch strong as a bull. She couldn’t make it to her thirtieth birthday and, with his bad luck, he’d probably live to be a hundred. Maybe, if he kept drinking and fighting, one night he’d get lucky and someone would put him out of his misery.

  The blood dripping off his forehead bothered him enough to make him climb out of his pickup and head for the emergency room door. He didn’t much care about the pain, but he hated bleeding all over everything. He’d get a doc to stitch up the cut, and then he’d go back to his farm and drink until he washed the memories away and finally slept.

  Through the blood, he saw Nurse Veasey. She was frowning at him. Hell, he thought, she was always frowning at him. “Evenin’, Georgia,” he said, thinking she had that same look when she first saw him sitting next to her in the third grade more than twenty years ago.

  “Shut up, Tinch. I don’t even want to talk to you.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward the first little examining room. “Didn’t I tell you I’d beat you up myself if you came in here after a fight again? I swear if there were two like you in this town we’d have to build another wing onto the hospital.”

  Despite a headache the size of a mustang bucking in his brain, Tinch smiled. “You did threaten me last time, Georgia, and the fear of it kept me away for weeks, I swear.”

  She slapped him on the arm, and he thought of suggesting that might not be protocol for nurses, but Tinch decided to wait until he could see to run before he upset her more. He’d gone to school with her and her two sisters. All three were good girls determined to make the world a better place, or at least improve Harmony. Maryland taught school, Virginia married a preacher, and Georgia became a nurse. They were women on missions. The type Tinch had spent his life avoiding.

  “Sit down on the table and keep quiet,” Georgia said as she shoved his chin back and poked around the wound running half the length of his forehead. “It doesn’t look all that bad. If you had any brains, they would have dribbled out a long time ago. I’ll send in the doctor.”