My Southern Bride (The Texas Two-Step Series, Book 4)

My Southern Bride

The Texas Two-Step Series

Book Four

by

Kathy Carmichael

Bestselling Author

Published by
ePublishing Works!

www.epublishingworks.com

ISBN: 978-1-61417-601-5

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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.

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Copyright © 2014 by Kathy Carmichael. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Dedication

To Jerry Drucker, MD and staff. Thank you for keeping me fit and productive.

Chapter 1

The old Lori Palmer wouldn't have found herself in this pickle, but the new, kinder and gentler Lori Palmer wouldn't let acts of God, like monsoons or freak snowstorms, get her down. The old Lori Palmer would have seized the solitary remaining hotel room and told the male flight attendants to find their own place to stay.

The new Lori Palmer had no place to go during this freak snowstorm because she'd told the men to take the hotel room.

Why did the new Lori have to be so generous?

She propped her pile of luggage against the glass wall separating the airport terminal from the passenger pick-up area. As a flight attendant, she usually traveled with only the one carry-on, but today was her last day on the job. Her last flight. Or supposed to be.

She had purchased her second, humongous suitcase specifically for this trip. Since beginning her charity work with the Texas Literacy Association, she'd learned the group had problems acquiring beginner-reading books in lesser-known foreign languages. Fortunately, she'd been able to purchase a slew of them on this, her final overseas trip as an attendant.

But rather than arriving in Dallas as scheduled, the passenger jet had been diverted to College Station. A monster snowstorm now buried the Dallas/Fort Worth area and snow was just beginning to pelt the ground in South Texas.

Texas weather can change on a dime, and that certainly was true during the month of March. In March the weather could be glorious—or abysmal. Just Lori's luck she'd come home on the wrong March day.

Deep in the Heart of Texas
played from her smartphone, and Lori fumbled to answer the return call from her sister. "Hi, Kelli."

"I can't believe this storm. I checked and there aren't any hotel rooms available anywhere near you, but it's not a problem. I'll have Monty Joe come and get you."

"Monty Joe? You've got to be kidding." Kelli's brother-in-law didn't even like Lori. And Lori definitely didn't like people who didn't like her. Who would?

"The Nelson Ranch isn't that far from the airport, and he has plenty of room to put you up."

"But, Kelli. It's Monty Joe." Lori hated the fact her words came out sounding like a whine.

"Exactly. He's family, and as a family member he would be offended if we didn't turn to him when in need."

"I need a hotel room, not a
family member
, and he's not
my
family member. Not in any sense of the word.
We
are not related."

"It's a non-issue, Lori..."

"The man doesn't like me. He knew me before I started turning my life around. I'm embarrassed just thinking about seeing him again."

"Don't be silly, Sis. Anyone who knows you adores you."

"Yeah, right. Don't be surprised if he refuses to come get me." She couldn't blame him, not after the way she'd behaved so childishly about his brother, Bobby Gray. Kelli had a history of accidently stealing Lori's boyfriends. As a form of retaliation, and since she'd met Bobby Gray first, Lori had called dibs, even though they weren't romantically involved. It had been rotten of her, and it could have permanently damaged her relationship with her sister. When Lori finally came to her senses, they forgave her, thank heavens. But she'd taken it as a wakeup call. It was past time to grow up. Past time to discard her childish selfishness and explore how to help others. Past time to find out what kind of person she was deep inside.

A mental image of how wonderful her life would be as the new and improved Lori drove her forward in making the needed changes. In her life. In herself.

While her sister continued lecturing Lori about all of her fabulous personality traits, like she really had any, she nodded at a harried mother and toddler who approached her.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" asked the woman.

Lori placed her hand over the speaker on her phone and pointed with her free hand. "Down that hallway, take the first left, and the door will be the first on the right."

"Thank you," replied the stressed-out mother as she headed in the direction Lori had indicated.

No matter what airport, no matter what country, her flight attendant uniform served as a beacon for whoever wanted to find a restroom. So the first thing Lori did was learn where the restrooms were at every airport. It made life much simpler.