Read A Second Helping for Free Online Page B

to shooting her video.
    From his spot on the deck, Riley, whose real last name was Curry and not Baker, returned the wave and looked out at the crew of Mexican servants putting the finishing touches to what had to be the biggest bash he’d ever seen in his sixty-seven years of living. There were at least a hundred tables set out across the sprawling yard. Each wore a snow-white tablecloth draped with pink and brown silk ribbons. Chocolate’s favorite colors, according to Eustasia. More pink and brown ribbons accented the white roses covering the pergola constructed especially for the grand occasion. Thewedding ceremony would be conducted beneath it, so rows of chairs for the guests fanned out around it.
    Meeting Eustasia at that McDonald’s last fall had been a godsend. Who wouldn’t want to live in a mansion owned by a big, beautiful, redheaded Texas millionairess who loved hogs as much as he? She’d provided them everything from clothing to feed, opening not only her home and her barns, but her bedroom for hanky-panky activities Riley hadn’t concerned himself with in years, so his life was good too. Up to a point.
    He hadn’t told Eustasia his real last name, or that he and Cletus were on the run because of the death of Morton Prell, a nasty old extortionist Cletus killed in self-defense. After the incident, the county took Cletus away and locked him up in an outdoor pen with the intent of holding a hearing to determine Cletus’s fate. Riley knew they were going to put Cletus down, so one night, before the county paperwork could come through, he broke Cletus out, put him in the bed of his old white pickup, and left town. They’d been on the lam since.
    As a result, he didn’t like the idea of Eustasia filming the wedding and putting it on the Internet. Had he known about it earlier he might have hidden the camcorder or “accidentally” dropped the thing, so it wouldn’t work. Now, however, he could only watch and worry. He didn’t know much about cyberspace but he did know that millions of people around the world flocked to it like a religion, and he was scared that one of those millions would be someone with ties to the Kansas law enforcement agencies. He and Cletus had had a great time spending the winter with Eustasia, but all this publicity meant it was time to move on.He had no clear idea where they’d go next, but he’d been thinking about heading across the south, maybe to Florida.
    He watched Eustasia greeting the first of the guests. His disappearance would break her heart, Chocolate’s too, because she and Cletus seemed genuinely in love. However, recapture wasn’t something he and Cletus could afford, so it was imperative that they not stay in one place too long. Continued flight was all they had.
    Â 
    Amari enjoyed the communal dinners Ms. Bernadine was always arranging, and this evening they’d gathered at Tamar’s to welcome everyone home from vacation. Amari had been so happy to see Preston he’d grabbed him like they’d been separated for years. “Missed you, my man.”
    â€œMissed you too, dog. Looks like everybody’s here,” Preston said.
    â€œYep.”
    Ms. Lily was talking with Trent, Malachi, Bing, and Clay Dobbs. Preston’s foster parents, Colonel Payne and his wife, Sheila, were on the far side of the room laughing at some story big-time singer Roni Garland was telling while her smiling husband, Dr. Reg, the town’s pediatrician, looked on. Ms. Agnes was bending Ms. Bernadine’s ear about lord only knew what. Ms. Agnes was still in her right mind but she was approaching ninety years old.
    Amari asked, “You say hello to Crystal yet?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œMe either. Guess we have to bite the bullet, huh?”
    â€œI guess,” Preston replied skeptically.
    Crystal was seated on the couch with Zoey, the Garlands’ seven-year-old mute foster daughter, and Devon