Read Dances with Wolf for Free Online

one day, but not with a guy who got paid a boatload of cash to abuse horses, steers, and bulls. She ’ d wait for the right guy, someone grounded and mature, who respected and supported her, and her new method of treating the animals she loved.
    “Just two coffees,” she told the waiter, declining the cream and sugar. If she was lucky, she’d be out of here in twenty minutes.
    …
    Wolf whistled as he headed down the street toward Norm ’ s. His second encounter with Abby in two days. And mere hours since he ’ d dreamt of her through most of the night. Pausing at the threshold, he tried to blink those dreams away. He ’ d invited Abby here so he could clear the air, not cloud it up all over again.
    When he walked in, there was a hush. Two high school girls halted their chatter and swung around on the counter stools to stare at him. Being a local legend, a big fish in a tiny pond, could be a drag sometimes. He thought Norm ’ s might be the one place in town where he could stay anonymous, but apparently not. He walked purposefully past the counter, wishing the girls would drink up their shakes and stop gawking. He spotted Abby in a booth toward the back, and slid into the seat opposite her. Act natural , he warned himself. And keep it light.
    But Abby kicked things off herself. “ Your sister’ s a slave driver,” she said. “And sometimes we don’t exactly have the same taste.”
    “Oh man, same with my dad and me. Have you ever heard of a Western blazer with elbow patches? I felt like a fraud.”
    “You think there ’ s a conspiracy?” Abby grinned. Wolf thought, wow, we can do small talk just fine when we set our minds to it.
    “I know there is at our place. I think Mom hid my good-luck Wranglers in the freezer just to guarantee I ’ d have to buy new clothes.”
    “That could have been Bridge.”
    “I wouldn ’ t put it past her.”
    Abby laughed. “It ’ s my dad ’ s sixty-fifth. They ’ re acting like it ’ s the Oscars.”
    The high school waiter, acne-faced and stumbling, delivered a black coffee to each side of the booth.
    “Just coffees?” he asked her. “No mint-chip fix for ya?”
    She laughed but seemed to catch herself. “Good memory. But I ’ m fine with coffee.”
    “Aww, come on. Indulge me.” Wolf felt himself losing control of his impulses, just the tiniest bit. Keep it light .
    “No…really. I ’ m on a tight schedule.” Her mouth formed a straight line, as tight as her schedule. As tight as her cute little butt, too.
    But now an awkward silence fell over the table. Think of something to say, man. He couldn ’ t just come out and bring up prom after ninety seconds at the table, though, could he? He needed to warm up to that. He settled on, “So, tell me about vet school. You…decided to leave?”
    “It just happened, second year. I was studying hard and doing pretty well. Then one day, our class was assisting with a breech birth over near the race track in Spokane. The horse was thrashing around and my professor was about to shoot her full of Oxytocin. I looked into her eyes. She had no idea what was happening to her. She was just a baby. And Wolf, so help me, she started looking at me, too, like she knew I wanted to help. So I walked over and held her face and talked to her. She quieted down, went into full labor with about half the Oxy they usually give. And twenty minutes later, she gave birth to a healthy filly.”
    “Sounds like a miracle.”
    “The opposite, in fact. It was as close to a natural birth as that thoroughbred was ever going to come. That ’ s when it occurred to me—by giving the drugs to speed up her labor, we weren ’ t assisting with the birth; we were interfering with it. I decided there had to be a better way.”
    “I ’ ll bet the professor was sorry to lose his prize student.”
    “Yeah, right. If I hadn ’ t dropped out, they probably would have asked me to leave. I was going on and on about drug-free procedures. I think they