Read Second Chances (Nugget Romance 3) for Free Online Page B

adamantly, if you asked Harlee—then opened her menu, feigning indifference.
    Harlee arched a brow, knowing that there was definitely something going on here. “Okay.” She held up her hands in surrender.
    “So you’re interested?” Darla asked, trying to sneak a peek at Big Ears, who was looking right back.
    “No.” Harlee would’ve laughed if Darla hadn’t look so relieved. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, so a man’s the last thing I need. All my energy has to go into finding another newspaper job.”
    She leaned over the table to confide in Darla that she’d left San Francisco with a bit of a debt problem.
    “How bad?” Darla asked, turning her gaze from Wyatt to eye Harlee’s clothes. “Like collection agency bad?”
    Harlee nodded her head. “It’s a sickness. Just like some people are addicted to crack, I’m addicted to department stores.”
    Then there’d been the swanky Marina studio she hadn’t been able to afford, all those pricey restaurant meals, and a hefty car payment. San Francisco was an expensive city and her friends—software designers, venture capitalists, and lawyers—had deep pockets. On her pathetic reporter’s salary it hadn’t been easy keeping up with the Joneses. And she’d gotten into a lot of trouble trying. Now it was time to pay the piper—part of the reason she’d been forced to move to Nugget.
    “My cards are maxed out and I only have a thousand dollars in my checking account,” she continued, deciding on the French dip with a side salad.
    “What about DataDate?” Darla asked. “You just got two new clients.”
    “Business is picking up. But it’s still not enough. Thank God for free rent, or I’d be living with my parents.” As much as she loved them, moving back into her childhood bedroom would’ve been the cherry on top of her failure sundae.
    A woman with a cloud of dark hair and soulful eyes came to take their orders. “Hey, Darla. How’s business at the barbershop?”
    “Good. Really good. You should come in sometime for a service. Mariah, this is Harlee Roberts. She’s new in town, lives in her family’s cabin up on Grizzly Peak. Harlee, Mariah and her partner, Sophie, own the Ponderosa.”
    “Nice to meet you, Mariah.”
    “You live next door to Colin,” Mariah said, refilling their water glasses. “We love Colin.”
    “He’s great,” Harlee said, and changed her mind about the French dip, getting a Cobb salad instead.
    When Mariah left, Harlee whispered, “Liar.” Darla had confided during Harlee’s shampoo that business was deader than road kill. The men still came to get trims and shaves from Owen, but most of the women in town already had stylists in either Reno or Quincy.
    “What am I supposed to say? ‘No one wants me to cut their hair’?”
    “It’s not that, Darla. You just need more time to get established. You’ll see.”
    “Whatever,” Darla said, and Harlee understood that she was just frustrated. “I didn’t know you lived near Colin.”
    “You know Colin?” For some reason that surprised Harlee, who’d pegged Colin for the town hermit, although she knew he had a lot of construction jobs in addition to making furniture.
    “It’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone.”
    “Do you think he’s weird?” Harlee asked, lowering her voice.
    Darla vacillated. “Mm, maybe a little. More like quiet. And at least he doesn’t stare at my chest, like that one.” She pointed at Wyatt, who had turned around in his stool and was sure enough blatantly watching Darla.
    “The one you’re so hot for me to like?”
    “Hey, pickings are slim around here.”
    “What’s the deal with the other two?” Harlee motioned toward the bar, her inner reporter kicking in.
    “The one in the hat is Clay McCreedy. He’s the heartthrob of Nugget, owns a huge cattle ranch up the road, has two sons, and is engaged to a famous cookbook author. The other one is Nugget Police Chief Rhys Shepard. He’s absolutely dreamy,