Dorothy Garlock - [Tucker Family] by Keep a Little Secret Page B

was related to someone as outgoing
     and friendly as Hannah. Squirming in her bouncing seat, she found it impossible to sit quietly by as Owen belittled Hannah.
    Clearing her throat, a touch of sarcasm in her voice, Charlotte said, “Thank you for taking us into town, Owen.”
    “See?” Owen said, turning to Hannah. “She knows what to say!”
    “Maybe your sister would be more willing to give you a kind word here and there if you didn’t throw everything back in her
     face,” Charlotte interjected, resentment toward Owen twisting in her gut.
    “Must not have much along the lines of manners up there in Minnesota,” he retorted, his green eyes never wavering from the
     dusty road. “That is, unless something got lost on the trip.”
    “Don’t pay him any mind.” Hannah laughed, ignoring the rude and demeaning way in which he had spoken to her. “If there’s one
     thing Owen has always been good at, it’s arguing!”
    Owen frowned. “I hope you remember how funny all this is when I’ve driven off and left you in Sawyer.”
    Biting her tongue to keep from adding fuel to the fire, Charlotte fumed while she stared out the window. Though the landscape
     tried to grab at her divided attention, full of long, open views the likes of which she had never before seen, she paid them
     little mind. If Hannah hadn’t spoken up, joking about Owen’s words, there was no telling what Charlotte would have replied.
    He’d best not take that tone with me ever again!
    “It’s a lot different from Minnesota, isn’t it?” Hannah asked, following Charlotte’s gaze but not understanding its meaning.
    “More than I would ever have imagined,” Charlotteanswered truthfully. “I guess I’m used to a place with lots of trees.”
    “It’s a far cry from where we come from in Colorado, too. There, just about everywhere you look is as pretty as a picture,
     full of snowcapped mountains, towering evergreens, and gurgling streams around every corner. And that’s to say nothing about
     the flowers and animals!”
    “It sure sounds beautiful,” Charlotte said. “So then why did you come to Oklahoma?”
    “Well… it’s because…” Hannah struggled. “Because…”
    “If Minnesota was so damn nice, then why in the hell did you leave?” Owen interjected.
    For an instant, Charlotte thought about going into detail about the decision to leave Carlson, her family, and the only life
     she had ever known behind, but something stopped her. “I suppose it’s because I wanted to see somewhere else,” she answered
     simply.
    “ ’Bout the same reason for us, Charlie.”
    “What did you call me?” she asked incredulously.
    “Charlie.” Owen smirked. “That’s your name, ain’t it?”
    “I’ll have you know that… isn’t my name.”
    “Hey! Look here!” Hannah shouted. At first, Charlotte thought that she was trying to break up the building argument between
     Owen and herself, but instead Hannah leaned across Charlotte’s lap and pointed excitedly out the open window. “What’s that?”
    Curious, Charlotte looked to where Hannah was pointing. There, just outside the limits of Sawyer, she saw ahuge commotion. Men pushed and pulled on enormous poles, raising the bright blue and white fabric of a tent, occasionally
     hammering down a stake; the end closest to them was already straining toward the sky. Another man rhythmically turned a wrench,
     tightening the bolts on a barrier that looked as if it would run around the entirety of their working area. Other men were
     hefting large, rectangular sections of smooth wood from the back of a truck and carefully stacking them beside the tent. One
     man ran to and fro, shouting orders and encouragement.
    “Must be the circus coming to town,” Owen observed.
    “That’s not what it is,” Charlotte contradicted him. “It looks like they’re putting up a roller-skating rink.”
    “Really?” Hannah asked enthusiastically. “I’ve always wanted to try skating.”
    “How