Love Finds You in Last Chance, California by Miralee Ferrell Page A

boardinghouse.”
    “Riley is the name. Mosey back and join us for a drink after yer settled.” A broad smile lit the man’s round face and crinkled the skin around the blue eyes.
    Justin shook his head and picked up the reins. “Sorry. I’ve a son to care for and can’t be leaving him.” Toby had curled up on the seat of the buckboard with his head on Justin’s leg, sound asleep.
    Poor little guy. The past two weeks had tuckered him out, with no time to play and few regular naps or healthy meals. Last Chance seemed friendly enough, and if Miss Rice had a room for more than one night, he’d settle there while he checked out the situation at Travers’s ranch.
    Riley raised a hand and turned back toward the doors. “Aye. Good afternoon, then.”
    “Afternoon.” The creak of the wagon’s wheels muffled Justin’s reply, and the man disappeared back into the dimly lit interior of the saloon.
    A huge yawn closed Justin’s eyes for a second, nearly causing him to miss spotting a young boy bolting across the road in front of his team. “Ho, there! What’s your rush, son? You about got stepped on.”
    The boy he remembered as Johnny bounded up on the boardwalk, paused, and turned back. “Nope. I’m pretty quick, and no horse will get me. Miz Rice give me a nickel for some eggs at the store, and I’m supposed to hurry. She’s baking somethin’ for her boarders.” Johnny’s freckles stood out against his sunburned face, and his mischievous eyes sparkled.
    Justin’s mouth watered at the thought of eating something home-baked instead of dry biscuits and jerky. “You’d better get a hustle on, but be careful of those eggs. Miss Rice mightn’t be too happy if you bring them back broken.”
    “Yep, she’d lick me for sure.” Johnny waved then darted through the rough-hewn door of the general store.
    Justin clucked to his team and smiled at the space of time it took to travel the short distance to the boardinghouse. Quite a busy, friendly little town. A hand-painted sign posted above the door of the clapboard building next door read D OCTOR I S I N . He shook his head in amazement. You didn’t often find a doctor in a town that boasted so few people, but the surrounding mines and ranches probably brought in a fair amount of business. A small hotel on the far side of the doctor’s office and a barbershop across the road completed the picture, and he guessed that the church might double as a school on weekdays.
    A weathered gray-and-white house at the end of the street was identified by a sign nailed to the picket fence in front as M ISS R ICE ’ S B OARDINGHOUSE . Colorful flowers hung in a bucket from the rafters of the small covered porch, and the tidy path to the house boded well for the cleanliness of the place. Green gingham curtains fluttered in front of the half-open windows to the left of the porch, and a hand-lettered sign reading W ELCOME hung on the front door.
    Justin pulled his team to a halt and moved Toby’s head from his knee. Placing a bedroll gently under the boy’s cheek before stepping down from the wagon, he tied the horses to the nearby gatepost and lifted the sleeping child into his arms.
    His knock at the door brought the sound of rapid footfalls landing on a wooden floor, and seconds later the door swung open. A small, birdlike woman peered out from under bright red hair peppered with gray, which billowed around her face in unrestrained clouds. A pair of spectacles perched on the tip of her thin nose, and a long, slender finger reached up to push them back in place. She might have been forty, or she could’ve been fifty-five. It was hard to tell. Life could be hard on women in this country.
    “Yes?” Her wary gaze swept over him in an instant, but when it landed on the sleeping child in his arms, her expression softened. “Come in! You’ve got your hands full, mister. Come lay the boy down in my parlor.”
    Justin stepped over the threshold onto the well-worn fir floor and