Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com Thu, 25 Dec 2025 22:03:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 http://www.ilovenovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com 32 32 Duke (Lucky River Ranch #4) Read Online Jessica Peterson http://www.ilovenovels.com/duke-lucky-river-ranch-4-read-online-jessica-peterson Thu, 25 Dec 2025 22:03:32 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/duke-lucky-river-ranch-4-read-online-jessica-peterson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Jessica Peterson Series: Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson
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Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)

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One chance meeting on a Texas ranch.

One wild, too—charming cowboy.

One snowed—in night that changes everything.

Wheeler Rankin isn't here for romance—she's come to Lucky River Ranch to visit her best friend, wrangle a business deal, and prove herself to everyone who ever doubted her. But when she collides with Duke Rivers—resident heartbreaker, restless cowboy, and brother to her best friend's new flame—sparks fly hotter than a Texas summer.

Duke has always dreamed of more than dusty trails and small—town life. He's itching to see the world, but one unforgettable night with Wheeler changes his course. When a blizzard and a business road trip leave them stranded together, their no—strings flirtation ignites into something deeper.

But passion brings complications—and unexpected news threatens to upend everything Wheeler's built. As family pressures, old wounds, and new dreams collide, Duke is determined to stand by her side, ready to forge a future neither of them ever imagined.

Can two fiercely independent souls trust in love, face their fears, and find home in each other's arms? Or will the ghosts of the past keep them apart for good?

Duke is an interconnected standalone novel in the Lucky River Ranch series, perfect for fans of Elsie Silver and Lyla Sage

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER 1

Bull’s-eye

Wheeler

November

That’s my cowboy.

I know it three heartbeats into the extended eye contact I make with the tall, broad-shouldered blond who greets me with a smile as I walk into the ranch’s enormous kitchen. He’s the kind of handsome in his faded button-up and baseball hat that makes my stomach do several backflips.

It’s my first time visiting Lucky Ranch, so I have no idea if cowboys in general are this friendly and gorgeous or if this guy is special. Whatever the case, I don’t hate it.

“I’m Duke.” He extends a hand. “Pleasure to finally meet the gal Mollie’s always talking to about boots on the phone. And about banging—”

“Can you not be gross for five fucking seconds?” Cash rolls his eyes. He’s my best friend and business partner Mollie’s boyfriend. He’s also Duke’s older brother.

Cash can be gruff, but as evidenced by his smile, he’s a secret softie. That smile probably has something to do with the fact that Mollie is tucked into his side, her eyes sated and happy as she looks up at him. They’ve been dating for all of two months, but it’s obvious they’re smitten.

“Banging business ideas.” Duke’s lips twitch. He looks a lot like Cash. Blue eyes. Square, Superman-like jaw. “Just showing respect where respect is due. As co-CEO of her own damn company, Miss Wheeler Rankin here knows what I’m talking about. Ain’t that right?”

I laugh as I take his hand. Mollie told me cowboys are a different breed, but I didn’t believe her until now.

The guy already knows my last name. Does that mean something?

That has to mean something. Mollie must’ve really talked up my arrival, and Duke must’ve really been paying attention. The idea makes a shiver of excitement dart up my spine.

The kitchen is full of people, their voices rising and falling in a happy kind of chaos. The space is clearly built to accommodate a crowd, with a huge island and a farm table with room for at least twenty.

Warmth blooms in my center. Feels good to laugh and be around people. Get out of my head for a minute.

Duke holds my hand—holds my gaze—with warm, intense confidence. His grip is firm.

“Nice to finally meet you too,” I reply.

Be careful, a voice inside my head warns as I stare into his eyes for a beat too long.

But then I remember my stay here on the ranch is temporary. Stumbling into any kind of real emotional intimacy is impossible when you’re literally and figuratively all over the place. Which is why I’m only looking for some no-strings-attached fun right now. Considering cowboys have a reputation for never resting their heads on the same pillow twice, I figured they’d be a perfect fit.

There are five Rivers brothers, all of them part of a long line of ranchers going back generations. Is being charming and gorgeous and so damn…big in every aspect part of their DNA?

Dallas may only be two hundred miles northeast of here, but you’d think the ranch was on a whole other planet for how different these cowboys are from the guys back home. Men there will approach you, but their friendliness is all pretense. All a show of swagger. But Duke here? His friendly energy feels genuine, like this is who he is all the time.

I also adore how he drops compliments that actually land.

Guys back in Dallas definitely don’t have hands this calloused. A hot, lovely drip of awareness works its way through my center at the feel of Duke’s palm pressed to mine. It’s dry, smooth in the center but rough at the base of his fingers and thumb.

Mollie was absolutely right about cowboys being a different breed. She discovered this fact after recently inheriting Lucky Ranch, her wildly wealthy late father’s two-hundred-thousand-acre property in the small town of Hartsville, Texas. After butting heads with the ranch’s foreman, Cash, the two of them promptly fell in love.

Now, Mollie has decided to split her time between Hartsville and Dallas, where our company is based. As her business partner, that means I get to regularly visit Lucky Ranch. Which is, well, lucky for me, because I’m interested in this cowboy.

Very, very interested in having some of that meaningless fun with him.

Judging by his expertise in flirting, there’s a good chance Duke just might want the same thing. The twins—babies of the family—are wild cards, Mollie told me, referring to Duke and his brother Ryder. You never know where they are or who they go home with.

Perfect.

“You know a lot about Bellamy Brooks,” I reply to Duke, referring to the cowboy boot company Mollie and I started in our dorm room eight years ago at the University of Texas.

“Big fan. Just waitin’ for y’all to start making men’s boots.”

“So you can model them?”

Duke’s smile touches his eyes, making them glimmer. “I’ve been told I’m very photogenic. Just keep me in mind, yeah? I’m cheap—”

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Sawyer (Lucky River Ranch #3) Read Online Jessica Peterson http://www.ilovenovels.com/sawyer-lucky-river-ranch-3-read-online-jessica-peterson Thu, 01 May 2025 18:18:28 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/sawyer-lucky-river-ranch-3-read-online-jessica-peterson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Jessica Peterson Series: Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson
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Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)

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Dirty dancing leads to a chance at forever in this sizzling single parent, found family, small town romance by Jessica Peterson.

As a recently divorced single mom, I have zero interest in flirting with guys while on a rare girls’ weekend away with my sisters. I just want to have fun, celebrate my new job, and listen to live music at a honky tonk.

But when I literally stumble into the most gorgeous guy ever on the dance floor, those plans go up in smoke. Growing up on the barrel racing circuit, I’m not immune to the charms of a cowboy. But this particular one is hot as hell: Sawyer’s got a mustache, some sexy tattoos, and a very filthy mouth.

Needless to say, we end up naked in his swanky hotel room. It’s the best sex of my life. And the way Sawyer treats me like a queen? Let’s just say a girl could get addicted to that kind of adoration.

Good thing he’ll always be just a one night stand I can look back on with a smile. I’m rebuilding our life from scratch, and I need to focus on my three-year-old daughter and the dream job I just landed.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I move to Hartsville and run into a tattooed cowboy with an endearing daughter of his own. Now Sawyer wants more than the occasional playdates between our girls. But the closer we become, the more determined this sexy single dad is to keep me forever.

As much as I am falling for Sawyer, I’m terrified. I’ve been down this road before with my ex, and I wonder if I can trust this cowboy. Will he rope the moon for me? Or is my heart destined to be trampled all over again?

SAWYER is a standalone book in the interconnected Lucky River Ranch Series

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER 1

Ava

HONKY-TONK HOTTIE

“There’s gonna be cowboys there, right?”

I may roll my eyes at my sister Bee’s ridiculous question, but I still smile. None of us have lived on our family’s small ranch outside Killeen for years now, but clearly our teenage obsession with the guys who worked our cattle hasn’t gone anywhere.

Despite the growing crowd that packs the sidewalks lining 6th Street, Bee is busy applying lip gloss, peering into the tiny mirror tucked into her palm. She’s only a year and a half younger than me, but you’d think there was at least a decade between us for how much, ahem, energy she has when it comes to seeking out the opposite sex.

“You would ask that.” I loop my arm through hers and give it a tug, the two of us narrowly avoiding a run-in with a slow-moving couple absorbed in sucking each other’s faces. “I haven’t been in Austin in years, so I can’t say. But it is a honky-tonk, so …”

“Who wouldn’t ask that?” Bee pops her lips before snapping the mirror shut with a succinct clap. “Cowboys are a thing for a reason. And that reason is⁠—”

“They ride like the motherfucking professionals they are.” My older sister Dottie smirks. “They also look really good in hats.”

“Really good,” Bee adds, dropping her gloss and mirror into the tiny bag slung over her shoulder. “There’s just something about a man who works with his hands.”

Dottie nods. “A man who knows what he’s doing with those hands.”

“They’re all yours, ladies.” I slow my steps to look up at the neon sign glowing above a nearby door. “I’m just here for the music and the whiskey. Bonus points if we get to dance too.”

“But if you have enough of that whiskey and just so happen to see a cute guy …” Bee nudges me with her elbow. “I mean, c’mon. Now that you’re getting back in the literal saddle, don’t you wanna get back in the proverbial one too?”

“No thank you.”

Meh is the word I use most often to describe my post-divorce sex life. While I have absolutely no interest in ever getting married again—being a wife once has cured me of the desire to ever do it again—I was open to having fun with someone new after my divorce was finalized a year ago.

Commitment is out. The freedom to do whatever the hell I want without worrying about a man’s needs or expectations is in.

Only the two tipsy hookups I had didn’t turn out to be very fun or liberating at all. They left me with hangovers from hell and the depressing sense that sex in my late twenties is just … not that great.

I have no regrets ending my marriage to Dan. Just like I have no regrets about becoming a mom. I’ve wanted to have kids for as long as I can remember.

But I hoped my sex life would get a boost. By the time we separated, Dan and I hadn’t slept together in over a year.

I was aching for sex. And even then, it was a disappointment. I just couldn’t be myself during those brief encounters. Couldn’t find my groove, I guess.

“Whatever. Third time’s a charm, right?” Dottie shrugs. “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.”

“I don’t want a prince. I want sleep.”

“Not even a prince in a Stetson? With a big⁠—”

“Bank account?” Bee finishes the thought.

I laugh. “Not even then, no. I will take a shot of Jim Beam with a beer back, though.”

Dottie nods. “Let’s manifest that shit. Both the Jim Beam and the cowboy prince, I mean.”

Bee holds up a finger. “I’m on it.”

I roll my eyes for what feels like the fiftieth time today. “Y’all, please, please don’t.”

“We’re just fucking with you.” Wagging her brows, Dottie stops in front of a wooden door with a big brass handle shaped like a horse head. “Or maybe we’re not. You of all people could use some good old-fashioned stress relief. C’mon, y’all, let’s go have some fun.”

Dottie opens the door, and I step inside the infamous Blue Stallion. I’m immediately hit by the scent of stale beer and cigarettes, the smoke likely drifting in from the smoking patio that’s out back. The thump of a bass line echoes inside my breastbone. It’s a Chicks cover, one the band across the room is absolutely slaying.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep inhale and smile. Hello, lover.

As a single mom, I don’t get out much. To be honest, I’m too tired to miss getting dressed up and going out. The lackluster sex I’ve had with mediocre men certainly doesn’t help matters. But I will always, always love dive bars and live music. Especially when I get to experience them with my best friends in the world—my two sisters.

Bellying up to the bar, I do notice there are lots of guys in cowboy hats here.

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Wyatt (Lucky River Ranch #2) Read Online Jessica Peterson http://www.ilovenovels.com/wyatt-lucky-river-ranch-2-read-online-jessica-peterson Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:15:05 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/wyatt-lucky-river-ranch-2-read-online-jessica-peterson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Jessica Peterson Series: Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson
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Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)

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Roping horses leads to riding cowboys in this sexy friends-to-lovers, fake-dating, lessons-in-seduction romance by Jessica Peterson.

Wyatt Rivers is the perfect no-strings hookup—a cowboy Casanova who rocks a Stetson, looks smokin’ hot in his Wranglers, and never rests his head on the same pillow twice.

He’s exactly what I’m looking for. If only Wyatt wasn’t also my best friend…

I’m back in my hometown of Harstville, Texas, for a few months while I wait for my dream job to start thousands of miles away. While I’m here, I hope to end an epic dry spell in the bedroom, preferably with a local cowboy. If the rumors are true, they really do ride harder and stay on longer.

Wyatt and I have been best friends since second grade, and I’ve been in love with him for almost as long. But he’s as wild and untamed as a colt that can’t be broken—not to mention, totally out of my league with his good looks and heartbreaker reputation.

Then I get to thinking: since Wyatt is such an expert, why doesn’t he teach me the ropes of how to find a hookup? He begrudgingly agrees, and a little fake flirting suddenly leads to fake dating, which leads to real kissing, which leads to real…well, everything else.

And let me just say, the rumors are absolutely true.

Now, I want so badly to be Wyatt’s last rodeo. But I’m leaving town, and even if I wasn’t, I’m not sure Wyatt would ever change his playboy ways.

I know cowboys can’t be tamed. Apparently, neither can hearts…

WYATT is an interconnected standalone novel in the Lucky River Ranch series.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

WYATT

Cowboys Cry Too

TWELVE YEARS AGO

Growing up in cattle country, you learn early that gambling is a way of life.

You bet the rain will come and the rattlers won’t bite.

You play the odds and hope you chose the right breed, the right time, the right pasture.

You go all in on the belief that there is honor and goodness in tending to the land and the animals that live off it. The knowledge that it’s all a crapshoot, that the sky can fall at any minute, lives inside your blood. And yet you’re still somehow unprepared for the moment tragedy strikes.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” The preacher’s hand lands heavily on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry for your loss, son.”

Looking up from my feet, I swallow the ache in my throat and paste on a smile. I might be eighteen, but I still need my parents. I have no idea what we’re gonna do without them.

“Thank you, Reverend Ford. That means a lot to us.”

How many hundreds of times have we parroted that line this week as friends and neighbors came to check on us here on our family’s ranch?

How many hundreds more will we have to say it tomorrow, the day of our parents’ funeral?

My older brother, Cash, catches my gaze from across the room. Sitting on the lopsided sofa alongside our three younger brothers, he looks as uncomfortable and lost as I feel. I keep waiting for Mom to use whatever sweet treat she just whipped up as bait to lure me to help her in the kitchen, where Shania Twain is playing on Mom’s little portable speaker. But her call never comes.

“I’ve told the city council for years that we need better lighting downtown,” Reverend Ford continues. “You boys need anything, you holler, all right?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you for stopping by.”

“Least I can do.” He glances at the sofa and shakes his head, letting out a heavy sigh. “Five of y’all. My goodness.”

“We’ll be all right.”

Aunt Lollie, Mom’s sister, emerges from the kitchen as Reverend Ford makes his way to the front door. She frowns when she sees me. “Wyatt, honey, you need to eat. A neighbor just brought over some fried chicken that looks good.”

My stomach lurches. My mouth fills with a familiar, sour-tasting rush of saliva.

Mom and Dad died on impact after being hit by a car five days ago. They were crossing Main Street on foot when they were run over by an elderly man with an expired license who wasn’t wearing his glasses. My parents were on a rare date night, the two of them able to get out of the house because Aunt Lollie was visiting from California and she’d offered to watch my brothers and me.

Ever since we got the news, just the thought of eating makes me want to puke. But I still manage to keep the smile on my face. My brothers are watching me, and I know if I fall apart, they will too.

My head throbs with the effort of keeping everything—the anger and agony—inside. I do my best to ignore the pain, hardly able to breathe around the lump in my throat.

“I’m okay. Thanks, Aunt Lollie.”

“Honey, you need your strength. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

“She’s right,” Cash adds. “Please eat, Wyatt.”

“There’s some of that sheet cake left that I made,” Lollie says.

Cash nods. “And the enchiladas Mrs. Wallace brought over.”

“Those are so good,” Duke says, his voice cracking.

He and Ryder are twins. They’re my youngest brothers—only fourteen years old.

Way too fucking young to lose their parents.

We’re all too young.

My eyes burn, blurring with tears. I blink them away. “That your evil plan, to get me fatter than a pig on Sunday?”

That gets a chuckle from Ryder. The heaviness in my chest lifts before falling back onto my breastbone like a ton of bricks.

“I’m gonna go check on the front pasture. Irrigation was acting funny earlier.” I hook my thumb over my shoulder. “I won’t be gone for more than a few minutes.”

Lollie looks at me for a long beat. “Don’t go far.”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t get into trouble,” Cash calls as I make a beeline for the front door.

“I will!”

Now Ryder and Duke are laughing. Sawyer, who’s two and a half years younger than me, laughs too.

Good. They deserve a little happiness after all the terrible shit that’s gone down this week.

Stepping outside into the warm October evening, I make sure the door is closed behind me before I collapse into a crouch and gasp at the air like a man dying of thirst. Tears leak out of my eyes.

I can’t fucking breathe inside the house.

All week, I’ve been slowly suffocating as I politely greet neighbors bringing food and condolences.

All week, I’ve tried to lift my brothers’ spirits by keeping them busy and making them laugh.

All week, I’ve pretended like Mom and Dad aren’t really gone. I didn’t lose my mentor, the man who’d taught me everything I know; Dad’s just at the feed store in town, and he’ll be back any minute. Mom’s heart wasn’t pushed out of her chest cavity when she was hit by a car going thirty-plus miles per hour; she’s out watering her garden. The pumpkins are huge this year.

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Cash (Lucky River Ranch #1) Read Online Jessica Peterson http://www.ilovenovels.com/cash-lucky-river-ranch-1-read-online-jessica-peterson Mon, 23 Sep 2024 09:21:46 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/cash-lucky-river-ranch-1-read-online-jessica-peterson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Jessica Peterson Series: Lucky River Ranch Series by Jessica Peterson
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Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)

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Butting heads leads to knocking boots in this wildly sexy enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, small town cowboy romance by Jessica Peterson.

My dad and I have been estranged for years. But as his only living relative, it’s no surprise I inherit his massive cattle ranch when he dies. Something that is a surprise? The stipulation in his will, which requires me to live on the ranch and actively manage it for a year before I can access my inheritance money.

I haven’t stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

There’s just one giant roadblock to my plan: the ranch’s foreman, grumpy cowboy Cash Rivers. I don’t care how good he looks in his Wranglers and chaps. He’s rude, he’s growly, and he wants me gone. I’d fire him in a heartbeat, but I need this cowboy to teach me the ropes of running a ranch.

We’re enemies from the get-go. But turns out, Cash is really good at this ranch thing. He’s got strong hands, an intelligent mind, and let’s just say everything really is bigger in Texas. Working alongside him leads to conversations beneath the stars. Throw in some cheek-to-cheek dancing at the local dive bar, and it all feels so right that I start to fall in love with life on the ranch. And maybe with him, too.

But my stay in Hartsville is only temporary. And you know what they say about cowboys: they may break horses, but they also break hearts. If only Cash hadn’t already lassoed mine…

CASH is the first standalone book in the brand new steamy, interconnected Lucky River Ranch Series.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER 1

Mollie

KISS MY ASS, COWBOY

SEPTEMBER

I’m deep in cowboy country, but I still jam on the brakes when I see an actual cowboy park his actual horse outside an actual saloon.

Have I gone back in time?

Or is the whole scene a mirage? My dashboard does say it’s 109 degrees outside.

The cloud of dust that’s followed me since Belton billows around my SUV, temporarily obscuring the view of a building marked The Rattler.

The Hill Country dust clears. Yep, that’s definitely a horse.

And that’s definitely a guy in slim-cut jeans and a cowboy hat sliding off the saddle with an ease that makes my breath catch.

Mom’s words echo inside my head: Hartsville is a one-horse town. I didn’t know she meant that literally.

I feel a whisper of recognition as I take in the building’s façade behind the cowboy and his horse. It’s two stories, brick, with windows whose uneven panes glint in the hazy afternoon light. A faded green-and-black striped awning bears the image of a white rattlesnake, its forked tongue protruding from between its fangs.

I was six years old the last time I was in this tiny town, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Why would I remember a bar of all places?

“Mollie? Did I lose you?”

My stomach seizes, the sound of Wheeler’s voice on the phone yanking me back inside the Range Rover. Without looking, I immediately hit the gas, then send up a silent prayer of thanks that Main Street is deserted. No one to hit, thank God.

Well, except for the cowboy and his horse, who I glimpse at in my rearview mirror. I’m less than two hundred miles southwest of Dallas, but I might as well be on another planet for how different this place feels.

I reach for the vent beside the steering wheel and aim a blast of AC at my face. “Sorry, I’m here. I just got to Hartsville and…I think I may have just had an Outlander moment? But a Western-themed one, with a saloon and a cowboy.”

My best friend and business partner’s raspy laugh pours through the speakers. “Bring cowboy Jamie back to Dallas. Tell him city life is better.”

“No shit.” I peer out my windshield as my GPS tells me I’m approaching my destination. “Mom wasn’t joking when she said there was nothing out here.”

“Get your money and get the hell out of Dodge. Call me when you’re done, okay? I’m thinking of you.”

I smile, even as my stomach seizes again. “Thanks, friend. I can’t wait for the pop-up.”

“Same. I’m so curious to see how it goes.”

One of Dallas’s better-known boutiques is hosting a pop-up shop for our cowboy boot company this week. The boutique’s clientele is fashion-forward and well-heeled, so we’ll hopefully make a decent number of sales. Lord knows we could use the revenue.

Hanging up, I slow down in front of the last building on the left before Main Street continues down a desolate stretch of nothingness ahead. The chalk-colored dirt, dotted sparsely with trees, cacti, and brush, wavers in the mid-afternoon heat.

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