“Yes,” Sherry answered noncommittally, looking up from the menu. “I’ll have an iced tea with extra lemon, please, and a cheeseburger, without the fries.” No need to clog her arteries with extra fat. The meat and cheese were bad enough.

“Iced tea and a cheeseburger,” the waitress repeated. “You wanna try our lemon meringue pie? It’s the best this side of Abilene.”

“Oh, sure, why not?” Sherry said, giving up the cholesterol and carbohydrate battle without a fight. The waitress left and returned almost immediately with the iced tea. Sherry drank gratefully, then spread the map across the table and charted her progress. With luck, she should be in Houston by midafternoon the following day. Right on schedule. Her friend Norah Cassidy wasn’t expecting her before Wednesday, so Sherry could make a leisurely drive of it—although she’d enjoy the drive a whole lot more if it wasn’t so hellishly hot.

The waitress brought Sherry’s cheeseburger on a thick, old-fashioned ceramic plate. A mound of onion and tomato slices, plus lettuce and pickles, were neatly arranged next to the open burger.

“Don’t see too many strangers coming this way,” the waitress commented, plunking down containers of mustard and ketchup. “Most folks stick to the freeway.”

“I prefer taking the back roads,” Sherry said, popping a pickle slice into her mouth.

“You headed for San Antonio?”

“Houston. I’m a physician assistant and—”

“I don’t suppose you’re looking for a job?”

Sherry smiled to herself. “Not really. I already have one.” She didn’t add that the job was right here in Pepper.

“Oh.” The eager grin faded. “The town council’s been advertising with one of those employment agencies for over a year.”

Apparently the waitress hadn’t heard that they’d hired someone. “I’m also a nurse and a midwife,” Sherry added, although she wasn’t sure why she felt obliged to list her credentials for the woman. The physician assistant part was a recent qualification.

The waitress nodded. “I hear lots of women like to have their babies at home these days. Most everyone from around Pepper comes to the hospital, though.”

“You have a hospital here?” This was welcome news. The town didn’t look large enough to support more than a café, a couple of taverns and a jail.

“Actually it’s a clinic. But Doc’s made sure we’ve got the best emergency-room facilities within two hundred miles. Last year one of the high-school boys lost an arm, and Doc was able to save the arm and the kid. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without all that fancy equipment. We’re right proud of that clinic.”

“You should be.” Sherry gazed longingly at her lunch. If the waitress didn’t stop chattering, it was going to get cold.

“You have family in Houston?”

Sherry added the rest of her condiments, folded the cheeseburger closed and raised it toward her mouth as a less-than-subtle hint. “No. A good friend.”

The woman’s eyes brightened. “I see.” She left and returned a moment later, a tall, potbellied older man in tow.