CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER ONE
The hot Nevada air was as dry as a bone. From
her window, the low hills, in the not so far away distance, fronted
the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountain range. A hawk glided within
view, tracking a motionless hare hiding in the sagebrush. Coyotes
made their presence known only by sound. Old and getting older
described the building where Lily found herself. There was dry rot
around the door, the plumbing was questionable, paint was peeling
off the walls and she was thrilled to be here.
At least her room was a good size. The room
at her last job felt like a broom closet. Room space was always
tight and last person hired got the crappy room. Apparently, that
was a universal law in school management. It was her first year at
Naples Elementary School and she had just landed a job here. Naples
was a small community in an historic western area south of Carson
City, Nevada. The town was advertised to be the oldest community in
Nevada with the oldest bar, the oldest this and the oldest that.
The downtown area was ringed with spacious ranches and huge homes
leading up the jagged road to Lake Tahoe. You just couldn’t beat it
for all out landscape beauty. Hers had been quite a rapid move from
San Francisco but when she had decided to act, she did. Coming to
Naples had been her dad’s idea. He had lived there for a while as a
child and had wonderful memories of the area. She was hoping there
were still a few people in town who might remember her family.
Lily smiled again at the four students facing
her. She had a limited number because of their learning
difficulties. Arturo, Jesse, Sara and Cole were all five years old
and as cute as cute could be. They sat watching her and couldn’t be
more cooperative. Lily knew from classroom experience that all her
students cooperating at the same time was a rare event, so she
decided to bring out the poetry while she could. After reading a
book about horses to her students, one of them, Jesse, became quite
animated.
“Do you know that my daddy has bunches of
horses on our ranch? They are black and brown and white and copper
and….” Jesse brightened as he continued describing their horses.
“My daddy lets me ride all the time. We go down by the stream and
fish sometimes.”
Lily thought Jesse was adorable. He had on a
bright red Western shirt and jeans with a belt buckle that had a
“J” on it. His clear blue eyes looked right through her with the
intensity of his feelings. A mop of blonde hair that stuck out in
lots of places would occasionally fall in his face and he would
automatically push it back. It was a never-ending struggle: Jesse
and that hair.
“Yeah, Jesse has all these horses and we go
and ride sometimes,” said Arturo. He did his work slowly but
steadily, which was beginning to endear him to Lily.
“Jesse’s dad takes us all up to his ranch
sometimes. I ride the black horse named Scout when I’m up there. My
mommy thinks Jesse’s dad is just the greatest. She said he’s cute
too!” added Sara with Cole nodding his head. They were twins with
attention deficit problems making it difficult for Lily to keep
them focused on the task at hand.
It was obvious they were all about to burst
with more comments about Jesse’s ranch and horse stories, so she
decided to get going with her lesson plan before it fell apart.
“Jesse, tell me one thing you remember about
our story today,” asked Lily.
Jesse thought about that for a minute before
answering.
“Well, the wild horse wanted to be free and
so he knocked down the gate.”
“Very good! Arturo, what is one thing you
remember?”
“Hmm…um. I think the little girl got mad at
him or something.”
“Okay, that’s pretty close. Let’s take a look
at that page to see what she did.” Lily went on with her lesson to
elicit more responses from the children. The twins would blurt
answers out of turn, while Arturo would raise his hand.
Next Lily took out one of her poems. She was
a poet at heart who loved writing down abstract notions that came
into her head. This poem was about a horse that she had seen riding
through a field by her house at dusk. The horse had taken her
breath away with his speed and sense of purpose. Where in the world
was he going? She read the lines telling of the orange and red
evening sky, and the sounds the horse made as he galloped as fast
he could. The children listened spellbound with an occasional “oo”
and “ah” spilling out.
“That’s really cool, Miss Cable,” said Cole.
“Could we do that too?”
“That is exactly what I want you to do, Cole.
Everyone take a piece of paper from your desks and I will help you
write a special poem.”
For the next thirty minutes, Lily helped the
children write a poem about a horse. Jesse knitted his brow, licked
the tip of his pencil and wrote what he was thinking, obviously
deep in thought. Arturo broke his pencil and took his time looking
for the separate parts that fell under his desk. Sara gazed
absent-mindedly out the window. Cole was more industrious and kept
writing while Lily instructed, although he had to tell her what he
was doing every other minute.
In time, they all had a few lines written.
After reading their poems aloud, Lily asked them to draw some kind
of picture on their papers below their poems that took them the
rest of the school time. The bell rang before they had finished
putting away all papers, crayons, markers and pencils.
“We’ll finish this Monday, everyone. Have a
nice weekend!” Lily laughed as the noisy children all bumped into
each other trying to put things away and get out the door as fast
as they could.
With a big smile, Jesse ran up to her
desk.
“Would you like to ride my horse sometime,
Miss Cable?” He had fallen into Arturo picking up his Iron Man
backpack and was nursing a bruised knee. The mop of hair fell in
his face again. Could he be any cuter? Lily looked longingly at his
little heart-shaped face. She remembered something and then pushed
the thought away.
“I would like that very much, Jesse. How nice
of you to ask me. But maybe you should ask your dad first. Don’t
you think you should do that?”
“Ask me what?” said a deep voice from the
classroom door.
That couldn’t have been one of her students.
Lily looked up from Jesse to his dad. She blinked. Wow! Lily
stared without realizing it. Jesse’s dad was probably over six feet
tall with sandy-colored hair about the color of Jesse’s. It fell in
his face in a very attractive way and he brushed it back out of
habit. Blue eyes? She felt she was drowning in those gorgeous deep
blue eyes. Could he be any more attractive? He wore a black
Western shirt and jeans while holding on to his black cowboy hat.
His cowboy boots told a story of years and work. Lily’s mind was in
a muddle all of a sudden, as she tried to think of something,
anything, to say. She swallowed and stood up.
He crossed the room in three strides and put
out his hand to shake hers. At their first touch, some kind of
spark went through her.
“How do you do, Miss Cable? I’m Jesse’s
father, Sandy Johnson. Nice to meet you. I hope you’re not keeping
Jesse after school.” He smiled and rubbed his hand on his
jeans.
“Please call me Lily and we were just
discussing horses and your ranch.”
Lily managed to get out from under the
scrutiny of his blue-eyed stare. And what was wrong with her hand?
It felt like she had stuck her finger in a light socket. Her mouth
went dry just looking at him. She squared her shoulders, licked her
lips and gave him a professional ‘teacher meeting the parent’ look.
At least, she hoped that was what she was doing.
Sandy looked her over too. What was he
thinking? The look on his face reminded her of a contented cat
licking his paws after a nice saucer of milk.
She felt her cheeks warming.
“What was he saying about the ranch?”
“Daddy, I want Miss Cable to come ride horses
on Saturday. Could she do that, huh? What do you think, Daddy?
Please?” Jesse took his dad’s hand and grinned up at him.
“I think that can be arranged if Miss Cable
is up for it,” Sandy smiled. Lily quit blushing and decided this
flirting would come to an end. He was, after all, the parent of one
of her students, albeit a very attractive one.
“Thanks very much, but I have a mountain of
paperwork to do this weekend. Maybe another weekend.”
“Miss Cable, don’t you want to see my horse?”
pouted Jesse. He looked so crushed that Lily started to backtrack.
His lower lip jutted out and he looked like he might cry. Jesse was
a special student and she didn’t want to crush his enthusiasm. Yet,
this father was a bit too much to take.
She had heard stories in the teachers’ lounge
about him. How he was a widower and considered the catch of the
county. Lily was new in town, probably out of her league and off
men anyway. The last thing she wanted right now was some sort of
romantic entanglement. One this century was enough. Why tempt
fate?
She smiled at Jesse but reluctantly shook her
head. She nervously pushed a few strands of hair from her face and
Sandy smiled again. He exhaled a slow breath and looked down at his
son.
“Miss Cable is busy this weekend, Jesse.
Maybe we can try again some other time. What do you think about
that?”
She thought Sandy looked as eager for her to
turn down the request as she was. Maybe he wasn’t interested
either. Just as well.
“Thanks, Mr. Johnson.” She cupped Jesse’s
face. “Jesse, can we do it another time?”
“Oh, okay, but Daddy’s horse is about to have
a baby. It will be excitin’!”
Jesse’s innocent expression just about did
Lily in. She felt defeated by a five year old and the sweet,
smiling dad. They turned and walked out of the classroom together,
Sandy holding his son’s hand. What a nice father. Why
isn’t he remarried? There must be a hundred women in the town
and another hundred in the surrounding areas who would snap him up
in a heartbeat. Just as well. Not interested.
Sandy turned to look back at her. Beautiful
woman. Shoulder-length black hair that fell around her face in soft
waves. She wore a straight black skirt and ruffled blouse that
hugged her figure and gave him ideas. Why in the world isn’t she
married? No ring, he checked. Never mind. She probably has half
the guys in the state pursuing her and he wouldn’t be one of them.
Not interested.