Kissed By The Country Doc. Melinda Curtis
if I made the right decision getting a divorce.”
“You did.” Sophie’s ex-husband had been a piece of work. Ella spared her a glance. “I meant to ask how your date went last week.”
“What a disaster.” Sophie shook her head. “The guy didn’t know the difference between a Picasso and a Matisse. One of the boys swiped my lipstick out of my purse and left me a toy car instead. And my cell phone died so I couldn’t even pretend to receive an emergency text from you.”
“But...was there any chemistry between you?” Ella tucked the memory of a chemical reaction to a doctor’s soulful blue eyes to the back of her mind.
“Chemistry?” Sophie’s bare hands fluttered in the crisp air before she stuck them back in her deep pockets. “I don’t have the energy for chemistry or any of your love-at-first-sight luck. I’m just looking for someone who shares the same interests that I do.”
A big gray truck with a snowplow attachment on the front stopped on the road nearby. Three boys tumbled out, dropped backpacks in the snow and raced to join their friends. The woman driving the truck waved and drove slowly on, clearing a path on the road and making a wide turn at the crossroads to return the way she’d come.
“Now there’s a woman after my own heart.” Sophie’s cheeks were red from the cold. “She has three boys and she plowed a path to a sled hill to keep peace in the family.”
“Your boys are angels.” Ella stomped her feet to keep her toes warm, nearly missing Sophie’s raised eyebrows. “Okay, they’re angels and a caution.”
Gabby took Penny’s hand and began the climb back to the top, dragging her blue plastic sled behind her. The twins were trying to tug the inner tube away from one another.
“Alexander! Andrew!” Sophie yelled. “Share or we’ll go inside.”
The twins tried once more to wrest the inner tube free, and then climbed up the slope together, holding it between them.
“Mitch mentioned something about the passes to civilization being closed.” Sophie’s gaze was still on her boys. “What happens if someone needs the emergency room?”
“Maybe that’s why they have a doctor in town.” Ella had successfully avoided thinking about the handsome doctor for longer than ten seconds—thirty, tops—all morning. Now she recalled the firm muscle of his leg and blushed. “I was more worried about having enough food and heat if we were snowed in. How long did Mitch say the passes will be closed?”
“Five days.” Sophie frowned. “Or was it ten?”
Ten days? Ella hoped Penny’s cough went away.
Gabby and Penny reached the rise where Sophie and Ella stood just as a man rang a bell at the top of the hill. “Who’s coming to school today?”
“You have optional school here?” Ella asked Gabby.
“We have independent study, but yeah, Mr. Garland is available to help us for a few hours every day, so it feels more like regular school.” Gabby shrugged. “At least, what I expect regular school is like.”
“You’ve never been to a traditional school?” Sophie asked, brown eyes wide behind her glasses.
“Nope. My dad moved me here when I was less than a year old.” Gabby positioned the sled at the top for another ride down, sat on the blue plastic and then helped Penny into her lap. “Last ride before school, Penny.”
“Schoo?” Penny rolled off Gabby’s lap onto the packed snow. “I go schoo.” She got to her feet and reached for the girl’s hand. “I go.”
“Okay.” Gabby stood, braces on display as she smiled. “You can help me with math.”
“I don’t think so,” Ella said gently. “Penny’s too young for school.” Not to mention she’d be a distraction to the learning environment.
Penny pouted, crossed her arms over her chest and muttered, “I go.”
“No,” Ella said, just as gently and firmly as the first time.
Sophie’s twins leaped on the blue sled and barreled down the hill, screaming in delight. When they reached the bottom, they fell over sideways and tried to pelt each other with snow.
“I wish my boys were interested in school,” Sophie murmured.
“Mr. Garland won’t mind.” Gabby swung Penny into her arms. “At least let her come see.”
Penny stuck out her lip at Ella.
“Okay.” Ella relented, clearly beaten. “Are you coming, Sophie?”
“Not yet.” Sophie waved off Ella. “I’m going to stay and let the boys burn off some energy.”
They stopped for Gabby’s laptop and schoolbooks, and then followed the other children to the Bent Nickel, saying good morning to Mitch, who was clearing a path from the inn to the coffee shop with a snowblower.
Second Chance’s schoolteacher was younger than Ella expected—in his midthirties—and attractive, although looking in his eyes didn’t make Ella feel much of anything.
Penny claimed a seat at a table with Gabby, her chin level with the tabletop, her green eyes wide as she watched the other children.
“I’m working on the great American novel,” Mr. Garland said to Ella. “In between hiking and fishing and teaching a bunch of bright kids, of course.”
“Which means his book will never be finished.” Gabby smiled widely when Mr. Garland raised his eyebrows at her. “Which is great, because I wouldn’t want any other teacher. Don’t you agree, guys?”
The other children, all younger than Gabby, agreed.
Mr. Garland smiled. “Gabby has great leadership qualities.”
“Thank you, Mr. Garland,” Gabby intoned as if by rote.
“And a healthy dose of sarcasm,” her teacher added. “Which we love her for.”
“Snark is free of charge.” Gabby opened her laptop. “That’s what my dad always says.”
“Okay, Penny, honey. Let’s go.” Ella gave Mr. Garland an apologetic smile. “The kids have school.”
“No.” Penny’s lower lip jutted out. She waved off Ella, which broke her heart. Her daughter rarely rejected her. “Go, Mom. Go.”
The schoolteacher produced a coloring page and crayons. “She’ll be fine here for a bit. It’s good to foster some independence early.”
“But...she hasn’t even been to preschool.” Which made Ella sound like one of those helicopter moms she’d heard so much about, hovering over her child 24/7.
The other children and Ivy reassured Ella they’d watch out for Penny.
“Thirty minutes,” Ella said, relenting. Besides, Penny would need some independence when Ella returned to work. Now was as good a time as any to start. “And then we’ll order a hot breakfast for you.”
Ella hurried back to the inn to get her paperwork on the town properties. She’d looked at it a few times since receiving it and had told Shane she thought there were transaction documents missing. She didn’t have any paperwork on a few of the buildings, most notably the fur-trading post and the mercantile. If Grandpa Harlan owned everything in town, why didn’t she have recent documents for every property in Second Chance?
When she returned downstairs, Mitch was sitting behind the inn’s check-in counter staring at his computer screen. Shane was drinking coffee in front of the fire. The fact that they weren’t talking made the air crackle with tension.
“Where are you off to?” Shane sounded crankier than Penny when she’d been told she couldn’t go to school. Having lived in Las Vegas and run hotels