Page 6 of A Forgotten Heart
Elsie swallowed. Hard. She’d never told anyone what had transpired that night…and at this moment, she couldn’t find the courage to tell her dear friend. What would Merritt think of how naive she’d been? Her mistakes?
Merritt eyed her. “Maybe you should go after him. Smooth things over.”
“There’s nothing left to say.”
Merritt bent down, eye level, serious. “Surely nothing happened that would jeopardize your post here in Calvin.”
The tone of Merritt’s voice made Elsie’s mouth go dry. She looked away.
No, nothing indecent had happened, but appearances mattered. Morality clauses in teacher contracts mattered. And she knew how quickly rumors could spread.
“Nick is good friends with Adair Benson,” Merritt said. “One of the school board members.”
Elsie’s stomach lurched.
“They go shooting together sometimes.”
No, no, no. If Nick leaked anything about what had happened, her reputation would be in tatters. Her job threatened.
He wouldn’t do that, would he?
The old Nick, the one she’d fallen for five years ago, would never have betrayed her trust. But she didn’t know him anymore, did she?
Elsie sucked in a breath. “I think I do need to go smooth things over with Nick.”
Smooth things over? Beg for his discretion was more like it.
Concern passed over Merritt’s face as she helped Elsie to her feet. “Would you like me to go with you?”
The letter crinkled in Elsie’s pocket as she fished for her gloves. Her reason for coming to Merritt had been forgotten in the shock of seeing Nick again.
She’d have to deal with Arnold’s declarations later.
With a jerky movement, Elsie yanked the door open. “No reason for you to brave the storm.”
Then she charged into the storm, following Nick’s disappearing tracks in the snow.
Chapter 2
Snow wafted across the toes of Nick’s boots as he stomped down the deserted boardwalk, his thumbs hooked around the strap of his satchel, Patch on his heels.
Elsie was a teacher.
Not just a teacher, buttheteacher in Calvin. Here. The one place he pretended she’d never existed.
It wasn’t fair. Nick was the one who’d sat in his small country one-room school building and dreamed of standing at the front of Calvin’s classroom. Even in his small school, he’d whispered answers to his seatmate, little Susie Sheridan, and skipped recess to read in one corner of the classroom. He’d tutored the family dog and even the barn cat until the beastly thing had taken a swipe at him.
The gathering drifts along the street insulated him from sound until he heard only his own pulse. And the clamoring of his thoughts.
Nick had been robbed of his dream. Elsie was living it.
He should be happy for her. At one time, she’d shared her own dreams of teaching children to read and learn sums, following in her older sister’s footsteps. Back at KansasNormal School, during her teacher training, Elsie had been so determined. Even…desperate to get that teaching certificate.
So why did the discovery hit him in the solar plexus like a brick?
It was seeing her again.
Nick lengthened his stride. At his side, Patch matched his pace, as did the memory of Elsie’s doe-like eyes.
