Page 9 of Kissing the Sheriff
The captain cleared her throat. “I’ll explain later.” He went to the railing and looked down. “I don’t think the rest of the crew is coming. No matter, Billy, you’ll fill them in, won’t you?”
Billy saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain”
“Excellent.” The captain went to a stack of books, pulled one out, then opened a small barrel. “Now, on to our second bit of business, your arithmetic.”
The children groaned in protest.
Captain Stanley reached into the barrel, then handed them each a small slate and a piece of chalk. “Do you remember what we studied last time?”
Lacey raised her hand. “I do!” She got to her feet. “One plus one equals two. Two plus two equals four. Four plus four equals eight and, um, that’s all I remember.”
“Very good, lass,” he said with a smile. “Now for today’s lesson, we’ll keep going. Eight plus eight would equal?” He gave them an expectant look.
Billy’s face screwed up in concentration while Flint started counting on his fingers. Lacey was trying to count Mrs. Winkle’s fingers. Too bad she didn’t have any. Finally Billy’s hand shot up. “Sixteen!”
Captain Stanley gave him a proud smile. “Very good, lad. Now, let’s go over some new numbers, shall we?” He began to scribble on his own blackboard.Rev. Arnold did his best to double as schoolmaster, but half the time fell asleep during lessons. The captain had taken it upon himself to teach the children over a year ago and knew he’d have to speak to the reverend’s wife Eloise about the man’s age. They’d have to get a new preacher soon if his guess was right. He planned on Apple Blossom having quite a few weddings in the near future.
CHAPTERTHREE
Conrad finished the porch, then started on the railing. Several spindles would need to be replaced and he wondered if he could find someone to make them along with a couple of new porch posts. If Mr. Atkins couldn’t do it, would he know of someone else who could? “I might have to go into Virginia City,” he muttered.
He made a small pile of rotted spindles, counted how many new ones he’d need and wrote it down. He tried to picture the porch railing painted white, then white with yellow and a few other color combinations. Currently, the drab little house was a dark olive green with only slightly lighter green trim and some faded red mixed in.
He left the porch, went to the end of the walk and looked at the house. The little one and a half-story structure could do with a new paint job. “Oh, dear. Phileas will be upset with me.” But who better to help him? Phileas, however, wanted to get started on the hotel. It would be his grand opus, his masterpiece. If he could ever get around to it. Everyone wanted his help.
Conrad added a few more things to his list, stuffed the pad and pencil back into his pocket and began to put his tools away. It was getting close to dinner time and he wondered what Dora was making. As soon as he gathered his things, he headed for the front walk.
He was halfway to the hotel when he decided to continue on to the sheriff’s office and see if Cassie was there. He wanted to let her know his progress and what he planned on doing tomorrow. It was only polite.
When he reached the building, he saw her through the window sitting behind a desk. For a moment he had a tingle of apprehension. She wasn’t going to threaten to shoot him for getting rid of a few rotten spindles, was she? He squared his shoulders and entered the office. “Good afternoon.”
She quickly removed her feet from the desk. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d stop by and tell you what I’ve done. Is that all right?”
She smoothed her skirt and adjusted her gun belt. “Of course.” She looked him up and down. “Well, go ahead, tell me.”
He was still trying to get the picture of her feet propped on the desk out of his head. He cleared his throat. “I finished the porch, then started on the railing and the porch posts. I’ll have to get two posts made, if not three. You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone here who could make some, do you?”
She sighed. “You’ll have to ask Mr. Atkins. As far as I know most folks got building supplies from Virginia City, but that was years ago. They have several carpenters there, I think.”
Conrad pulled out his pad and pencil and scribbled that down. “Very well, if I have to make a trip to Virginia City I will.”
“Don’t. Unless it’s necessary,” she said.
“You want your porch roof to fall in?”
Her eyes widened. “I would prefer it didn’t.”
“Well then, a trip to Virginia City it is. Now, about tomorrow. I’d like to start on the inside if that’s all right with you.”
She eyed the potbellied stove in the corner. “Must you?”
He approached the desk. “If you’re uncomfortable having me there by myself, then I could do the work when you’re home in the evenings.”
She cringed. “No, thank you.”
He was about to suggest something else when Billy Watson came running through the door. “Howdy, Sheriff!”
