Cold River by Liz Adair

Author:Liz Adair [Adair, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, second chance, teacher, dyslexia, Pacific Northwest, Cascade Mountains, lumberjack, bluegrass, steel band,
Publisher: Century Press
Published: 2015-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

MANDY UNCLENCHED HER hands when she heard the sound of Grange’s pickup leaving the parking lot. With two firm keystrokes she got rid of his calendar page. Then, noticing the stack of folders, she was reminded of the failed staff meeting. She opened the empty file drawer in her desk and dropped them in. “Take that, Mr. Timberlain.”

“Dr. Steenburg?”

She looked up to see Elizabeth peeking through her partially opened door. “Yes?”

“Um, could you come down to the reception desk for just a moment? There’s something… I’ve got a couple… I’d like to, like, talk to you about something.”

Mandy closed the file drawer. “Right now?”

“If you could. I’ll be leaving in a few minutes, and I kinda wanted to, you know, see about some stuff.”

Mandy leaned back in her chair. “What kind of stuff?”

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “Lots of stuff. Will you come down so I can, like, show you?”

Intrigued, Mandy said, “Certainly.” She followed the young woman across the mezzanine, and as they descended the stairs, she said, “I remember the first night I saw you at the Qwik-E Market. I thought your smile lit up the room.”

Elizabeth stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Mandy. “You did?”

“Yes. It was a dark and rainy night, and I was a stranger. Your smile was particularly comforting to me. I haven’t seen it much lately. Is everything all right in your world?”

The young woman paused for just a moment as if she would say something, and then she turned to go around the reception counter. “Everything’s fine,” she said as she opened the lower cupboard doors. “Here’s what I wanted you to see.”

Mandy bent down so she could see the stacks of T-shirts and sweatshirts. “Yes?”

“We need a cabinet at the high school where we can put these on display. We’d sell a lot more and have a lot more school spirit if they were out where everyone could see them.”

“I agree.” Mandy straightened up. “That’s an excellent notion. Do you have an idea of where this cabinet should be?”

“No. But I thought maybe I could look around the high school to see if there’s a place we could put one.”

“If you will do that and draw up a sketch with measurements of what you envision, we’ll talk about the next step in getting one.”

“I figured that, at first, the profits could pay for the case, if the district would put up the money to build it.”

Mandy nodded. “Good thinking.”

“And we might be able to get someone from the shop class to take it on as a senior project.”

“Even better thinking! I’ll look forward to seeing your design. Are you here on Monday? Good. Can you be ready to meet with me about this time?”

Elizabeth nodded.

“I’ll put it on my calendar.”

At that moment, Willow Timberlain put her head in the door. “I’m going to be late for class, Elizabeth. Come on!”

Elizabeth got a stricken look on her face. “All right, Willow,” she called. She closed the cabinet doors and grabbed her books.

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