Just then a pretty woman walked out of the office.
“Well, hello, Grace.”
“Gordon!” She smiled, a generous smile that lit up her blue-gray eyes. “I heard the hunting went very well.”
He turned to Chloe. “Ah, the bane of small towns. Can’t get by with much that everybody doesn’t know about.”
“Afraid that’s true,” Grace agreed.
“I’m forgetting my manners. Grace, this is Chloe Reed and Jimmy Mitchell.”
“So good to meet you,” she said to Chloe, then extended her hand to Jimmy. “Always glad to meet another Mitchell man.”
Pleased, but shy, Jimmy grinned.
“I don’t have a class this hour,” Grace continued. “Can I help you find anything?”
“Thought it’d be nice to show them around. You know, a little tour, before they meet the principal,” Gordon explained.
“I’d be glad to help. I teach part-time in the upper grades, but I know all the buildings.” She leaned down slightly toward Jimmy and confided, “The kids call me old lady Brady.”
Chloe couldn’t restrain her laughter. “We’re probably close in age. Didn’t realize I was in that category yet.”
Grace laughed with her. “Came as quite a shock to me, too. Teaching is my second and best career. Didn’t realize it would age me so!”
Gordon groaned. “You kids are killing me.”
“You are a sweetheart,” Grace declared as she turned to Chloe. “See why I love the Mitchell men?”
Chloe had seen plenty of reasons, even in Evan. Because for all his protests, she suspected he was covering a deep and grievous hurt.
Grace led them down the main hall. “We’re in the administration building. Besides the office, the cafeteria, library and auditorium are in this building. There are separate buildings for elementary, junior high and senior high. Since it’s a church school, we’re not funded by the government but we have private donors. I imagine you’d like to see the elementary building.”
The cheerful building was filled with colorful banners and posters. “Kindergarten through fifth-grade classes,” Grace explained as they passed individual classrooms. “There’s also a smaller, all-purpose room for the youngest grades. The plays and larger performances are held in the auditorium. More room for all the doting parents and grandparents.” Grace paused in front of one classroom. “This is a first-grade class.”
“Is there more than one?” Chloe asked, liking the positive energy in the school.
“That depends on enrollment. Our elementary teachers are certified to teach two or three grades. That way we can adjust to make sure class sizes aren’t too large.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything.”
“Are you a teacher, too?” Grace questioned.
“No. I’m a sec… I work for a legal firm out of Milwaukee.”
Gordon looked at her strangely, and Chloe fiddled with her purse handles, worrying about her near slip.
“A fellow big-city native! I’m from Houston.”
Chloe was immediately curious. “How do you like living here?”
“It’s perfect,” she replied in a soft voice. “I love it.”
“Met her husband here,” Gordon added.
Grace blushed, a gentle pink. “Yes. You’ll meet him at church. He’s the choir director.”
“A musician?”
She smiled widely. “Actually, Noah’s a plastic surgeon who happens to love music. Works out well because I do, too.”
“Do you teach music?”
“Actually, I teach English.” Grace laughed again. “You probably think you’ve wandered into the land of Oz where nothing is as it seems. A choir director who’s a doctor and a musician who teaches English.”
Chloe liked Grace’s infectious smile and laughter. “I’m enjoying Oz just fine.”
“Are we in Oz?” Jimmy asked in a confused tone.
Chloe met Grace’s glance and broke into another round of laughter. Then she knelt down next to Jimmy. “Oz is a pretend place. It’s very colorful and full of surprises.”
With a child’s understanding, Jimmy nodded. “But the school’s real?”
“Very,” Gordon replied. “Do you like what you’ve seen?”
Jimmy nodded. “I don’t like big schools.”
“Me, either,” Grace confided. “I was kind of scared when I started teaching, but at this school, all the people are nice and welcoming. In no time, I felt right at home.”
Grace might teach upper grades, but she had the perfect touch for young children. Chloe was glad they had run into her. She mouthed thank you above Jimmy’s head.
“I know how it is to be new to Rosewood,” Grace continued. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a pen and notepad. She scribbled on one page quickly, then handed it to Chloe. “This is my cell number. I’d like to help you settle in.”
Chloe felt at a loss as to how to answer. Her position was so tenuous.
Gordon replied for her. “That’s mighty nice of you, Grace. And, of course, we’ll see you at church Sunday.”
Church. Because she spent every Sunday visiting her mother, it had been a long time since Chloe had been in a church. But their pastor visited at the care facility, mostly seeing her mom. Chloe’s faith had never wavered. Which was comforting, because she would need it now more than ever.
Chapter Five
Evan could scarcely believe he had been dragged into this fishing trip. With mountains of work waiting on his desk, he was standing on the shore of the river, casting into the flowing currents. He glanced over at his father. After breakfast, as the others were readying for the trip, his father had sat down suddenly, seeming out of breath. Gordon insisted he was all right. So much so that it worried Evan. Was it a ruse to make him go fishing as well? To spend more time with Jimmy?
His father refused to call the doctor or stop by the clinic, which was open Saturday mornings. Ruse or not, Evan couldn’t let him drive out to the river with only Chloe and Jimmy. She didn’t know the area. If something happened, they could be stuck, far from help.
Gordon’s last checkup had gone well, but he wasn’t a young man anymore. The thought chilled him. Once his father was gone, Evan would be the only one left. Feeling his gaze pulled as though by a strong magnet, Evan looked at young Jimmy. The only one left in his family.
Why had Spencer and his wife insisted on reopening that abandoned factory? Wainwright had told Evan that the newly refurbished machines ran on clean energy, apparently a fervent cause of Spencer’s. And, he intended to employ people who had been jobless through no fault of their own. It was a noble cause. But the cost?
Bailey nudged his muzzle into Evan’s hand. Absently, he petted the golden’s head. Next to the shore, Jimmy stood between Chloe and Gordon. The boy had taken a shine to Gordon. But then Jimmy hadn’t really had a grandparent relationship before. His maternal grandfather had died when Jimmy was a toddler, that grandmother suffered from late-stage Alzheimer’s.
And, Evan wondered if the child had ever even met his paternal grandparents. Obviously, Spencer’s parents hadn’t changed since Spencer was a child. Devoted to their archeological dig, they had tunnel vision