Lily didn’t think being insulted was a goodway to be friendly.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Amy, but Ihave to get back to the store.”
Lily started walking away from Amy, tossingher taco into the nearest garbage receptacle.She had lost herappetite as well.
“Work at the candy store too, do you?”Amycalled after her.
Lily just nodded and continued walking.Glancing back at Amy and the women who joined her made Lily uneasy.She just knew that conversation would come back to haunt hersomehow.Small towns were not always welcoming.
“Well, I never.What a snob!”Amy huffed atone of her friends who walked up.“I was just trying to beneighborly to that new teacher at the elementary school and she waspretty snotty.”
“What’s her problem?”
“Don’t know, and I don’t care to find out.She should have been nicer to me.I could have helped her outsocially.Too bad for her.”Amy and her friend walked off to getsome lunch still grumbling about the new unfriendly teacher.
* * *
Naples’ downtown looked like a picturepostcard for the old American West.Wooden buildings complete withwooden sidewalks backed up to the Sierra Mountains.Hugecottonwoods, elm and quaky aspens dotted the streets in front andbehind the storefronts.Front signs indicated clothing or souvenirstores with the occasional saloon.Yes, ‘saloon’, Lily smiled.Thatwas a Western word for bar.The wind softly blew fallen leaves ather feet.The town couldn’t be more picturesque.
An old surrey with fringe on it sat in frontof the candy store.Lily inspected the surrey for the millionthtime, marveling at the transportation used back in the 1800s.Itsure couldn’t have been comfortable bouncing up and down on thathard seat for miles and miles.She reached out and straightenedsome of the fringe, so it would hang straight.
“I don’t think you can ride in it anymore,”came a familiar voice by the door.She glanced over and saw SandyJohnson.Going from meeting Amy Breen to Sandy Johnson in a periodof five minutes was like going from the ridiculous to the sublime.Jesse ran up to her smiling.
“Miss Cable!Miss Cable!“ Lily crouched downto talk to him face to face.Jesse threw his arms around herbreathlessly.
“Now, Jesse, don’t knock Miss Cable over,”said his father looking nervous.He wiped a hand down his jeans andflicked another shy glance at her.
“Jesse, it is so good to see you here!Howare you?”Lily smiled into his hair and then laughed as shestraightened up.“Were you buying any of my candy?”
“Which candy is yours, Miss Cable?Daddy, canwe buy some?Huh?Can we?”
What a sweet little boy.Lily looked into theeyes of his good-looking father and swallowed.What could she sayto him?
Professional.Stay professional.
“Jesse wrote the nicest poem about his horsein class yesterday.Did he read it to you yet?”That seemed a safesubject.
The shy way Sandy looked her over and lickedhis lips made her think of that happy cat again.She wondered if hewas checking her out to be the mouse.
“He did and it was wonderful,” Sandy smiledat his son.“Also, we just bought some of your terrific chocolatefudge.Jesse, you ate most of it before we left the store,remember?”
“How did you like my fudge, Jesse?”Althoughthe question was posed to little Jesse, Lily had trouble moving hereyes from Sandy’s handsome face.He gazed back at her in somemysterious way.What in the world was he thinking?
Jesse held up a piece of half-eaten fudge.“It’s yummy, Miss Cable.Want a bite?”His hands and face weresmeared with chocolate.
“No, thanks, sweetie, but how about we cleanup your face?You can’t go out into town looking like that.What doyou say?”
Jesse’s head bobbed up and down with delightas Lily took him by the hand back into the store.Sandy followedthem in, holding tight to his cowboy hat.Lily got a moist towelfrom behind the counter and wiped all the chocolate from his littleface.Jesse beamed at the attention, his little face lighting upthe room.
She wondered if his son remembered a woman’stouch and her heart ached a little for him.
After wiping Jesse’s hands, she glanced up atSandy.Was that a tear in his eye?He quickly wiped his eyes andcommented about how dusty it was in town today.Lily smiled.Itwasn’t that windy or dusty.Something else put that moisturethere.
Sandy swallowed visibly.“Miss Cable, did youknow there’s a gathering of cowboy poets this evening before thedance?”
“Yes, I heard about that.What is thisgathering about?I’ve never heard of a cowboy poet.”She threw thesoiled towel into a waste container.
“You’d be surprised at the quality of writingfrom many cowboys around Nevada and other Western states.I guessthey have a lot of time on their hands while watching the cattle,”Sandy smiled at her.
