LITMIR.BIZ

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job, she was becoming painfully aware of her shortcomings as a future elementary-level teacher. She liked little kids, found them entertaining and charming, but she had no experience managing them and no natural talent in that arena. High school kids...they were different. After completing a double major in elementary education and secondary art, she’d done her practicum teaching in high school, where she’d had no problem with discipline. Smaller children... Dani and Jolie would laugh their asses off if they knew that she was being taken advantage of by six-year-olds. Oh, they’d started off sweet and shy, like new puppies, then, the next thing she knew, they were practically chewing on her shoes.

      Allie pulled her purse out of the car and shut the door again. She’d get better at managing the kids as time went on. If her friend Liz could do it, so could she. She just needed practice holding the hard line and ignoring the cuteness factor. Or pray that the impossible happened and the high school art teacher quit, something Liz assured her wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

      The next morning Jason showed up early, just as she’d stepped out of the shower. Jolie had taken her dog with her, so Allie had no warning system, and she might have to rectify that. She’d only known that Jason had arrived because she’d happened to glance out the window and noticed his truck was parked near the arena, at least an hour earlier than he’d arrived the day before.

      He was at the back, unloading a bucket of tools, and Allie leaned forward to get a better view. The guy was something, she’d give him that. She wondered how long he’d continue on her job before he’d had enough thinking time and moved on to pizza catching.

      Allie’s mouth quirked as she turned away from the window. That hadn’t been a nice thing to say, but he hadn’t taken offense. In fact, Jason Hudson seemed like a patient guy in general. She’d never sensed that about him before.

      Yeah, in all the many minutes they spent together.

      Even their chess games had been relatively quick. And, if she recalled correctly, they’d tied there, too. Not the games themselves, but the number of wins.

      Allie put on a summery dress and cardigan, pulled her damp hair into a loose knot, slipped into flats and headed out to feed her cows.

      “Remember,” she said to the ladies, “healthy calves on the ground when I get home.”

      Then she looked over her shoulder to make certain that Jason was indeed where he was supposed to be and not witnessing her cow conversation. Another reason she needed to get a dog. Talking to dogs was socially acceptable.

      * * *

      ALLIE LEFT A little earlier than she had the day before, stopping just long enough to say a cool hello before heading off to her job at the school. Jason watched her car until it turned onto the road, then tossed a two-by-four in a pile a little harder than necessary. If he hadn’t been working today he would have been running—straight up the mountain. His dad was driving him crazy and his former teammate Pat wasn’t helping matters.

      Jason had gotten home yesterday to find his sister one step away from throttling their old man. Jason had stepped in to referee and the fight had shifted to him. It was so hard to hold his tongue as Max outlined all of his usual gripes, but he managed. Barely.

      Once Max had stomped off to his bedroom, Jason and Kate had had a summit. They decided that Max was still working on facing his own mortality and that they should give him a little more time to come to terms with his current life situation. In other words, they gave him a pass. But the passes weren’t going to last long if he continued the controlling, demanding behavior.

      In the morning his father was back at it, trying to pick a fight about Jason not being available for his walks. Jason hadn’t reacted, but his jaw had been clenched tightly by the time he got to his truck. Then to top things off, he’d received a text from Pat, whom he hadn’t heard from in weeks. It’d been short and to the point—was Jason applying to Brandt?

      The “for the job I didn’t get” went unsaid.

      Jason texted back, saying that if he had an opportunity to apply, he would, but that the job hadn’t officially opened yet.

      Pat never responded, which concerned Jason on one level and irritated him on another. Not once had Pat confided in him during his downward spiral. He’d never reached out for any kind of help and when Jason had tried to express his concern, offer support, Pat had turned away. Now he resented Jason for having legs.

      Another two-by-four hit the pile with a clatter and Jason realized that he had the perfect job in which to take out his frustrations. Easier than running up a mountain, and almost as satisfying.

      * * *

      ALLIE HAD JUST unlocked the library and snapped on the lights when the door behind her opened.

      “Sorry to be here so early,” Liz said without fully meeting Allie’s eyes. “I need to find a couple of books on butterflies for my science lesson today.”

      “What’s wrong?” Allie asked before her friend could brush by her. Something was definitely wrong. Liz’s usually perfect hair wasn’t so perfect and there were dark circles under her eyes.

      Liz hesitated, then let out a shaky sigh. “It’s Zach.” She sank down into one of the tiny chairs next to the kindergarten table as if no longer able to support herself. “He rolled in at four o’clock this morning. I was worried sick about him, so now that he’s home safely, I’m furious.”

      “Of course you are.”

      “And I blame Derek as much as I blame Zach.”

      Allie sat in the small chair on the other side of the table. She reached out and touched Liz’s hand. Liz and her husband had broken up less than a year ago and their high-school-age son, Zach, had been coping fairly well until his dad moved his new girlfriend onto the family ranch a few weeks ago and told Liz that he didn’t think that Zach should work for him as planned that spring.

      “Now I wish I hadn’t encouraged him to graduate early so that he could work for his dad...and now I know why Derek kept putting off having Zach move to the ranch.”

      It was not a good situation and there wasn’t one thing Allie, the problem solver, could do about it, except listen.

      “At least I have the day to cool off before I deal with him.” Liz looked up at the ceiling briefly as if blinking back tears.

      “I’m so sorry,” Allie said. “If I can do anything to help...let me know.” Although she couldn’t think of anything she could do, except to listen, and she was happy to do that.

      “Will do.” Liz got to her feet and headed for the lower elementary science section while Allie booted up her computer. A few minutes later, her friend left the library with the butterfly books and Allie let out a sigh before focusing back on her keyboard.

      She knew how rough it was to get divorced, but she could only imagine what it felt like to have a failed marriage affect your child.

      * * *

      BY THE TIME Allie returned from work, Jason was feeling more in control—almost to the point of being ready to go home and take a few hits. Kate had texted him earlier to say that she was leaving Max in Uncle Jimmy’s capable hands and all Jason could think was that it served Jimmy right for being in cahoots with his father. Let him get a taste of the wrath of Max.

      Allie went straight into the house after parking, but he figured she’d be out to inspect soon. It took her longer than he’d expected, but eventually she came out of the house dressed in jeans and a V-neck T-shirt that looked pretty damned good on her. Her long blond hair was caught in a messy knot that gave her a disheveled, just-tumbled-out-of-bed look that could spark a fantasy or two if he allowed himself. And then she spoke.

      “This is taking longer than I thought it would.”

      “It’d go faster if I didn’t take those naps in the afternoon.”

      Her head snapped around and then color rose from the neckline of her shirt as she realized he was

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