Her Cowboy Soldier by Cindi Myers Read Free Book Online

flew away. Chloe’s face fell. “She’s gone.”
    “She didn’t go far,” Bobbie said. “She and her friends live in the greenhouses.”
    “Then I’ll look for more,” the child said, and skipped away.
    “She’s a smart girl,” Bobbie said. “And I don’t just say that because I’m her great-grandmother. She pays attention to things and really listens to what you say. She might end up being a great scientist.”
    Chloe was smart. Amy wanted to give her every advantage in life—the best schools, stimulating activities—but what parent didn’t want those things for her child? For now, Chloe had found her own little bit of heaven in the greenhouses and fields of Anderson Orchards, where she ruled like a princess in her kingdom, doted on by all the adults.
    “Speaking of science, Josh Scofield was at the school board meeting last night,” Amy said as she and her grandmother began to pick peppers from the heavily laden plants in the center of the greenhouse.
    “What was he doing there?”
    “He asked the board for money to send some of his students to a science bee over in Durango, but they turned him down.”
    “What is a science bee?”
    “I don’t know for sure. Maybe like a spelling bee, but the contestants have to answer science questions. I guess I’ll find out for sure when we go. I volunteered to help him and to write about it for the paper.”
    “I’m glad to see you’re taking my advice about getting involved in the community,” Bobbie said.
    “I’m not really going to be involved—I’ll just be observing and reporting on the day’s events for the paper. Ed is always eager to print school news—he says advertisers love it.” She set aside one bucket full of peppers and picked up an empty one. “And I thought I might pitch the story to some national magazines— an example of how to get kids more excited about science or something like that.”
    “At least you’ll be meeting new people. It’s a start. When is all this taking place?”
    “I’m not sure. Next month sometime, Josh said.”
    Bobbie inched her walker forward and scrutinized a yellowing branch on a pepper plant. “Can’t be too much longer. School will be out at the end of May. And it starts back in before Labor Day.” She took a pair of clippers from her pocket and snipped off the offending branch and tossed it aside. “You’ll want to see about getting Chloe enrolled in kindergarten next year. Mrs. Dawson teaches those little ones. You’ll like her.”
    “I suppose.”
    “You suppose what?”
    “I suppose I’ll enroll Chloe in kindergarten if we’re still here in the fall. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do.”
    “Where would you go? This is your home.” Bobbie peered intently at her. “Aren’t you happy here?”
    “I am happy. But I’ve never lived in a small town before. Right now it’s a novelty, but later...” She let her voice trail away.
    “Don’t borrow trouble worrying about what might never come. You’re settling in nicely. You’ve got a job, and friends. You’re making a place for yourself here.”
    She was settling in, but was she settling? Hartland felt so peaceful, so safe. Maybe she was only hiding here, protecting herself from hurt instead of getting out into the wider world and developing a thicker skin.
    She could almost hear her mother, encouraging an eight-year-old Amy, who had been worried about starting classes at yet another new school. “Doing the easy thing all the time is for cowards,” Katherine Anderson Carruthers had said. “You’re not a coward. You’re going to go out there and show everyone you’re not afraid, and just doing that will make you braver, and next time it won’t be so hard.”
    Her mother had been right. By the time Amy was sixteen, starting at a new school wasn’t so hard. But part of that may have been because she hadn’t felt compelled to try so hard to fit in and make friends. After all, she’d be leaving soon, so if the other