Wolf Creek Father (Wolf Creek, Arkansas Book 3) by Penny Richards

for jobs come September. Understood?”
    Homer rose, and rounded the desk, heading for the coatrack near the door. “I’m due for a few rounds of checkers with Lew, Artie and Pete over at the store,” he said, reaching for his hat. “You two feel free to use the office as long as you like.”
    “For what?” Colt asked, speaking up for the first time since Allison had begun her apology.
    “Why, for working out the details of just what and how the two of you will work together to solve the issues with Brady and Cilla. Y’all have a good day now.”
    * * *
    Stunned at the sudden, unexpected dismissal, Colt watched the mayor leave the office. He felt as if he’d just taken a punch in the gut. He’d escaped being fired. Barely. Maybe. Of all the scenarios that had crossed his mind since Danny Gentry had knocked on his door to tell him the mayor wanted to see him at once, this particular conclusion had never entered his mind.
    He loved his job. Loved the people of Wolf Creek. Moving the kids again would be hard on them, and Brady might never catch up if he kept moving from school to school. Children needed roots. Lifelong friends. They all did. Thank goodness they had another chance.
    He glanced over at the schoolmarm, whose lips were still parted in shock. At least she had her hair pulled back in some sort of bun again, he thought with ill-tempered satisfaction. The no-nonsense style made it easier to think of her as his adversary instead of a real person he was forced to work with closely.
    “I suppose you got a lot of pleasure telling Homer every word I said,” she snapped. “You probably ran to see him right after I left your office yesterday.”
    “I wasn’t tattling.”
    “No?” she said, her shock giving way to annoyance.
    “No. I was just trying to tell him what happened during our...discussion to the best of my recollection.” Minus losing his own temper, of course. “I certainly never intended to put our jobs in jeopardy.”
    “Hmpf!”
    Though she sounded disgruntled, Miss Grainger was looking at him with an expression that hovered between dismay and apprehension. No doubt she was regretting a few of her actions, too. After all, she was not just any woman, he reminded himself crossly. She was
Miss Grainger,
the town’s shining example of virtue, deportment and intelligence. Cosseted and corseted with no idea what children were like since she’d never had any. Laced so tight and so caught up in her expectations for learning there was no room for womanly tenderness or sensitivity to his children’s needs in her tiny little heart.
    “So what do you propose we do?”
    Her prim voice grated on his already raw nerves. Did the woman ever loosen up?
    “How should I know?” he said, getting to his feet and glaring down at her. “Aren’t you the one with all the answers?”
    Her brown eyes narrowed in a way that was fast becoming familiar. “Please sit down, Sheriff,” she commanded. “After yesterday, you must have learned that I am not so easy to intimidate.”
    Feeling as if he were a schoolboy who’d been scolded, he sat.
    Miss Grainger frowned. “I’ll be the first to say that I don’t have all the answers. However, even though you may not like it, I feel that it is important that we continue working with Brady until we can figure out some way to help him. I’ll write some letters to my former professors. Perhaps there have been some new discoveries in the area of learning disabilities since I began teaching.”
    “Disabilities!” Colt barked. “My son is not
disabled
in any way.”
    “That’s not what I—”
    “There’s nothing wrong with Brady,” he snarled. “Did you ever stop and think that maybe the reason he isn’t doing well is because you aren’t a good enough teacher?”
    “Every day.”
    The soft confession robbed him of his anger. It wasn’t the answer he’d expected. There was uncertainty and misery in her sherry-brown eyes, and maybe just a hint of dampness. He