Page 38 of Second Start: Family
Kenzie jolted at Hall Quick’s low voice near her ear. He must have followed her out.
“Okay? Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“No reason I can think of. Unless you don’t want to stay warmer this winter than you would have without what’s happening right now. But that’s a fierce frown you’re wearing.”
“It’s a bit overwhelming. All these people.”
“Hey, you’re from back east. You should be accustomed to crowds.”
She looked up at him. “Maybe I’ve already acclimated or— Are you okay? You look really tired.”
Who was it who’d taught her as a kid the expression about a good offense being a good defense? … Or was it the other way around? Either way the change of subject worked.
“Tried to get ahead some so today doesn’t put me too far back at the ranch. Then Lizzie was up last night.”
She asked with a look.
“She does that sometimes. Before her birthday, it had been a while and I started to think … But…” He lifted a shoulder.
She nodded. “That can happen with night terrors. Go a long time without, then another crops up. Might hit a patch of them for a while.”
“Great.” He grimaced wryly. “Well, suppose I should get back to work. If I can find a place to squeeze in.”
“I guess not all the husbands came, if I have the couples right.”
“Yeah. Boone — Cambria’s husband — didn’t make it. I hear he’s in North Carolina on business. That’s too bad because he’s an expert on construction, renovation, stuff like that. And Jenna’s husband’s the sheriff of Shakespeare County and apparently there was a last-second issue that kept him from coming. But don’t worry. Dax Randall brought a couple extra workers.”
“Oh, I’m not worried. This is wonderful. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Way you said that just now. Sounds like an accent.”
She pretended a deep sigh. “North Carolina. Blue Ridge Mountains. Neither ever leaves you completely. Or, apparently, my voice.”
“North Carolina? Vicky said something about you teaching near Washington, D.C. Virginia.”
Of course, as senior teacher, Vicky would have seen her resume.
“Right,” she said with a smile. “A suburb, but not real close.”
“Why’d you leave and come here?”
“Have you ever seen the traffic around Washington, D.C?”
He looked at her, his face as unreadable as the land around her. “That’s one worry you don’t have here.”
“That’s right. Crime’s a rarity, too — unless the crime’s stealing my breath, which happens every time I look around. The sky especially. Sometimes I think if I could listen to the sky well enough, I’d hear all the answers.” She made a sound, then added, “Sounds crazy. I know.Listening to the sky…”
“Not so crazy. Nature’s big everywhere when an extreme hits, but here it’s big all the time. Makes itself felt. And that can make people feel small.”
“Is that how you feel, working with — in — nature all day every day?”
“Sometimes. Yeah. But other times … Well, when I was young, I wanted to go away to build famous buildings. Not skyscrapers — those needles pointing into the sky, making people feel small. That’s what storms and mountains and sky are for. I wanted to design buildings that draw you in, welcome you.
“Nature can make you feel that way, too. It’s like you said. I’m workingwithnature and then it feels like I’m part of it. And that makes me big.”
Slowly, she nodded. “With teaching, some days it’s like I can’t set a foot right. Like if I tried to help a kid figure out the letter A, I’d never succeed and I’d condemn that kid to an entire life never understanding the letter A, and what do I think I’m doing trying to teach. Then, other days, when I’m part of the growing and learning they’re doing, I feel … expansive and…” She quirked a self-deprecating grin. “Noble. Sometimes both extremes and everything in between, all in one day.”
After a moment’s silence, he said, “I think you’ve got teaching the letter A down. According to Molly and Lizzie, you’ve got the whole alphabet and every word that can come from it.”
