Miss Cochran smiled and shook her head at his comment. “I had no idea how to handle a bear. To think I did all that climbing, and I only had to yell at the poor creature and toss a few pebbles in its direction.”
He reached for more books. “That’s because it was a black bear. They’re pretty harmless unless they’re cornered or protecting their young. Now if a grizzly walked onto your property, climb as fast as you can onto that roof.”
“Are there grizzles around here?”
“Not likely. They haven’t been spotted in this area for a long time.”
They’d been working all morning, once he’d gotten her down from her roof. He hadn’t lied when he told her he was impressed with the amount of books and other school supplies she’d brought with her. He would have bet good money that all those trunks he’d hauled from the mail coach stop had been filled with clothes and other folderol. It turned out only one held her clothing. The rest were household items and school supplies. Their little schoolhouse had never been so well supplied. But then they’d never had such an esteemed teacher either.
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Miss Cochran would turn tail and run within the first few weeks. For the sake of the town and its children, he hoped he was wrong, but everything about her screamed privilege. The people of Dogtown were anything but privileged.
He dusted off his hands and stood, stretching his back muscles. “What do you say we take a break and head to the restaurant for lunch?”
“There’s no need for that. I have plenty of food that someone from the town—I assume it was you—stocked my house with. I would just need about an hour to put together a pot of vegetable soup and make some biscuits.”
He reached for her elbow and helped her up. “Nope. My stomach wants food now.”
“All right. I must admit, I’m hungry myself.”
They left the schoolhouse and took the short walk to the same restaurant they’d been to the day before. Of course, for now anyway, it was the only restaurant in Dogtown. Something Mitch hoped to correct when he could convince an investor to build a hotel and restaurant in town.
The town council had been working on getting the railroad to add a spur to Dogtown along its Denver line. So far they hadn’t seen the need for it. More people, more businesses, and then they would do it, they’d said. He’d been working hard to attract farmers and businesses so their town could grow. It had become important to him to see Dogtown go from the tent town it had been when he’d arrived as a child to a respectable place where families wanted to raise their children.
Once they settled at the small table, Mitch said, “Tell me, Miss Cochran, now that you’re here—and it appears the town has more confidence you’ll stay than I do—what made you decide to leave a comfortable home and work in an out-of-the-way place in the Rocky Mountains?”
She scowled at his remarks but answered anyway. “I love teaching. My mama and my cousin Ellie are both teachers. I honestly believe wanting to share knowledge with children is a passion you’re born with. I know it’s been something I’ve wanted to do all my life.
“The reason I chose Dogtown was twofold.” She began to draw little circles on the red-and-white checked tablecloth. “I love my family.” She looked up. “I truly do. But I needed to put some space between them and me. As I told you, I have four brothers, but also four cousins whom my parents raised, their spouses and children, and they all live within blocks of us and each other.”
“To my way of thinking, it sounds like a wonderful way to raise a child. I often wished Ian had more family around.”
They both looked up as the waitress approached. “Good afternoon, folks. Would you like the special today?”
“What is it?” Mitch asked.
“Liver and onions.”
Mitch and Miss Cochran both shook their heads. Something he apparently had in common with the new teacher. “I’ll have a ham sandwich.” He turned to his companion. “Miss Cochran?”
“A ham sandwich sounds good to me, too.”
The waitress left them with their coffee cups filled and returned to the kitchen.
Miss Cochran shook out her napkin and placed it on her lap. “In response to your observation, I must agree it was a wonderful way to grow up. But when you have that many people ‘loving’ you, it gets smothering at times.”
He took a sip of his coffee. “So we were your escape. Why Dogtown?”
“Would you laugh if I told you I loved the name?”
He laughed. And found himself actually enjoying Miss Cochran’s company. While she’d been anxious to get away from those who loved her, he’d been feeling a lack of connection to other people. For years it had been just him and Ian. He’d made plenty of friends, but with his gun shop, parental duties, and time spent working on the town council, he’d had no time for courting.
Not that he was anxious to marry again, but it did a man good to occasionally spend time with a person owning a female voice, engaging laugh, and strong, womanly curves. All the things the town’s new teacher possessed.
Best to get his thoughts away from that direction. Even if she did stay in Dogtown—which he doubted—she was so far above him as to make any thought of them courting ridiculous. But he had to admit she sure was certainly easy on the eyes.
“See, you laugh, but I do love the name Dogtown. It appealed to me right way.” Her eyes sparkled and she waved her hands around, excitement in all her movements. “And it’s exactly as I pictured it. Small, but friendly. Growing. Parents anxious for their children to learn. Nothing is more discouraging to a teacher than to have parents who are only sending their children to school because the government requires it.”
“And is that what you have in the schools in Guthrie?”