at Sarah. “You can go back to your saloon, your den of iniquity and haven for harlots, with that rascal right there and tell Paul that I’ll not be tempted to do the Devil’s work! And you,” she pointed at Roy, “can go back to your employer and tell her I will not be made a fool of!”
Without any further explanation, Miss Jones stomped her foot then turned and stormed back into her house, slamming the door behind her.
Roy let out the breath he’d been holding, confused as all get-out.
“I don’t have any idea what just happened.” He shook his head and glanced sideways to find Sarah staring at the closed front door. “But, Sunshine, something tells me you just narrowly avoided an outright catastrophe.”
“Oh?” Sarah’s voice quivered.
Roy leaned closer to her. “I had no idea Miss Jones was such a soured-up old biddy. If you ask me, she would do a damned sight better if she had more kissing instead of less!”
“Roy!” Sarah scolded him, whether for his thought or his language he didn’t know and didn’t care.
“Well it’s true.” He stuck to his guns. He turned, adjusting his grip on Sarah’s suitcases, and started back down the path toward town. “Come on. Let’s leave that old woman to her flowers and her morals and go somewhere nicer.”
Sarah nodded and followed him out onto the road, but her head was lowered and she chewed on her fingernails. She didn’t once look at him. Here he thought he’d been the hero for a change, but Sarah’s thoughts were miles away. A prickly sort of guilt, like he hadn’t done the right thing after all, broke out over his shoulders.
“It ain’t so bad.” He scrambled to reassure her as they walked. “Would you really have wanted to live under that woman’s roof? Learning to be just as sour as her?” A grin turned up the corners of his mouth at the thought.
Sarah stopped and turned to him, her shoulders drooping and her sweet mouth loose in disappointment.
“I wanna be a good, honest woman, Roy,” she explained. “I never really had the chance before. Mama died almost before I could remember her and Papa drank so much he hardly remembered I was there most of the time. I thought I had a chance when he walked out on me, but I got no education and no talents. There was only one job anyone would hire me for. I’m not saying I’m ungrateful for being able to earn my way—even if it was on my back—but now I have a chance to start over fresh.” She sighed. “I know you don’t understand because you’re such a fine, important man.”
“I wouldn’t say that!”
Sarah shook her head. “Miss Jones is strict and all, but everyone knows that the girls living with her are some of the most upstanding young women in town. Why, she even has that new teacher, Miss Singer, living with her. If she’d’ve taken me in, it wouldn’t’ve been long before folks around here forgot what I used to be. It wouldn’t have been long before I might have been good enough for-” She swallowed. “Before I would have been good enough.”
Roy’s grin dropped. “Oh.” He dug the toe of his boot into the dirt road. “Gosh, I’m sorry, Sarah. I didn’t realize what it meant to you.”
Sarah’s smile returned. “It’s okay. You didn’t mean no harm. And I must admit it’s at least as much my fault as it is yours. I picked that flower. And I kissed you as much as you kissed me.”
“I wish I hadn’t,” he replied, then quickly stammered, “I mean, I don’t wish I hadn’t kissed you. I like kissing you.”
“I like kissing you too.” She blushed, but the spark in her eyes had been dampened.
“I guess, well, I guess that was mighty poor timing is all,” he said.
“It was.” She sighed, worrying her fingers through the fringe of her shawl. “I don’t rightly know what I’m going to do now.”
“You’ve got lots of options,” Roy rushed to