The Librarian of Boone's Hollow - Kim Vogel Sawyer Page 0,75
or your maw would have a whole headful.”
Maw slumped in her chair and sighed. “Emil, I’m sorry. Maybe I should’ve talked to you first.”
“Sure should’ve.”
“But it seemed so perfect, me runnin’ into Bettina in Belcher’s an’ findin’ out about the job at the lib’ary so quick, havin’ Emmett home here an’ needin’ to make use of his degree…” Tears glittered in Maw’s eyes. “Seemed like God was makin’ a way.”
Emmett contemplated what Maw’d said. His mind trailed through the series of rejections he’d received from business owners in Lexington, Cumberland, Benham, and Lynch. Sure, he’d finally been hired at Mine Thirty-One, but only after Paw spoke up for him. And the job he had now didn’t require much thinking.
He looked at his bandages and considered his seeping sores and aching muscles. If he worked as director of the library, he wouldn’t come home hurting from head to toe. But then, when these blisters finally healed and his body adjusted to the hard labor of swinging his shovel, he probably wouldn’t hurt like this either.
At the library, he’d be mostly alone. At the coal mine, he had a whole community of fellow miners who’d welcomed him into their ranks. If he got the job at the library, Maw’d be so proud. But working at the mine had awakened in Paw a pride for his son that Emmett had never seen before. Had never expected to see.
He glanced at Paw, who’d laid off eating but dabbed the folded piece of bread against his plate, lips set in a stern downward turn. Gaze fixed on his father’s profile, Emmett said, “Maw, did Miss West say the man in Washington wanted to hire me?”
“No, she said he’d talk it over with his committee an’ call her back.”
“Did she say when?”
“By the end o’ the week.”
Paw’s eyes met Emmett’s. He sat rigid, eyelids narrowed, for several seconds. Then he jerked his focus to his plate and started eating again.
Emmett gave Maw’s hand a squeeze. “Thanks for looking out for me. Reckon we’ll wait and see what the man in Washington wants.” He wasn’t sure what he wanted.
Bettina
WHY’D SHE GONE and opened her big mouth? Bettina clanked the last clean plate on the shelf and tossed the dish towel over the nail by the window. All through cooking, serving, and cleaning up supper, she’d gone over her talk with Emmett’s maw and thought up a dozen different things she could have said instead.
She plopped into Maw’s rocking chair and reached for the top item in the mending basket—Pap’s church shirt. He’d ripped a seam loose near the right elbow. Probably happened when he took a swing at her. She dug a needle and thread from the cigar box Maw’d used as a sewing kit and set to work closing the seam so he could wear it to service next Sunday.
Although she’d rather do most any chore besides stitching, she liked having the house to herself. Peaceful. Pap hadn’t been happy about her coming in so late, but when she explained what’d happened with Miz West an’ her late start getting on her route, he calmed down and ate his cold supper without no more complaints. Then he went out right after eating. He didn’t tell her where he was going, but she knew anyway. His jug in the barn needed refilling.
She rested her head against the chair’s rolled back and closed her eyes, sighing deep. If Emmett started working at the library, everything would fall apart. Him working at the mine in Lynch, even though it wasn’t a fancy city job like she wanted for him, was perfect. Wouldn’t take him long to get tired of sleeping in his folks’ loft. He’d rent himself one of the company houses in Lynch, and then he’d need somebody to do his cooking and cleaning and such, and he’d for sure ask her to be his somebody. Wasn’t nobody else who’d take care of him better.
And with him working in Lynch, he’d be far away from Addie Cowherd.
She snorted. “Addie Cowherd. More like Addie Coward.”
Dumb girl was scared to get on a horse. Then she was scared to stay on it for the uphill climbs. Whether on or off, she’d kept looking this way and that, thinking snakes or bobcats or bears would get her. Of course, she might not’ve been looking so hard if Bettina hadn’t warned her about mountain critters and how they liked to surprise folks. But Miz West had said to train Addie,