his daughter. Guilt warred with elation over this, and to her annoyance, the decision came to a close call. Elation finally won.
Becky skipped down the street ahead of them. Kayla and Sam fell into step behind her. She had thought he would ignore her previous statement, but to her surprise, he replied.
“Kind of hard to go on tours when I normally leave the house early and get back late.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s true.” Point number two, no matter what Dori and Ellamae thought.
At this rate, she’d have enough to go to the judge in no time.
Before he could have a chance to figure that out, she asked, “Just how did Flagman’s Folly get its name?”
He looked at her for a long while, as if wary of the change of subject. Or as if, for some reason, he felt reluctant to tell her.
At last, he said, “Back a century or so ago, there wasn’t a town here, just a small crossroad station in the middle of nowhere. Trains pulled in for refueling and picking up passengers. The flagman stationed here had the job of signaling to make sure two trains didn’t try to come in at the same time.”
“And something happened?”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, something happened. The flagman was so busy making his moves on a waiting passenger, he messed up. And the trains collided.”
Kayla gasped. “Were there many hurt?”
“No one, fortunately. The first train was slowed to a crawl getting ready to pick up passengers, and the second was a freighter with only the crew aboard.”
“The flagman got off lucky.”
“Real lucky.”
At the amusement in his tone, she looked at him.
“As it turned out,” he explained, “the man up and married the lady he’d been sweet-talking.”
She shook her head in disgust. “Well, that was a lot more than he deserved.”
“You could be right. The woman came from money and he was just a down-and-out bum until he got the job with the railroad.” He tilted his head, and she could see his eyes twinkling beneath the brim of his hat, but he didn’t say anything else.
Her heart thumped. Not only were they having a normal, peaceful conversation, Sam was teasing her, almost flirting with her.
“All right,” she said after they had walked several yards down the street and he still said nothing. “I give up. What’s the punch line?”
He grinned. “Those were my great-grandparents. They wound up settling here and, after a few others came along to join them, the town was incorporated. They named it and the main street from their story. You might say I have a vested interest in the place.”
Or I might say you come from a long line of bums.
What would that do to their nice conversation?
The story of his family history made Kayla recall what Ellamae had said about Sam’s “teenager ways.” Something she would have to look into at a later date—and let Matt know. Maybe Sam had inherited the flagman’s incompetence as well as his genes.
And maybe, in that, she’d find point number three for the judge.
As Becky neared the next building, she slowed.
The day had gotten overly warm, with the humidity high and the temperature now at ninety-eight, according to a thermometer hanging in the sunny front window of Lou’s Barbershop. Good thing Kayla had remembered to ask Lianne to throw several pairs of shorts into the boxes of clothing she’d sent.
Through the plate-glass window, one of the barbers, a gray-haired man in an old-fashioned long white apron, saw Kayla looking at the thermostat. When he noticed Becky beside her, a smile touched his face. He waved at her, and she grinned and waved back. He came to the open front door of the shop.
“Well, hey, Sam. Looks like you got yourself some company.”
“Sure have.” Sam introduced Becky then, after a pause, Kayla.
Lou made an instant hit with Becky when he pulled an orange lollipop out of his apron pocket.
Kayla tried not to shake her head. More sweets. Catching her niece’s eye, she put her finger near her chin, then gestured with her upraised palms. “What do you say?”
In one swift movement, Becky raised her hand to her mouth and pulled it outward.
“Thank you,” Kayla voiced for her.
“Anytime.” Lou smiled.
They stopped next at the hardware and feed store.
Sam went about his job with a vengeance, she noticed, introducing Becky to everyone he knew—which seemed to be every single person they came across. As an afterthought, almost, he would remember to mention Kayla.
She decided to let that pass. For now.
At the small department store,