Page 39 of Head Room

She’d seen us kiss...but not like this.

Didn’t take but another second to know Mrs.P wasn’t a big improvement when it came to catching us necking in the library parking lot.

Tom must have politely hit the button to lower the passenger window.I sure didn’t.With its protection gone, I spurted out words.

“Just who I was hoping to see, Mrs.Parens.I have questions I hope you can help me with.Not tonight, because we’re going to dinner, but another day.When it’s convenient for you.And a place that’s convenient for you, if that’s convenient.”

Tom went with a simple, “Hello, Mrs.Parens.”

“Hello, Thomas.”She nodded sedately to him, then focused on me.“If you contact me, I am confident we can find a mutually agreeable time and place to converse concerning your current topic of interest, Elizabeth.”

Beyond her, I spotted our rescue — Tamantha running toward us.

“Did you know Wyoming has an official dinosaur?”

She called her question out as she approached, then continued from inside the back seat of the cab.

“It’s calledTriceratopsbecause it has three horns.It also has what they call a bony frill, like those people wore in really old paintings, like a petticoat around someone’s neck.”

Saved by a dinosaur wearing a neck petticoat.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Our dinner wasfun and satisfying — Hamburger Heaven did know how to make a burger — and filled with Tamantha sharing what she’d learned about dinosaurs in Wyoming.They left a lot of their bones in the state, was my inexpert recap.

We went to the house afterward.

I avoided a double dose of dirty looks by scooting next door to retrieve Shadow so he and Tamantha could see each other before she and her dad left for the Circle B.

Watching their departure, I resolved that after the wedding, when Tom wasn’t packing in extra ranch work and I wasn’t a slave to my mother and stepdaughter’s to-do list, we would settle into a routine that had us all in the same place at the same time as a rule, not the exception.

After putting thick moisturizer on my feet and pulling on cotton socks to protect the sheets, I did recognize that not being with Tom overnight had the small compensation of not conflicting with the dreaded to-dos.

Why I needed to have softer feet for the wedding, I did not know.Mom and Tamantha declared it.I had three more nights to do it.

I settled into my bed with my device, prepared to read more of Irene Jardos’ manuscript.

Dale had sent me the first section while we were at dinner, along with a promise to keep working tonight until it was finished.

I messaged back — wait for it —Great.I was not about to look a gift-crush in the mouth that meant getting work done fast.

But now, opening the file, I saw the next part of the manuscript was not written out in complete sentences as the first part was.Instead, it held scraps of dialogue and what looked like notes the writer had made to herself.

It was rather like a fill-in-the-blanks game on a massive scale.As if Vanna White had to point to spots on a manuscript-sized board and the contestant — that would be me — had to guess at big chunks instead of individual letters, without even knowing the category.

After reading through the scraps a few times, I think I had the gist.

Ransom Fletcher, Peter, and the other soldiers in the group — company, I guess — reached Fort Laramie.

That’s where Major Brand showed up again.He wanted a few soldiers to go with him deeper into Indian territory.He didn’t sugarcoat the danger.Peter volunteered before Ransom could stop him.Ransom volunteered, too.

There was also a note that it would be confirmed to the reader that Peter was Ransom’s nephew and the references to Thomas were to another nephew, who died before they left Camp Douglas.

But, wait a minute...In the prologue, Ransom Fletcher had worn the tatters of an officer’s uniform and the guy looking for volunteers said no officers.Had Ransom worn an officer’s uniform not his own?Or pretended to not be an officer so he could join this group and make sure Peter got out of Camp Douglas?

Then there were more notes.

Some wanted to fight.Brand trades horses for captives, instead.Stelmen Viess disgusted.Get Maggie and a boy about twelve.