Lazy Days Read Free Page B

Cause if you don't, someday I'll find you." She grinned,
revealing a missing tooth just like Timmy's.
    Timmy grumbled and gave her another sour look.
Hallie chided, "Son! Mind your manners and tell Daisy goodbye."
    He gave his mother a rebellious look, something
unusual for him, and mumbled, "Bye, Daisy."
    Hallie shook her head and was about to chastise him
again when Mr. Jerome touched her elbow.
    "Ma'am, you and Tim best wait on the porch
while I check to see if any wires have been received about stagecoach delays.
    The touch of Mr. Jerome's hand sent Hallie's
heart racing. "Yes, of course." She stepped away from him and turned
her attention toward her son. "Timmy, change your attitude and come with
me." She grasped his hand and pulled him toward the porch as Mr. Smithson
called a final farewell, commanded the horses, and flicked the reins. The
buckboard pulled into the dusty road and Daisy waved goodbye to Timmy, blowing
him a kiss.
    Her son made a disgusted noise and turned his
back toward the street.
    Mr. Jerome motioned to two chairs on the hotel
portico. "Why don't ya'll have a seat and I'll be right back? Can I bring you
some tea or lemonade before I take care of business?"
    Timmy appeared to have reverted back to his congenial
self and waited for his mother to respond. Knowing that lemonade was one of her
son's favorite drinks, she said, "Thank you, Mr. Jerome. Lemonade would be
much appreciated."
    Mr. Jerome started to turn away, but paused.
"Ma'am?"
    "Yes, Mr. Jerome?"
    "Do you 'spose we could do away with the
formalities since we're going to be traveling together for the next few months?
Please call me Cooper. May I call you Hallie?"
    Hallie felt her face flush scarlet and stumbled
over her reply. "Oh…yes…that…that would probably be best, Mr.
Jerome." His lips quirked and Hallie felt her face flame brighter.
"I…I mean…Cooper."
    Cooper's half grin turned into a full one.
"Well, 'scuse me, Hallie and Tim; I'll be right back with your
lemonades."

Chapter
4: Traveling Companions
     
    The stagecoach departed only two hours past its
scheduled time. Cooper shrugged and said he'd waited for as long as two days
for a coach to arrive. Now, over an hour into their journey, Hallie's
excitement mellowed and she felt her eyelids droop; sleepless nights had caught
up with her.
    Timmy, after discussing the Wild West with the
only other child on the coach, a younger boy, around five, who couldn't stop
fidgeting, now leaned against his mother’s shoulder and succumbed to sleep. And
the boy who’d asked his parents every few minutes, "Are we almost to St.
Louey?" yawned, crawled onto his father's lap, and also fell asleep, his soft
snores filling the coach.
    Meeting the child's parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Hankerson, a couple from a neighboring town and bound for the same wagon train
as Hallie, was an unexpected bonus; they turned out to be delightful people.
    Hallie yawned and glanced out the stagecoach window
at Cooper riding alongside on his beautiful mare. Before her eyes closed, an
unguarded thought escaped. What a magnificent man on a magnificent horse .
She sighed and felt safe for the first time in weeks.
    The slowing of the coach awakened Hallie and she
realized she must have slept for quite some time because the sun was much lower
on the horizon. Sammy, Timmy's newfound friend, had moved from his father's lap
to sit beside Timmy, and the boys thumbed through a book about the Wild West,
mesmerized by drawings of cowboys, Indians, horses, herds of buffalo,
mountains, and other scenes the artist had encountered during his own journey
west.
    She glanced at Mrs. Hankerson, a pretty,
full-figured, dark-haired woman, who said, "I was wondering when we'd take
a break. I feel like every bone in my body has jarred loose."
    Hallie nodded her agreement and stretched her
aching neck. The stagecoach came to a complete halt and Cooper opened her door.
"Let me assist you out."
    While Mr. Hankerson helped his wife and son out
the