Chapter 1
“Cletus, while I appreciate your offer, I don’t teach biology or Family Consumer Science. There is no room in my curriculum to teach sausage making.” I gave another exasperated glance at our town mastermind and resident amateur sausage maker. “What you have shared with me, I enjoy, but I teach earth science. Any animals I care about have been turned to stone.”
“The offer stands, Cara. I like to give back,” he replied as he put his hand in his pocket and rocked back on his heels.
“Thank you. I know how much you and your wife give back to the community.” His wife Jenn, who owns and runs the local bakery creates programs for the local elementary school and scout troops. I continued with what I hoped was a pleasant and nonaggressive smile.“Why aren’t you in a room playing banjo?”
Currently, we were in the lobby of a former school surrounded by the community on a Friday night jam session. I am manning a bake sale table for the science department at the high school. We are hoping to raise money for some new equipment. My pride and joy, loaves of sourdough, are placed front and center. Cletus is drawn right to my display because sourdough is his favorite. This is what started our conversation. I have no idea what his agenda contained beyond that. The man is flush with baked goods and I cannot imagine my bread is better than his wife’s.
“I plan on joining in for the next session. It is such a shame that you have to raise money this way.” Cletus lamented as his sharp gaze wandered through the crowd.
“Our finances were not left in good standing after the principal absconded with his embezzled stash.” I flushed as I realized what I said. The principal in question was Jenn’s father. “Sorry.” I made sure to make eye contact so Cletus knew I felt ashamed.
“Don’t bother with apologies, there are no hurt feelings here.” He met my eyes and I felt much better and returned his slight smile. “Now back to how to raise more money. I will have to think about it.”
“It would be greatly appreciated, not just with us, but the kids. I had such fantastic toys at my old school, I would love to have some here to make my lessons more hands-on.” Having Cletus on our side would make a world of difference. He was a mover and shaker in town.
“So you have been here for about five years now?” At my nod, he continued. “I am bothered that our local men folk have left you unescorted. Unless I should be disappointed in another group?” He casually asked me.
“Well, thank you for your concern. All groups appear to ignore me in the escort department.”. I grow still with this comment. I am painfully aware of my chronic singlehood. It bothers me to my core, but I can’t find someone who I connect with.
“Now, now Cara, I am on it.”. The shock and implications of this statement pulled me out of my sad reflections.
“Oh no, Cletus, you are not. I am just fine alone.”
“Speaking of that, you don’t have any people here?”
“If you mean family, I don’t have any here, I am a transplant from the north. We had that conversation when you complimented my four-wheel drive.”. Winston Brothers Auto owned by Cletus Winston is the best and only car repair shop in town. “But I have friends in town, people I can rely on when I need help. I mean I am fine romantically alone.”
I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. With his wild hair and disordered beard he had the appearance of a mad scientist and a cunning aura. All of his machinations seemed focused on me right now, which is a dangerous place to be. I heard the stories around town about his grudge-holding and mastermind tendencies. I try to fly under his radar. Which worked beautifully until today. I will have to think about what changed later because he wanders off into the large crowd.
Every Friday night more than half the town gathered to share music and community in this space. It is a wonderful way to get to know your neighbors. Due to my introverted nature and teaching job, I actively sought out my couch on Friday nights, but I wanted a stream table and an augmented reality sandbox for my classroom, so I volunteered to man the bake sale, but I am counting the minutes until I could take out my contacts and go to bed.
I watched Cletus wind through the crowd to meet up with his wife. He leaned down and gave her a greeting kiss which caused a bolt of envy to go through me. He is as besotted with Jenn and she is just as smitten by him. They exchanged a few words, her gaze settled on me. I sat up straighter as I could see the same wheels turning in her mind as her husband’s. She worked her way over to me, stopping to exchange greetings with various people. I sent a hopeful glance at the clock. I still had two hours, there was no escape in sight.
“Cletus sent me right over to check out your sourdough. I hear you make it yourself.”Jenn said as she perused my loaves.
“Yes I do, but I am sure yours is much better.”
“How old is your starter? Did you start it yourself?”
“About 10 years old and yes I started myself. How old is yours?”
“About the same. It is a meld of science and baking. I love it. I will take two. I have to scope out my competition.”. She held up two loaves with a wink.
“It is an honor that you would buy my bread. $16.”
After we exchanged money and she put away her loaves, the calculating look came back into her eyes. “So I was talking to Sam Littlejohn, the math teacher. He has been such a help to Cletus with his work on calculus. Anyway, he is a good teacher.”
“He is a wonderful teacher. The kids learn a lot from him.”. I am careful with my answers. He is around my age and single and I am starting to smell a setup.
“And I hear such wonderful things about you from my scout troops. Your baking analogies stick with them.”
“Thank you, I find relating concepts that are new to things they already know helps them to learn.”
“So are you friends with Sam? I bet you both would come up with some inventive new analogies.”
And I am right, this is leading to a setup. “Sam and I don’t get along. We disagree on matrices and rocks which caused a bit of falling out.”
“Matrices and rocks?”
“It is a math concept with rectangles of numbers. I don’t see the point in them, but Sam disagreed with me. I asked for real-life examples and he walked away in a huff. Then turned around and told me that he sees no point in teaching rocks.”
Jenn gave me an assessing glare. “Okay,” she paused with a confused face. “I do like rocks and, as you taught the scout troop last week, use them all the time in the form of salt. As for the matrices, I don’t remember learning about them.”
“Which is my point exactly!”. I am getting worked up and my voice rose giving me more attention than I wanted. “Sorry, he was a bit harsh in his rebuttal.” I continued with a much calmer and quieter tone. “So to summarize, we don’t get along on a personal level. Professionally we are fine.”
Jenn takes in my comments and processes them, and I see something click in place. I felt a drop in my stomach at the cold, calculating expression. As fast as the expression appeared it smoothed into a cheerful smile. “Thanks so much for sourdough. I am excited to taste it.” She scurried off into the crowd where I lost sight of her. Time will tell what the future holds for me and their newfound fascination with my love life.
As Jenn walks away, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of Sam. His raven hair is glinting in the overhead light as his head turns. Briefly, our eyes meet and he quickly looks away. With a resigned sigh, I sit down at the table wishing just the sight of him did not make my stomach flutter
