Teaching Tamlyn Read online

  Teaching Tamlyn

  Cindy Caldwell

  Copyright © 2018 by Cindy Caldwell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  If you’d like to receive my new release alerts, special promos, giveaways and early release discounts, sign up for my mailing list at:

  Cindy Caldwell New Release Alerts

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  Also by Cindy Caldwell

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  “I think they’re all on board, Coach Holbrook,” a smiling student teacher said as he double-checked a clipboard with a list of names.

  “Great,” Bradley Holbrook mumbled. He took the list from the eager young teacher and gave it a once over, counting quickly. He glanced up at the bus and quickly counted heads, ignoring the two girls who had their hands pressed against the window as they bounced in their seats.

  “Any potential trouble?” he asked the student teacher, who tilted his head and eyed the bus.

  “Trouble?” the young man asked, his expression quizzical. “It’s just a bunch of middle school students.”

  Bradley shook his head again. He’d forgotten how brand new teachers were—nothing in their teacher training could have prepared them for what he meant by trouble.

  This wasn’t Bradley’s first field trip with middle schoolers and while the new teacher, still wet behind the ears, might not know what he was talking about—yet—he crossed his fingers and hoped this would be a relatively mild-mannered bunch and the field trip would go smoothly, as planned.

  Planned by his sister, that is. He’d gotten the call late the night before that she’d had to go to the hospital, possibly in labor with her first child, but it was too early. She wasn’t due for over a month, and when she’d begged him to take over her field trip it had been impossible to refuse.

  They both taught at Riston Middle School—she, drama and English and he, physical education, history and after school sports—and he’d never in a million years thought he’d be taking on the drama club’s field trip out to River’s End Ranch to meet with people filming a TV show there. Never.

  But here he was, with a brand spanking new student teacher as an assistant.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t love his job, or the kids—he did—he was just ready for summer and his annual road trip. This year, he’d been all ready to drive up to Canada, to see Lake Louise and Banff and the Calgary Rodeo. All packed. Leaving today.

  When he’d slowly hung up the phone with his sister, he’d taken all the maps he’d studied, glanced at the red line of the route he’d carefully planned, and shoved it in the kitchen drawer of his cabin on the outskirts of Riston. Work was work, and if it had been any other teacher who’d asked him, he might have asked their principal to look a little harder for someone else. But the tone in Stephanie’s voice—worried about her camp she’d carefully planned and her students, as well as her future baby—well, he couldn’t say no. Besides, she’d already been working with these kids with another two weeks to go. She’d said they knew most of their lines already anyway, and if she couldn’t come back, it’d be a breeze. But hopefully it was just the field trip he’d have to cover.

  She’d sworn that she had everything in order. The field trip was set—she’d gone through Wade Weston, whom they both knew well from school, and Bradley could manage that—and she’d gone over the play they’d decided to put on over the course of the camp.

  He’d gotten up early to go through her lesson plans, grateful that she was very thorough, but had stopped short when he saw the stack of scripts for the performance they were supposed to pull off.

  Romeo and Juliet.

  Huh? With middle schoolers? He could only imagine their eye rolls and kissy noises. He laughed, wondering what she had been thinking. But his sister had always been idealistic and full of optimism. Which he supposed he was, too, with the teams he coached...but man, he hoped she was all right, and would be back to work tomorrow or this was going to be a long two weeks.

  “Are we ready?” JW asked as he took a nervous glance at the van.

  Bradley felt half bad that he’d spooked the younger man. If he was going to be mentoring a student teacher, this wasn’t the way to start.

  “Absolutely. It’s going to be great,” he replied, putting on his best game face and hoping he wouldn’t need it.

  JW, the student teacher, didn’t budge as Bradley moved toward the bus. His eyes wide, he looked up and down the parking lot as if he hoped there’d be some escape.

  Bradley laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Sorry, JW, I was just kidding. I’m supposed to be heading on vacation today, so my sense of humor may be a little off. It’s going to be fine. Stephanie’s been working with these kids for weeks already and they had to apply to get into the camp. They are some of her best students. At least the ones most interested in drama. We’ll be fine.”

  JW cleared his throat and adjusted the ball cap he wore. “In my memory, the drama kids were some of the toughest. I mean, at least when I was in school.”

  Bradley looked up at the bus and nodded at the driver.

  “Well, certainly some of the most entertaining,” he said slowly as he took the tall steps into the bus.

  “All right, everybody,” he said. He was grateful that a hush fell over the kids and all eyes turned toward him. Before he could continue, one of the girls stood—it would take him a bit to learn everybody’s name, although he’d seen everyone of them before at the very small middle school—and he raised his eyebrows in her direction.

  “Yes?”

  She straightened her shirt and said, “Where’s Mrs. Melbon? I mean, not that we mind having you here, Coach Holbrook. I didn’t mean to be rude. But where’s Mrs. Melbon?”

  Without saying too much and endeavoring not to worry them, he gave them the version Stephanie had asked him to—that she was okay, and they were just checking the baby out at the hospital. They seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief and he knew they were all pretty excited for their teacher’s bundle of joy to arrive, too. Maybe even as excited as he was about meeting his first niece or nephew. Middle school kids had a way of having heightened sensitivity around just about everything—he only hoped they could keep it in check for this field trip, and then he’d hopefully be on his way to Canada.

  He did one more roll call just to be on the safe side, and he and JW took the first two seats at the front of the bus, although he kept his eye on the kids behind him as they rumbled toward River’s End Ranch.

  His mind wandered for a moment as they passed the soaring mountains and the river that passed out of the lake at the ranch. He had many fond memories of summers spent at the ranch, and he and his family had been friends with the Westons, making it even more fun. Growing up in Riston was something he’d always been grateful for, and when he’d graduated from college and earned his teaching credential, he’d never considered teaching anywhere else.


  The bus turned into the big gates of the ranch and he felt a twinge of excitement at its familiarity. He glanced at his sister’s notes and directed the driver toward the new barn, where the cast and crew of the new TV show had graciously agreed to assemble and answer questions from his charges. He smiled at Stephanie’s ability to pull strings like that. She’d never been a shrinking violet, and she was a perfect drama teacher.

  The kids all stood, their noses pressed to the windows as all sorts of people walked into the barn, some in old-time costumes, some carrying big binders and some lugging cameras. As he asked them all to be seated, gesturing for JW to head down the stairs to help corral the kids into the barn, he thought this might not be half bad. Could actually be interesting.

  Bradley and JW had all the kids moving slowly toward the door, and as he peered inside, he saw folding chairs set up close to the stage. Not much further to go and he could just sit and listen.

  Two of the girls in the drama class had their heads together, giggling as some of the male cast members came in. The boys were a little more cool with it, hanging back with their hands in their pockets. And yet another small group of girls kept glancing at the boys in the back, tittering every time one of the boys looked in their direction. Bradley shook his head.

  “Ahh, middle school,” he mumbled as he kept an eye on his charges.

  “What?” JW asked as he nervously kept his eye on the kids.

  “Hopefully, nothing. If we’re lucky, everything will be just fine,” Bradley said, and hoped he was right.

  Chapter 2

  Tamlyn winced for a moment as she pulled on her boot. Even though it was summer in Idaho, her broken ankle sometimes still gave her trouble and boots were more comfortable. More support for her ankle. She didn't really care how she looked as she worked most the time, hunkered down in her studio creating and modifying costumes for the TV show. Didn't really matter what she herself looked like.

  She finished her coffee and grabbed her car keys, peeking out the window before she reached for her umbrella. She hadn't been in Idaho for a full year and was just now getting used to the surprise afternoon thunderstorms that sometimes rattled by. Better to be safe than sorry.

  As she drove toward the ranch from her apartment in Riston, she glanced at her phone on the passenger seat that had begun to buzz. The display read "Aunt Corinne" and she really hadn't talked to her aunt much since she'd gotten married. The lovely, small ceremony had been over a month ago, and Corinne now shared a cabin on the ranch with her husband, Allen.

  Tamlyn knew it wasn’t smart to talk on the phone while she was driving. But she didn’t get to talk to her aunt much these days, and she missed her. She looked around quickly and reached for the phone, answering it before her aunt hung up.

  "Hi, Aunt Corinne," Tamlyn said as she nestled the phone on her shoulder and kept her eyes on the road. It was a pretty straight shot from Riston to the ranch, and she slowed a bit to make sure. She knew she shouldn't be talking on the phone but she wanted to hear all about Corinne's recent trip with Allen to New Orleans. She and Corinne had made that trip one summer long ago, and she wanted to hear what it was like for her aunt the second time.

  "Hello, sweet niece. How have you been?" her aunt asked, which was the last thing Tamlyn wanted to talk about.

  "I'm fine," Tamlyn answered as she looked down at her phone, squinting to see how to put it on speakerphone. At least that would be a little better than holding it up with her shoulder. "How was your trip?"

  "It was fabulous. Just wonderful. Allen and I went to all the places you and I did. We saw Bourbon Street and several other things."

  Tamlyn fumbled her phone and it fell out of her hands, dropping between the seats onto the floor. She tried to reach it as her aunt kept talking. She could hear her voice but couldn't understand a thing she was saying.

  "Aunt Corinne, I dropped my phone. I can't reach it. I'll have to call you back," Tamlyn said as loud as she could without shouting.

  Her aunt continued for a while, even though Tamlyn kept saying she couldn’t reach her phone. Her hands on the steering wheel, Tamlyn shook her head at the absurdity of it all. Corinne would eventually realize that there was no one responding and hang up, but before that happened, Tamlyn heard her aunt say “that man” and “trial” and “sentencing”.

  Her head swam at the words and she frowned. She must be talking about the trial and sentencing of the man who’d run into Tamlyn and caused the car accident that had broken her ankle, putting her out of commission for weeks. She’d avoided looking at the papers recently, and hadn’t known that any type of conclusion was imminent.

  She pulled the car over to the side of the road as she became even more light-headed. One hand to her forehead, she reached under her car seat and found her phone.

  Her breath came quick and she rubbed the sweat from her palm on her jeans before bringing the phone to her ear.

  “Aunt Corinne?” she asked quietly, her heart pounding in her chest.

  “Sweetheart, are you all right? You sound funny.”

  Tamlyn took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, relieved that things seemed to be returning to normal. She’d stopped sweating and could breath better as her heart slowed.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I dropped the phone, then pulled over to the side of the road to find it. No worries.”

  There was no response from her aunt on the other end of the line. Corinne eventually cleared her throat.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “You’re feeling all right? I didn’t mean to bring up anything uncomfortable.”

  Tamlyn shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. She’d been fine since the accident aside from the broken ankle, so she was pretty positive that whatever had made her feel faint had nothing to do with what her aunt had been talking about.

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’m just heading in to work and really shouldn’t be talking on the phone anyway. But I’m so anxious to hear about your trip.”

  Corinne hesitated for a moment before responding.

  “I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but this doesn’t seem like a good time. How about we meet for lunch. Allen and I can bring pictures, if you think you can suffer through that.”

  Tamlyn smiled at the memory of all the pictures she had of from various road trips all over the country with her aunt, and honestly couldn’t wait to see more.

  “I’d love that. What time and where?”

  “How about at the cafe here at the ranch? Just let us know what time you’re able to take a break and we’ll meet you there. They don’t close until two.”

  Tamlyn spun her ankle around in a circle as she hung up the phone. It did get a little sore sometimes, but she had learned how to head it off at the pass for the most part.

  As she pulled into the parking space closest to her wardrobe studio, she looked down the boardwalk, then at her watch. Maybe there was just enough time to grab a cup of coffee from the saloon before she headed in to work. Things had been really busy for the past few weeks since Adiel had finished casting—Tamlyn had worked personally with Rachel on her wardrobe and they had finished up a few days ago—so now things were a little slower since the pilot had been filmed.

  She stepped out of the car and breathed in sharply at the twinge in her ankle as she stepped down on the heel of her blue cowboy boots. Maybe the boots weren’t able to work their magic today, helping her ankle stay solid.

  She steadied herself against the side of the car and reached in to grab her purse.

  As she locked the car, she paused for a moment, glancing down the boardwalk with longing toward the saloon—and the fantastic coffee inside it—and back toward the door of her studio.

  With a frown, she wiggled her ankle once more, gave up her thought of coffee and headed toward work, gingerly stepping down the boardwalk as she steadied herself on the wall.

  What was happening? Things had been going well for months, and now all of a sudden it seemed like she was going backward.


  It didn’t make any sense to her. She’d been fine with the guy who caused the accident—sure, he’d been really drunk, wrecked her car and his and somebody could have died. But it was what it was, and she hadn’t spent much time dwelling on it. Why would it be an issue now? Why would she have felt faint at the mention of his trial and sentencing? She really didn’t care that much about it. It was his problem, really, and she’d healed up just fine.

  Except maybe she hadn’t, she realized as she plopped into her chair behind the commercial sewing machine she used for most of the costumes.

  Maybe the nightmares she’d been having actually meant something. Maybe her ankle hurting again was supposed to make her think.

  She shook her head and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She really wasn’t interested in thinking—not about that, anyway. It was fine. Everything was fine. And she’d just meet her aunt and new uncle, look at pictures of New Orleans, have a nice dinner and get on with things. No use getting upset about something she couldn’t change, anyway.

  “Before you get too comfortable, it appears you’ve forgotten about the middle school students’ visit,” her assistant, Felicia, said with pins in her mouth as she tugged at the sleeve of a dress for one of the extras.

  Tamlyn slapped her hand on her forehead and looked at her watch.

  “Darn it. I forgot that was today. I was supposed to—”

  Felicia tossed her a garment bag and a notebook.

  “Way ahead of you. Three of the best costumes in the bag, notes in the book. Hustle, and you’ll make it. I’ll hold down the fort.”

  Tamlyn glanced at her with gratitude as she pushed herself up from the table, picked up the notebook and threw the garment bag over her shoulder. She wiggled her foot a bit and thanked Felicia as she headed out the door toward the barn.