by Liz Adair
Wesley Gallant walked out onto the stage and held up his hands. When the audience quieted, he took the microphone. “As a member of the school board, I have an announcement to make. Grange Timberlain is leaving North Cascade School District.”
Mandy’s jaw dropped, and a babble of consternation swept around the auditorium. Wesley held up his hands again. “But— ” he waited for the talking to cease “— but he’s not leaving Limestone. He is to be the first director of the Sister Ethelberta Educational Foundation, which has been set up to foster academics through music.”
“Who’s Sister Ethelberta?” Mrs. Wheeler asked, leaning close to Mandy.
“She’s a nun. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“The school board is in hopes that Dr. Steenburg will stay on with us and work in tandem with Grange to make sure North Cascade stays on the cutting edge of this process.”
Mandy felt her cheeks grow warm as the crowd roared its approval. Grange caught her eye and winked.
“And now,” Wesley continued. “Let’s celebrate this occasion with music. Ladies and gentlemen, the Dusty Millers!”
Grange set the pace with the banjo, picking furiously on a swinging, uptempo song that set Clara Wheeler’s toe tapping. “I didn’t know he played the banjo,” she said to Mandy.
Mandy’s “I didn’t either” made her mother raise her eyebrows.
Leesie slipped into a chair by her mother and leaned over to Mandy. “Have you seen Willow?” When Mandy shook her head, Leesie pointed to where her friend stood against the wall, smiling, clapping in rhythm, and wearing a red shirt.
The piece ended with a flourish, and Grange stepped to the microphone. “Here’s a song I wrote a week or so ago, and I’d like to dedicate it to a particular lady. She knows who she is.” He played eight bars of introduction to get the rest of the band on board and then began to sing in a full baritone, looking directly at Mandy.
I met a little gal on the way to school.
Her hair was curly and her eyes was brown.
She made me feel like a clumsy fool.
You know I ain’t never been to town.
But, I love her like a mule a-kickin’.
Love her more than banjo pickin’.
More than Granny’s Sunday chicken,
You know I love that Sweetiebug.
I know she’d never look at me,
Though she flirts with all the other guys.
I’m just a Tarheel, don’t you see?
But when I see her, my heart cries:
I love her like a mule a-kickin’.
Love her more than banjo pickin’.
More than Granny’s Sunday chicken,
You know I love that Sweetiebug.
Sweetiebug is the one for me,
Though she’s far above me.
Sweetiebug is the one I see.
I just want her to love me.
I love her like a mule a-kickin’.
Love her more than banjo pickin’.
More than Granny’s Sunday chicken,
You know I love that Sweetiebug.
When the last chord died away, the room erupted in applause. Strangers around Mandy smiled at her and reached out to shake her hand and pat her on the shoulder.
“I don’t get it,” Mrs. Wheeler said. “Who’s this Sweetiebug?”
“She’s somebody who came to Limestone with an attitude,” Mandy said. “But she found a new way of looking at things.”
Leesie leaned over and asked, “Would that be a new paradigm?”
“That would be a Tarheel paradigm.” As Mandy stood to applaud, she made a mental note to tell Grange that his song was infinitely better than flowers.
Books by Liz Adair
If you enjoyed Liz Adair’s writing and the way she puts you right in the setting, you might enjoy these books set in the red-rock canyons of Southern Utah:
Trouble at the Red Pueblo, a Spider Latham Mystery
Interlude at Cottonwood Springs, a historical romance, set in the Great Depression
The McCarran Collection, a romantic suspense
A Kane County Christmas, a Spider Latham Christmas book.
Also set in the Pacific Northwest
The Mist of Quarry Harbor, a romantic suspense
Other books by Liz Adair
The Lodger, a Spider Latham Mystery
After Goliath, a Spider Latham Mystery
Snakewater Affair, a Spider Latham Mystery
Lucy Shook’s Letters from Afghanistan
Hidden Spring, a novella in the Timeless Romance, Old West Collection
An Invitation to Post a Review
If you enjoyed reading Cold River I’d invite you to post a review on Amazon.
Don’t worry if you haven’t ever written a review before. Comments from ‘just plain readers’ ring true, and they’re a great help to people looking for a good read.
To get started, search for Cold River on Amazon.com and go to its page. Just under the title are the yellow stars and something like xx customer reviews.
Click on the number of reviews, and at the top of the review section, to the right of the bar graph showing the number of stars, is a button that says Write a Customer Review.
Click on that button and you’re on your way. At the end, you’ll need to hit the Publish button, and you’ll need to put in your Amazon password. It’s the one you use when you order books from Amazon. If you don’t have one, you can register for one with no obligation.
Thanks for doing this!
Liz Adair
About the author
A native of New Mexico and mother of seven, Liz Adair bloomed late as a writer. Her first Spider Latham mystery was published about the time she became an empty nester.
Though she lived in green, moist, northwest Washington State for forty years, many of her books are set in the southwest. To date she has published eight novels and two novellas. She’s a Whitney Award winner and finalist for the both the Willa Award and the Glyph Award.
Liz returned to high plateau country in 2012 when she and her husband, Derrill, moved to Kanab, Utah.
Liz had gone to high school in Kanab and neighboring Fredonia, Arizona, so moving there was like coming home. It was natural for her next book to be another Spider Latham mystery, even though ol’ Spider hadn’t inhabited one of her books for ten years. Writing about him again felt like coming home, too, and a Christmas story at the Latham’s was like Christmas with an old friend.
Liz followed up the two Spider Latham books set in Kanab with Interlude at Cottonwood Springs. The Cottonwood Springs of this title is located in fictional Willow Canyon north of Kanab. Also set in Kanab is the romantic suspense, The McCarran Collection.
Look for another Spider Latham mystery coming out the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016. You can check out Liz’s blog at www.sezlizadair.blogspot.com and be sure to sign up for her newsletter to find out about new releases.
About the cover designer
Marlene Barnes is a graphic artist living in Kanab, Utah. She specializes in digitally altered images, not in the typical sense which would be for purposes of correction, but as an intentional transformation of the entire image. The camera is only the first step in this process. Marlene doesn’t hesitate to use composites, special filters, textured papers and any other techniques to achieve visually interesting and unique pieces that allow her to express her vision. Marlene’s web site is http://www.myalteredvisions.com
www.lizadairfreebooks.com
Table of Contents
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Titlepage
Copyright page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
&nb
sp; Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Books by Liz Adair
An Invitation to Post a Review
About the author
About the cover designer
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