Read Online Chemistry Lessons by Rebecca H Jamison - Free Book Online Page B

students would adore him. He’d have little
need for her as a mentor.
    “Is something wrong?” he asked.
    “I just don’t understand why you want this job when you already have so
much to do.” Her words rushed out, grating against each other like tectonic
plates.
    “I want to do something that makes a difference.” He paused, looking at
her as if they were enjoying a pleasant day in the park. “Back when I graduated
from college, I was hoping to save lives. I wanted to invent a vaccine for
malaria or a cure for cancer, but all I’ve done so far is develop a successful
wrinkle cream. That’s how I made all my money—selling wrinkle reducers. Maybe
you’ve heard of my company—EternaDerm?”
    She shook her head.
    He smiled, not seeming to care that she didn’t recognize the name. “It’s
made me a lot of money, but I’m still hoping to do something more substantial.
That’s one reason why I want to be a teacher, so I can make a difference for
some of the kids here.”
    It made sense, but she still wasn’t ready to back down all the way. She
folded her arms. “Teaching high school is more than a full-time job. You won’t
have time to run your ranch.” It struck her as she said it how hypocritical she
sounded.
    “This probably won’t shock you too much, but I didn’t buy the ranch
because I had some dream to become a cowboy.” His deep voice soothed her anger.
“I bought it for the same reason I’m working here. I want to help people. I
think I can do a better job of that if I hire some help on the ranch.”
    Why did he have such good answers? Rosie looked down at her notepad. “I
could recommend a few kids who know how to run a ranch.”
    “I’m planning to hire Alan Erskine. Phil said he needed a job.”
    Rosie drew in her breath. The last thing she needed was Alan working
next door and driving drunk down the lane twice a day. “Alan’s a nice kid, but—”
    “—I figured as long as I’m hiring someone, I might as well hire someone
I can help.” As more teachers exited the auditorium, Destry started walking
down the hall.
    She followed him. “Alan has a drinking problem. He needs professional
help.”
    Destry shrugged. “I may not be a professional, but I can be someone who
cares.”
    She couldn’t argue against Alan needing someone who cared. Still, it
was a bad idea to hire him. “That may be a bigger job than you think.”
    He was still limping. She had noticed it on the day he came to clean
her chicken pen—the way he dragged one leg made her suspect he had been thrown
by that new horse of his. “Betty’s son is good with horses,” she added.
    “I was going to ask you about that. I’ll see if I can hire him as well.”
He stopped to lean against a locker. “You haven’t said how you feel about being
my mentor.”
    How she felt? She was disappointed that Tanner didn’t get the job, but
there was nothing she could do about it now. “I’m happy to be your mentor,” she
said, forcing a smile. “It sounds like you already have some teaching
experience, though.”
    Destry watched as some teachers passed them by. “I might not need help
with teaching per se, but I have no idea how to navigate the bureaucracy.”
    Rosie laughed. “I’m still working on that myself.” The truth was, at
the moment, she felt absolutely crushed by the bureaucracy—the stupid
bureaucracy that allowed Mr. Moore to pass over a qualified teacher like
Tanner.
    “And I need help setting up my classroom,” he added.
    She thought back to the last time she’d seen Ms. Klein’s classroom. Had
anyone cleaned up all those potted plants she threw at the end of last year? “Was
it . . . dirty?”
    “No. There’s just nothing there, except lab tables and a few sinks that
don’t work. Where do I get textbooks?”
     “I should warn you—most of the textbooks are the same ones we used
when I was in school, and they were old then. Did Mr.—err, Phil tell you what
you’d be teaching?”
    “Physics,