"Tell you what," Longarm said. "I'll be along after I get Miss Greenwald settled. Okay?"
When Denton groaned, Longarm took that as a yes. "Okay," he said with a smile.
Longarm turned and walked back to the schoolteacher from Grover City, Iowa. "Doesn't look like anyone is going to be coming to meet YOU."
"No," Veronica said, trying to hide her disappointment. She pulled a letter from her purse and unfolded it. "This letter confirming my job was written by the principal of the Washoe School, a Mr. Arnold. He said to telegraph him when I'd arrive and he'd be sure that he was on hand to greet me."
"Well," Longarm said, sensing how badly the young woman felt, "maybe Mr. Arnold had a sudden emergency and couldn't get here on time. What's the address of the Washoe School?"
"It's on South Virginia Street."
"Heck," Longarm said with a smile, as he picked up his Winchester and baggage. "That'll be easy to find! Virginia is Reno's main street. Come along with me and I'll show you the town as we walk on down to meet your new employer."
Veronica brightened. "You are such a comfort! But did you really have to beat the living bee-jeezus out of that big, fat lawman?"
Longarm shrugged. "Well," he said, "I had a feeling that he was about to hit me so I needed to wallop him first. A rough fella like that will just knock you silly if he gets in the first good punch. So I wasn't taking any chances because he looked like a brawler. Truth of the matter is, I've had enough good whippings to last three lifetimes."
"You don't strike me as being the kind of man that anyone could whip, Custis."
"Well, that's not exactly true," he confessed as he led Veronica through the crowd and off toward Virginia Street. "One thing I learned at least ten years ago is that there are plenty of bigger and stronger men. When I was young, I didn't give a damn how big my opponent was, I'd wade in and stand toe to toe."
Longarm shook his head, remembering some of the awful poundings he'd taken when he was young and foolish enough to think that it was worth taking a beating in order to administer an even worse one.
"But you know, Veronica, after a few years and some broken bones and loose teeth, I learned my lesson. Now, I hit first and I hit hard. And if that doesn't work, I'm not averse to pistol-whipping some raging fool who needs a lesson in manners."
"I don't know how you are going to get back in good graces with that man."
"Maybe I won't," Longarm said, "but he won't likely be trying to boss me around anymore."
On the way down Virginia Street, Longarm explained how Reno had once been called Lake's Crossing, and had been a favorite resting place for the emigrant wagon trains that were about to struggle over the Sierras into the promise of a verdant California. The tragic Donner Party had made the mistake of resting their livestock too long, and then had suffered the consequences of their delay. Later, the builder of the Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker, had renamed the town in honor of General Jesse Reno, a Union officer killed in 1862 by Indians. Since the discovery of the enormous bonanza on the Comstock, tons of gold and silver had been shipped down to Reno and sent both east and west on the railroad.
"This here is the Truckee River," Longarm said as they crossed the river that flowed through the town. "It spills out of Lake Tahoe, which is as pretty an alpine lake as there is in this country."
"I'd love to visit it someday-"
"I'll take you the first chance we get," Longarm promised. "I swear that the water is as clear as your skin and as blue as your eyes. You can see rocks fifty feet under the surface."
"It sounds magnificent."
"It is." Longarm stopped for a moment on the bridge. He dropped his bags, leaned his big Winchester up against the bridge railing, then gently but firmly turned Veronica around and drew her close.
Her eyebrows lifted. "What are you doing?"
"i'm going to kiss you good-bye," Longarm said thumbing back his Stetson and grinning impishly. "You see, once we are at that school and we meet your new boss, I won't be able to do that without embarrassing you."
"You've got that figured right."
"So," Longarm said, "I'm kissing you now. Right here on the bridge in the middle of this town with all these folks watching. Veronica, I want this to be a kiss that you will never forget as long as you live."
"I already know that I won't forget it," she said, dropping her own bag and valise, then melting into his arms.
Longarm had kissed a lot of girls, but Veronica Greenwald was second to none. Her lips were soft and yielding, and her lilac-scented perfume made him giddy. He felt a great stir of passion in his loins, and it took all of his strength not to do something that might have embarrassed them both.
When they finally broke their kiss, Veronica was breathing as hard as if she'd run five miles up a mountainside, and Longarm was a little out of breath himself.
"My, my!" he said. "We should do that again!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Veronica cried, pulling away and grabbing up her bags. "If we do that again, I won't be able to think when I meet Mr. Arnold, much less talk about teaching."
Longarm laughed outright. "All right," he said, grabbing up his rifle and bags as they resumed walking down Virginia Street, "let's get back to business."
They chatted some more, but Longarm could sense that Veronica was greatly distracted. He would have liked to flatter himself by thinking it was his kiss, but more likely it was the sights and sounds of bustling Reno, and also the fact that Mr. Arnold had not thought enough of her to get to the train station.
"What's the address?"
"It's one hundred and five."
"Ought to be in the next block," Longarm announced. "After we get you introduced, we'll see about getting you settled into a respectable hotel or ladies' boardinghouse, and then I'd better hunt up Marshal Denton. If we don't shoot each other on sight, I guess we'll probably reach some kind of an understanding."
"We're both going to be very busy in the coming days," Veronica warned him. "I'm going to be the best teacher in this whole town. Every bit of my energy will be used to get started on the right foot."
"I'm sure you'll be a huge success."
"I mean to be," Veronica said with obvious determination. "It will take some getting used to living out in the West, but I'm going to do everything I can to adjust. I've already fallen in love with those magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains."
"They are beautiful," Longarm said, glancing up at the line of snowcapped peaks just a few miles to the west.
"And so, we may not have a chance to see each other very much for a while. I know all your energy will be directed toward catching that train gang."
"It sure will," Longarm agreed, "but when things settle down I'll come back to the school and look you up. We can go visit Lake Tahoe on a Sunday."
"It's a date," she said, "and..."
Longarm frowned, and his eyes followed Veronica's to the boarded-up Washoe School. It was a dilapidated wood-frame building with peeling paint and a brokendown picket fence. There was a note tacked to the door, and Longarm immediately sensed that the school was closed.
"I'd better read the note," Veronica said quietly as she stepped away from Longarm.
He felt awful, and wished there was something that he could do or say. But there wasn't, and so he just waited and watched the bags while Veronica went up and read the note.
She read it for a long time and when she finally returned, there were tears running down her cheeks. "it went broke," she told Longarm when she came to his side. "The note said that the bank repossessed Washoe School and all its property in default of unpaid mortgage payments."
"Damn," Longarm muttered.
Veronica gulped. "I don't even have enough money for a train ticket back to Iowa!"
"Calm down," Longarm said. "I can advance you the fare."
"But I don't want to go back to Iowa!"