Chapter 28

A Bit of Disappointment

Jack jumped up,put on his hat and prepared to run back to town.

"Jack would it be ok if I came along to see if I could help?" He nodded and said that they needed to basically ran to to town and decided to go to the infirmary first. Jack could visit the scene of the crime later on,right now they had to check on Ned. Both walked in and were met by Nurse Faith Carter, and Jack had asked her what had happened.

"Whoever robbed the merchantile,also hit Ned Yost on the back of the head."Faith explained.

"Is he going to be ok?" asked Elizabeth. Faith nodded and told her

"Carson sewed up the cut on his head,and he'll have quite a headache for a few days,but in about a week or two,he'll be just fine."

"That's so good to he awake? I'm going to need to talk to him?" Jack asked her as they sat down in the told him that he should be and that he could go in. Jack walked in the room wher Carson was talking to Ned quietly.

"Ned,are you okay? Can you tell me what happened,if you remember?"

"Well Sheriff,I actually do remember which is strange. It was probably about 45 minutes ago. I was all alone in the store actually, Abigail had just been in to get some milk and eggs. Now I don't know how the robber got in,because I was at the counter checking the books for this weeks. All of you know that the counter faces the door so I don't know how I would have missed them. All of a sudden,I felt a whack on the back of my head,and the next thing I knew Florence was right there with me with an ice pack trying to get me to wake told me that Mayor Avery had found him and yelled to her on the street to come and help,and he went to go get Lee. I think that I was told that he was the one that went to find you,Sheriff. Ned did an excellent job of recalling exactly what had happened

"Thanks Ned,I'll write up a report tomorrow morning. I'll go over to the merchantile now. Do you know what they took? Ned shook his head,unsure of what or how much they took.

"They took what he took after I was out cold.I can find out more when I do the inventory tomorrow." he said wincing in pain a little

"I don't think so Ned,I want you to take at least tomorrow off." Carson told him and Faith agreed.

"Alright,Jack stated,I'm going to your store Ned to see what I can find. Lee is already over there." Both he and Elizabeth started to walk over towards the merchantile.

"Elizabeth,I think maybe you should probably stay out here.I know you are just concerned but I have to do my job too. There are parts of the job that I can't always discuss with you or anyone for that matter." Jack tried to explain to her without sounding harsh.

"I understand,I'll just talk to you later then." Elizabeth said as she turned to go back to her house.

"Hey...he spoke softly to her,taking her by the hand,I'm sorry." Elizabeth nodded and turned back towards the direction of home. Jack could tell by the look on her face that she was hurt. To be honest, he wanted her there as much as she wanted to stay and help. However;he still had to learn to keep his job and what he loved to do in his own time,seperate. He went into the merchantile wishing that he wasn't alone.

Back at the teacherage,Elizabeth was feeling rather alone. She wasn't quite sure why,she she that Jack was just doing his job and she was just trying to help. Then she finally realized why she felt like this. She had feelings for Jack,and she didn't like being apart from him. Although,she quickly realized that he just saw her as a friend,so she just tried to brush it off. She fixed her dinner,which she felt like having a salad tonight. She took her salad,bottle of water and moved to the couch. She flipped through the channels and finally stopped at an all time favorite of her, A December Bride. This movie had her favorite actor in it,Daniel Lissing. She loved him. She was sitting watching her movie,when her phone went off notifying her of a text. It was from Jack, So sorry about before,it's not the I didn't want you to stay,I just want to keep work apart from what I enjoy doing during my free time.

She texted back, It's ok Jack,I really do understand.I was just trying to help Ned.

They talked for awhile and he assured her that he knew that she had good intentions. By the time,they were done talking,she was feeling a lot better about whatever was going on in the relationship that they had. She still hadn't brought up the subject of going home for Thanksgiving to Jack yet. Come to think of it,she hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet. That will be next week,she would have to see if she could catch a ride to the train station with someone.

A couple of more days of school and then she could go home. She would sure miss felt herself wonder if he would miss her too. She guessed that she would find out tomorrow when she decided to tell him.