The next day, Colleen woke up early for her first day of work. She got ready and went downstairs. Nathan was already awake drinking coffee.
"Morning." Colleen said to Nathan.
"Morning" Nathan said.
Colleen poured herself some coffee.
"Thank you for taking Allie to school." Colleen said.
"It's no problem." Nathan said.
"And Allie knows to come straight to your office after school?" Colleen asked.
"I will drill it into her head" Nathan said with a smirk.
"Good." Colleen said. She took a sip of her coffee.
"Are you excited to see Elizabeth?" Colleen asked with a smirk.
Nathan blushed.
"I'm excited for Allie to meet her." Nathan said
"Now I know why you jumped at the chance to walk Allie to school." Colleen teased.
"Colleen" Nathan grumbled.
Colleen laughed. As she finished her coffee, she and Nathan talked about their days ahead. After eating breakfast, Colleen went upstairs to wake Allie up.
Colleen sat on Allie's bed. She stroked Allie's hair.
"Time to get up my little bunny." Colleen said.
Allie smiled and opened her eyes.
"Okay." Allie said groggily.
"Uncle Nathan is going to walk you to school. And then after school, you will go straight to Uncle Nathan's office. Understand?" Colleen asked.
Allie nodded her head.
"Now, I want you to listen to your teacher and be polite. But also try to make friends. I know for the last couple of years, we moved around a lot. But this time will be different. Okay?" Colleen said.
"Okay." Allie said with a smile.
Colleen kissed Allie's forehead.
"I love you." Colleen said.
"I love you too" Allie said back.
The two hugged and Colleen went back downstairs. Colleen said her goodbye to Nathan and walked toward town.
When Colleen reached the saloon, she pulled on the handles. The door was open. She went inside. Lucas was at a table with papers spread out. Lucas looked up from the table.
"Ms. Grant." Lucas said.
"Hello." Colleen said.
"Welcome. How are you settling in Hope Valley?" Lucas asked.
"Good. We are almost unpacked." Colleen said.
"Good." Lucas said.
"Where should I start?" Colleen asked.
"I was hoping you could change the sheets and clean the rooms and bathrooms." Lucas said.
"I can do that." Colleen said.
"Great. The cleaning supplies are on the shelf in the kitchen. Take as many breaks as you need and take your lunch whenever you get hungry" Lucas said. Colleen thanked him. She put her bag in the closet and went into the kitchen. She found the cleaning supplies where Lucas had said they would be. She walked upstairs with them and went into the first room. Before starting, she pulled out a bandana and put her hair up.
Colleen pulled the sheets from the bed and put clean sheets on them. Next, she dusted the whole room. After dusting, she looked in the bathroom. It was dirty but needed a once over. She did the same thing to two more rooms.
Colleen decided to take her lunch. She went downstairs to grab her bag. Lucas was still sitting at the table.
"Taking a break?" Lucas asked.
"Lunch." Colleen said.
Lucas looked at his watch.
"I can't believe I've been working on this for that long!" Lucas exclaimed.
"The day goes by quick when you are immersed in work." Colleen said as she sat down at the table next to Lucas.
"I would like to open for lunch. I'm trying to figure out how much food I would need and how much it would cost" Lucas said.
Colleen took the other half her sandwiches and showed Lucas.
"You won't be able to do anything on an empty stomach" Colleen said.
"Oh no. I'm fine." Lucas said.
"I'm a mother. I know best." Colleen said.
Knowing that he wasn't going to win this fight, he took the sandwich. He bit into it.
"Peanut butter and jelly?!" Lucas exclaimed.
Colleen smiled.
"I haven't had one of these in a very long time." Lucas said.
"My daughter loves them." Colleen said.
"How old is your daughter?" Lucas asked.
"Ten." Colleen answered.
"Such a great age." Lucas said.
"It is. I wouldn't mind being ten again. Playing in the woods for hours." Colleen said.
"When I was ten, my parents sent me to a cousin's farm. It was the best summer of my life." Lucas said.
"Being a kid was always fun." Colleen said.
"It was." Lucas said.
Lucas finished up his sandwich and gathered his paperwork.
"I'm going to go work in my office if you need anything." Lucas said.
Colleen nodded.
After finishing lunch, she went back to finishing up the other rooms. After she finished the rooms, she saw that she had an hour left until her shift was over. She saw Lucas's door slightly open. She gently knocked on the door.
"Come in" Lucas said.
"Mr. Bouchard, I was just wondering if you wanted to me to do a quick dust of your office." Colleen asked.
"Please, call me Lucas. And yes, a quick dusting would be nice. Do you need me to move?" Lucas asked.
"No. You can stay right where you are" Colleen said.
Lucas nodded and Colleen started dusted to his office. As Colleen dusted the office, she saw that he had pictures of different countries and souvenirs from those countries. Colleen started dusting the bookshelf. As she dusted the bookshelf, she saw the books. Some she recognized and others she did not. When she reached the book, Dangerous Liaisons, Colleen scoffed.
"What?" Lucas asked.
"Nothing." Colleen said.
"You just scoffed." Lucas said.
"I did not." Colleen said.
"I know a scoff when I hear one" Lucas said with a small smirk across his face.
"It was at a book." Colleen said.
Lucas got up and went over to the book shelf.
"Which one?" Lucas said.
"Dangerous liaisons." Colleen said.
"Really? Why don't you like it?" Lucas asked.
"Because two men try to corrupt a young woman out of pure desire." Colleen said.
"But that's the whole point of the book, isn't it? When you desire something, you will stop at nothing to get at it." Lucas said.
"Yes, in the book, that is the driving force but in real life, stopping at nothing to get what you want will hurt people you love." Colleen said.
"Are you speaking from experience?" Lucas asked.
Colleen thought about Dylan. She did not want to discuss Dylan with Lucas.
Sensing that Colleen being uncomfortable with the topic, backed away.
"Why don't you head out for the day? You've earned it" Lucas said.
Colleen smiled.
"Great. I will see you tomorrow." Colleen said.
"I will see you tomorrow Ms. Grant." Lucas said.
"Colleen" Colleen said.
Lucas smiled and went back to work. Colleen shut the door gently. She went downstairs and grabbed her things and headed out the door.
Colleen was only a few paces out the door when she saw Nathan and Elizabeth talking to Allie who was holding a pole and fish.
"What happened?" Colleen asked.
"Allie here decided to skip school and go fishing." Nathan said.
"Allie!" Colleen said angrily.
"I hope to see you bright and early tomorrow, Allie" Elizabeth said
"You will Mrs. Thornton." Colleen said.
Elizabeth left the three of them alone.
"How did this happen?" Colleen asked.
"She said that she wanted to go in by herself. I trusted that she would go in. But she didn't" Nathan said.
"Let's go home. Allie you are to write a long letter to Mrs. Thornton apologizing for skipping school. Then we will have dinner and you will go straight to bed. No leisure time." Colleen said.
Allie put her head down. Nathan and Colleen walked in front of Allie on the way back home.
"Why didn't you go in with her?" Colleen asked.
"She made a compelling argument." Nathan said.
"She's ten. What was so compelling?" Colleen asked.
"She said that she didn't want the other kids to see her as a baby who still needed her uncle to walk her into school." Nathan said.
"And you fell for that rouse?" Colleen asked.
Nathan was silent.
"She is quite persuasive" Nathan said.
Colleen gave an angry sigh.