Page 10 (1/2)

"About that" I turned to face her "Are you still okay withless" I glanced down atto paraphrase it, "intense?"

Rose nodded "More than okay with it You want to hang withwith the hem of my skirt "I just don’tI don’t exactly have"

"Why don’t you stop by Lily’s roo s until we can get into town to get you some new clothes You two have to be pretty close in size"

"Really?" I said "You don’t think she’d irl not er knocking on her door and asking to borrow some clothes? Oh yeah, because the Walkers were the da was in the ater out at Willow Springs

"Okay," I said with a wave "I’ll see you in theI mean, I’ll see you at the crack of dawn" I smiled at Rose as I left the laundry room behind

"To Brand new chance The first day of whatever life you want to have for yourself" Rose called after me, "Wake up wisely"

The first floor was quiet as I headed for the stairs No sounds other than the ticking of the old grandfather clock in the foyer and the chorus of crickets cohts were turned off, along within the living roomRose had toldto reht is at its darkest, there’s always a pro with just the nicest family in existence; they were probably descendants of Aristotle

I still hadn’t s kept hi surprise I hadn’t bu into ashingup the stairs, I took one more look around He wasn’t here

Maybe he didn’t live here anymore He was nineteen after all Maybe he lived some place else and only worked there Maybe he stayed back in the bunkhouse with the rest of the ranch hands

When I realized I was spending way too ht, I gave myself a mental slap and bolted down the hall toward Lily’s room

The door was halfway open, but I still felt the need to knock

"Entrez-vous," was the sing-song reply

"Hey, Lily," I greeted, stepping inside her roo in except the walls were a reen instead of tan

"Ohhey, Rowen," she said, spinning in her desk chair "I thought you wereyou? I can come back later" I hitched my thumb at the door and stepped toward it She had a couple books spread over the desk and a pencil behind her ear

"No, an interruption was exactly what I needed If I have to conjugate one o voulez-vous crazy"

"French verbs?" I wrinkledthat reseoes to school year round," she said, not sounding the least bit devastated

"Why?" I’d known the summer school kids--I’d been one of them--and Lily didn’t fit the profile

"Mom home schools us, so other than Sundays, a week in the winter, and a week in the summer, the Walker kids are in ‘class’ every day Except for Jesse He graduated last suirlish way That, combined with the side braids and er

"What are you going to do after you graduate?" I asked, obviously not understanding the way it worked out there Everything seemed a little backward compared to where I cao to one of the state schools and work on getting"Specializing in large anih deoals and didn’t look the least bit concerned she wouldn’t achieve thes alone could keep reith so many cattle and horses I feel like I’ a vet"

"I bet you are"

Her srew "Hoas your day? Do you never want to see another bottle of laundry detergent for the rest of your life?"

"For the rest of this life and my next," I said "That’s actually kind of the reason I wanted to talk with you"

Lily sat up in her seat "Do you want ive you a hand toet my other chores--"

I liftedif I could borrow some clothes? I can’t spend another day in that place"

Lily hopped out of her chair "I totally don’t blame you, and of course you can borrow some clothes What do you need?" She slid her closet door open and swept her arh its contents