SEVENTEEN

A few days later James drove over in his truck with Biz and Lucy and an invitation to dinner. Mama answered the door and accepted on my behalf before even asking me. It was just as well; I was restless, and the image of poor little Lucy’s crying face had stayed in my head ever since they’d dropped me off the other day. Besides, Mama’d already told me she was making clam chowder for us. I hate clam chowder.

The girls scrunched up next to me on the ride home. I was pretty sure that wasn’t legal either, since we had to wrap one seat belt around the three of us, but I didn’t ask. I kind of liked the way they adored me already.

“We have to meet you to the moms first,” Lucy said.

“Introduce her,” Biz corrected. “We have to introduce her.”

“Okay, but then we’re going to take you—”

Biz held her palm over Lucy’s mouth. “Quiet! It’s a surprise!”

“Oh good, I like surprises,” I said.

“Girls, you’re going to make Maggie want to run home as soon as we get there,” James said. “They haven’t stopped talking about you for days.”

“I’m sure that thrilled Kendra and Sonnet.”

“Don’t pay attention to them,” he said. “They’re both a little on the self-centered side.”

“Yeah,” Biz said with authority.

“Yeah,” Lucy mimicked.

Sue and Kori were stocking shelves in the store when we got there. Sue shook my hand so hard I thought the bones might break. “Happy to finally meet you, hon,” she said before turning back to her work.

Kori hugged me gently. “You look so much like your dad,” she said. “And that’s a fine thing.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She waved her hands in the air and laughed. “Oh, no, that won’t do. I know you’re from the South, but you may not call me ma’am. That’s my rule, okay? You’ll make me feel old before my time.”

“Yes, ma’am, of course. I mean, um, yes, Mrs. Parker, I mean—” My face must have been twelve shades of scarlet because Biz and Lucy couldn’t stop giggling.

“Kori,” she said. “Just plain, simple Kori.”

The two girls each took a hand and pulled me toward the back of the store. “Come on, come on!”

Kori smiled again and waved good-bye. “Good luck, Maggs.” My heart rose in my chest. She already had a nickname for me.

We went outside to where we’d eaten our ice cream a few days before, but we didn’t stop until the girls had dragged me across the driveway, past the little graveyard, and all the way inside the old barn. James had a pitchfork in his hands. He thrust the tines into a giant pile of hay in the corner, then tossed dried grass over the side of a rough-built stall. Inside, a black and white pony buried its head in the hay and stamped black hooves at the flies. In the middle of its hindquarters, a black marking spread in half circles on either side of the tail, then trailed down to a point, making a near perfect heart. Biz and Lucy watched my face carefully.

“Is this your pony?” I asked.

They nodded.

“It’s pretty. What’s its name?”

“She’s a mare. Her name is Sassy Pants,” Biz said.

“I can see why you’d name her that.”

“We didn’t name her,” Lucy said. “She came that way, but we didn’t change it.”

“I see.”

Biz nudged past Lucy to get closer to me. “Do you like ponies?”

“I mean, I guess,” I said. “I’ve never really been around them too much, but they’re fine.”

“If you got one, would you want to keep it?”

There was this group of horse-crazy girls I’d known since elementary school who cantered in the halls between classes and made whinnying noises when they met up with each other. They’d always been nice to me, even though I didn’t ride, and invited me to their birthday parties. I didn’t mind their behavior that much until they were still doing it in sixth grade and Irene made fun of them. When Irene picked on someone, she expected me to at least support her privately, but that time I couldn’t. Not when those girls had accepted me in their circle even though I wasn’t really one of them. It caused a big fight, but in the end, I hadn’t given in and Irene lost interest in being mad.

“I wouldn’t really know what to do with it,” I said.

They turned to James at the same time. “See?” Lucy said.

“She doesn’t want her anyway,” Biz said. “I told you.”

“I don’t want who?”

James leaned his arms over the top board of the stall and stuck a piece of hay in his mouth. “They’ve been a mess ever since Deacon told them you were coming to live here because they thought you’d want the pony.”

“Why would I want their pony?”

Sassy Pants turned around with a wad of hay sticking out both sides of her mouth. She took one look at me and laid her ears flat back against her neck. No one had to tell me what that meant. She felt as warm and fuzzy about me as Sonnet and Kendra did.

“Because she isn’t really ours,” said Biz.

Lucy shook her head from side to side, her little pink mouth turned down.

“Whose is she?”

Her voice was so tiny I thought I didn’t hear her right. “Yours.”

“Mine? How could she be mine?”

James pulled the hay from his mouth. “Johnny Austin bought her for you. He told the girls they could keep her here until you came back. They’ve been scared you were going to take her away.”

“Why did he buy me a pony?”

“I guess because you’re his daughter,” James said.

“But I wasn’t even here.”

He shrugged. “Parents do weird things.”

The whole thing unnerved me. The fact that my daddy bought a pony for me when I’d only seen him once since I was four years old was weird enough. But then, to give it to two little girls who were afraid she’d be snatched away someday—what was he thinking? Even if I had wanted her, I didn’t know where we’d be after the year was up. What would happen to a pony if we moved away?

Sassy Pants stamped her hoof to dislodge another fly. She laid her ears back when she saw me looking, then shoved her face into the pile of hay. Biz and Lucy both looked like a flood of tears was about to burst from their eyes.

“I think you probably misunderstood,” I said quietly. “I think she’s supposed to be yours, forever.”