The Ranch She Left Behind. Kathleen O'Brien
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hand.
He deposited the earring in her palm with a flourish. âThere you go!â
It felt cold, from lying on the ground. She closed her fingers, as if to chafe warmth back into it. She looked up at him, so grateful she forgot to play cool.
âThank you. Thank you so much....â
âAlec.â The boy grinned. âAlec Garwood, rancher, wrangler and part-time treasure hunter.â
She grinned back. She couldnât help it. She was so happy that she hadnât lost the only thing her mother had given her directly, with her own hands. And his smile was that kind of smile. The kind you could catch, like a cold.
âIâm Ellen Thorpe. We moved in today. Weâre renting the yellow cottage over there.â
âNo kidding!â Alec glanced at the cottage. âThatâs a cool place. So youâve just moved here? Where from?â
âWe havenât exactly moved. Weâre taking a year off while my dad works on a resort heâs building.â She didnât feel the need to mention the shoplifting, the bad grades, the arguments with her dad. âItâs more like a long vacation. But I still live in Chicago.â
He frowned, as if he might quarrel with that way of seeing things, but then he shrugged. âWhatever. Anyhow, those are pierced earrings. No wonder you lost them. Why donât you get your ears pierced, so they wonât fall off?â
She straightened. âMaybe I donât want to get my ears pierced.â
He looked skeptical about that, too. âAll girls want their ears pierced,â he said reasonably. âOh. I see. Youâre scared to?â
âOf course not. Itâs just that my dad wonât let me.â
Alec looked confused. âSo?â
She stared at him. âWhat do you mean, so?â
âI mean...so what? How can he stop you?â Alec grinned. âMy theory is Iâd rather ask forgiveness than permission.â
She folded her arms over her chest. âYou didnât make that line up. Thatâs famous.â
âI didnât say I made it up. I said thatâs what I do. Grown-ups donât ever want you to do anything fun. Theyâre afraid youâll get hurt.â He sighed. âBut you gotta do what you gotta do, you know? If you get in trouble for it, well, whatever. They canât eat you, right?â
âUm.â She wasnât sure what the correct answer was to that. Even Stephanie wasnât this honest about being bad. Stephanie generally pretended sheâd misunderstood the rules, or someone else made her do it. For a fraction of a second, Ellen could see that Alecâs honest civil disobedience had a certain nobility to it. âI guess not.â
He pulled out another candy. âWell, anyhow, maybe youâre really just scared. Thatâs okay. Everybodyâs scared of something. But if you wanted me to, I could pierce them for you sometime.â
Again, she was speechless. Again, even Stephanie...
It suddenly struck Ellen as kind of ironic that her dad had brought her here to get her away from Stephanieâs âbad influence,â and the first person she met was this troublemaker who casually assumed all rules were made to be broken.
âIââ She squeezed the earrings. This was ridiculous. She wasnât used to being tongue-tied. She always had a comeback. That was why Stephanie had invited her into the group. Stephanie admired people who were chill and sarcastic. âIââ
But then, luckily, she spotted her dad walking toward them across the playground.
âThatâs my father,â she said. âI gotta go.â
She moved quickly, hoping sheâd meet her dad halfway. She didnât want him to see Alec. He would be impossible about it. Heâd probably say a hundred times, âIsnât it great that youâve made a friend already?â
He wouldnât see that Alecâs being in fourth grade made it impossible for them to be friends.
But after a few yards, she realized it sort of stunk to ditch Alec that way, after heâd been so nice about helping.
She turned. âThanks agââ
Alec had already disappeared. She glanced up into the tree, but not a single branch was swaying.
He was just plain gone. She wondered how he did it. He might be only ten, but he was...interesting. Kind of cool. Though not in any way her Chicago friends would understand.
She repeated his name in her head, so sheâd remember it. Alec Garwood. Cowboy, wrangler, treasure hunter...and, apparently, ninja.
* * *
BY TEN OâCLOCK, Penny had done everything she couldâat least until the furniture arrived in the morning. It had taken her a couple of hours to shoo away the family, and then sheâd emptied the car, hung up her clothes, washed the dishes and investigated every closet, cabinet and cupboard the tiny space had to offer.
After that, as darkness settled over Silverdell like indigo watercolor applied with a thick brush, she grew restless.
It had been seventeen years since sheâd moved to a new houseâand all of a sudden, though she was exhausted, she couldnât imagine settling down.
The blow-up mattress was ready on the floor, but even with all the extra pillows and blankets Bree and Ro had scattered around, it looked completely uninviting. Sheâd have to be a lot more tired before she crawled in there.
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