He had just slid the garage door ajar when there was a distinct kick from across the yard. “What was that?” Julia asked. Both girls spun around.
Wendell’s heart began to race. He’d completely forgotten about Radcliffe. “Nothing, just an animal. Better get in the truck.”
Radcliffe nickered.
Shit.He must’ve heard Julia or sensed her somehow. Wendell reached for Pippa’s bike and began talking loudly. “Here, let me help you put this in the truck, kiddo.”
But Julia knew what she’d heard. Of course she did. She turned to face him. “You have a horse?”
Wendell’s thoughts raced. If he said yes, she might want to see it. He couldn’t have that. “No, it’s probably coming from the neighbors. They have cows.”
But it was too late. Julia set her bike down in the middle of the driveway. “That was a horse. And it came from right over there. In that shed.”
Wendell lifted Pippa’s bike into the bed of his truck. “Julia, it’s late. Let’s go.”
But Julia was already halfway to the barn with Pippa trailing behind. Wendell felt all of his reserves drain as their shadowy figures drifted away.
Julia had reached the barn. “Can I go in?” she shouted back to him.
It was over. No matter what he said. He began walking in their direction.
Radcliffe was on high alert now, and Wendell could hear the horse rattling the stall door from within. He groaned in frustration and cut in front of Julia. “Here.” He swung the door open. The scent of horse and hay met them in the doorway.
Julia froze, peering inside. “Oh my God. Is that…?”
Wendell nodded grudgingly. “Go on,” he said.
Twenty-TwoRoberta
At first she thought she was seeing things. As she drove by the Combs house Saturday morning on the way home from a trip to the garden center, she noticed a teenager standing outside. She slowed the car.
Yes, she was right. At the top of the driveway was a girl with a long blond ponytail. She was pushing a wheelbarrow toward the little red barn behind the house. Roberta paused at the end of the driveway. It was absolutely none of her business, but she had been worried about Wendell. And she hadn’t heard a peep since that phone call they’d had. Plus there was the matter of the casserole dish she’d brought for dinner a few weeks earlier. Usually, Wendell returned things straightaway, but this time her baking dish was still sitting somewhere in his kitchen.
She parked the car at the top of the driveway. The girl was already gone from sight, but the garden cart was parked outside the barn door. Roberta slid her sunglasses up on her head and strolled over. “Hello?” she called out.
There appeared to be some activity in the barn, but no one answered. As Roberta drew closer, she called out again, “Wendell, are you home?”
A girl popped her head out the door. “Hello!”
Roberta halted. It was Julia Lancaster.
“Hi, Roberta. Want to meet Radcliffe?”
“Who?” This was not what she was expecting. Roberta swatted at a fly and followed Julia into the barn and across the dirt floor. It was a small barn, once used by Wendell’s mother as a potting shed. The wall-to-wall sliding door at the far side was wide open, letting in full sun and a scene that took Roberta’s breath away. There was Wendell standing in a small grassy enclosure beside a pile of wooden fence posts and rails, holding a post-hole digger. Beside him was a woman. And behind them stood a big red horse. “My Lord!”
Wendell smiled sheepishly when he saw her. Like he was twelve years old again. “Bertie.”
“Wendell.” Roberta looked between the four of them. She needed a minute.
“Hello!” The woman approached with her hand extended, and Roberta did a double take.
“Ginny Feldman!” Well, this was even more of a surprise than the horse. “How nice to see you.”
But there was no time for handshakes or greetings. Julia motioned to a wheelbarrow in the corner. “I brought another load of dirt,” she said.
“Bring it over here!” Wendell called back to her.
Roberta barely had time to step out of the way. “Coming through,” Julia said, wheeling it narrowly around Roberta.
