Amanda Davis by Wonder When You'll Miss Me

Author:Wonder When You'll Miss Me [Me, Wonder When You'll Miss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-09-23T12:24:44+00:00

I FOUND Charlie midmorning. Actually, he found me. I’d shoveled Bluebell and Olivia’s messes and moved on to the horses. Charlie appeared as I was grooming Dos. I had spent the entire morning alone with animals, and his voice caught me off guard.

“Hey there,” he said.

“Ah,” was the best I could manage. I coughed.

“I thought I’d just come say hello again,” he said. “Heh, heh.” I focused on giving Dos’s coat firm, even strokes. “So, how’ve you been?” I didn’t look directly at him.

“All right.” He stood in front of Uno and reached out to touch her nose, but I stopped him.

“She likes a carrot or something,” I said, giving him half an apple from the snack bucket. “If she doesn’t know you, she won’t want you touching her face.”

He nodded and thrust the apple towards her.

“Put it flat on your palm, like this.” He followed my example, flattening his palm and holding the apple out like an offering. Uno took it, greedily devouring the whole thing in just a few bites, and I rubbed her neck. Charlie reached out and scratched her forehead, then cleared his throat. “Good girl,” he murmured tentatively.

He cleared his throat again. “You sure are a long way from Gleryton, huh?” I looked up and met his eyes for the first time. They were big and sad, and I noticed the hollows of his cheeks, the sleeplessness. I turned back to Dos. I felt weirdly private.

a m a n d a d a v i s

“We sure are,” I said softly and had the urge to bury my face in Dos’s neck, something I would have done without hesitation if I was alone, but I was self-conscious. I gave her a few pats and moved over to Billy.

“Sorry I didn’t recognize you. But you sure have changed.”

“Sure have.” It came out snappier than I’d meant. I looked up and softened my words with a smile. Charlie still looked worried, loaded down. I was abruptly aware of something large looming around us, something in the shadows that he wanted to talk about.

“And yeah, we’re a long way from home,” I said. “It has been a long road here, you know?”

He nodded slowly, like I’d said something enormous and meaningful.

I felt my muscles tightening, felt myself coil inside, ready to spring away if need be. Deep breath, I told myself. This was Charlie, after all, Charlie.

What on earth was I worried about? I began to brush Billy, who tossed her tail at me and snorted.

“So you ran away, after all.”

I swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Well, you said you were going to.”

“Yeah.”

He was quiet. He’d sat himself on an empty bucket and now he rose and shook his leg as though it had fallen asleep. He brushed his hands back and forth on his jeans, to wipe away whatever he’d planned to confess. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, and started to leave.

I couldn’t stand it. “I was going to find you,” I called after him.

He stopped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean .

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