Undone by Brooke Taylor

Author:Brooke Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Text
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2008-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.

—Irish proverb

fifteen

People did leave when they died. Mrs. Patterson was wrong. School continued to be one long, grating reminder of it. There wasn’t a hall I could walk down, a place I could sit, or a song on my iPod that wasn’t lacking because Kori wasn’t there to share it with. When the final bell rang I knew it was time to face the walk home alone. I’d been catching rides with Cole and her mom and I realized I couldn’t avoid it forever. But when I got to Aspen Grove, my legs stiffened.

The black iron gates of the subdivision stood open against its river rock walls. Fat blue spruce and scraggly blue atlas landscaping flanked the entry, while fall pansies filled the beds with color and cheer, but I didn’t feel welcomed.

Cutting through the neighborhood could shorten my walk home considerably, and Cole lived there too, so it wasn’t like I was completely out of my place, yet I couldn’t bring myself to walk through the gates. I didn’t want to see Kori’s house. I didn’t want to see her family carrying on, or spot a service truck come to paint her bedroom ballet slipper pink or a decorator with Laura Ashley ruffles cascading over her arms trotting toward a smiling Mrs. K.

Everyone handles death differently, my inner voice chided. Who knew it made some people happier?

I avoided the neighborhood, walking instead on the sidewalk as it rounded the luxury homes. The landscape stretched and flowed alongside the protective nine-foot walls. A friendly reminder not to try to get too close to the people who lived behind them, but for me it was already too late.

I turned down Lake Ridge Road and spotted Mr. Miller’s ranch. The horses calmly grazed in the pasture. Behind them Mr. Miller’s old timber-framed barn looked like something from another era. The past I could handle. It was the future I was having trouble with.

As I walked the fence line, the horses picked up their heads and curiously watched me. I reached into my bag and pulled out an apple I had left over from lunch. I clucked to them the way Mom and I used to. I’d forgotten about how much I enjoyed riding on the weekends and feeding them with my mom.

The apple I held out was gone before I could blink, so I reached back into my bag for more goodies. One of the horses had pushed against the fence and was mouthing at my sleeve. “Hold on,” I muttered, digging for more. This time I made sure the horse took only one grape at a time.

“Hey!”

Shocked by the sudden masculine voice, I whipped my head around to find a guy coming toward me. His faded jeans and a hugging white T-shirt didn’t cover him enough to keep me from dropping my jaw a little. He kept his firm and flexed.

“You can’t do that.”

My heart quickened at the sight of his hard, almost angry eyes.

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