Little Girls and Their Ponies: A Novella by Meg Collett

Author:Meg Collett [Collett, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meg Collett
Published: 2014-12-05T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

The next day was one of Matthew’s rare days off. An emergency call might still come in, but, for right now, he was sprawled out in a lounger with Alice’s computer in his lap while she cleaned a stall. Tucker lay on his back between Matthew’s legs, making man and dog look eerily similar. Alice rolled her eyes at them before she went back in the stall, toting a fresh bag of shavings.

“So why did you need my laptop so badly?” she called from the stall as she dumped out the shavings and raked through them.

“Mine’s broken.”

“Clearly.”

“I wanted to go on and list the horses on a few adoption sites.”

Alice stilled, her eyes on the wall’s grooves at the back of the stall. “They’re ready for that?”

“The process will take a while, but they’re getting better with each day. Most will make a full recovery.”

“Don’t you need pictures and all that?” She rubbed her thumb over the twisted scars along the palm of her right hand.

“Took some on my phone yesterday. Emailed them to my account.”

The computer’s keys clicked and clacked as Matthew worked. Alice rubbed her palm and stared at the wall, her weight shifting back and forth. She remembered kissing the palomino mare in the same spot she’d always kissed Rosie. “Matthew?”

“Yeah?” he asked, clearly distracted.

“Not the palomino mare.”

A long pause. She couldn’t see him from inside the stall, so she didn’t know the look on his face. “What do you mean, Alice?”

“Not her.” Alice swallowed the lump in her throat. “Don’t list her for adoption.”

He shifted to look back at her through the metal bars along the front of the stall, making the chair squeak in complaint, but she eased out of his line of sight. “Alice … this is a long process. If I don’t list them now, it’ll be months or maybe even a year before we find them good homes. She’s the healthiest one of the bunch.”

“No.”

“Alice—”

“Not her.” Alice set her pitchfork on the wall and walked out of the stall. “I’ll adopt her,” she said as she walked by Matthew, noticing his surprised look. On the way out of the barn, she added over her shoulder, “Can you finish the stalls? I’m going to see my dad.”

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