“Have you had a chance to meet many people?”

“Not really.”

“Not at all,” Wendy said. “All you do is work here and go home.”

“Would you like to join us for pizza tonight?” Anne asked. “My date is standing me up. He got called to a case. He’s on his way to Phoenix.”

“Vince used to work for the FBI,” Wendy explained. “Now he’s like this rock star profiler. He goes all over the world.”

“Wow,” Leah said as her mother’s black BMW rolled into the yard.

“You should come with us,” Wendy said.

“It’s just us girls,” Anne started to say.

“Me too, Mommy!” the little boy piped in.

“And Antony,” his mother added.

“I’m all boy!” he announced.

His mother smiled at him and kissed his curly head. “You certainly are.”

The boy grinned. “Pizza! Pizza!”

Haley, the dark-eyed little girl, looked up at Leah. “Do you ride horses too?”

“Yes.”

“I got to ride a pony for my birthday.”

“Come with us,” Wendy insisted.

Leah gave a little shrug. “My mom’s here to pick me up.”

“She should come too.”

Leah said nothing. Wendy didn’t know her mother.

Lauren Lawton slowed her step as she neared, looking suspicious to find her daughter with a group of strangers, like maybe she was walking into an ambush or something.

She hadn’t always been that way. Leah could remember when her mother had been happy and social. Her parents had entertained all the time, had gone out with friends. She remembered the two of them laughing all the time, always happy. But those memories were so old, sometimes she wondered if she hadn’t made them up.

“Hi, Mom,” Leah said as her mother reluctantly joined the group. “This is my friend Wendy. She rides with Maria Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Wendy gave a little wave. “Hi, Mrs. Lawton.”

Anne offered a warm smile and reached a hand out. “I’m Anne Leone. Welcome to Oak Knoll. Leah says you just moved here.”

“Yes,” she said, meeting Anne Leone’s hand with hers for the briefest handshake. “Lauren Lawton.”

She turned to Leah. “Are you about ready to go?”

“I have to put this tack away,” Leah said, turning to tend to the task.

“I just invited Leah to join us for pizza tonight,” Anne said. “My husband is out of town. Wendy is joining us. Would you like to join us?”

Leah watched her mother out of the corner of her eye. She expected her to say no, thank you, but Lauren seemed a little taken aback at the offer.

“If you don’t have plans,” Anne Leone said to fill the silence. She set her squirming son down and he immediately dashed after a barn cat.

“Can we, Mom?” Leah asked, slipping Jump Up’s bridle over her shoulder. “We need to find a good pizza place.”