The book slipped off Riley’s head, and she leaned down to pick it up. Mrs. Garrison’s eyes squeezed into little slits, like she was getting ready to say something really mean about Riley being fat and clumsy, but she didn’t. “Do you want a job, girl?”

“A job?”

“Get the wax out of your ears. Come back next week and you can walk Tango for me. Blue’s worthless. She says she’s walking him, but all she does is take him around the corner and let him sleep.”

“Because he’s too old to walk,” Blue called out from the kitchen.

Wrinkles folded up between Mrs. Garrison’s eyebrows like she might be thinking she was getting too old to walk, too. Somehow it made Riley less afraid of her. She sort of liked what Mrs. Garrison had said about how Riley finally looked like somebody with a good opinion of herself. April, Dean, and her dad were always saying nice things to her, but they were just trying to build her self-esteem, and Riley didn’t believe them. Mrs. Garrison didn’t care about stuff like self-esteem, so if she said something good, it was probably true. Riley decided to practice more with the book when she got back to the farm.

“Blue, bring me my purse!”

“Is there a gun in it?” Blue shot back.

Riley couldn’t believe the way Blue talked to Mrs. Garrison. Mrs.

Garrison must really, really need her or she’d make Blue leave. She wondered if Blue had figured that out yet.

When Mrs. Garrison got her purse, she pulled out a five-dollar bill and held it toward Riley. “Don’t buy candy with this or anything fattening.”

Riley’s dad always gave her twenties, and she didn’t need more money, but it would be rude to refuse. “Thank you, Mrs. Garrison.”

“Just remember what I told you about your posture.” She snapped her purse closed. “Blue will drive out to the farm to get you next week.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll still be here,” Riley said. Her dad hadn’t told her what day they were leaving, and she was afraid to ask him because, more than anything, she wanted to stay at the farm for the rest of her life.

On the way home, April reached over and patted Riley’s leg. She didn’t say anything. She just patted. She also hugged a lot and touched Riley’s hair and made Riley dance with her. Sometimes April acted just like a mom, except she wasn’t always talking about calories and boyfriends. Also, Riley’s mom had never said the curses April did. Mainly Riley liked the way April smelled, like wood and flowers and spiral notebook paper. She would never say it out loud, but sometimes being with April was even better than being with Dean, because Riley didn’t have to run around after a football all the time.