AT WORK THE NEXT AFTERNOON, Leni made one mistake after another. She mismarked the boxes of three-penny nails and put them in the wrong place and then stood there staring at her mistake, thinking, Could I go to college? Was it possible?

“Go home,” Large Marge said, coming up behind her. “Your mind is somewhere else today.”

“I’m fine,” Leni said.

“No. You’re not.” She gave Leni a knowing look. “I saw you and Matthew walking through town yesterday. You’re playing with fire, kid.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“You must think I was born yesterday. Be careful, that’s all I’ll say.”

Leni didn’t even respond. Words were beyond her, as was logical thought. She left the store and retrieved her bicycle and rode home. Once there, she fed the animals, carted water from the spring they’d dug a few years ago, and opened the cabin door. Her mind was so overrun by thoughts and emotions that honestly the next thing she knew she was in the kitchen with her mama, but she had no memory of getting there.

Mama was kneading bread dough. She looked up as the door banged shut, her floury hands lifting from the mound of dough. “What’s wrong?”

“Why do you say that?” Leni asked, but she knew. She was close to tears—although why, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that Matthew had pulled her world out of shape. He had altered her view of things, opened her up. Suddenly all she could think about was the end of school and him going away to college without her.

“Leni?” Mama wiped her floury hands on a washrag and tossed it aside. “You look brokenhearted.”

Before Leni could answer, she heard a vehicle drive up. She saw a shiny white pickup truck pull into the yard.

The Walker truck.

“Oh, no.” Leni ran for the cabin door, flung it open.

Matthew stepped out of the truck, into their yard.

Leni crossed the deck, rushed down the steps. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“You were so quiet at school today and then you ran off to work. I thought … did I do something wrong?”

Leni was happy to see him and scared that he was here. It felt to her like all she did was say no and goodbye to him, and she wanted so, so much to say yes.