I wondered about Jill, what she was doing, and all that, but I didn't ask Daniel on the way home, because we were

being silly and talking about other things, and well-I was actually glad that she hadn't come along with him to pick me up.

When Ivy came over later, she had a look at Dark Commander, and said that she agreed with Brian, and that he

didn't have colic. I thought about trying to get up a game of basketball with everybody, but

Evan and Nancy didn't stay long after supper. They had some project at the cabin they were working on-sanding down a

dresser or something.

Crane and Ivy went off for a walk, and Adam stretched out on the couch, with his head in Hannah's lap.

Guthrie had volunteered to take Isaac outside and pull him around in the wagon, and so I sat down in the living room,

in one of the recliners across from Adam and Hannah to work on my anatomy homework worksheet.

For a few minutes, Daniel and Jill were sitting there, too, on one end of the other couch. Hannah tried to make

conversation with Jill, asking her some questions about her family and all of that. But, she mostly got answers that

were open-ended. Or, so it seemed to me, anyway.

"There's just my sister and me, really," Jill said, in response to Hannah asking about her siblings.

I saw Daniel give her a glance, a quick one, as if puzzled, but he didn't say anything. Jill was snuggling up

against Daniel's side, and clutching onto his arm.

When Hannah asked Daniel when he wanted to have his hair cut, Jill spoke up swiftly. "His hair looks fine."

She turned to Daniel, clutching at his arm even more. "You should leave it the way that it is, mi amor."

Mi Amor? Good grief.

Brian, who was walking into the living room from the kitchen, said, "Much longer without havin' it cut, and you're gonna

need some barrettes to keep it out of your eyes, Dan'l."

Brian had just been joking, and everybody knew it, including Daniel. Jill gave Brian a look, and said, "Well, I like it." She

stood up and pulled at Daniel's hand.

"Let's go for a drive, or something," she said.

Daniel stood up, taking Jill's hand, and sort of smiled at all of us. "See ya all later," he said.

Adam responded, with a casual, "See ya" in return, and Hannah said, "Bye."

They went out the front door, and Brian came to sit down on the spot that Jill and Daniel had just vacated on the couch.

"Where's Clare?" Hannah asked Brian.

"She went upstairs to get somethin'," Brian said.

Adam had been steadily eating peanuts this whole time, and he shook out some more from the jar, and began

eating those.

I kept quiet at first, because I wanted to see if any of the three of them said anything about Jill. I was not to be disappointed.

"I can't get a good read on that one," Brian said. That one, obviously, was Jill.

"She's not real easy to get to know," Hannah added.

"Maybe she's just shy," Adam said, and put another peanut in his mouth.

I didn't think that Jill had even one shy bone in her entire body. But, I didn't say that.

"There are a whole lot of us around here to get used to," Adam went on. "Remember, hon?" he said, to Hannah, and she

smiled a little.

"I remember," Hannah said.

"And there's even more of us now," Adam said. "You can't just expect somebody to step right in and mesh

perfectly."

"Hannah did," I said.

"Oh, sweetie, no, I didn't," Hannah denied, smiling at me.

"Well, you were pretty close to it," I said. "And Clare did."

"What did I do?" Clare asked, coming from the kitchen, and carrying the yarn and crochet hooks she'd bought recently. She was

determined to teach herself to crochet, and make the baby a blanket.

"You came right in around here, and made everybody love you, right off," I said.

Clare sat down beside Brian, and said, "Well, thanks, toots," to me.

"Only stating the truth," I said.

"You are pretty darn loveable," Brian told Clare, kissing the top of her head.

From where he was laying, with his head in Hannah's lap, Adam was looking right in my direction.

"All I'm sayin', sugar, is that you can't judge everybody by how it was with Hannah and Clare. Everybody's different," Adam

told me.

"And she is really young, too," Hannah said. "Don't forget that."

"If she's Daniel's age, then she's the same age as you were when you married Adam," I pointed out. "And Clare, too. And Nancy's

only 21, so she's probably younger than Jill, and she doesn't act all immature, like that."

"Harlie," Adam said, then. In sort of a disappointed way.

"What?" I asked, with spirit. "I thought we were having a discussion, that's all. I thought I could say what I think."

"Don't go gettin' all fussed up," Adam told me.

He used to tell me that when I was little. I didn't like it then, and I liked it less right now, at this moment.

"I'm not 'fussed up'," I denied.

"And, besides," Adam went on, as though I hadn't said anything, "Nobody's said this is anything serious between her and

Daniel. No sense in gettin' the cart before the horse."

I was getting ready to tell them all what Jill had said, about how Daniel was meant for better things in life than

feeding hungry cows, but the telephone began to ring, and I got up to go answer. It was Kenny.

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So, it turned out that Jake had found that there was a tire rod going out on my truck. I listened when Adam was talking to

me about it, but I still didn't really get it. I just knew it was going to take another day or so to fix, and that it was going to

cost even more money.

We were at the breakfast table the next morning, and everybody was standing up, getting ready to head out in their

opposite directions.

"I'll have to stop at the bank and withdraw some more money," I said, gulping down what was left of my juice.

"I hate to see you drain your savings," Adam was saying, as he stood up, too.

"What else can I do?" I asked him. "I don't have enough saved up to pay for something like this-"

"Are you budgeting your money?" Adam asked then, and I gave him sort of an 'Are you kidding?' look.

"I'm not making that much, and then, with D.C.-" I said. "Remember? I talked to you about it-"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," he said.

"I thought about getting a Saturday job, but you said-" I began.

"I remember what I said," Adam said.

"If you've changed your mind-I'll bet I could get on somewhere in Angels Camp. The gas station, maybe-" I persisted.

"I haven't changed my mind," Adam said, sounding definite.

I eyed him. He was pouring a refill into his coffee cup. "We'll see how much it's gonna be for Jake to fix your truck up," he was saying.

"It might be that we can pay half for you, or somethin'."

Immediately, I felt guilty. "I don't want you to have to do that," I protested. I knew for a fact that we'd hit another lean time

around here, money-wise. It wasn't so much what anybody had said, but more what hadn't been said.

"There's no have to, to it," Adam said. He caught my look, and said, "We'll see what Jake says after he's done the work. So, you

can ride to school with Guthrie, and then Ivy said last night she had no problem with pickin' you up and takin' you to the office.

Alright?"

"Okay," I said, in agreement.

As I was walking out with Guthrie to head to school, Adam was behind us, and on the porch Daniel was scuffling with Evan,

who had just gotten there a few minutes before.

They were both concentrating, through laughter, and it was hard to tell, really, who had the upper hand, exactly.

Jill was standing off to the side, watching. It seemed to me that there was a look that combined wistfulness with something else,

irritation, maybe, in her expression.

Adam told us to have a good day at school, like he always did, and Daniel called a 'see ya both later' to Guthrie and I.

We were headed down the driveway, and in the side mirror, I could see Evan heading off towards the barn, while Daniel

seemed caught in a serious conversation with Jill.

I realized that between work, and then someone always being around, that Guthrie and I hadn't really had a chance to

talk about certain things. It started with him offering me some gum from his ever-present supply, and then we talked about

some other stuff; like Kristin's mother losing her job, and how a weekend overnight camping trip would be something fun to

do.

"It's nice-" I said, after awhile. "Riding to school together, I mean. I kind of miss it."

"Yeah, I know what ya mean," Guthrie said. "Sometimes, I do, too."

"We haven't had a chance to really talk lately," I said. I hesitated, and then said, "What do you think of Jill?"

Guthrie shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I was sort of surprised, at first. That he brought a girl home and all."

"Yeah. It was a surprise," I agreed. "That's not what I mean, really. What do you think of her? As a person?"

Guthrie popped at his gum, looking thoughtful. "I guess I don't really have an opinion about her yet. She's Daniel's type alright, though."

"You think so?" I asked. Daniel's 'type' of girl has always been long leggy blondes who are more the 'natural' type, not wearing a lot of makeup,

and usually sort of 'idealistic'.

"Maybe not in looks," Guthrie said, obviously knowing what I was getting at. "But, she's sort of-lost-like."

"Lost-like," I repeated. "How do you mean?"

"I don't know. She seems as though she's not very confident, like she needs somebody to take care of her. You know

Daniel's always been a sucker for the 'underdog' type," Guthrie said.

I thought that over, realizing that Guthrie had somewhat of a point. There were moments, such as this morning, on the porch,

when Jill looked as though she was 'lost'. But, then, there were other moments-

I told Guthrie what Jill had said about how Daniel was intended for better things in life, than working on a ranch, and just

taking care of cows.

"She said that?" Guthrie asked, sounding surprised, and a bit ruffled. A small part of me felt vindicated. Guthrie agreed with me that it was high-handed of

Jill to say such a thing.

"Yeah. She did," I affirmed.

"Hmm," Guthrie said, looking thoughtful. "Well, maybe Daniel's talkin' to her about how he really feels. Maybe he's deciding

that he doesn't wanna be a rancher, at all, in the future."

"Daniel loves the ranch," I protested, but even as I said it, I feared that Guthrie might be right.

"Sure, he does. But, maybe-" Guthrie let his voice sort of trail off.

I was thinking of a future where Daniel might want nothing to do with the ranch; where he might make even more sporadic visits home

than he did now. Where he wouldn't be involved in roundup, or cattle sales, or any of that.

I must have looked a bit stricken at those thoughts, because Guthrie said, in a comforting way, "I wouldn't take her

word for anything like that about Daniel yet."

I nodded, and we finished our drive to school talking about other stuff.

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