“Usually, but she has a limp apparently, so he left her in her pen.”
“Stone bruise,” Rory said, lifting her head off the floor where she had fallen after the butt massaging.
“I’m sober; I’ll go,” Luna said. “Where is the food?”
“I don’t think you should go anywhere on your own,” Maggs said, almost shouting now.
“I’ll go there, feed the pony and her duck, then leave. Nothing can happen, as no one will be there. Where will the food be? No matter, I’ll find it,” she added when Maggie screwed up her eyes in concentration.
“Come back when you’re done.” Charlie hugged her.
“Okay.” Luna hugged her friend back.
“Wait!” Rory grabbed her and squashed her in a bear hug. “This is your party gift.”
“She’s coming back,” Charlie protested.
Rory gave her a surprisingly steady look and pressed the bottle of champagne into her belly. It had a pink plastic penis tied around the neck.
“No, she won’t,” Rory whispered.
Leaving the chaos of the party minutes later, she got in her car and headed down the drive. A red sedan sat at the entrance to the Trainer land. She couldn’t see anyone in the car. Maybe they’d broken down?
She continued through town. The shop night lights were on, and Apple Sours, Joe Trainer’s bar, was still open. Looking at her watch, she saw it was only ten.
Why had Charlie’s words hurt her?Because they’d been the truth.She’d kept herself safe by keeping people and fun at a distance. She never drank too much or ate the wrong thing. Never partied so hard that the next morning her head was sore.
She was uptight.
Turning into Nash’s driveway on that depressing thought, Luna knew she really did need to change her life before it was too late.
Hugo had rung this morning and told her that Lilly’s salary had not been paid. Luna did this, like she had a hand in most things to do with her business. He’d said that it was time to start delegating. Which she’d agreed to. Hugo had then asked when she was coming home.
The problem was, she didn’t want to leave. She felt good here with Charlie. Good with people like Mr. Goldhirsh and Rory, Jack, and the others. They accepted her. In Chicago, she was never sure who really liked her and who was faking it. Plus, people here didn’t think of her as a famous face; they thought of her as Luna.
“And you’re pathetic,” she muttered. People would kill for what she had. The money, the fame and security.
She pulled up beside the outbuilding and parked. She heard the whinny as she walked to the little pen. Then a head appeared.
“Hey, sweet girl.” Luna opened the gate and let herself in. Moonlight showed her that Monica was definitely limping.
The duck quacked and waddled to meet her too. Bending, she touched its head gently. Monica nudged her.
“Okay, so I need to feed you, right?”
She found a lamp on the shelf and turned it on, then put food that was marked Duck and Horse in their bowls and freshened up the water. While the animals ate, she took the lamp and studied the books on the shelf in the corner where the food had been stored.
“Don’t tell me he reads this to you.” Luna looked at the titles. “The Ultimate Guide To Organic Farming.” There were others, ranging from a fiction novel about a sniper toPlanting Your Garden So You Don’t Have To Weed It.
The thought of big bad Nash Winter reading to this little pony and her duck made something flutter in her belly. He showed who he truly was in so many ways. A good, kind man with a seriously grumpy facade.
Monica nudged her again.
“How about I read to you for a while because your daddy is not coming back tonight?”
The whinny she took as agreement. Luna went back to her car and grabbed the champagne.
“I’m not uptight,” she muttered. “I can drink champagne and read to ponies and ducks.”
Opening the bottle, she sat in the hay and opened the book. The pony settled down beside her, and the duck tucked between her legs.
“You guys do know you’re odd, right? I mean, who has a duck as a friend?”
Monica sighed and put her head on Luna’s lap, and she fell a bit more in love with her.
“It’s all about the soil,” she said, reading the first line.
She drank straight from the bottle—see? Not uptight—and read to the animals.