“Hey, you alright?” I asked. I remembered a little more about this kid now. This was the one Cody had pulled off the mountain, the one they said didn’t talk much. Scary things would overwhelm him. Scary things like girls with Nerf guns who shot him in the side of the face.
This was way above my pay grade.
But no one else was around, and I couldn’t just leave the kid glued to the center of the barn aisle. “Dustin? Hey, snap out of it. You want some punch? Cake? There’s going to be cake. Come on, let’s go find your mom.”
He swiped roughly at his cheek and finally looked up, his eyes glittering. “Just leave me alone!” He aimed a savage kick at the Nerf gun, and it went sailing over one of the barred doors, right into Duchess’s stall. That gol durn kid! I’d whoop him if he hit the horse in the head!
But I didn’t have time for anything like that because he was running off. For Pete’s sake, I didn’t know how to talk to him. But Morgan knew the kid pretty well, so maybe I’d message her to go check on him. I was pulling my phone out to do just that when I heard Evan’s voice across the courtyard, calling Dustin back. I poked my head out just long enough to see that someone was handling things, then I walked back to check on Duchess.
I slid the door of her stall open, and she lifted her head with the Nerf gun trapped between her teeth. “Hey, Sugar. That thing didn’t hit you, did it?”
The toy dropped and she sneezed, then rubbed her face on my shoulder. “Cut it out, now. What’ll Dusty say if you get all spoiled rotten while he’s on his honeymoon?” But I didn’t stop scratching her ears. She liked that. The mare was a queen, really, and it still tore me up that she wasn’t the horse for me. She had champion written all over her. I’d just have to keep looking for something that was the same, but different.
“Well, old girl, I’m supposed to be back at the party. You stay out of trouble now, you hear?” I picked up the plastic gun and was backing out of the stall, sliding the door closed, when something stung my backside with two quick blasts.
“Gotcha, Aedyn!”
I turned around, and that same girl was charging out from the haystack, still brandishing her Nerf gun, but she stopped dead when she saw me.
I pointed at the gun, almost quaking with rage. That little hooligan actually shot me in the butt! Her mouth fell open, and she froze. “Drop. It.” I hissed. “Or I’ll break it over my knee!”
Her nostrils were fluttering, and her eyes filled with big, syrupy tears. “I-I th-thought you were Aedyn.”
“Do I look like a twelve-year-old?” I thundered. “And what are you thinking, anyway, shooting those darn things in the barn? Don’t you know animals can choke on those stupid darts?”
Her lip started to tremble, and a puddle big enough to do a crocodile proud slipped down her cheek. “I didn’t know,” she whispered. “Please don’t tell my aunt.”
Oh, dad gum it. I couldn’t lecture a little girl who was crying any more than I could yell at a horse for making a mistake. What good would it do? I just pinched the bridge of my nose. “Tell you what. You go around and pick up all these darts, and I’ll forget you were in here causing trouble.”
She sniffed and carefully offered me her Nerf gun. “Can I still shoot it at the newlyweds when they leave?”
I shrugged and threw my hands up. “Sure. You can shoot at his windshield for all I care. Now, get going.” I took the toy gun. “Hey, just so I know whose mom to look for if I catch you out here again, what’s your name?”
“Lizzy.” She bit her bottom lip. “Lizzy Tracy. Only my mom’s not here. You can’t talk to her.”
Something tickled my brain and I narrowed my eyes. “You James Tracy’s daughter?”
She nodded, her wide brown eyes fixed earnestly on mine, and her throat bobbed. I sighed and pushed my hat up. I knew a little about James Tracy, and none of it was awesome. He’d been in Evan’s class, married right after school, and divorced just a few years later. He was still around, pulling odd jobs and stuff. But Lizzy’s eyes begged me not to ask more about her father.
For some reason I couldn’t explain, something about that little girl clicked in my head. I used to be the wild kid like that. And I’d had my own reasons, just like I was sure she had hers. I wasn’t going to fix her by going and tattling to her mom, her aunt, or whoever was in charge of her. Maybe what the kid needed was an outlet. Something that felt amazing and powerful but wouldn’t hurt anything.
“Well, tell you what. You pick these up quick-like, and I’ll set you up with the water canon instead of one of these silly foam dart guns.”
Her face blanched in awe. “Water canon?” she whispered.
I winked and made a shushing motion. “Little surprise for my brother. You keep a secret, now?”
She nodded, her eyes moving up and down in their sockets because they never left mine.
“Good. I’m going to go look in on the party, and when I come back in twenty minutes, I want this barn put to rights. There’s a broom right over there. Understand?”
This time, she smiled when she nodded.
I have a thing for chocolate. I always have. My mom used to hide it in a locked case whenever she got some, but I always found the key. And I don’t care for fancy chocolate. Hershey’s is just fine. Generic is okay. As long as it’s sweet and smooth, it hits the spot.
Dusty knew that, and he’d bought bucket loads of chocolate kisses for the wedding guests… but mostly for me because he figured I’d be the one taking care of the leftovers. And right now, I was filling the pockets of my vest with big handfuls.
They weren’t dancing at this wedding because Dusty and Jess weren’t into it. It was just cake and toasts and some of Dad’s famous smoked brisket served buffet style.