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“What?” Alice screamed.

“It’s okay. Molly, Carmen and Mateo helped me deal with him.”

“Shit, Faith, I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“What are you talking about? There is absolutely nothing to forgive. Alice, you have been the best friend anyone could ask for. Please stop panicking, everything is good.”

Alice’s heavy breathing filtered down the phone. Faith was sure she heard a little hiccup. “O-okay. So what happened?”

Faith spent a few minutes filling Alice in on all the details. Molly wandered further down the track, leaving Faith to talk. “Can you tell your parents what happened? And thank them again for everything they did for me.”

“Of course,” Alice answered, her voice wavering with emotion. “Does this mean I’ll never see you again?”

“What? No, Alice, I’ll visit you, I promise. And when I know where I will be, you can come and visit me. You need to meet Molly, Carmen and Mateo.”

“And your hot girlfriend, Nathalie,” Alice chimed in, sounding a lot lighter.

Faith laughed. “Yes! You do have to meet my hot girlfriend.”

“I love you, Faith. And I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you too, Alice. I’ll call you when I know what’s going on.”

???

“Where is everyone?” Faith asked Lisa, who was sitting swinging her feet from the deck railing.

“Carmen and Mateo took Micah and Liam into the city. Courtney is in her room. Bessie and Enid… I have no idea and I don’t think I want to know,” she laughed.

“Molly is in the field working. I thought I’d come back and have some lemonade inside. It’s so hot out here.”

“I’ll join you if that’s cool?” Lisa chirped, dropping to her feet.

Faith nodded and headed inside. The coolness of the ranch was heavenly. How Molly was working outside was a mystery and a little nuts. Lisa sat at the kitchen table, bringing one knee up, resting on the seat, her knee tucked under her chin. “Do you… do you think Courtney is nice?” Lisa asked. Faith stifled her grin as she poured them both a drink.

“Yeah, she’s cool. Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Any reason?”

Placing Lisa’s lemonade on the table, Faith sat opposite. Lisa shuffled in her seat, biting her lip, clearly deep in thought. “No, just… just thinking.”

“Do you think Courtney is nice?” Faith wanted to giggle at Lisa’s doe-eyed expression. Her face turned a light shade of red.

“Um, well yeah, she’s cool.”

“Wow,” Faith laughed.

“What?” Lisa shot.

“You have a crush on her, don’t you?” Faith needed to move them both along. Courtney was pining over Lisa and Lisa was crushing over Courtney. Left to their own devices, the pair would still be clueless this time next year.

“What? No!” Lisa shot.

“Okay,” Faith singsonged, taking a sip of her lemonade.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” Lisa mumbled.