“I’m too old for it.” Novalene giggled.

“Besides, I don’t care if I gain ten pounds. I figure I’ll run it off when I get home and go back to school,” Diana added. “What about you, Jayden? Are you going to get up and do the walk?”

“Yep, and I’m going to eat what I want,” Jayden answered. “I always go to the gym before school, anyway, so I’m used to getting up early. This won’t be any big thing, except on weekends. Those are my days to sleep in, but I don’t figure two months of giving them up will kill me.”

“Just remember, the gym is air-conditioned and has a roof, so if it rains, you don’t get wet. Unless there’s lightning, the girls will be walking every morning, rain or shine,” Novalene said. “Here they come. Let’s see what happens.”

Jayden wasn’t a bit surprised when Tiffany dug right into her supper and even went back for a second hot roll. When the girl got finished eating, her tray was so clean that it looked like it wouldn’t even need rinsing. She crossed the room and asked, “Is it all right if I go to the bathroom before I take the hogs their supper?”

“That will be fine,” Jayden agreed. “I’m going with you.”

When they reached the bathroom, Tiffany went into a stall and closed the door.

Jayden heard a gagging sound and slung the door open.

Tiffany whipped around to glare at her.

“Why are you doing this?” Jayden asked. “You are a beautiful young lady. What can I do to help you overcome this problem?”

“My friends hate fat girls, and I’m not going to gain weight. I don’t want any of your help,” Tiffany hissed. “You can’t be with me twenty-four hours a day, woman.”

“No, I can’t, but I can do something even better,” Jayden said. “Get back to the dining room.”

Tiffany crossed her arms over her chest. “What if I refuse?”

“You can go talk to the judge.” Jayden felt so sorry for the girl that she wanted to cry. She’d felt ugly most of her life, so she could relate to Tiffany, but she’d be damned if she let the girl see pity in her face. “If you don’t beat me to the porch, then Elijah will be taking you to the Brewster County Jail tonight.”

Tiffany waited until Jayden started to jog, and then she ran full-out to the door. When Jayden got there, the girl had bent over at the waist and was trying to get her breath. Carmella and Ashlyn pushed their way out onto the porch, and Jayden motioned for them to sit down on a bench.

“Tiffany is having some trouble with bulimia—we all need to join forces and help her overcome it,” Jayden said.

“You’re crazy. That’s unhealthy,” Ashlyn said.

“And drinking isn’t?” Tiffany found enough breath to shoot back.

“So”—Jayden shifted her focus from one girl to the other—“from now on, one of you will stay with Tiffany at all times. If she goes to the bathroom, one of you will be with her, and the stall door will be open. If she takes the slop bucket out to the hogs, one of you will go with her. If she tries to throw up, you will tell me. If you don’t, you can go with Tiffany to Alpine to the jail to await whatever your folks want to do with you.”

“What about when we do our individual jobs in the afternoons?” Carmella asked.

“Then I’ll be with her. She needs to learn to love herself and not care what other people think of her. We all need to help each other work through whatever problems we have,” Jayden said. “You two can figure out who is going with her tonight to the hog lot. I’m going inside for another glass of tea.”

“I’ve only been doing this for a few months. I can quit anytime I want,” Tiffany declared. “I don’t need any help.”

As Jayden went into the dining room, she heard Carmella say, “I hate you, girl, but I’ll take the first shift, and if I catch you even biting one of your fingernails, I will kick your sorry ass all the way to the jail myself.”

Chapter Six

Elijah picked up a framed picture on the bookcase in his small living room and stared at the seven guys in it. He could almost feel the sweat running down their faces in big drops, the heat pouring down upon them, the sand that stuck to everything—boots, hair, bedsheets. They had been playing football, shirts and skins, and his team—the skins—had won, but they were all smiling and posturing for the picture.

Now three of them were gone—Matty, Tommy, and Derrick. In the blink of an eye one hot summer day in the sandbox, they were dead, and he felt like he was the cause. If he hadn’t had to put fuel in the helicopter, he could have gotten there in time to save Matty. His younger brother was the smart one, the one who was going to be a doctor someday, so Elijah should have been the one to die young. If he had been home, maybe his mother and dad wouldn’t have died in that auto accident. He was like a bad luck penny that kept turning up. He wiped the dust from the top of the picture frame and set it back on the bookcase. He crammed his ball cap on his head, got a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, and went out into the darkness for a walk.

The temperature hadn’t dropped much that evening and the wind stirred up little dust tornadoes in the places where vegetation was sparse. As he headed toward the barn in long strides, some of the dirt flew up into his face, reminding him again of the day of that football game. They were thirty-year-old men, young and invincible. They’d cheated death on so many occasions that they figured they’d live forever.

The air inside the barn was cooler and smelled of horses and hay. From the day he first arrived at Piney Wood, the barn had been his haven. When the past closed in on him, talking to Dynamite helped him work through his problems. The horse was a damn fine listener and knew more of his secrets than anyone on earth, including Henry and Mary.

He had that antsy feeling that said he wasn’t alone long before he saw Jayden leaning on the railing of Dynamite’s horse stall. Without a word, he crossed the barn and joined her, keeping a distance between them. He had mixed emotions about finding her there. Part of him wanted to be angry that she’d invaded his space, but when he mentally flipped the coin, the other side wondered why she’d chosen to come to the barn at that particular time.

“So, you couldn’t sleep, either?” she asked.

“Nope,” he answered.

“My girls are all asleep,” she said. “I wouldn’t have left them if they weren’t.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation,” he said. “Counselors don’t get demerits.”

“I’m worried about Tiffany. I’ve dealt with girls like her who think that skinny is beautiful. Hell, I’ve had the same feelings. I was never bulimic, but I can sure relate to what she’s going through,” Jayden said.

“You come off as self-assured and . . .” He couldn’t find the right word. Beautiful was on his mind, but that sounded lame.

“That’s the exterior,” she said. “I can feel Tiffany’s pain.”

“That’s exactly what will make you the perfect person to help her get through her troubles.” He took a drink from the longneck bottle of Coors. “If I’d known you were here, I would have brought an extra beer.”