Elijah left the kitchen when the siren echoed out through the land.

Jayden covered her ears.

Mary giggled.

“I liked the hymn this morning better than this. Why can’t we call them to dinner with a country music song?” Jayden asked.

“We’ve tried everything from something like bells ringing to an old-fashioned telephone sound, but nothing reaches all the way out to the barn or the bathrooms like the siren. This way they don’t have an excuse for not getting lined up,” Mary explained.

“That makes sense.” Jayden slid two pies out of the oven and put two more into it. “Now that some time has passed, how are you holding up?”

“Fine.” Mary took the lids off the pasta dishes and stirred the pot of marinara sauce. “We’ve had wild ones before, and it’s not uncommon to lose one or two in a season.”

Jayden thought of all the times she’d had to send a kid to the school nurse because they were too high to even pay attention to their teacher and had been sent to her office. Maybe Skyler was right to teach in a parochial school, where there was more emphasis on God. But she sure wasn’t right with God when Mama died, or else she wouldn’t have been so mean about things.

Jayden had never seen the girls as dirty or sweaty as they were that evening when they lined up for supper, not even after they’d cleaned horse stalls or when they had gone through the morning exercise regimen.

“Little bit of dirt on your forehead,” she whispered to Tiffany when she was the first one through the line.

“Yep, and I earned it when I slid into third base,” Tiffany said. “Ashlyn broke two fingernails and Carmella’s going to have a bruise on her hip.”

Ashlyn held up her hands like trophies. “Worth it because we won by a run. We might get a rematch before we leave here so we can whip them again.”

“What about you, Carmella?” Mary asked.

“I hate anything that makes me sweat, but to show up that other team, I’ll gladly play another game,” Carmella answered. “Can I, please, have another helping of that baked ziti? I’m starving.”

“Of course.” Mary scooped up another big spoonful, put it on her tray, and whispered to Jayden, “I bet we don’t have much to put in the hog’s bucket tonight.”

“That will make Tiffany happy.” Jayden moved on down the line and started pouring sweet tea and water into glasses. “She’s only got one more day and then she’s done with that job.”

Elijah picked up a glass of tea and winked at Jayden. “Too bad Lauren didn’t stick around and get to know the hogs.”

Did that wink mean that Elijah was flirting with her or was he just being nice?

Jayden’s girls were second in line for showers that evening, and more than ready to get all the dirt, sweat, and grime washed away. She wasn’t a bit surprised when they headed out the door as soon as they saw the Sunshine girls returning to their cabin. She figured they’d stand under the water as long as their time allowed, but they were out in record time. When they came back, they dropped their shower bags on the porch and sat down in the red chairs.

“I would have thought y’all would have had all the outdoors you wanted for one day.” She slid into the last chair and enjoyed what little night breeze blew across her face.

“We want to talk,” Ashlyn said.

“About what?” Jayden asked. They had had group therapy right after supper and all three of them had been pretty quiet.

“Lauren got what she had coming, but none of us three have ever not been given another chance,” Tiffany answered. “It’s kind of scary.”

“Learning to be accountable, to stand up and take responsibility for what you’ve done and not blame it on someone else, is very scary, but those things are what adults do. Little kids blame everything on someone else,” Jayden said.

“What does that mean exactly?” Carmella asked.

“You stole a tennis bracelet, which was worth enough to be considered grand larceny and could have gotten you at least a year in juvie. You did it. Your parents didn’t do it. Your friends didn’t do it, even though you might have been trying to impress them with your badass ways. You did. So, you should say that you did and take full responsibility. None of you are children anymore. You’re bordering on young adulthood, so own your mistakes and take your punishment.”

Tiffany sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly before she spoke. “I took the pictures of those girls, and I posted them. It’s on me, but my friends were in on it, too. They told me that I couldn’t be a part of their group if I didn’t do it. It was kind of like an initiation. When I got caught the first time, they said I’d failed and if I really wanted to be included, I had to keep trying until I didn’t get caught. When I failed the second time, I had to steal something. They gave me a shopping list of what each one of them wanted. I got a pair of diamond earrings from one store, a two-thousand-dollar purse from another one, and an expensive makeup kit from the third one. I got caught at the last store.”

“What does that tell you about your friends?” Jayden asked.

“That they’re stupid bi—jerks,” Tiffany answered.

“What does it tell you about you?” Jayden asked.

“That I’m more stupid than they are since I listened to them.” Tiffany had a wholesome beauty about her when she smiled like she did right then. “But I got to admit, I still want to be in with that crowd. They get invited to all the parties, and they’re all going to the same university that I want to attend, and the boys all want to date them.”

“No one told me to steal the bracelet or the other things I got caught shoplifting.” Carmella gazed out over the yard. “It’s all on me, like Tiffany just said.”

“Why do you think you did it?” Jayden asked.

“The thrill,” Carmella answered.

Jayden thought of Novalene and her love of driving fast with loud music blaring. “Are you sorry that you did it?”

“I wasn’t until I had to come here,” Carmella replied. “If I could go home now, I would find something else to give me that adrenaline rush.”

“Like sex?” Ashlyn asked.

“Nah.” Carmella shrugged. “My boyfriend don’t give me that kind of rush. He’s all about gettin’, not givin’.”

“He your only one?” Ashlyn asked.

“Yep, and he’s probably already with another girl by now.” Carmella finally focused on Jayden. “How old were you when you first had sex?”

“Sophomore year in college,” Jayden answered honestly.

“For real?” Ashlyn gasped. “That means you were like nineteen?”

“Twenty,” Jayden said. She watched the color drain from Ashlyn’s face with amusement.

“Well, then I don’t feel so bad,” Ashlyn whispered. “I been lyin’ and sayin’ I already did it with my boyfriend, but that’s why I was driving drunk the last time I got caught. I drank so I wouldn’t be scared to do it, and then I caught him kissin’ another girl, so I got in my car and started home. The policeman pulled me over and”—she raised a shoulder in half a shrug—“it was the third time they’d caught me. Lord knows, I’d been driving drunk lots more times than that.”