“Aunt Denise said I could have a bigger bedroom,” she whispered.
I smiled.
“That sounds nice.”
But Vicky didn’t smile back.
“She also said something about a boarding school.”
I looked at her.
“A boarding school?”
“With horses,” she said.
Then she lowered her voice.
“She said grown-ups need quiet.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Days later, I took Vicky to Denise and Howard’s house for a visit.
I had planned to pick her up later that afternoon.
But my bicycle tire went flat outside their home.
I crouched beside the bike and began patching it.
Their window was open.
I wasn’t trying to listen.
Then I heard Denise’s voice.
“The sooner we get guardianship finalized and ship that girl off to boarding school, the better.”
