The Road Home

by Catherine Hapka

  Nina knocked again, and then stepped over to peer in the window. “Looking for the owners?” a voice called from the street.

  Nina jumped, startled and a little sheepish at being caught peeking. “Hi,” she greeted the elderly woman who’d spoken. “Sorry, yes. My friend lives here, and I’m looking for her.”

  “Ah yes.” The woman nodded. “Little red-haired girl?”

  “That’s the one. Have you seen her around today?”

  The woman shook her head. “She’s not here. The whole family went to stay with relatives out in Chalmette for the week. Something about termites, I think, though I haven’t seen any sign of the exterminators yet.”

  The woman tsk-tsked at that. Nina smiled politely and thanked her, though she was pretty sure that termites had nothing to do with why the family wasn’t around. She hurried around the corner out of sight and then called Leah’s cell phone, feeling worried anew. Why would Leah’s family move out of their nice home to stay with relatives way out in Chalmette? Were they really so poor that they couldn’t even afford to keep the lights on, or was her father trying to avoid the police?

  After two or three rings, Leah answered with a curt “Nina? What’s up?”

  “Hi.” Nina pressed the phone to her ear, leaning back against a wrought-iron gate around somebody’s front porch. “I’m at your house, and a neighbor said you’re staying with relatives.”

  “That’s right. Mom freaked out and wanted to be near her sister. So what are you, a private investigator now?”

  Leah sounded cranky, but Nina ignored that. “Anyway, I’m glad you answered,” she began.

  “Don’t get used to it or anything,” Leah interrupted. “This number won’t work anymore when the contract runs out at the end of the month.”

  Nina winced, wishing she could do something to make her friend feel better. Then she realized there was one thing she could try. “Oh. Um, well anyway, I had an idea. Why don’t you ride Breezy in Tuesday’s lesson?”

  “No thanks,” Leah said shortly. “In case you missed the memo, I can’t exactly afford to take lessons right now.”

  “It’s already paid for,” Nina said. “I get two lessons per week included in my board, remember?”

  “Oh.” Leah hesitated. “Well, that doesn’t matter. I still don’t want to come.”

  “Are you sure?” Nina switched her phone to the other ear. “Jordan just told me she can’t ride on Tuesday, so it’ll just be us. And we can come up with some kind of story to explain to Miss Adaline why you’re riding Breezy. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

  This time Leah was quiet for so long that Nina started to worry that she’d hung up. But finally she spoke. “Really? You’d be okay letting me take your lesson? For free?”

  “Of course!” Nina said. “I want you to. Riding always makes me feel better when I’m down, and I bet it’ll help you too.”

  “I doubt it.” But there was no rancor in Leah’s words this time. “Um, but okay, maybe I’ll do it. Thanks, Nina.”

  “You’re welcome.” Nina smiled into the phone. “By the way, that trip to the Expo is all expenses paid too, remember? And I still have a ticket with your name on it if you want it.”

  “I don’t know.” Leah’s voice went guarded again. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Okay.” Nina wanted to push—she was sure it would do Leah good to get out and have fun for the day—but held back. “Just let me know when you can.”

  CHAPTER

  10

  “KEEP AFTER HIM, Leah!” Miss Adaline hollered across the ring on Tuesday afternoon. “He’s lazier than Ringo, you have to push or he’ll stall out on you.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Leah said, giving Breezy a kick to keep him moving. “Get moving, Breezy!”

  Nina leaned on the fence, watching her friend’s lesson. Miss Adaline hadn’t asked too many questions about why Nina was letting Leah ride Breezy in the lesson. And Nina’s guess had been right—even though Breezy was making Leah work hard, she looked happier than Nina had seen her lately. No wonder she’d been sneaking out and riding him half the night!

  But was offering rides on her pony really the only way Nina could help her friend? She wasn’t sure. The rest of the Pony Post had been helping her try to think of other things she could do all weekend. So far, though, they’d come up short.

  The only thing they could all agree on was that made sense for Nina to talk to her parents about it. As Maddie had pointed out, Nina’s dad was an attorney. Maybe he’d know how to help Leah’s dad.

  There was just one problem with that plan. Leah had sworn Nina to secrecy. She couldn’t tell anyone what was going on. It was bad enough that she’d told the Pony Post—if she breathed a word about all this to her parents, Leah would probably never speak to her again.

  Still, the idea kept running through her head throughout the rest of the lesson. When they finished, she suggested taking Breezy out to graze on the levee.

  “Sure.” Leah sounded more relaxed than she had all week. “Come on, Breezy boy, let’s go find you some yummy green stuff.”

  They chatted about the lesson as they walked along the tree-lined trail leading out to the levee. The broad expanse of sun-warmed grass leading down to the banks of the Mississippi River wasn’t very crowded, since it was still too early for the after-work joggers and other visitors to arrive. There were just a few parents or nannies with little kids, a guy walking his dog, and a few college and high school kids lounging on the grass. That made it easy to find a good spot for Breezy to graze.

  Once he was settled and busy cropping at the bright green grass, Nina shot Leah a sidelong glance. “Listen,” she said. “I’ve been thinking. . . .”

  “That’s never a good idea,” Leah joked.

  “No, seriously.” Nina took a deep breath. “Look, you can totally say no if you want to, okay? But I was wondering—do you want me to tell my dad what’s going on? You know, with your dad’s business problems? He’s a lawyer, and he deals with stuff like that all the—”

  “You promised!” Leah broke in, her voice panicky. “You didn’t tell him, did you? Tell me you didn’t, Nina!”

  “I didn’t,” Nina assured her quickly. “I swear. But I think it might be a good idea. If your dad’s worried about going to jail, that means he should have a good lawyer, right? And my dad’s a great one.”

  Leah glared at her. “Did I stutter? I said no.”

  “Okay.” Nina couldn’t resist one more try. “But if you just think about it, maybe later you—”

  “Aargh!” Leah threw Breezy’s lead rope at Nina so hard it smacked her on the arm and fell to the ground. Spinning on her heel, Leah stomped away without a backward glance.

  Breezy lifted his head, staring back the way Leah had gone. Nina scooped the lead rope off the ground.

  “Sorry about that, boy,” she said with a pat for the pony. “I hope we didn’t ruin your appetite with that fight.” She smiled as Breezy lowered his head again, reaching for another mouthful of grass. “Okay, guess I didn’t need to worry about that. . . .”

  Her smile faded and she sighed, glancing off the way Leah had gone. But she was already long out of sight.

  Nina was still fretting over Leah when she got home. The cats were asleep on a sunny windowsill, her mother was hard at work on a new sculpture in the studio, and her father wasn’t home from work yet. Nina was glad that neither of her parents could see her just then—if they could, they’d be sure to notice how perplexed she was by this whole Leah situation. And she couldn’t tell them what was bothering her without betraying her friend’s trust.

  But she needed to talk about it with someone. Luckily she knew exactly where to go.

  Minutes later she was sitting cross-legged on her bed with her laptop open in front of her. She logged on to the Pony Post and was happy to notice that the last two messages—from Maddie and Haley—had posted only minutes earlier.

  [NINA] Hey, anybody here?

  She posted he
r message and sat back to wait. Before long she had responses from both her friends.

  [MADDIE] N! How’d it go at the stable?

  [HALEY] Hi, Nina! I’m still here too.

  Nina could hardly believe her luck. It was rare for three members to be on the site at the same time without planning ahead.

  [NINA] Sooo glad ur here! Lesson was good, after lesson not so good.

  [HALEY] Uh-oh! What????

  [MADDIE] Did you tell L what I said?

  Nina opened another text box and typed fast, telling them about her suggestion and Leah’s reaction. Again, it didn’t take long for both her friends to respond.

  [HALEY] Eeps! So much for that idea. . . .

  [MADDIE] Wow, she rly doesn’t want anyone to know, huh?

  [NINA] Ya, pretty much.

  [HALEY] What did she say exactly?

  [NINA] Um, NO? Lol. Pretty much just that, only meaner. Sigh, hard to be her friend sometimes, u know?

  [HALEY] U were being a good friend.

  [MADDIE] For sure! And she is being totally unreasonable!

  [NINA] What do u mean? She has the right to keep her secret, right? I mean, I only even found out about it sort of by accident.

  [MADDIE] U mean when you caught her stealing rides on yr pony? & riding him so hard he was tired the next day?!? She should know ur a good friend since u didn’t kick her to the curb then!!

  [NINA] I guess

  [MADDIE] Anyway, sneaking around w/ Breezy was wrong. And she’s wrong about this too.

  [HALEY] Do u think so? I was sort of thinking the same but wasn’t sure if I should say it.

  [NINA] What do you mean?

  [HALEY] U should still talk to your dad. It’s the only way to help.

  [MADDIE] I think so too. Won’t u feel bad if her dad ends up in jail?

  [NINA] Sure. But I’ll feel bad if Leah never talks to me again too.

  [MADDIE] I know. But she will see that u are right eventually.

  [HALEY] And that u were trying to be a good friend.

  [NINA] What kind of friend am I if I won’t even keep her secret, tho?

  [MADDIE] The kind who will do whatever it takes to help her. Even if she doesn’t appreciate it.

  [HALEY] M is right. Ur parents will know what to do.

  [MADDIE] I’m always right, lol! But srsly, Nina, it’s what I would do.

  [NINA] Even if she never speaks to me again?

  [MADDIE] Even then. But she will.

  [NINA] OK. Tx, u guys. I have to think about this some more. But I’ll let u know what happens.

  Nina signed off, her mind churning with what her Pony Post friends had just said. Were they right? Was it worth risking Leah’s friendship to help her family?

  “I just don’t know,” she murmured to Bastet, who had just nosed the door open and leaped onto the bed with Teniers right behind her. “I mean, maybe Leah’s dad will figure things out on his own. . . .”

  She sighed, wishing she knew what to do. But at least it helped to know that her fellow Pony Posters were there anytime she needed them to help her work through a difficult problem. Or any time their different time zones and schedules allowed, anyway. Nina stroked the cats’ glossy fur, wishing that Maddie, Haley, and Brooke were right there in the room with her to talk things over some more.

  Then again, while it’d be nice to have them there, she supposed it wasn’t really necessary. They’d already told her what they thought. Now it was up to Nina to decide what to do.

  That night at dinner, Nina didn’t have much of an appetite. She picked at her food, still trying to reach a decision about the whole Leah situation.

  For a while her parents were busy discussing a friend’s upcoming dinner party. But finally her father glanced at her.

  “Don’t you like the pork, Boo?” he asked.

  Nina looked up and forced a smile. “No, it’s great,” she said. “I’m just not very hungry today.”

  Her father raised an eyebrow and glanced at his wife. “Nina not hungry?” he joked. “Better call the doctor.”

  But Nina’s mother leaned forward. “Are you all right? You’ve been awfully quiet this evening.”

  “Still fretting over who to invite to the Expo?” her father added.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Nina replied quickly. She’d spent several dinners during the past week discussing that topic with her parents. “I mean, the least you guys could’ve done was spring for a few more tickets so I could just invite everyone I know!”

  Her father chuckled. “Sorry, next time we’ll be sure to buy out the whole place.”

  “I thought you said you’d invited the new girl at school.” Nina’s mother reached for another helping of salad. “That makes three, right? Didn’t you say you’d already asked Jordan and Leah?”

  “Yeah. But I’m not sure if Leah’s going or not.”

  “Oh?” Nina’s mother said.

  She didn’t sound particularly interested. Both of Nina’s parents knew that Leah could be moody; they wouldn’t question it if Nina said something like “Yeah, she might have something else to do that day” or even just “She changed her mind about going.”

  But she didn’t like to lie, especially to her family. Besides, maybe her Pony Post friends were right. Maybe she needed to be a true friend to Leah, to help her however she could, even if it was hard. Even if it meant the end of their friendship.

  Nina set down her fork and took a deep breath, hoping she was about to do the right thing. “Yeah,” she said. “See, she just found out something terrible, and I’m sort of wondering if you can help her, Dad. . . .”

  Right after dinner, Nina shut herself in her room and grabbed her phone. Her finger was shaking as she punched the little phone symbol beside Leah’s name in her contacts list. She wasn’t looking forward to this call, but she knew she had to make it. She wanted Leah to hear it from her first.

  “Nina? What?” Leah sounded distracted when she answered. “I’m in the middle of something.”

  “Okay, I’ll be quick.” Nina swallowed hard. “I talked to my dad tonight, and he thinks he can help your family. He’s planning to call your dad from the office first thing tomorrow.”

  There was a long moment of silence. When it finally came, Leah’s voice was ice cold. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No.” Nina clutched the phone. “I know you didn’t want me to say anything, but I just had to try to—”

  “I can’t believe this!” Leah shouted. “I can’t believe you totally betrayed me! You total jerk, you rat, you absolute loser . . .”

  There was more after that. Nina held the phone out from her ear a little, since Leah’s voice was pretty loud. But she listened to all of it without trying to interrupt.

  Finally Leah seemed to run out of words. “I’m sorry, Leah,” Nina said. “I understand why you’re angry, and I hope you’ll forgive me sometime. In fact, I’ll save your Expo ticket in case you decide you still want it. I really hope you’ll decide to come.”

  The only response was a click as Leah hung up. Nina dropped the phone on the bed beside her. Then she just sat there for a moment, shaking from head to toe and hoping she’d just done the right thing.

  CHAPTER

  11

  WHEN NINA LOGGED on to the Pony Post on Saturday morning, she discovered that there had been no new posts since she’d checked in the night before. That wasn’t so surprising in Maddie’s case, since it was still pretty early out in California. But Haley and Brooke both usually got up early to take care of their ponies, so Nina had expected they might have visited the site already.

  But she wasn’t really focused on her faraway friends. The Big Easy Equine Expo was today, and Nina’s local friends were due to arrive in about twenty minutes for the short drive up to Fair Grounds Race Course. That gave her just enough time to update the Pony Posters on the latest developments in the Leah situation.

  [NINA] Hi, all! So I’m off to the horse Expo today—remember I mentioned that a few weeks b
ack? I’ll let u know how it goes. I invited Leah before all the crazy stuff happened and I’m rly hoping she shows up, but I’m not holding my breath. She hasn’t talked to me since Tues. night when I confessed; she avoids me at school like I have Ebola or something, ugh. But I think it was worth it (?) b/c things are looking more hopeful for her family. My dad is doing all he can, and L’s parents seem supergrateful (even if she’s not. . . .). Last night Dad said he’s pretty sure L’s dad def. won’t go to jail, at least, and he might even be able to get back some of their $ even if the cops never find his partner. So I’m glad I did it. I just wish L would forgive me, u know? But tx for the advice, u guys are the best! Gtg, will check in tonight. Hope u all have fun with yr ponies today!

  After posting the message, Nina logged off and went to finish getting ready. When she got outside a few minutes later, she found her father standing at the curb beside an enormous white passenger van.

  “Where did that thing come from?” Nina asked. “It looks like it’s ready to transport an army.”

  Her father chuckled. “I borrowed it from your cousin Jeremy. He uses it at work to drive his crew around.”

  “Whoa, you mean you’re planning to drive us uptown in that?” Nina stepped closer and peered inside at the rows of battered leather seats. “Seriously? Because like I told you, I’m pretty sure Leah isn’t going to show, and Jordan and Edie and I aren’t that big. Shouldn’t we just take the car?”

  “Nah.” Her father shrugged, tossing the van’s keys from one hand to the other. “I figure we’d better take this just in case you girls decide to buy another pony or a bunch of saddles or something.”

  Nina laughed, even though she still didn’t really get it. “Okay,” she said. “I’m just saying . . .” She forgot about the van when she spotted Jordan and Edie hurrying up the street. “Guys! You’re here!”