Chapter 4Mari hesitated. “I…I’m all grungy and smell like horses…”
“So what? I don’t care. I prob’ly do too.”
“Let me at least go wash my face and hands and put on a clean shirt.”
“Okay, if you insist.”
They’d been walking toward the house. He stopped, just short of stepping up on the rickety porch. She’d said earlier she didn’t want anyone to see it, and he respected her wish.
She shrugged and exhaled a deep sigh. “Oh, come on in. It’s a mess and I’m ashamed, but come in anyway.”
He followed her, not sure what to expect. The door opened into the living room, which was small and rather dark. A cast iron stove crouched in one corner. The worn, sagging couch sat opposite the stove, propped on a cement block in lieu of a missing leg. Items of tack were strewn around, and a pair of boots
