Fiona by Meredith Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

now.”
    â€œYou’ve been helping her ditch school,” I say with a sigh, my suspicions confirmed.
    He shrugs. “She needed to get away. She needs space and time to grieve, and no one else is giving it to her.”
    â€œShe’s eleven!” I say, stepping even closer to him so that he can see the exasperation in my eyes. “She can’t be traipsing around the country on her own!”
    â€œShe knows this part of the country almost as well as I do, and she mostly keeps to the estate anyway. She’ll be fine.” He pauses, looking down at me seriously. “You need to let her breathe.”
    I want to keep yelling at him the way that Mabel yelled at me, but I know he’s right. All of the fight evaporates right out of me. “I don’t know how to get through to her,” I say, sitting down on a bench outside the stall he’s been working in.
    He sits beside me carefully, resting his back against the stall door and stretching his long legs out in front of him. “I think you’re doing a fine job.”
    I snort. “What makes you think that?”
    He catches my eyes. “She told me so. She told me that you lost your mother when you were young, too. She’ll open up to you, if you give her time to keep learning to trust you.”
    I lean back against the wall, my shoulder brushing against his. “I hope so,” I mutter.
    It takes me a moment to realize that he’s still watching me, and when I look over to meet his gaze, there’s an easy smirk on his lips, a spark in those dark brown eyes that makes me blink.
    I push myself up. “I should get back to the house. I’ve been helping Alice.” I didn’t mean to add that last part, but as soonas the words leave my mouth I know that I said them because I wanted to see his reaction to her name.
    â€œThat’s nice of you,” he says simply. Those dark brown eyes don’t change, still intent on mine.
    â€œShe’s very nice.”
    He finally reacts, dropping the smirk and raising his eyebrows.
    â€œWell, she’s not
nice
, really,” I amend, officially babbling now. “She’s not, like, the warmest person ever. But she’s the only one in the house besides Albert who doesn’t make me feel like I’m beneath them or that I’m bothering them or . . . or something.”
    â€œDid someone tell you that Alice and I are together?” Gareth asks, standing up.
    â€œYes,” I confess, though I don’t tell him it was Poppy, so I can pretend that I’m not breaking her trust.
    â€œWell, we’re not. We used to be.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    He shrugs. “Didn’t fit,” he says, like it’s so simple.
    â€œAnd what does she think about that?” I ask.
    He looks away, and I have my answer. I can’t keep this flirtation up. I’m not even truly into him, and he’s not worth losing my tentative friendship with Alice.
    â€œYeah, well, look, I’ve got to go. Can you send Poppy inside when she gets back?”
    He nods slowly and sits back down on the bench when I leave him.
    I start to head to the house, but the thought of going back there, to the cold air and Mabel’s disapproving scowl, makes me feel like I can’t breathe. Instead, I let my feet lead me out beyond the stables, into the lush fields of grass. Poppy won’t come back until she’s good and ready, and I can talk with her then.
    The wind lashes violently around me, and I wrap my arms around myself, pushing on. I wander around the castle, staying in this orbit so I don’t get lost. The mud and bracken squelch beneath my tennis shoes. The afternoon fades into evening, the sun slipping behind the mountains. The air grows colder, unfriendlier, as the fog rolls in. This place is harsh, suited only for people with rugged souls and weathered faces. Or people like the Moffats, who are wealthy enough to build a