The Secret Sense of Wildflower Read Online Free PDF Page B

aren’t supposed to interest girls my age, so I hide my treasures now.
    “I said I know who it was,” I say again, but I sound more timid this time.
    Everybody looks at me like I am Moses about to deliver the Ten Commandments. Mama folds her arms into her chest, her lips tight. When I was younger, this could make the truth spill out of me like cornmeal out of a sack. But I am not in the mood to give her what she wants.
    “Well, who was it?” Mama asks. “Those baby possums out back have already had time to be weaned and have babies of their own.”
    Everybody waits while I debate which of my actions will get me in the least amount of trouble. If I tell, Mama will be like a dog given a new bone to chew on. If I don’t, Johnny might just walk right into our house someday like he owns the place.
    “It was Johnny Monroe, that’s who it was,” I say finally.
    Daniel takes his arm off my shoulder. He places his foot on the porch rail and leans on his knee, as if this information changes things.
    “Johnny’s a good-for-nothin’, that’s for sure,” Nathan says.
    Johnny is Nathan’s second cousin, but they aren’t close. Practically everybody in their family has given up on Johnny. He is what people around here call a “black sheep.”
    “It was him,” I insist.
    Mama presses her fingers into her temples like I am giving her one whopper of a headache.
    “I wouldn’t put it past him,” Daniel says. “Those Monroes know these mountains better than anybody. They might be watching us right now.”
    “But why would Johnny come up here?” Mama asks. Her eyes narrow like she’s just set a trap for me.
    I mumble that I don’t know and shoot Meg a look that threatens to expose her entire collection of romance novels under our bed. Meg doesn’t flinch from my threat and pours herself another glass of tea.
    I am not about to tell Mama how many times Johnny has asked after Meg, or the things Johnny has said to me. She’ll make too big of a deal about it or no deal at all. But it would be just like Johnny to hike up the ridge and perch on the hillside in the hopes of getting a look at Meg or me in our underwear.
    “We could go ask Johnny about it,” Daniel says to Mama.
    “No, you boys have done enough,” Mama says. “I’m sure it’s nothing to fuss about.” She goes into the pantry and gets them each a jar of homemade applesauce. Mama never lets anybody leave the house without giving them something to take back home. Applesauce, apples, tomatoes, strawberry preserves—-anything she has extra in the pantry. “Tell the girls I said hello,” Mama says.
    They each kiss Mama on the cheek.
    “The best part of having grown daughters is the sons-in-law that come with them,” Mama says.
    She looks over at Meg and me like she expects us to come up with someone to marry who is just as good. I don’t know how to tell her that I have no interest whatsoever. All girls want to do around here when they grow up is get married. But if I can’t find somebody as good as Daddy, I’m not going to bother.
    Later that night Meg and I are in bed and I give her the silent treatment because I am still fuming that she didn’t speak up earlier about what I heard in the woods.
    “Johnny gives me the creeps, too,” Meg says. She turns a page of her book.
    “Really?” I ask, my anger turning to relief.
    “Just stay away from him,” she says, not looking up.
    “I do stay away from him,” I say, “except when he’s waiting on the road. But what if that was him out back the other night, Meg?”
    She puts a finger in the book to mark her place and turns to face me. “Johnny’s too lazy to come all the way up here. He hangs out mainly on the road. It was probably a deer or something and you just imagined it was Johnny.”
    It feels like the hundredth time that day my grasp on reality has been questioned, but I am just too tired to argue.
    “I’ll turn out the light in a minute,” she says. Meg moistens her bottom lip with