Water Lily by Terri Farley Page A

want to hear this?” Megan asked. “Because I’m good at giving advice, you know, but Idon’t throw my pearls before swine.”
    â€œYes! I want to hear!”
    â€œOkay.” Megan gave a satisfied nod. “So, I said that if he didn’t want to end up with things like they were before, he should have a list of demands, and he said, ‘Like what?’ And so we sat down together on the bunkhouse step and—”
    â€œThose were your ideas?”
    â€œNo, they were totally his,” Megan insisted. “I just put a little steel in his spine, yeah?”

Chapter Eleven
    T he next morning was Friday, but Darby woke up to the smell of pancakes. They were usually a weekend treat, but since school was still closed, Jonah had made his special coconut pancakes. This was also surprising because Jonah hadn’t eaten his tankatsu chicken dinner until eleven o’clock the night before.
    Jonah, Kit, and Cade had stayed outside, working by porch light and flashlight to finish the cremellos’ pasture fence. That meant they needed piping supplies from the hardware store in Hapuna for their next job.
    Despite the aroma of pancakes, Jonah wasn’t in the kitchen. But Megan was backing away from the refrigerator and Aunty Cathy was opening the oven.
    â€œGood morning,” Darby said.
    â€œWe’re going into town.” Megan shot her fist toward the ceiling in celebration.
    â€œI have to arrange for more hay to be delivered—we didn’t include the cremellos in our last order—and buy some replacement pipe for Flatlands.” Aunty Cathy nodded toward one of the far pastures as she handed Darby pancakes on a warm plate. “If you girls can finish your chores and move the cremellos into their pasture by ten o’clock, you can come along to help me. If you want.”
    â€œDefinitely,” Darby agreed.
    She shoveled down breakfast, pulled on boots and a sweatshirt, and got to work.
    The dogs greeted them with barks of joy. Jack and Jill trotted at Darby’s heels, waiting for her to do something more exciting than feed Francie the goat and her piglet, Pigolo. Knowing she’d spend even more time with Hoku, the Australian shepherds threw themselves down on their bellies. Muzzles between their front paws, they followed her with mournful brown eyes.
    Darby glanced at the dogs while she hand-fed the sorrel wisps of hay.
    This is so boring, the dogs’ eyes seemed to say. But when it was time to lead the cremellos to their new pasture, the dogs knew it.
    They sensed Darby’s excitement as she went to meet Megan. The walk was short. It took fewer than five minutes to go from Hoku’s pen to the gate, but the impatient neighs of the cremellos made Darby break into a jog.
    Megan fell in beside her, and Bart streaked two circles around their legs before bouncing back to Cade.
    Cade was working on something at the open gate. Perfectly balanced, he squatted at eye level with the bolt. His head was bent to his task, which involved rubbing something on the slide that extended into the fence post.
    At first Darby thought it was a bar of soap. Then she caught the aroma of honey.
    â€œBeeswax,” Megan told her when she saw Darby lick her lips. “You wouldn’t want to eat it, but it smells great, yeah?”
    â€œOh, yeah,” Darby said as Cade stood and slipped the yellow-brown lump into his pocket.
    â€œI’ve walked every inch of fence and made sure the bolt slides smoothly,” Cade told them. He turned away to yawn, and Darby noticed a piece of blond hair straggling out from under his hat. Cade’s tight paniolo braid was missing. It looked like he’d just stuffed his hair up under his hat.
    â€œYou were up late last night, weren’t you?” Darby sympathized.
    â€œWhat’s your point?” Cade asked, then frowned at the gate as if she’d criticized his work.
    As if on cue both girls held up their