Solomon's Oak Read Online Free Page B

oversize T-shirt, and slip-on tennis shoes. Wardrobe pickings were slim at Social Services.
    “Welcome to Solomon’s Oak. I’m Mrs. Solomon, but you can call me Glory.”
    The girl flashed a practiced smile. “Thank you for having me, Mrs. Solomon.”
    “You’re welcome. What’s your name?”
    “Juniper.”
    “Nice to meet you, Juniper.”
    Juniper looked toward the barn because of course the dogs were still barking. They wouldn’t shut up until Caroline visited or Glory went back there and told them to knock it off.
    “You have a dog?” Juniper asked, while Caroline rummaged through her bag for the mandatory paperwork Glory would need to sign, even to take the girl in for that single night.
    “Actually, I have three of them. Do you like dogs?”
    “Um,” she said, hauling out that polite smile again, “they’re all right as long as they’re behind a fence.”
    “They’re kenneled. I have a couple of old horses, too. Nothing to write home about, but they’re rideable. Do you ride?”
    “I’m afraid of horses.”
    “I only let them in the house at mealtimes,” Glory joked, but only Caroline laughed. “If you change your mind, there’s a fifty-pound sack of carrots in the barn. Take a few and stand at the fence. They’ll come to you.” No reaction. What had she got herself into?
    “Jeez Louise, where’s a pen when you need one?” Caroline said, pawing through her purse. “It’s like I’m carrying around my own personal black hole.”
    Glory couldn’t take her eyes off the girl. Juniper. Interesting name. What lay behind that locked-up, blank expression? What did she make of the pirates practicing their sword fight on the sod Glory had laid down especially for the wedding? When she caught Glory looking, Juniper shrugged, as if it would take a lot more than that to impress her. Juniper looked west to the grove of oaks and uncultivated land, and then east. Because the ranch was sunk down in the valley, the hills blocked the city lights. At night, the periodic glimmer of headlights on Highway 101 was all that suggested civilization was in the distance. Glory could tell Juniper was thinking about running away and wondered if she’d try. It would be a long trek to the Chevron station just off the highway, and the first place cops would look for her.
    “Caroline, I’m sure I have a pen inside,” Glory said, and then Juniper noticed the chapel.
    “Is that a church? What is she, a nun?” Juniper wheeled around to face Caroline. “Ms. Proctor, did you bring to me to a convent?”
    “Of course not,” Caroline said. “Do those even exist anymore?”
    “It’s a private wedding chapel,” Glory said. “Or a layperson’s? Shoot, I don’t even know what to call it. No nuns.” She pointed to the groom’s party, who were already drinking and laughing. “Just a wedding.”
    The girl turned to Caroline, who’d found a pen, but it was out of ink. “You said there wouldn’t be any men.”
    Caroline sighed. “First of all, Mrs. Solomon is standing right here. Talk to her instead of about her, please. And unless she’s opened a hotel in the last thirty minutes, I don’t think the men are staying.”
    “They’re not,” Glory said.
    “They better not be,” Juniper said, “or you can drive me back to the group home. I don’t care if it is Thanksgiving. You promised no men.”
    Caroline said, “For heaven’s sake, Juniper. Mrs. Solomon isn’t lying to you. Apologize for your outburst.”
    “Whatever. Sorry.”
    By now Dan would have had the girl laughing at his terrible elephant jokes. Why do elephants wear blue tennis shoes? Because it’s so hard to keep the white ones clean. How do you get an elephant in an oak tree? Sit it down on an acorn and wait fifty years. Despite Juniper’s fear of horses, he would have set her on top of bombproof Cricket and let her ride all the way up to the hilltop so she could feel all the open space around her.
    “What’s with the costumes and the