She’d had soccer practice after school, and Coach Wu had kept them hustling the whole time. Maddie hadn’t even had a spare moment to eat the granola bar she’d brought as a snack. She hadn’t eaten it on the way home, either, since she’d caught a ride with one of the other players’ mothers, and the woman’s car was so spotless that Maddie was afraid to move, let alone eat. Her father looked up from loading the dishwasher when Maddie walked in. “There you are,” he said, not quite smiling. “I was just starting to wonder if you’d run away from home to escape the wrath of Tillie.” Maddie grimaced. “Is she here?” “Yes, she’s up in your room. And still not happy.” Maddie could tell her father wasn’t particularly thrilled with her, either. By the time she’d arrived home from the barn the previous afternoon, she’d been in some serious hot water. It was hard to say how much of her parents’ annoyance came from the fact that Maddie had taken something that didn’t belong to her without asking—always a cardinal sin in their house—and how much was from having to listen to Tillie gripe at them about it for more than an hour before Maddie turned up.
