needs her toys.â
âHmm. Well, the dining room walls look fine to me,â her father said. âBut if youâre really willing to work for cash, I have another job for you. . . .â
An hour later, Maddie looked up as the door leading from the house to the garage banged open. Her brother Ryan peered out at her. He was holding a book with his finger stuck in it to save his page. His dark hair was tousled, and his glasses were slightly askew as usual.
âWhat are you doing?â he asked.
âWhat does it look like?â Maddie sat back on her heels, giving her wrist a break. Sheâd been scrubbing at a grease spot on the garageâs cement floor for at least ten minutes, and it still looked as disgusting as ever.
Ryan shrugged. âDad said heâll be back out to help in a little while. Oh, he also said to tell you not to forget to sort the nails and stuff on his workbench.â
Maddie glanced at the tools, hardware, and random scraps of wood piled all over the large wooden counter built against the back wall. Ugh. It was going to take at least another hour in the hot garage to sort out that mess. Maddie swiped at the sweat beading on her forehead. Unfortunately, she forgot she was still holding the greasy rag.
âOh, gross!â she exclaimed as she felt the sticky, gritty grease coat her skin.
Ryan let out a bark of laughter. âWhoa,â he said. âYou look like Batman!â
âThanks a lot,â Maddie muttered.
âHey, Ty!â Ryan turned and shouted back into the house. âCheck this outâMaddieâs Batman!â
Maddie tossed the rag in his direction, though it only went a few inches before fluttering to the ground. âGet out of here, will you?â she said. âEither that, or get out here and help me.â
âNo thanks.â Ryan grinned at her. âI have better things to do. Like stare at the wall.â
He disappeared, slamming the door behind him. Maddie used the hem of her T-shirt to wipe the grease off her face. Why not? The shirt was already filthy.
She had better things to do too. Like just about anything that would get her out of this hot, dirty, smelly garage. Theyâd lived in this house for less than three years. How had the garage ended up crammed full of so much junk? For a second she was tempted to go into the air-conditioned house and tell her father that sheâd quit.
But then she remembered why she was doing this in the first place. It was all for Cloudy. She pictured the mare the way sheâd seen her earlier that day, happily eating hay in her paddock. At Solano Stables, where she belonged. Suddenly cleaning out the garage didnât seemso terrible after all. At least not compared to the possibility of losing Cloudy.
Keeping that thought firmly in mind, Maddie grabbed the rag from where sheâd tossed it and set to work on the grease spot with renewed energy.
CHAPTER
8
âWILL YOU TURN OFF THE light, already?â Maddie grumbled, glaring at her sister.
âChill. Iâll be done in a sec.â Tillie was standing in front of her mirror, running a brush over her chin-length wavy hair. Several bottles and tubes were arrayed in front of her, and as Maddie watched, Tillie set down the brush and picked up one of the bottles. She carefully squeezed a tiny dab of goo onto her finger and started rubbing it on her face in small circles.
Maddie was tempted to get up and switch off the overhead light herself. Let Tillie finish her stupid beauty routine in the dark!
But she was too exhausted to bother. Every part of her body ached. She hadnât been this tired in a long timeâmaybe ever.
After sheâd finished cleaning the garage, Maddie had gone around to all the neighborsâ houses looking for more work. And sheâd found it. First Mrs. Bracken had hired her to clean all the windows in her entire house. It was only after the insides of the windows were all