Those Who Favor Fire by Lauren Wolk (easy readers .TXT) 📕

to gray and had the look of houses built by the sea. Its windows were tall and thin, its porch wide and deep, and upstairs there was a small balcony with French doors, which would make it easy to hurry out into the morning or watch the flight of the moon. When Rusty appeared suddenly on the balcony, waving the key in his hand, Joe was reminded of the day he’d given him the tree house. And for the first time since leaving Belle Haven that morning, Joe thought that maybe he’d done the right thing.

Angela looked at her son on that balcony, looked around her at the safe and beautiful woods, and breathed a long, shuddering sigh. Then she dropped Rachel’s hand, took her mother’s, and the two of them walked slowly toward the cottage.

Joe watched them until they disappeared inside the house. He knew he had no choice now but to turn and look at Rachel, to see what waited on her face. He could hear her breathing. The branches of the trees overhead moved gently. The sunlight moved on the ground as if on water. There was no smell to the air except of damp earth. One of the best smells there is.

“Where are you going to live?” Rachel finally said.

Joe turned and looked at her face, but she avoided his eye. She was not smiling. She looked as if she never had.

“I’ll show you,” he said, heading farther down the lane into the woods. At a narrow path, Joe turned off the lane and led the way through the trees to a cabin. It was old but appeared sound, a little bit mossy, a little bit crooked, somewhat overgrown. It, too, had a porch in front, a garden wild with carrots and rampant beans, an enormous chimney. “It’s where one of the trainers lived when this was a working farm. Wait until you see the fireplace,” he said, heading for the door.

“Joe,” she said, stopping him. He turned slowly. “I don’t care about your fireplace. I don’t care about any of this.”

Joe opened his mouth and closed it again. Shrugged. “I was pretty sure you’d feel that way,” he said.

“But you did it anyway.”

He looked up, straightened his shoulders. “Why not? You know how I feel about staying in Belle Haven. It’s a dangerous place to be. I don’t want to lose the people I love. What’s wrong with that?”

“Then where’s my house? Didn’t you build one for me?” She peered into the woods. “Or did you think I’d move in here, with you?” She looked at him. “Or don’t I count as one of the people you love anymore?”

“Don’t do that,” he said. There was more anger on his face than she’d seen there in a long time. “Don’t you dare do that. You’ve kept me at arm’s length for weeks now. You’ve tried to make me feel how you feel, and I can’t and I won’t. Not anymore. And if I lose you in the process, then I lose you.” He stopped to breathe. “But don’t you dare suggest that I’m the one who’s become hardhearted. That’s you.” He nearly drove her back a step with his fury. “Not me.”

They stared at each other, Rachel trying to remember what she’d meant to say, Joe calming himself by degrees.

“If you knew how I would feel about all this, why did you bring me along?” she said.

Joe rubbed the back of his neck, shook his head. “I didn’t know for sure,” he said, unable to look at her. “I hoped after you saw this farm, you’d want to live here too. Near me. But on your own.” He met her eye. “I didn’t build you a house because you can afford to build your own house and I knew you’d want to be the one to do it.”

“Don’t tell me this has anything to do with money. If it was about money, you wouldn’t have brought Earl and Mag up here. They’d be okay on their own. You’d have brought people like the Millers who live down by the tracks. I don’t see them here, but they’re the ones who need the most help.”

“You’re right,” Joe said, a little of his anger returning. “It’s not only about money. I’m not doing this just to help people. I’m doing it for them and me both. I chose people who get along well with one another, who are already friends and will look after one another. People I care about. Some of them need more help than others. I could afford to help them all, so I did. And if I’ve annoyed you in the process, I’m sorry.”

“Annoyed? You think I’m annoyed?” she said. “I am annoyed by people who let their dogs shit where I walk. By slow drivers in the fast lane. I am annoyed by people who give little girls toy ironing boards for Christmas. I am not annoyed by what you have done. I am disgusted.” She waved her arm at the trees. “By the way you have taken my friends and the only family I’ve got and my entire life and tried to make them all yours.” She began to back down the path through the trees. “You don’t like your life anymore, so you help yourself to mine. Buy people some houses, and they’re friends for life. You spend a whole year building this place, and you keep it a secret. From me.” She hit her chest with her hand. “From me! How could you do that? You know I’d do anything to keep Belle Haven from falling apart, but things have gotten to be too much for me. And now you’re pushing them faster. You’re making it so much harder.

“I trusted you,” she said. And she turned away, walked off down the path and onto the lane, heading for the van.

Joe stood alone outside his cabin and watched her moving through the woods until he could no longer see her. Then