“Just passing by, Mr. Falvey?”

He nodded, and hesitated before saying, “I helped myself to a drink. I’ll put the money on the bar when I go back in. I heard you out here and-”

“That’s all right,” Karla said easily. “You could pay the next time for that matter.”

“I didn’t see your father inside.”

“He had to go to Fuegos.” She said then, “Your friend Renda was here to pick up supplies. I suppose you passed him coming in.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“They only left about an hour ago.”

“I took the horse trail,” Falvey said. Then asked, “Are you alone?”

She nodded, seeing his gaze move to the corral again.

“I thought I saw someone out there,” Falvey said, “just as I came out of the house.”

Karla looked out from the shade. “I don’t know who it would be.”

“No, it was probably the way the horses were standing.” Falvey was silent for a moment. “You’re here all alone?”

“I’m used to it,” Karla said. “Pa has to go to Fuegos every once in a while, to the telegraph office.”

“Oh-” Falvey nodded. “What about your mother…is she-”

“Dead?” Karla smiled at his uneasiness. “No, she’s in Willcox with my two sisters.”

“I didn’t know you had sisters.”

“Younger ones. They’re still in school and my mother stays with them for the term. They’ll be back soon for the summer.”

Falvey seemed more relaxed. “It must be hard not seeing them most of the year.”

“It is, but my mother says we all have to be educated. She was born in Sonora…You see, her mother was Mexican, but her pa was an American, a mining man, and she didn’t go to school at all. That’s why we have to, even if it means being away.”