A Little Less Girl Chapter 27 Summary

Jake

  • The next day, Jake heads out for a ride on his horse when he sees Dani on the porch.
  • She comes over, but she's clearly feeling terrible about Jake's hand. Jake tells her that he'd have done the same thing even if he knew Cody had a knife.
  • Dani tells Jake that Cody is going back to California and that Alex's dad confirmed he wasn't involved in Amy's death.
  • Jake offers her a ride on his horse; Dani suggests they go back to Amy's secret painting tunnel.
  • Dani tells Jake she wouldn't feel right about swimming in the next meet when he can't, but Jake tells her Coach Higgins might die if she quits the team. Besides, what happened to his hand isn't her fault.
  • At the tunnel, Jake and Dani look at the pictures. Dani really likes the one of Jake… maybe it's the horse that she's into? Yeah, right.
  • Then Dani notices another painting off in the corner.
  • This one isn't as cheery as the others. It's a picture of a mouth taking a bite out of someone's palm, and it's all in red and black and white.
  • What if something terrible happened to her, Dani says, and this is what she painted? Then she looks at Jake's hands.
  • Jake notices, and when he does, he freaks out: Does Dani still think he's the one who's responsible after all this time? Has it occurred to her that maybe no one is responsible, that perhaps Amy just killed herself or fell asleep at the wheel or swerved to miss a deer? Heck, maybe she was just a lousy driver? He finishes his panic-fest off by suggesting Dani just stop obsessing over what happened to Amy.
  • Oops… Once Jake's done, he realizes he's stepped over the line. But it's too late. Dani just turns and starts to walk back without him.