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Pearl shows up at the entrance to the ranch half expecting Jimmy not even to open the gate and just shoot her from a distance. He doesn’t open the gate, but he doesn’t shoot her, just hangs back looking wary and uncomfortable. Pearl says, “I came to apologise, it’s not a trick.”
Jimmy doesn’t relax. “Right,” he says. “Apologise. Did you bring back the horse?”
It’s not even his horse. Truth be told, Pearl isn’t entirely sure whose horse it is in the first place. “I lost it,” she says, truthfully. The horse, that is; she lost the horse. She tells Jimmy, “I don’t actually want to bully you so you’ll like me more.”
“What? Why’d you want to do that?”
Maybe he hadn’t heard. “Everyone says I’m crazy. But I’m not crazy,” Pearl says. “Do you ever think your friends make you want to be a worse person?”
Jimmy does a little shuffling motion slightly closer towards the gate, then stops. “Erm. I don’t think so?”
“You’re cute. Like a little bug I could step on with my shoe,” Pearl informs him. “I don’t want to hurt you, I promise.”
“Well, good? Thank you? I don’t wanna hurt you either.”
Pearl says, “We could be soulmates, have you considered that? Wouldn’t it be awful? I think it would be worse than a lot of things. But then we could tease Scott about it! With the snow! I had a dog,” she adds. “People were so mean to my dog, they hit her and kicked her and then when she growled at them they’d hit her and when she snapped at them they’d kick her.”
“...Okay,” says Jimmy, awkwardly. “Should I call someone? Er, Martyn, maybe?”
“Nooo, no, no-no,” Pearl says, sing-song, “don’t call! I won’t come when you call! I just wanna talk. You like talking! Right? You said we could be friends? Oh, but then you changed your mind.”
“I was kinda worried about you,” Jimmy says. Then, “I’m still kinda worried about you actually.”
It’s been a while since anyone’s been worried about Pearl. She brightens, leaning over the little wooden gate, closer to Jimmy. “He’s worried about you too,” she says, like it’s a secret, which it probably is. But Pearl’s been sneaky, sneaking around, getting all kinds of sneaking in. “Bet you’re glad you’re not his soulmate, yeah?”
“I’m— I’ll have you know I’m perfectly happy with... with my soulmate,” Jimmy says.
Pearl says, “Isn’t it kind of rude to be soulmates with someone else when you’re married? Isn’t it kind of cheating?”
“I—”
“Just kidding!” says Pearl. “I really shouldn’t have stolen your horse.”
“It’s fine,” Jimmy says. “I forgive you. I’ve got another one.”
Pearl giggles. Oh right, she was supposed to be apologising. “Sorry! Sorry, it’s fun to tease you, I think he was right when he said it’s fun to tease you. Everybody says I’m crazy,” she adds. Did she say that already? Well, people keep saying it. “I’m just lonely. I don’t want to tie you up and put you in a cage and poke you with a stick. And say you’re the worst person and the reason I don’t believe in love and the cause of all my problems. And hurt me.”
Jimmy looks kind of like he’s been hit upside the head. “Did... did someone do that to you?”
“Oh, I hope not,” Pearl says, shuddering. “That would be really mean, wouldn’t it?”