"From the state of the place, I'm guessing no one's been here for a while," she said. "State ... of it before. We had it fixed up," she added, not wanting him to somehow be under the impression she was moving in to some dilapidated old place - or worse, that she was subjecting her horses to a falling-apart barn.
"You know anything about this place?" If he'd lived here forever and was a curious kid - as opposed to one who kept his face buried in his phone - he might know something about the history, the past owners. She had no reason to believe her mother had ever lived here, but ... who knew. She hadn't ever bothered to look her up and she'd never asked her dad about where she might be now.
Well, now she was buried, but ... prior to that.
"New," she replied. "Just moved in about half an hour ago," she laughed. "I'm Jaime. The tan guy watching you is Reggie, and the black on that couldn't care less is Belle." And Reggie was still watching him. His ears had flicked back slightly when the boy had approached, though they were up again now, his dark eyes focused on the stranger.