Excerpt from Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"I really have to poop," June said.

"Keep holding it," her brother said.

"I am!"

The Jeep stopped at a place where another road crossed, and the two men hopped out of the back, leaving the shovels. The woman waved to them. Then the Jeep was climbing a mountain, and a few houses appeared on the side of the road. The road wound and twisted and then a man on a tall white horse was riding toward them. The Jeep slowed. Penny thought she might be imagining the horse, it was so white and bright. But then June whispered, "He's beautiful," and Penny knew that the others could see it, too.

The Jeep stopped, and the man on the horse looked down at them. He had dark, frowning eyebrows, and he spoke with the woman in Spanish. It was all too fast to understand. Penny looked to Isabel in the back seat for a translation, but Isabel ducked her chin toward her yellow bikini as if trying not to be seen.

The horse snorted. It had soft nostrils, gray and pink. The man on the horse smiled. His teeth were white and straight. "Welcome," he said.

"We need insulin," Penny told him. She felt blinded by embarrassment and confusion, the heat rising to her face. "Insulina. My brother is diabético. Also we need a bathroom."

"I have to poop!" June said.

"Pues, vámonos," the man said, turning the horse with the reins, and the Jeep started up the mountain again.

Excerpted from Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy. Copyright © 2017 by Maile Meloy. Excerpted by permission of Riverhead Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.