Thad walked the length of the house, then backtracked so that he could check it out from the front. He glanced over at the truck to make sure the dog was okay before jogging up the steps so he could peek into the small window on one of two front doors. He liked what he saw inside.
He took out his phone and called Von.
“You decide to come to the restaurant after all?” Von asked. “I’m in the latrine. Let the server know you’re with the handsome guy at the back table near the bar.”
Thad rolled his eyes. “I told you Grams wants to see her dog. I’m…” He looked around. “I think this area is called the Bywater. There’s a spot here that has potential.Realpotential,” Thad emphasized. “I’m going to send a few pics and the address so you can look it up on those real estate sites you’ve been searching.”
“Snap a pick of theFOR SALEsign. I can search it by the MLS number,” Von said. “Oh, and I talked to the manager here at the restaurant and he said they’ve done pop-ups before. They’ll roll the smoker out and set up shop wherever you need them to.”
“Based on the size, this property probably has a place for that in the back,” Thad said. “I’ll try to poke around the fenced-in area before I leave.”
“Or you can just use Google Earth like every other nosy person in the world who wants to look into someone’s backyard,” Von said. “Damn, Sims. Not even a year out of the corps and you’re already losing your touch.”
“Fuck you,” Thad said. Von’s laugh came through the phone before Thad could disconnect the call.
He searched for Google Earth using his browser because he didn’t trust the app enough to have it downloaded on his phone. Not that he couldn’t be found by any entity who cared to look—no one could stay completely hidden these days—but why make it easy for them?
Thad plugged in the address for the property at Clouet and Royal Streets. The backyard was even better than he first thought.
“Yeah, this could work.” He snapped a few more pictures and texted them to Von as he walked back to his truck.
Once there, he peered through the window and frownedat the tufts of white cotton strewn about the seat. “What the hell is this?” Thad asked, opening the door.
That’s when he saw the Puddin’-size bite marks on the center console.
“I know you didn’t—”
Thad leaned over to see the passenger side. The little bastard had chewed up the console.
Puddin’ lay on the seat, his chin resting on the alligator chew toy.
Thad snatched the alligator and wagged it in the dog’s face. “This is what you’re supposed to chew. Thechewtoy! It’s in the fucking name!”
Puddin’ looked up at him then turned his head.
Thad counted to ten before he slid behind the wheel. He started the truck, but left it idling while he tried to calm down. The urge to throw his grandmother’s beloved poodle out of a moving vehicle was too strong to trust himself not to do it.
Puddin’ let out a loud snore.
Thad looked down at the dog. “I hate you,” he said as he drove off.
He parallel parked into a spot across from Chateau Esplanade Senior Living’s front gates ten minutes later.
Thad hadn’t been happy when the doctors recommended his grandmother transition to an assisted living facility. Knowing how much she valued her independence, and how much she loved the house she and his grandfather had lived in for more than fifty years, he feared the move would hit Grams the same way leaving the Army had hit him.
He could not have been more wrong.
For one thing, Chateau Esplanade was a hundred timesnicer than any place he had ever lived in. They’d leaned heavily into the French theme throughout the building and the grounds, and the staff kept the place immaculate. But it was the companionship of the other residents that gave him peace of mind. He didn’t have to worry about Grams being lonely, which had been another of his concerns.
His phone rang. It was his grandmother.
“You didn’t get in an accident on the way here, did you?” she asked. “Where’s my dog? Is he hurt?”
“At least I know wheremywell-being lands on your priority list,” Thad said. “We just pulled up. Give me a minute.”
Thad clipped the leash onto Puddin’s collar. “Come on before she sends a search squad out here for you.”
His grandmother was waiting on the porch that spanned the length of the building’s palatial façade. As usual, she was impeccably dressed in pressed slacks and a silk blouse. Not a single strand of her silver hair was out of place. Thad had never once seen her in polyester or hair curlers.
