Lu walked a steady pace. I fell into place beside her.
“Hey, love,” I said.
She tipped her hand up at her side, and I pressed my palm into hers.
“Love you too,” she said.
Chapter Sixteen
Lorde couldn’t stop wagging her tail. Her ears were velvety peaks, her mouth open, black tongue lolling and happy. Lu knelt in front of her, her forehead against the side of Lorde’s head, scratching behind her ears softly.
“You’ll need to change the dressing twice a day for the first few days,” Dr. Carter said. “You should be able to take off the wrap in a week, or when she starts using her leg without limping. She’s going to heal nicely as long as she doesn’t overdo it in the first few days. No running, no climbing stairs. Can you lift her into your vehicle?”
Lu nodded, still draped over Lorde, fingers buried in her fur.
The truck was still at Sunshine’s garage. I’d tried to steer Lu there first this morning, but she’d been determined to get Lorde before anything else. Including food.
But she wasn’t going to make Lorde limp around town to pick up the truck or food. She’d called for a Lyft driver, who was waiting outside.
“Just give her pain medication and antibiotics according to the schedule here,” Dr. Carter made a note on the prescription pad, “and check in with a vet a month from now, or if you see anything odd with the wound.”
“We got it,” I said. “Old hands at dealing with wounds. She’s going to be fine, Lu.”
Lu nodded again, and with a breath, finally let go of Lorde and stood. Lorde tipped her head my way and wagged her tail harder until I reached down and took over the scratching behind her ears.
“Thank you,” Lu said, accepting the piece of paper and the little bag with the bottles of medicine. “I really appreciate you taking such good care of her.”
“She was a brave girl. I’m happy she’s on the mend. But no more bullets, Lorde, okay?”
Lorde just sat there enjoying my fingers stroking behind her ears.
“Leon,” I pushed to Lu. “He stayed with her last night. Did a good job.”
“Tell Leon thank you for staying the night with her too.”
The doctor smiled, obviously surprised that Lu would have remembered the man who took the night shift for Lorde.
“I’ll tell him. He said she slept straight through.”
“Good. Thank you again,” Lu said.
“We’re happy to have been here,” Dr. Carter said. “I certainly hope things settle down. No more excitement in the future, okay?”
Lu gave her a small smile and a wave, because saying she would never be on the wrong side of a gun when a magical item was involved would be a promise she couldn’t keep.
Lorde stood and limped to Lu’s side, her injured foot touching the ground for half a second before she put her weight on the next foot.
Lu opened the door for her. I passed through the wall to meet them on the other side.
“Good girl, Lorde,” I said.
The Lyft driver, Tom, was a kid with a Black Hawks hat on backward and a collection of chin zits. He looked like he’d just escaped middle school, but he produced ID that said he was twenty-one. He pushed off the hood of the Dodge Durango I figured he had borrowed from his parents, just as Lu crouched down.
“Want me to help you with her?”
“I got her,” Lu said, straightening with a hundred pounds of dog in her arms. “Get the door?”
“Yeah, sure. Hold on.” He snapped to it, opening the back door, then jogging around to the other side and opening that door so he could reach half way through to help get Lorde settled.
