Abbi scrambled up the fender and over the tailgate.
I muscled my way through the heat to the truck. “You okay, girl?” I asked Lorde.
She was part chow chow and part shepherd, a big black fuzzy creature. Dripping wet, she looked half her size. She panted and swished her tail, as Abbi tromped around the bed, moving blankets and pillows.
“How about we get you to a nice, air-conditioned motel?” I scratched behind the dog’s ears. She narrowed her eyes, mouth open, content. “Come on up into the cab.”
“We’re riding in the back,” Abbi said. “Together!”
“You can’t ride back here.”
“Yes, we can.” She plopped down on the blankets next to Lorde. “See?”
“Children aren’t allowed to ride in the backs of trucks.”
She pulled her backpack off and into her lap. “I’m not a children.”
“You look like one and if anyone sees you, we’ll get a ticket.”
She blew a raspberry. “No one’s going to see me. I’ve got a magic feather!” She held it up like a torch, then tucked it into her pocket before the wind tugged it away.
She patted her knee. Lorde turned a circle, then settled next to her, dropping her head into Abbi’s lap for gentle pets.
“We like the wind,” Abbi said, more to the dog than to me. “And I can help keep her cool.” Her chocolate eyes were moonshot, filled with a soft silver power.
The air around them did seem cooler.
Moon Rabbit.
Lorde made a happy growly sound and sighed.
“Well, I want a motel and a shower.”
“What about the Blarney Stone?” Abbi asked.
I wiped sweat off my face. “What about it?”
“I want to see it.”
“Then you need to buy tickets to Ireland.”
Abbi frowned. “Why?”
“That’s where you’ll find it.”
“But…” She dug in her backpack, laughed as Hado attacked her hand, then held up a brochure:Quirky and Oddball Sights You Cannot Miss on Route 66.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I grumbled.
“'Stop by the delightful town of Shamrock, Texas, and kiss the Blarney Stone for good luck,’” she read. “We need good luck. Let’s go kiss that stone.”
“Abbi, that’s a tourist attraction to lure people into town.”
“So is the one in Ireland.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. “You’re not kissing a stone.”
“I know. I’m gonna lick it.”
