“That was Rosemary…Bella’s missing.”
CHAPTER16
Sky swung the flashlight in a slow arc as she continued to call Bella’s name. They’d been walking through the forest near Rosemary’s home for the better part of an hour but still hadn’t found the little dog. This had happened once before, and Rosemary had called her that day too, only that time, Sky had found Bella within fifteen minutes.
She knew Rosemary was getting old, but the woman really needed to make sure Bella didn’t get out by herself.
“Why does she call you?” Becket asked.
She glanced at him, but the darkness kept most of his face shadowed. “I look after Bella a lot at the doggy daycare, and the dog likes me. Rosemary also doesn’t have anyone else to turn to in town.” She worried her bottom lip. “I found her a lot faster last time. What if—”
“We’ll find her,” he interrupted.
“I hope so. But she’s getting old, and she doesn’t see very well and it’s dark. She could have made her way to the street and walked in front of a car.”
“She won’t walk in front of a car.”
“You don’t know that.”
Becket stopped. “Hey, look at me.”
She swallowed, taking a moment before looking up. Even in the darkness, she could see his eyes were shining with intensity, so focused on her it was almost as if the forest faded away around them. “We’ll find her, and she’ll be happy and healthy. Then we’ll return her to Rosemary.”
“You can’t guarantee that.”
“No, but my gut tells me it’s true. And my gut’s rarely wrong.”
“Always so confident.” She wished she could say the same about herself. A small smile lifted her lips. “If she skipped dinner, she won’t be happy. I once gave her lunch twenty minutes late and she gave me the cold shoulder for a good hour after.”
“So she’s probably wanting to find us as much as we want to find her.”
Sky nodded before searching with the flashlight again. She wished she was as positive as Becket. But she knew the pain of losing a pet, and right now, all she could think about was the worst-case scenario.
“I once had a goldfish.”
She looked back at him. “You did?”
“Yep. I was in first grade and Billy Young had one. He talked about his fish all the damn time. I hated him.”
She laughed. “Why did you hate him?”
“Because he was annoying. But he talked about that goddamn fish so much that I wanted one. Mom said I could have one, but I’d be one hundred percent responsible for him.”
“Something tells me this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”
“He died.”
“I knew it.”
“Monsieur Claude ate him.”
Sky frowned. “Who’s Monsieur Claude?”
“He was Clara’s dog.”
“So that’s why you hate dogs.”
“I hate dogs because I’d wake up to Monsieur Claude’s disgusting dog breath in my face every morning. Because even though he was Clara’s dog, I still had to pick up his shit every other week.”
