“Special,” I finish.
“I was going to say very strategic.”
I gesture to the screen door. “Jessica’s this way.”
“Your dog’s name is Jessica?”
“Didn’t name her.”
“Oh, you adopted her?”
“Inherited her.”
“Your brother?”
“Neighbor. Asked me to dog-sit while she went on vacation. Had a heart attack in Florida. Died. Nobody wanted the dog.”
“Oh my god.”
The porch was a nice warm-up to the heat, but the porch has fans and shade. Walking down the steps and out into the backyard is like stepping into that oven Ziggy was so impressed with.
“You okay in the heat?” I ask as I head down the stairs to the yard.
“If I’m not, it won’t be anything worse than what we’ve already dealt with.”
True enough.
I reach the bottom of the steps and whistle. “Jessica, come meet a new friend.”
A low growl from beneath the covered porch is my answer.
Dammit, dog.
She chewed through the lattice under the porch again. Don’t have time to get that fixed—and reinforced—before I leave. “C’mon, Jessica. She’s very nice, and she’s probably the kind of pushover who’ll bribe you with treats.”
Ziggy watches me as I get down on all fours and peer under the porch.
A flat, dark gray face at the front of a tan barrel body stares back at me.
Fuckin’ make me come out, that face says.I fuckin’ dare you.
Yeah, yeah, I know.Don’t ask a pregnant woman to take care of a hell-beast.
I wouldn’t if I didn’t know this dog’s secret.
I’m the only one she has a problem with. Everyone else is great.
Until I ask if she wants a new home where she’d like her owners better.
Then she makes me feel like an asshole for suggesting it.
I lost my human and now you want to give me away instead of letting me grieve by being an asshole to you?
Swear on my favorite cleats, that’s what it looks like she’s thinking.
If I get picked up by a team overseas, figuring out what to do with Jessica will be the hardest part.
Yeah. Finding a house for a dog who hates me.
