I huff a bittersweet laugh, resting my head on the wooden frame, then I close the door and walk slowly to the kitchen.
It’s empty, and I return to the living room, wondering what happened to Maverick. Clearly he and Haddy were in on this whole thing. There was no way those flowers got into my bedroom without their help.
“I’ll take Spanky out,” I call in the direction of Mav’s downstairs suite.
He doesn’t answer, but I’m not concerned. I walk over to my dog’s crate, then I stop when I see it’s empty. My brow furrows, and I look in the direction of Mav’s bedroom.
“Mav?” I call louder, walking to his door. I knock a few times, growing louder when he doesn’t answer. “Maverick?”
He walks out of the bedroom, doing a little dance with his eyes closed while he rubs a towel in his wet hair, and I realize he’s wearing earbuds.
“Maverick!” I wave my hands.
“Shit!” he shouts, throwing the towel across the room. Then his brow lowers, and he looks behind me. “Didn’t you and Owen make up? I thought you’d be going at it by now.”
“He has a daughter, Mav. He went home to see Maddie and Heather.”
“So y’all are good?” He walks over, putting an arm around my shoulders.
“We will be.”
“I gotta say, that boy did some serious work today to make it up to you.”
“He needed to.” My lips press into a smile, and I think about my bedroom-flower garden.
Then I remember. “Hey, where’s Spanky? I was going to take him for a walk, but he’s not in his cage.”
“What?” Mav walks from his bedroom into the living room. His voice grows louder, and he looks up, calling, “Spanky?”
Confusion tightens my chest, and I look from him to the empty cage up to my room. “You don’t know where he is?”
I run to the stairs, jogging up and running to my bedroom. It’s still filled with the gorgeous, fragrant flowers, but there’s no sign of my dog.
“Spanky?” I call, ripping the sheets on my bed up and looking under it.
I dash out into the hall again, running into Haddy’s old room, which was recently Heather and Maddie’s room. It’s completely empty.
I run down the hall to the guest room that was also Gavin’s, then Owen’s bedroom.Empty.
My stomach drops like a rock to my feet. I give the bathroom a quick check before running down the stairs again. “Did you find him?”
Mav shakes his head, blue eyes wide. “He’s not up there?”
Panic floods my veins, and my hands start to shake. “No… Where is he, Mav?”
My cousin dashes through the door to the kitchen. “Did he follow you outside?”
“I didn’t notice…” I was too busy blinking heart-eyes at Owen.
We run into the yard yelling his name. I run along the entire perimeter of the fence surrounding our backyard, calling his name. It’s only silence.
“Maverick!” I shriek, and I’m about to collapse when he catches me.
“Hang on… hang on. Let’s call Haddy.” He takes out his phone, dialing her number.
I only hear his side of the conversation, urgently asking if she remembers seeing Spanky this afternoon.
“You did?” His voice rises, and my heart leaps. “When you were helping bring the flowers in from the truck…”
