With a sudden jerk, the dog lifted his head, metal tags clinking. He gave her a look that clearly said,What the hell, Mommy?
“Time to get up!”
With no time to spare, Tyler buckled Rory into the passenger seat of her rusted-out SUV. The manufacturer had called the colorRadiant Red,but these days,Lackluster Redfelt more honest.
Raindrops speckled the windshield. She flicked on the wipers.
People called it “Rain City” for a reason. It fucking poured here. And the worst was yet to come—it was only the end of September.
Tyler had lived in Vancouver for over a decade, but her home was still Winnipeg.
As the saying goes: you can take the girl out of Manitoba—
But no oneever says that.
Tyler zipped along Commercial Drive, pretending she was a Formula 1 driver. She’d bingedDrive to Survivelast summer and was now fully obsessed with every team, every rivalry. Anytime someone mentionedpole position, her mind went straight to the gutter.
She pulled into Josh’s driveway and left the engine running. Having a shoddy alternator, she couldn’t run the risk of her truck not starting.
TheStranger Thingstheme played in her head as she inched open the door and crept into the kitchen.
Gross.
The stench of wet cigarettes hit her first, followed by the sight of beer splatter staining the walls like some kind of frat house crime scene. Pinching her nose, she scanned for the drummer’s passport.
How do people live like this?
She stepped over a graveyard of empty beer cans, the floor sticky beneath her sneakers. The remnants of last night’s beer pong battle were on full display—red Solo cups lined up like bowling pins at both ends of the kitchen table.
There, half-buried under the chaos, she spotted it: a dark blue booklet with a gold emblem. With one determined tug, she unstuck Josh’s passport from the table and held it between two fingers, like Rory’s poop bag.
Twenty minutes later, Tyler drove up the ramp to the airport’s Departures level. Thank god—Kim was already at the drop-off marker, her bright pink hair standing out like a flamingo in a crowd of beige.
Tyler rolled down the passenger-side window as she pulled to the curb.
“Dude, their flight just got delayed an hour,” Kim said, reaching for Josh’s passport. She grinned at Rory, who was curled up like a neck pillow, sound asleep. With his black-and-white markings, he looked like a miniature panda.
“Of course it did,” Tyler muttered.
It was a running joke in the office that Air Canada wasn’t happy unlessyouwere unhappy.
“Rory, wake up. It’s Kim!”
“Hey, buddy,” Kim whispered. Rory thumped his tail in lazy approval. He liked everyone, but he had a definite soft spot for Mom’s bestie.
“Any plans today?” Kim asked.
Tyler glanced at her watch. “Working from home.”
Kim rolled back the rim of her coffee cup. “You’re supposed to be workingforthe weekend, not on it.”
“Says the person going on tour.”
Kim chucked her cup into the recycling can. “Believe me, the Westgrays aren’t on my top-ten list.”
“I still miss Letterman,” Tyler said, absentmindedly picking at the worn vinyl on her steering wheel. “The Westgrays are super high maintenance. You’re going to have to burp and feed them.”
“I draw the line at bathing them.” Kim’s dark brown eyes lit up when she laughed. “Anyway, enough about them. Dude, if you ever want to meet someone you’ll have to put yourself back out there.”
