6
SANDRA
Jerry spinson me as soon as I hop into his passenger seat. “Okay, spill. If I’m going to watch this dog for you, you need to tell me everything.”
“Everything?”
“Ev-ery-thing. I swear to God, Sandy, if you leave anything out I’m disowning you.”
He’s the only one that can still get away with calling me that. Natalie’s always called me Sandra, but my friends from high school or before called me Sandy. These days if someone needs a nickname, I usually go with Dee.
“Well, when I was a little girl…”
“I hate you.”
“No, you looooove me.” I grin at his exasperated snort.
Next to my sister, Jerry is the person who knows me best in the entire world. In some ways he knows me better, because he was right there with me in the trenches when we were both at our lowest. We went to the same school, but had never really metuntil we found ourselves thrown into the same afterschool grief support program. I was struggling and mad at the world because my parents went out to dinner one day and never made it home, and he’d been left to take care of himself after his mother lost the battle with cancer and his father could barely keep himself together, let alone a teenage son.
The support group didn’t work out quite the way the school councilor planned. We still went completely off the rails, but we did it together, and if we hadn’t had each other, I’m not sure we would’ve survived long enough to come out the other end. Ten years later, he’s an optician in a disgustingly healthy relationship, and I’m…
Well, I’m not quite sure where I am, but I have people who care about me, a job I like, and I’m alive to worry about it, so I’m counting it as a win.
“Fine, I’ll tell you, but what do we do? We listen and?—”
“We listen and we don’t judge. Just tell me already.” Jerry pulls into traffic, making a ‘get on with it’ hand motion.
“I was at work yesterday and three hot Eagles showed up with a stray.”
He glances over. “Three we don’t know?” I nod. “I love that I have to clarify that when I talk to you. Continue.”
“I may have flirted a little. It’s possible there was kissing.”
“Sandy! I’m impressed. Did you take turns? I’ve always wanted to know the specifics, but the idea of hearing about your sister’s love life is—” He makes a gagging sound.
Honestly, I’m happy for Nat, but same.
“It wasn’t with all three of them! Just Piston.” Though, if Beast and Zero hadn’t already left, would I have turned it down? I stare down at my hands, picking at the chipped polish on my thumbnail and not feeling nearly as guilty about everything as I should.
“That’s such a biker name. I bet they all have boring real names, like Ted or Kevin.”
“Do you want to hear this or not,Gerald? It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not going anywhere. Nat would freak out, and I didn’t tell them I have family in the club so I think they’ll probably back off now that they know.”
“Why? You’re all adults. I know you and Natalie have a complicated relationship, but she loves you. Hard truth? I think you’re going to make yourself miserable trying to live up to some made up standard you think she expects from you."
I take a deep breath, pushing down the twisted feeling in my chest. “She gave up everything for me. I want to prove that it was worth it, you know?”
“And the only way you can do that is by what? Pretending to be someone you aren’t?” Jerry waits for me to say something, but we’ve been through this before. Eventually he sighs. “Fine, tell me about the dog.”
“She’s super sweet. Her name is Junkyard, and—don’t look at me like that, I know. I suggested Princess but I was overruled.” And Piston’s explanation was sweet. “I don’t know for sure, but I think she’s probably a year, maybe a year and a half? Some sort of bully mix.”
“If she just came in yesterday, why do you need me to foster her already?”
“This is the second part of the don’t judge, alright? She’s so young but she looks like she’s already had a rough life so far. The next day, some guy showed up asking about a dog matching her description but he couldn’t even give me a name. I got a really bad feeling, so I lied and said I didn’t know anything. I think he’s a breeder and she got loose.”
“The bikers wouldn’t take her?”
“They might, but I don’t know anything for sure yet, you know? I just want to buy her a couple of days to see if I can figure out the situation. Travis is so by the book. I don’t want to put him in the position of having to cover for me, and you’ve fostered for us before. If it turns out I’m just being paranoid, I can say I placed her temporarily because she needed extra care and there’s no harm done.”
