I batted my eyelashes. “I can be very persuasive.”
She chuckled. “Man doesn’t stand a chance. Whatever you can do to help, Finn. It’s always appreciated. Gotta run.” She grabbed the keys off the rack and headed out to the van.
After nabbing the keys to the dog runs, I locked up and went to retrieve Poppin.
Damn dog was thrilled to see me and insisted on sitting on my lap while I flipped through the paperwork.
“This is so boring.” I yawned. “I planned on walking all you folks so I wouldn’t fall asleep.”
She licked my cheek.
“Yes, I love you too. I so wish I could bring you home with me.”You knew working here would be tough. That you’d want to bring every dog and cat home with you.I eyed the list of cats available for adoption. Maybe if I brought two home together? Might they keep each other company while I put in such long hours? Would that even be fair to the cats? If I was working all the time? And if not working, then out gallivanting about? I’d spent more time at home in the past three weeks since Ulysses came back into my life than I had the previous six months. I was always out. Now I wanted to be home on the chance of getting laid.
It’s not just about getting laid—you actually really like the guy.
Yeah. I did. Which was going to inevitably lead to pain. He wasn’t the staying type. He wasn’t going to stick around. He’d want to go back out into the world again. Not just some small hick town. What he did before would blow over. Or he’d find a much-larger town where he could restart without baggage. Where people would give him a chance.
People in Mission City have given him a chance.
Yeah, he hadn’t been run out of town by pitchfork-wielding folks. But how many had actually dug into his background and discovered what he’d been accused of? Hard to say. And how accurate were the reports? Didn’t everything have elements of exaggeration?
I thumbed through the recent adoption applications. Locating Thelma’s was easy enough. The adoption was scheduled for ten days from now.
Maybe I know the person rescuing her? Maybe I can arrange to see her from time to time? She really does have the sweetest disposition.
I squinted at the application. I couldn’t make it make sense. So I yanked out my phone and, while holding Poppin securely in my lap, I pulled up a map app. Then I entered the address of the new owner.
Uh. I was right. This address doesn’t exist. Well, what the fuck does that mean?Maybe they’d transposed the digits. Except the number wasn’t even close to any others on that street. Giancarlo lived on that street—so I knew the sequence of numbers.
On a hunch, I pulled the last fifteen adoption records. The first eight checked out fine.See? This is Ulysses’s doing. He’s got you all paranoid for no reason.
Except—
The crunch of tires on gravel had me quickly tidying the papers and putting them back in the filing cabinet. I was back at the desk when Yanna stepped in.
“I don’t suppose you can help—” She gestured toward the van.
I grinned. “Happy to. Then I need to stretch my legs and give the dogs some time in the fresh air.”
Again, Poppin licked my cheek.
Yanna smiled and we traded off—she sat at the desk while I unloaded all the purchases from the van.
Within twenty minutes, I was out back with Thelma.
“I only ever wanted you to go to a nice home.” I blinked. “Now I don’t know where you’re going, and that scares me.” Because who the hell used a fake address on an application for a dog adoption? And, just as importantly, who didn’t flag that when approving it? I ran through the papers in my mind and realized they’d all been signed by the same shelter worker.
Son of a bitch.
Two hours later, I was hitting the buzzer at Ulysses’s condo—desperatelyhoping he was home.
“Hello?” His voice was tinny through the speaker.
“It’s Finn.”
“It’s 406.”
The door buzzed.
