“What stage did the vet say the cancer was at?” she asked after Ross’s chair turned to her again.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Stage three. She did mention we could try chemotherapy, but without treatment, he might only last a few weeks or so.”
“Are you considering treating him then?”
She noticed his muscles working across the tight set in his jaw. “I’m using every extra penny now helping my cousin with college. The vet is estimating around forty-five hundred dollars for treatment, and there are no guarantees it’s going to work.” His eyes shifted from Mia to his dog. “I don’t know if I can do it, and I feel like a bad person. But I have to make an appointment for Hermes soon either way.”
“Hey,” Mia said, waiting until Ross met her eyes again. She leaned across the desk in an attempt to be closer, placing a hand across one of his forearms. “You’re not a bad person. Hermes is lucky to have someone like you to look out for him. Do you want me to go with you to the appointment? I don’t mind.”
“No.” Ross shifted away from her, returning his focus to the computer. “Thanks for the coffee. Can you leave?”
“Ross—”
“I can handle things myself, Mia. I don’t need your help.”
All the progress they’d made was sliding backwards and Mia didn’t want to let go. All she wanted to do was hug the man. Ross looked like he needed it. “Okay. I know you can handle it. I wasn’t offering because you needed help. I was offering because I thought you needed a friend.”
Ross didn’t look at her. When his iron jaw locked into place, her heart began to deflate. “Well, that isn’t necessary either.”
Chapter Twelve
Life was agreedy, hungry tapeworm.
Ross once asked Aanya if she had any family in town. She proceeded to relay the Pujari family genealogy to him, or, more accurately, the immediate family, which included four grown children and their spouses. The family was full of engineers, doctors, teachers. In fact, one of her sons was an English teacher at Ross’s old high school and, according to Aanya, he was recently awarded Teacher of the Year. She talked about her family with a lot of pride.
He found other people’s families intriguing. As someone aware of his own unorthodox family unit since grade school, Ross was curious about normal family dynamics. The one taste he got of the real thing was during those few months he went to Mia’s home after school. Alongside tutoring and dinner, Ross could imagine he was part of the Russo family. How would his life have been different if he had it from the start? Or was his life always fated to fall in the same way?
Ross found it odd when people used the wordblessedto describe their life or family. He had never felt blessed in his life. The figurative tapeworm, like its real-life parasitic counterpart, took from its host with no mercy. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed he was already a carved out, empty shell. The tapeworm made him leery about accepting anything, or anyone else in his life. Especially if there was a chance it might also be taken away at some point.
Ross’s tapeworm started taking from him at three years old, when his own parents were killed in a car accident. It took his sense of self-worth in grade school as he fell further behind academically. In high school, he temporarily lost his actual freedom. A few years ago, it took his only adult compass, his grandpa.
Today his tapeworm was taking Hermes.
When he first met Hermes, the dog was already down to three legs and one eye. Ross had exited the workshop with an expensive watch newly repaired. Hermes was napping on the worn, blue carpet of El Dorado Jewelry, beside the propped door, as if it was his designated spot. The dog was a rejected, dingy quartz on the deserted shore of blue-gray pebbles.
“There’s a dog in the store,” he informed his cousin while using a soft cloth to polish the watch face.
“Hmm?” Luna said, giving the smallest attempt to glance at him before returning her focus to her phone. “Oh, I know.”
“Let’s try this again.Whyis there a dog in the store?”
“The door’s open, and he was hot and tired. He’s not hurting anything. If it doesn’t bother me, why should it bother you?”
“He could be hurting our business. I mean, look at that mangy thing. He’s filthy, probably covered in ticks, and—What the hell happened to his leg?”
“I don’t know. It was missing when he came in,” Luna responded while continuing to scroll through her phone.
“Well, he’s not staying here. Either find his owner or call the shelter.”
The stray dog lifted his head and watched them as though realizing his future was the exact topic of conversation between the two humans. He turned one big, soulful eye in Ross’s direction and wagged his stubby tail in hopefulness. Ross refused to succumb to anything as pathetic as a single, soulful eye—even if it came in looking for a nap.
“Oh, come on, Ross. Look at that guy. He clearly doesn’t belong to anyone, and he’s really sweet. Why couldn’t we have a little shop dog?” His cousin captured his gaze with her own large, pitiful eyes. The universe was determined to turn this fight against him.
Ross pushed his resolution deeper. “Because I don’t want a shop dog. What if customers won’t come in because they’re allergic or scared of dogs?”
Luna rolled her eyes. “You don’t hear me complaining about how many customers we’ve lost because you’re out front. Seriously, stay in the back and leave the dog and me alone.”
Her reaction wasn’t surprising. His cousin had a soft spot for furry creatures, whether it was a three-legged dog or orphaned kittens. The responsibility fell to Ross to be the cold-hearted villain. He walked to the dirty, white dog and encouraged movement by pressing the tip of his shoe against a furry rump. “Get out, dog. Go find somewhere else to take a nap.”
