He didn’t move.
No, no, no.
Somehow, Jannie’s feet carried her to him, and she crouched beside the dog, her heart in her throat. Leaning in, she lowered her head close to his nose and placed her palm on his big, furry chest.
Rolf was breathing, his heartbeat steady and strong.
Her shoulders sagged as relief washed over her, and for a moment, Jannie rested her forehead against him, her heart still pounding, inhaling his familiar doggy scent.“I’ll never complain about your stink again,” she murmured.
Rolf raised his big head then, blinking and gently wagging his heavy tail, and Jannie swallowed back a sob.
“Rolf! Oh, thank God.” She didn’t even yell at him for licking her face. “Go drink!”
On wobbly legs, he got up and staggered to his nearby water bowl, noisily lapped some, then stretched out beside it with a groan, closinghis eyes again.
What the hell was wrong with her dog? She needed to get him to the vet ASAP.
Blanket. She needed a large blanket to wrap him up and carry him.
Outside, in the patio storage box.
Jannie rushed to the sliding glass door, unlatched it, and yanked it open.
Music filled her ears, a strange, twangy melody.
“In … and out. Deep … and slow. Inhale. Now, hold it. Absorb the energy of the world around you.”
What the hell?
And then, she saw him. He lay on one of her lounge chairs, his body glistening with oil.
Sunning himself in only a bright yellow Speedo.
“Blake!”
He paused the music blaring from his iPhone. His smile was slow, eyes hooded. “How are you, Jannica?”
Something was off about him. And the Blake she knew would never be caught dead in a Speedo. No time to spare him a second glance, though.
Rushing to the storage box, she opened it and grabbed the blanket. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, of course.” Blake ran a hand over his shiny abs. “It’s been too long.”
“Not long enough.” She hadn’t missed him for a single day.
“I can’t believe you changed the locks.”
“Believe it.” She clutched the blanket to her chest and started to head back inside.
“Where are you going?”
“Something’s wrong with Rolf,” she said over her shoulder. “I need to take him to the vet.”
Blake snorted. Then, he laughed. Loudly.
Jannie clenched her teeth. The man had the audacity to come here uninvited, and now he was laughing at her dog being sick?
“Nothing’s wrong with your preciousdog.” Blake spat out the worddogin a way she’d never heard from him before.
