Page 17 of Mommy

“Lunch.” I push the container into her arms. “And I suggest it’s inside your stomach when I pick you up later.”

I don’t wait for her to start arguing. This is not up for discussion; not the lunch and not the picking up part.

I’m not done playing house with her. We barely even started.

Clicking loose her buckle, I lean past her to open the passenger door.

“Come on, out you go, mommy. Don’t want to be late, huh?”

The glare she throws back at me is adorable.

Chapter eleven

Ivory

Shelly is waiting for me at the front desk, her polite customer smile dropping and turning into devilish amusement as she recognizes me.

“Ivy,” she says through a toothy grin. “I thought you weren’t coming today.”

I don’t bother with a reply and simply storm past her towards the kennels on the left of the shelter. Shelly knows I’m working today. She’s just gloating because for the first time since she hired me I’m late. I can still hear Shelly’s cackle when I reach Viv’s kennel at the very end.

She’s on her mattress with the pups, stretched out on her side while the whole litter plays on the floor. They are not what makes me freeze, one hand on the door to the kennel though. No, they are not alone.

In the middle of the puppies on the floor sits Liam.

My breath rattles out of me like I just ran a marathon, making him look up from where he plays with the little fur balls. A smile breaks out on his lips, and he wastes no time getting up from the floor.

He’s large, but somehow he still makes it look smooth when he moves.

“Ivy,” he joins me in the hallway outside the kennel. “Shelly said, you weren’t coming today.”

Closing the door he turns to face me.

“I think Viv missed you, she wouldn’t let me touch her once. Though she didn’t care to stop me when I got the little piranhas off her back.”

“Did you feed her today?”

His head cocks to the side, a dark eyebrow raising.

“I think Shelly did, when she came in this morning and fed the rest of the dogs? You okay there, girl?”

Taking a deep breath, I nod. He doesn’t need to know that it freaks me out a little bit that I didn’t see Viv eat anything.

Upon hearing my voice, I can see her ears lift, and a smile pulls my lips when she gets up from her spot on the mattress and waddles over to the bars to greet me.

I’m about to open the kennel door and slip inside when I realize I’m still holding on to the box Derek handed me before he dropped me off.

Lunch.

The glass container is huge, and there’s a bit of guilt gnawing at my insides at the idea of eating all of that. Maybe this was supposed to be Derek’s lunch? What if I’m eating his food? I try to push that thought away, but it’s stuck to the back of my brain.

In all the months I’ve worked here I haven’t brought food with me once. I don’t usually feel hungry, and there was no one around to make sure I ate. My mom probably thinks there’s food provided for the shelter staff and Liam and Shelly probably thought I was always eating at home.

The surprise in Liam’s eyes when I hand him the glass container, proves my suspicion right. The raised eyebrow and cocked head that has his long earring dipping down to his shoulder? They say it all.

What changed?

I’m about to pray to some god I don’t believe in that he won’t notice my outfit when: