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He threw his gray F-150 into park and jumped out. Then he came right at Larissa and pulled her into a bear hug. I took two steps back to give them space.

“Hi,” he whispered, holding her. “How you doing?”

“Good,” she said. “She’s almost out of surgery. We were heading back.”

He pulled away and brushed the hair off her forehead.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked.

“Still not a hundred percent, but I had to be here. Got you and Nancy some flowers in the truck.”

Larissa beamed at him. “Awww.”

He looked over at me. “Who’s this little guy?” he asked, nodding at the dog.

“We found him,” Larissa said.

Mike came over and scratched under the dog’s chin. “He’s cute. Kinda gross though.” Then he looked at his watch. “Hey, we should probably get going.”

He opened the passenger door. “Hop in. I’ll drive you around the front.” He made a little bow. “Your chariot.”

She looked over at me. “Chris, thank you again.”

I nodded. “Yeah. You’re welcome.”

“You’ll take him to the vet?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

“I’ll get your number from Mike. To check on him.”

“Okay.”

She waved, Mike closed her door, and she was gone. Vanished behind the tinted windows.

Mike turned and hugged me now, crushing the dog between us while he slapped me on the back. “Thanks, man. You saved the day.”

“Yup. No problem,” I croaked.

He let me go and held me out by the shoulders. “You can take off. I got it from here.”

“I could come back after I take the dog—”

“Nah, we’re good.”

I nodded but didn’t move. I felt whiplashed for some reason. Like a rug had been pulled out from under me.

I turned to go. Then I stopped. “You know how you asked me what you could do to pay me back for this?”

“Yeah. Anything. Name it.”

“Get her car out of the shop.”

He looked at me like I was speaking in tongues. “That’s gonna be a couple thousand bucks,” he said, lowering his voice. “That thing is fucked—”

“I don’t care. That’s my price for today. She needs it, and she can’t afford it.”

“I mean, I can’t afford it either—”