by Ho, Jo
“She doesn’t like me.”
Hearing his iPad say those words, I shook my head and scratched behind his ears on the favorite spot of his. “Not true, Muttface. She doesn’t know you is all. She needs time before she’ll trust us.”
“Except Gideon. She likes Gideon.”
“Well, yeah, she does seem to be into him.”
An image of him flashed up in my mind. Gideon, making comforting sounds as the dog shivered in his hands. I hadn’t wanted to make a big deal of it at the time, or even now I guess, but something about the way he took care of her, how he was genuinely concerned for her… it had made me feel kinda warm inside. Like I’d drank a mug of coffee or something, but then my thoughts drifted to Sully’s predicament and I found myself turning cold.
“Chase what is wrong?”
“This whole Emma thing is freaking me out. Why would Sully think she texted him?”
“Maybe it is a mistake?”
“Has to be, right? Sully can’t really be thinking that his wife is back from the dead, not after all this time. Things like that don’t happen.”
A knock sounded on my door. I looked up to see Gideon, the other dog trailing behind him like his shadow. Seeing us, she stopped dead.
“Hey girl,” I called out to her. “Do you want to come inside?”
The dog whimpered and backed up until her rump was against the far wall, very clearly not wanting to come in. Gideon reached down and patted her on the head, trying to reassure her. I was surprised to see that she didn’t cringe away from him.
“Wow, she’s really taken to you,” I said.
“I’ve been bribing her with food for hours, so yeah, it hasn’t gone to waste,” he replied. “Can’t get her to go near anyone else though, even Sully, and you know animals usually love him.”
“She just needs time. Of course, now she’s decided to adopt you, you know you’re responsible for her,” I grinned, liking his trapped expression.
“She follows me everywhere. Even to the bathroom. I was taking a leak when I realized she was standing between my feet. It was pretty disconcerting.”
I laughed, “I’d love to have seen that.” I said it without thinking but the minute the words were out of my mouth, I blushed furiously. Idiot! I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. “What I meant was…” I didn’t need to finish though as Gideon was shaking his head.
“Yeah, I know. Let’s forget you said anything and move on.”
“Please.”
Bandit walked up to Gideon and nuzzled his hand but as soon as he got to him, we heard growling from the door. The dog was watching us and didn’t like Gideon petting another dog. Bandit stopped, tilting his head to listen to her.
“She does not like me.”
“No boy, she’s just jealous and insecure. And you’re another dog, I’m sure this is normal behavior,” Gideon explained. “But since she is so flighty and attached to me, maybe it’s best if I stay away from you for a while. Just so she feels a little more at ease around here.”
Bandit sighed, green eyes looking impossibly sad as he moved away from Gideon and came to sit beside me. I tried to placate him with a hug and felt him lick my ear in return, which felt totally gross but, not wanting to upset him any further, I took it like a trooper. The things we do for our dogs.
“Have you come up with a name?” I asked.
“I have, just not sure whether I should name her yet…” He trailed off, looking uncertain.
“You’re worried you’ll name her then her real owners will find her?”
He nodded.
“You saw the condition she was in. Look at her, she won’t even come into the room when Bandit and I are clearly nice. No one is looking for her. If anything, they’re probably running scared that we’ll find out who they are and sue the living crap out of them — which would be totally worth it. We should so do that.”
A smile flashed over his face. I tried not to think about how that made me feel and stuck my face in Bandit’s fur. “So what is it, what’s her name?”
“Pixie,” he said.
I grinned at him. “That suits her perfectly.”
I turned to Bandit. “What do you say, can you introduce yourself to Pixie nicely? Maybe you could loan her one of your toys? She’s probably never had one.”
Bandit barked then trotted over to his bed where several toys sat around it. His nose hovered over his Frumpy Rabbit soft toy, but I knew Pixie would never get that, it was his absolute favorite thing outside of his iPad. He nudged Frumpy out of the way, then picked up another soft toy — a cat with a long tail — and moving to the doorway, he stopped a few feet from Pixie. A low, warning growl rumbled in the back of her throat. She might only be a tiny thing, but she sure didn’t seem to know it.
Respecting her wishes, Bandit laid the toy on the floor gently. Pixie kept growling even as she tried to meld herself further into the wall. It upset me if I’m honest. Here was Bandit, literally the nicest, smartest dog in the world, offering her one of his toys, and she was just going to yell at him.
Bandit took a step back, watching her. Pixie stared back at him, eyes wide, ears turned towards the back but not yet flattened onto her head. Gently, gently, he nudged the toy. It rolled towards her until it bumped against her paws. Still, she didn’t move, didn’t even glance down at her feet.
“She’s really scared of Bandit for some reason,” Gideon said. Hearing this, Bandit whined then backed all the way back into the room. When he was back with me, Pixie suddenly leapt forward and snatched the toy into her mouth.
“One small step for dogkind I guess. I’d better take her to her room, get her settled.”
“She’s not staying with you?” I asked, surprised.
“Sully doesn’t think that’s smart since we’ve only just met her. He’s not sure she won’t harm me yet, so she’s going to be spending the night in the den.”
“Right. Sensible plan.”
Gideon clicked his tongue at Pixie and started walking away when I stopped him with a call. “Gid…?”
He turned back to me.
“What do you think is going on with Sully?”
His brow creased with concern as his eyes grew dark with worry. “I don’t know, but Sam will figure it out.” With that, he went away, Pixie following close behind as she tossed Bandit one last look.
29
The Scientist
Staring into the live feed of the ranch, The Scientist watched the proceedings in the girl’s room with interest. So the boy was bonding with the new dog while Sullivan was showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
People were so predictable, it was boring.
Take the girl. Despite all that had happened to her — and The Scientist had managed to find out quite a bit about her life thanks to Forbes’ soldier monkey — she was ordinary street scum, trailer trash. To think this was the girl who had wrecked his partner’s life… It was unfathomable.
And the vet… so he’d received a text message from his dead wife’s phone, and that was enough to unravel him. The Scientist almost felt sorry for the Sheriff if that were an emotion he allowed himself to feel. Here she was, thinking that she was going to get married soon when clearly her husband-to-be hadn’t gotten over his previous wife. He mulled over the complexity of feelings and how they were the downfall of man — he himself had learned this the hard way. He tensed as a memory clawed its way up from the darkest pit of his mind.
He saw himself as a young boy, a talented boy who wanted nothing but for his parents to acknowledge him, however, they were too busy with their work and social lives, and he was nothing more than a nuisance they kept fed. Occasionally, they would trot him out like a pet to showcase. Their friends loved to see how bright yet how deeply awkward he was. They would coo at his brain then laugh when they saw him trip over his own clumsy feet. In their eyes, he was nothing but a clown. But, he would show them.
He would show them all.
Looking at the g
irl now, at how she conversed with the dog over her concerns for Sullivan, he saw she was just a child and a very insecure one at that. The dog, however… he was such a specimen! And it wasn’t only his intellect or the way his brain had physically altered itself… the dog seemed like he had genuine feelings.
Human emotions.
It would be almost a shame to do what he had to, but that was the way of science. The groundbreakers were the ones who took risks — even unpleasant ones — in order to get the result they needed. What was that saying he was so fond of?
A genius is one who shoots for something others can’t see… and hits it.
Well, he was already a genius, that much was obvious. He only had to wait for the world to see it.
He looked down at his experiment, at the rise and fall of its chest and smiled.
Soon, my lovely. Soon.
30
Chase
The sun streamed in, bathing my face in warm light.
I woke and stretched as Bandit snuck a morning lick at me. I’d told him a million times to leave my face alone, but he seemed to think I didn’t mean it, plus I got the feeling it amused him. I suppose there were worse things to wake up to, so I usually tried not to make a deal of it.
“Hey, we should go check on Pixie. See how she’s doing this morning.”
“I hope she liked my cat.”
I climbed off my bed, tugging on a thin jumper. Fall was still a month or so away but there was a definite chill in the air when I woke now. I flung open the curtains, enjoying the scenery outside. Trees stretched out across the horizon as far as the eye could see. It’s funny how I didn’t miss the busyness of New York one bit. Yeah, it was laid-back and quiet here, but I’d had enough excitement to last me a lifetime already. I was looking forward to the day I could sit on the porch and yell at kids to get off my lawn.
Yes, I know I sound old but I don’t care.
We went down the hall, towards the den where I knew Gid had set up a private corner for Pixie. He’d pushed a few tables onto their side and created a sort of table fort for her that he’d covered with blankets for privacy. We had tried to keep her contained in a room at first but she’d panicked like crazy when we’d shut the door on her. Sully thought this way was better. She’d be contained but wouldn’t feel like she was being caged.
Pixie seemed a tiny bit happier this morning, though the blanket we had given her to sleep on was ripped and bitten to shreds, as were the ones we’d used to drape over the tables. Bite marks punctured what was left of Bandit’s cat — chunks of it were spread all around her like roadkill. She must have been gnawing at the thing most the night to kill it like this. Horrified, Bandit took in the sight of his mutilated friend and tried to paw all the pieces into a pile that he picked up gently into his mouth. I felt like a total heel since it had been my suggestion to loan the toy to her. I shot Bandit an apologetic look.
“Sorry, boy, I didn’t know she’d do that. We’ll try to fix this one OK, and if I can’t, I’ll get you a replacement cat, an even better one!”
He woofed in agreement, but hung his head sadly. Those big green eyes of his looked almost as if they were tearing up, then again, he was always very sensitive. I guess it would be awhile before he’d get over his loss. Feeling awful, I focused my attention on Pixie, hoping she would distract me from my guilty conscience.
“Hey, girl. How’re you this morning?”
She looked at me, eyes wide. Her legs shook a bit, but she didn’t otherwise move or growl. Well, this was progress. I smiled at her. Bandit came closer for his own look, but as soon as she saw him, she bared her teeth and whimpered at the same time.
“Sully’s never seen that reaction before,” came Sam’s voice from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder to find her there. She was already dressed for work but seemed a little down this morning. Dark shadows rimmed her eyes and her smile wasn’t as bright as it usually was.
“He checked on her last night, when he couldn’t sleep. Bandit must’ve heard him as he went to join him, but Pixie did the same thing then when she saw him. Sully said it’s a double reaction that he’s never seen before — usually it’s one or the other — but not both. He’s pretty confused by it.”
“She is strange.”
The words came from Bandit. We looked at him.
“Well, she’s had a tough life. She’s bound to have some scars,” Sam explained. But Bandit whined and continued.
“She killed my cat.”
Sam laughed then and scratched his ears.
“Oh buddy, we’ll get you another one.”
“But it won’t smell the same.”
Gideon came up from behind us, looking bright-eyed and well, completely put together. I tugged my jumper down self-consciously, wishing I’d showered before I left my room. Why did he always look like he’d just stepped out of a catalog?
“How’s she doing?” he asked.
“Better, I think, though she killed Felix and the blankets, and she still doesn’t seem keen on Bandit,” I answered, watching as he went over to her slowly, offering his hand so she could sniff him first. Amazingly, she stopped trembling and allowed him to pet her.
“She really does like you.” I was super impressed by how she trusted him.
“Got good taste obviously,” he replied, smug.
“Or she’s been so badly tortured, she’s lost all sense,” I retorted, rolling my eyes.
Sam had been listening to us, but now her face became serious. “Guys, I need to speak to you about something, but not here. I need Zeb as well. Sully’s going to pick some things up for Pixie after breakfast, so can you stick around? I won’t be long, but it’s important I speak with you all.”
She said all, but I noticed she was omitting Sully.
“Sure,” I answered, while Gideon just nodded, his eyes mirroring my concern.
31
Chase
Breakfast was a tense affair.
Gideon had cooked bacon and eggs but hardly any one ate. Sully just drank coffee while he checked over Pixie. She seemed a little happier with us today and had yet to growl at anyone though she watched us like a hawk, only stopping when Gid put a bowl heaped with doggie chow in front of her face. She wolfed down the lot of it like how Bandit used to when we’d first had him. I knew how she felt. I knew what it was to be starving with hunger. I made a mental note to get her some extra treats when I popped into town later.
Since Sam had mentioned that she wanted to speak to us without Sully, the whole thing had been hanging over my head. It must have been bothering Gid too, as he was unusually quiet. Thoughts on his own mind, Sully didn’t seem to notice how troubled we were all feeling today. Only Zeb seemed oblivious, doing a crossword while Bandit watched, fascinated. Though he was pretty hot stuff with the Jeopardy app, crosswords he just couldn’t get his head around. Something to do with the phrasing of the questions had him super confused. He couldn’t answer even the simplest ones, so he thought Zeb was a God whenever he finished one. I pushed cereal around in my bowl until Sully left.
Pouring a glass of OJ, Sam sat in her usual seat beside Sully’s empty chair, at the head of the table. She cleared her throat and looked at us.
“I know none of us want to be talking without Sully here, but there are some things I feel it’s important for us to discuss, particularly after recent events,” she began. Gideon put his fork on the table while Zeb, who never ate much in the morning anyway, watched her, eyes dark and inscrutable.
“I’ve been looking into grief counseling. I think Sully’s stressed and the trip East raised unresolved issues that he still has regarding Emma’s death.”
“It’s been a year and a half though,” Gideon said. “Surely he’s moved on by now.”
Sam shrugged. “It takes some people longer to get over the death of their partner. There is no time limit to this.”
“I’m not over losing my wife, and it’s been quite a bit longer for me,” Zeb said, backing her
up, his brows furrowed with concern.
I looked at Sam, not wanting to say anything yet feeling compelled to. “But, you guys are getting married…” I let my sentence trail off, not sure how to finish.
Sam nodded and gave me a reassuring smile that didn’t quite manage to reach her eyes. “Yes, we are. But I think the thought of a wedding — no matter how small — is causing memories of his previous wedding with Emma to surface, and with that, his mind is panicking.”
“You think he’s cracking up?” Gideon asked, worry emanating from him in spades.
“I don’t think it’s helpful to label it,” Sam said, a little sternly.
“I agree,” Zeb said. “Probably best just to keep an eye on him, make sure he’s looking after himself.”
“Yes, we need to look after him. And it isn’t helpful to openly doubt what he thinks.”
“You mean the text?” I asked.
“The thing is, whatever is going on, Sully believes it, so we just have to stand by him for now. Let’s just give him some time. I’m sure he’ll sort himself out.”
Bandit pawed the ground and shook himself which actually meant he was in fierce agreement.
“But you’re going to look into it, right? Just in case?” I said.
“You betcha,” Sam said, her eyes turning hard.
Relief flooded through me. If someone was messing with Sully, Sam would find them. Sam wouldn’t let them get away with it.
32
Chase
I went through the rest of the morning aimlessly.
After Sam and Gid went to work, Zeb retreated to his room to read. He said it was a perk of being old that he could just laze away his time, but I was young and needed a schedule. It was partly his insistence that made me the de facto grocery shopper for our clan. Carrying an empty shopping basket, I stared up at the endless shelves, mind blank by the options available to me. Who were the people who decided we needed so many versions of the same thing? How different could canned tuna taste? They were even priced the same. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been looking at a brand of beans when Bandit’s wet nose touched my hand. I shook my head, clearing myself from my daze, and looked down at him.