Four Horsemen: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 5)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Laying down beside him, I tried to figure out the answer. “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. You said it yourself, this is too new for us to make any sweeping declarations. I can’t make him promises. What if something goes wrong?”

  He wrapped his hand around mine, bringing it to his chest. “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “I don’t know how to make this better for him. I’d like to say it’s just a phase, that he’ll get past this with time.”

  “But you don’t know for sure.”

  “No,” he answered after a moment. He shifted, pulling me against him. My head rested on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. “I don’t know what the right answer is, but us leaving won’t help anything.”

  Neither of us spoke after that. We were both lost in thought, but at some point I drifted off to sleep. When I woke in the morning, Jack was already out of bed. I could hear them downstairs getting ready for the day. He needed that constant reminder that he always had someone there for him, someone he could trust to love him unconditionally no matter what, even at night.

  I flung the covers off as an idea came to mind. I hurried up and got dressed, happy that it was Sunday and we could make this happen immediately. Rushing downstairs, I grinned at Jack as I walked into the kitchen.

  “Good morning.” I walked over to him and kissed him lightly, then I turned to Brody and smiled at him. “Hey, buddy.”

  “Hi, Christy,” he said almost sadly.

  “What’s wrong this morning?”

  “Nothing,” he grumbled.

  “He wants a new toy, and I told him he had to wait until Christmas.”

  “Ah,” I nodded. “Well, you know what? I was going to go get something today, and I need some help picking it out. Would you help me?”

  Jack leaned in and whispered, “What are you doing?”

  I waved him off and waited for Brody’s response, which was just a shrug.

  Sighing heavily, I shook my head. “That’s a shame. I really hoped you could help me with this. It’s something I really need a little boy to help me with.”

  “I’m not a little boy,” he snapped. “I’m a big boy.”

  I feigned shock. “You are? Well, that’s even better. But if you’re going to help me, I need you to run upstairs and get ready.”

  “Fine,” he said, slipping off the stool.

  Once he left the room, I turned to Jack, who didn’t look very happy. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”

  “I’m getting a dog.”

  “A what?”

  “Well, technically, I’m getting Brody a dog.”

  “Christy—”

  “Jack, I’ve thought this through. He needs comfort at night. He needs to know that someone’s there for him. So, we can either wait for him to grow out of waking up alone and scared, or we can go get him a dog that can sleep with him and show him comfort. He can pick out the dog and find the one he likes.”

  “Dogs are a lot of work.”

  “I know, but this will be good for him. He’ll have to learn to take care of him, but the dog will also be his best friend. This will help him so much!”

  “I hope you’re right,” he said warily.

  “Trust me, I am.”

  An hour later, we were pulling up to the animal shelter on the outskirts of town. I didn’t know much about it, only that a woman named Jo ran it.

  “This place is huge,” I said, staring out the window.

  “Plenty of places to bury a body,” Jack muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  He parked and got out, glaring at someone on the porch. Following his line of sight, I saw a menacing looking man sitting on the porch with two dogs. “Who’s that?”

  “Antonio.”

  “And I take it you don’t like him?”

  He shook his head slightly, then let Brody out, effectively cutting off the conversation. I had no idea why he didn’t like him, but now wasn’t the time to talk about it. We walked around to the back of the property where a large building was erected. Brody’s eyes grew wide the closer we got.

  “You’re getting a kitten?”

  “Actually, I was going to get a dog.”

  He gasped, slapping both hands over his mouth. “And you’re letting me pick him out?”

  “Yep.”

  He started jumping up and down, looking over at his dad. “Did you hear that? Christy’s getting me a dog!”

  “Yeah, I heard, buddy. But you know, taking care of a dog is a lot of work.”

  “I’ll be so good. I promise I’ll take care of him!”

  “Well, I guess we’d better go find the one you want.”

  We all walked toward the shelter and Jack held the door for us as we walked inside. A woman looked up from behind the desk and smiled. Her name tag stated she was Jo.

  “Jack, what can I do for you today?”

  “We’re here to look at a dog.”

  “Really? That’s so cool.”

  “Daddy said I can get a dog, but they’re lots of work. But I’ll be so good, and I’ll help him lots and give him food. And he can sleep with me at night, and, and, and…”

  “Alright,” Jo laughed. “Let’s go find you a dog then.”

  We walked through the entire building, Brody getting more and more excited with every dog we looked at, but it was when we got close to the end that he stopped in his tracks and stared at the cage in front of him. There was a small brown and white dog sitting in the cage, staring at Brody with sad eyes.

  Jo noticed and walked over to the cage, letting the dog out. “Do you like him?”

  Brody nodded, bending down slowly.

  “Just hold your hand out like this and let him sniff you.”

  Brody did as she asked. The dog sniffed his hand and then got closer, sniffing him all over. His little wet nose rubbed against Brody’s neck and he started laughing. The dog obviously liked him because he started licking his face.

  “I think we have a winner,” Jo grinned up at us.

  “What kind of dog is that?” Jack asked.

  “It’s a Jack Russell Terrier.”

  “Well, how big does it get?”

  “He won’t get much bigger than he is now.”

  Jack frowned. “That’s not much of a guard dog.”

  I leaned in and whispered. “He’s not supposed to be a guard dog. He’s supposed to be a comfort to your son. Look at how much he already loves him.”

  Jack stared down at the dog. “I still think we’d be better off with something bigger.”

  Jo stood, waving down at the dog. “Terriers are very good with older kids. Brody will need to learn how to handle him, but I think he’s old enough to do well with him. They’re very affectionate dogs.”

  I turned to Jack, pleading with my eyes. “He’s perfect.”

  “He’s small. He’ll get lost in the furniture.”

  “He loves your son already.”

  Jack sighed. “Are you sure? He doesn’t look like he could kill a squirrel, let alone an intruder.”

  “Considering we didn’t have a dog before this, I’m not sure how that matters. All Brody needs is a dog to love,” I said quietly.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “We’ll take the dog.”

  Brody’s head snapped up. “We can? Oh, I love him so much. And we can call him Jack!”

  “No,” Jack said firmly. “I refuse to have a dog named after me.”

  “I think it’s the perfect name,” I grinned. “And look, he even looks like you.”

  “That’s just ridiculous. A dog can’t look like a person.”

  “I think he has your eyes,” Christy grinned.

  Jack shook his head. “We’ll just have to get another dog to make up for his shortcomings.”

  He turned to head out of the room when the Terrier jumped up and bit Jack right on the ass. He yelped and turned around, glaring at the dog.

  “Still think we need another one?” I smirked.


  Jack and Brody went back to their house to grab some more things. Over time, they had started accumulating things at my house which I was perfectly fine with. And since Jack, the new Terrier, was stuck to Brody like glue, I had the place to myself. I started cleaning up, finding more and more things laying around the house that hadn’t been there before. Toys, socks, pens…there was a whole slew of new things hiding in the strangest places.

  I was digging under the couch for a lego when someone knocked at my door. I struggled to reach farther and grab the damn thing, but my arm wasn’t long enough. At the second knock, I decided it would have to wait. I rushed over to the front door and threw it open. A woman that looked very familiar stood there grinning at me.

  “Hey, I bet you don’t remember me.”

  “You look familiar.”

  “I’m Abby, Carter’s fiancé, and I figured that since you’re with Jack, we should get to know each other better.”

  “Okay,” I said hesitantly.

  “I just got my new SUV, and I figured that we should go shopping with it.” She squealed, doing a little happy dance as she stood on my doorstep.

  “Right now?”

  “Yep! Let’s go have some fun.”

  I looked behind me at the house, thinking I should probably stay and clean, but the idea of getting out with another female was awfully tempting. “Let me just grab my purse.”

  After locking up, I followed her to her SUV and got in the passenger seat. “This is a really nice vehicle.”

  “Thanks. Carter didn’t think I should get it, you know, because I tend to get in accidents, but I explained to him that newer vehicles had better safety features. That was really all it took to convince him.”

  “Like fender benders?” I asked.

  “Yeah, well, and the spider incident, but I don’t like to talk about that too much. It still creeps me out.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, I was driving through town when this gigantic spider swung down from my rearview mirror and tried to attack me. I freaked out and crashed into a light pole.”

  “Wow, that must have been some spider.”

  “I know, right? Carter still thinks I’m crazy.”

  She rolled down the windows, letting the warm breeze into the car.

  “So, where are we going?”

  “Okay, so not super exciting, but I thought we could go to the pet store. I need some supplies to keep the house cleaner. Carter’s allergies are really acting up.”

  I nodded, thinking that wasn’t at all what I thought we’d be doing, but then again, I hadn’t really asked.

  “And then when we’re done, I’d love to go to this candle store. Everything’s homemade and I just love them so much.”

  “Okay.” Anything at this point was better than going home and cleaning. “I have no idea when Jack’s getting home, so I’ll just message him.”

  I took out my phone and started sending him a text.

  “Oh my gosh,” Abby huffed beside me. “Can you believe parents nowadays?”

  “What?” I asked, still typing out my message.

  “Look at this kid. He’s what? Ten years old? Where are his parents? We’re in a secluded part of town. He could be kidnapped at any time!”

  I finally looked up, noticing we were at a roundabout and the kid was cutting through the forested area on one side to get to the subdivision. All of a sudden, the car in front of us slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side. Abby swerved to avoid hitting the car. She pulled down the next road and stopped on the side.

  “Can you believe that person? What a crazy driver!” She turned around in her seat, then started slapping my arm. “Oh my gosh! That woman is stealing that kid! Didn’t I tell you!”

  I turned in my seat and watched as a woman shoved a kid into her back seat and then ran around to the front of the vehicle and tore around the roundabout.

  “Did you see that?”

  “Yes!”

  “We should follow!” She shifted and pressed the pedal to the metal. The sudden speed sent me flying back in my seat and my phone out the window. I cried out, trying to catch it, but it was too late.

  “Abby! My phone!”

  “We need to call the police!” she shouted.

  “And I would if I still had my phone,” I snapped.

  “Use mine. It’s in my purse.”

  I grabbed her purse and searched through it, but came up empty. “There’s nothing in here.”

  “Shit,” she slammed her fist against the steering wheel. “I must have left it at the station on Carter’s desk.”

  “What do we do?” I asked, slightly panicked with how erratically she was driving.

  “We have to catch up to them and…and…I don’t know! We’ll figure something out.”

  “That’s not a great plan.”

  “I know,” she shouted, sounding very distressed about the whole thing. “Carter’s going to kill me,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Why would Carter kill you?”

  “Because I’m in a vehicle, in a high-speed chase, and I’m not the best driver.”

  I glanced over at the speedometer. “We’re only going forty-five.”

  “I’m aware!” she screamed. “Oh God, this is the spider incident all over again.”

  “Okay, we just need to stay calm. I can see the child in the backseat. He appears safe,” I said, assessing the situation. What would I do if I was in social worker mode? I looked around for a police cruiser, but couldn’t see any.

  “That’s it,” Abby threw up a hand. “We’re going to have to perform a pit maneuver.”

  “We’re doing what?” I shouted.

  “Relax, it’s a police term.”

  “I don’t care if it’s a police term! You’re insane!”

  She pressed her foot down on the gas. “It’s the only way!”

  “No, it’s not,” I shouted, grabbing the handle over the door. “Slow down! You’re going to hurt someone.”

  “Don’t worry, Christy. I’ve been trained in this!”

  She sped up, passing the car and swerving around the other traffic.

  “See? It’s just like when you maneuver around cones!”

  “It’s not just like that,” I said, my heart beating out of control. “These are live people in real cars!”

  “Right, but I’ve been practicing! We’re going to pull a simple hand brake turn.”

  “You’re going to do what?” I shouted.

  “Relax, I’ve got this,” she said, pulling past the car. Her hand yanked on the hand brake as she turned the wheel hard. The SUV slid across the pavement, slowing down, but as the wheel hit the curb, the SUV tilted to the side. I screamed as we started to tip over, but we hit something and the SUV came to a sudden stop. I sat there panting hard as I stared out the crooked window at the woman in the car behind us.

  “See?” Abby grinned. “We stopped her.”

  “Yes, but now we’re suspended in the air by…” I glanced out her window, trying to see what was holding us up. “By a mailbox!”

  Just as I said it, the mailbox shifted under the weight and crashed through the driver’s side back window. The SUV crashed onto the side, leaving me hanging in my seat and Abby leaning against her door.

  “Okay, I didn’t quite mean for that to happen,” she admitted.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. What a nightmare. In the silence, I heard the ringing of a phone, and only after a minute realized that it was coming from inside the vehicle. Abby started searching for the phone, raising it in victory when she found it beside her.

  “Look at that! I didn’t leave it at Carter’s office.” She pressed the button, wincing as she answered. “Hey, baby.”

  “What the fuck happened?” I could hear Carter shout through the phone.

  “Um…I picked up Christy and we sort of got in an accident.”

  She pulled the phone away from her ear as he started yelling
at her again. I sighed to myself, wondering if Jack was trying to call me right now. Too bad my phone was smashed on the pavement about two miles back.

  “I’ll just talk to you when you get here,” she shouted, hanging up the phone.

  The woman from the car was in front of us now, looking inside at us. “Are you okay?”

  “We’re fine, but you are going to jail for kidnapping!” Abby shouted.

  “What?”

  “That’s right, as soon as we get out of here, I’m making a citizen’s arrest!”

  “What happened to my mailbox?” I heard the familiar male voice, but couldn’t place it.

  “Oh no,” Abby groaned.

  “Who is it?” I couldn’t see from the way I was hanging.

  “It’s Chili Man.”

  “What is it with you and Corduroy? Have I not been nice enough about the whole cat incident? Now you come and destroy my mailbox? This is a federal offense! You’re going to jail!”

  “Oh, like I haven’t heard that before,” Abby snapped. “I’m used to doing hard time!”

  I rolled my eyes, dreading what was about to happen when I heard the police sirens roaring up. I wanted to bury my face and hide. A crowd had formed around us, many of them with cameras out. My parents were going to see this and know that I was part of a reckless driving incident. And what would Jack say?

  Abby turned to me, a sincere look on her face. “I’m really sorry about this. I almost had the hand brake turn that time.”

  “You’ve never done it successfully?” I asked incredulously.

  “Well…technically no, but it’s not that different from a J turn. I really thought I had it. I wanted to do the pit maneuver, but I just couldn’t do it, so…”

  Abby pointed out the window excitedly. “Ooh, ooh! Do you see that?”

  I looked out the window, but I couldn’t really see at this angle.

  “Man, now that’s a perfect J turn.” She fist bumps the air. “That’s my man.”

  I rolled my eyes and looked into the backseat at the mailbox. “Is that mailbox made of a bowl of chili?”

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