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“Great.”
“Andy,” I called softly. The dog didn’t look up, just continued sniffing, and I wondered if I’d been too quiet. I shot a glance at the house. I was all too aware that we were standing on someone else’s private property. And I was sure, with a house this large, there were certainly cameras everywhere, possibly filming us right now. I saw Russell, crouching a little, come around the back of the statue.
Just as he did this, Andy’s sniffing seemed to grow more focused, and I got a bad feeling. But I was too far away to stop him, and so was Russell, and as I watched in horror, the dog lifted his leg against the white marble. “No! Andy!” I hissed, but I was too far away—and too late—to stop what was already happening.
A second later, probably because there was a dog peeing on a Rodin—lights snapped on all over the property, making everything daylight-bright. Russell and I froze—even the dog seemed to freeze.
Russell reached out and grabbed him, and we both ran for the gate, which was slowly starting to close. If it shut before we could get through, we would be trapped in here and have to explain for the second time tonight why we were trespassing. Russell gestured for me to go through first, and he followed with the dog a second later, just as the gate closed behind us with a solid thunk.
Russell tucked Andy under his arm like a football, and without needing to discuss it first, we both started running. We didn’t stop until we’d been running for a good five minutes. When we finally did slow down, my mouth was dry and I had a stitch in my side—but I was pretty sure that nobody was giving chase.
“Think we’re okay?” I glanced behind us. I’d been following Russell’s lead as he ducked down little winding side streets, so I was just hoping he knew how to get back home.
“Yeah, I think we’re in the clear.”
We slowed down, both of us out of breath. Andy didn’t seem disappointed that his adventure was over—his tail wagged joyfully as he stretched up to lick Russell’s face enthusiastically. “That was not a good boy,” Russell said, lifting up the dog, but he was smiling at him. “You can’t run off like that! I was so worried!” Andy’s tail wagged even harder, and Russell laughed.
He held out Andy to me. “Do you mind? I want to text the family thread and let everyone know we’ve found him.”
“Sure.” I dropped the flashlight into the pocket of the sweatpants and took a step closer. I reached out for the dog, making sure to wrap my finger around his collar—blue stripes, a gold engraved disc hanging from it. I rubbed my hand over Andy’s back, even as I made sure I had a firm grip on his collar. “I’ve got my eye on you,” I assured the terrier. He just snuggled closer, his warm doggy breath on my neck.
“Great,” Russell said as he looked down at his phone, which was buzzing and lighting up with texts. “Everyone knows and is heading back to the house.”
“Are they all so happy?”
“Yeah.” Then he frowned at his phone. “Well, except Wallace and Connor. It seems they had a bet on who would find Andy first and Connor is not happy he lost. Apparently, his money was on Montana.” His phone buzzed again. “If we want to drop a pin, Kendrick or Bella will come pick us up. Or we could walk—it’s probably about ten minutes.”
“I don’t mind walking. Unless you—”
“Walking is great,” he said with a smile. He pocketed his phone and gestured toward the dog. “Want me to—?”
“I’m okay. I might give him to you in a little bit.”
“Sounds good. We’re heading this way.”
I looked at Russell over the dog and gave him a tentative smile. “In that case—lead on.”
CHAPTER 14 Monday
12:50 A.M.
We walked down the road to Wylie’s house, falling into step together. And while Andy probably only weighed around ten pounds, I found it comforting to have his warm weight resting against me, his paws twitching as he dreamed, solid proof that he was safe and heading home.
Now that we were no longer searching, we’d both pocketed our flashlights and were walking by moonlight, the desert stars above us. Russell looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. “You were about to say something.”
“When? I’ve been saying a lot of things.”
“Before. Just as we spotted Andy. You were… telling me about how we couldn’t start fresh. Right?”
“Oh.” I rubbed one hand over Andy’s head, trying to get back to the certainty I’d felt not even that long ago. I tried to find it—but it seemed out of reach. And maybe it was the relief, the lightness I felt now that we’d gotten the dog back. Or just that I had seen Russell dash in front of a car and across very expensive private property to try and save a tiny troublemaking dog. But for whatever reason, nothing was seeming as black and white right now. Or maybe it’s just hard to hold a grudge when a tiny terrier is sleeping on your chest.
I knew it wouldn’t be like it was back in Jesse—we were in reality now, the spell broken. And standing in the rubble of the fantasies of how it was supposed to be, I wanted to know the truth. Because I didn’t know this Russell—the real one. But a moment later, I realized that I really wanted to.
I stopped walking, took a breath, and turned to him. “Hi.”
“Hi?”
“I’m Darcy.”
