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I clip the leash on her, and together we walk through Animal Haven in search of Mo. We find her in the back, on her hands and knees scrubbing out the kennels. I put Milo in an empty cage so she can’t get into anything she’s not supposed to.
“Hey,” Mo says, wiping an arm over her sweaty forehead. “It took you long enough to get here. Grab a hose.”
Don’t mind if do. “I’ve actually been here a little while, but I was stuck on the phone.” I pick up the hose and turn the dial to full blast. “With my mother,” I add.
Mo swallows, her eyes darting to the scrub brush in her hand. “Oh yeah?” she says, running it across the floor. “What did she want?”
I tap the spray nozzle against my palm and take a step toward her. “Oh, you know, just to talk.”
“Good. That’s good,” she says, concentrating on the floor of the kennel as though she’s performing brain surgery.
“Did you talk to your dad today?”
“Uh…yeah, actually, I did. But only for a minute this morning.”
“And what did you two talk about?”
“Just the normal stuff. He asked about Animal Haven. That’s really about it.”
“Liar,” I shout, squeezing the trigger. A heavy stream of water blasts Mo in the chest.
She falls backward, eyes wide. “What was that for?”
“You told your dad about Trevor and I.”
“Trevor and me.”
“Huh?”
“You said Trevor and I, it should’ve been Trevor and me.”
I growl, and Mo throws her hands up.
“I don’t need a grammar lesson from you right now.”
“Okay. Sorry,” she says.
“For correcting my English or blabbing to your dad?”
“Both?”
I blast her with another shot of water. Mo sputters, throwing her hands in front of her face.
Milo is going crazy in her cage, running in circles and barking incessantly, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
“You deserve that,” I say, lowering the hose. “You knew your dad would tell my mom. Did it occur to you that I hadn’t told her?”
“I’m sorry, okay? I was just excited, and I tell my dad everything, and when he asked what I did last night, it just sort of came out. Then Rhett walked into the room and put his hands on me while I was talking, and I ended up rushing off the phone without telling my dad not to say anything.”
“Let me get this straight. I had to endure a lecture from my mom about Trevor because you and your horny boyfriend couldn’t keep your hands off each other?”
At least she has the decency to cringe. “Yes?”
I raise my nozzle, blasting her again, but this time Mo is ready for me. She lunges to the side, grabbing a second hose, and drenches me. We’re both sputtering, trying to drown the other, and I’m sure from the outside we look like lunatics. But we’re in the moment, and the only one here to judge us is Milo—and she’s blind.
Mo tries to stand up but falls on her ass. The joke’s on me, though, because her nozzle shoots upward, hitting me in the face, and I choke on my own laugh. She tries again to get up, but her rubber boots are no match for the slick concrete, and she falls again—only this time she lands in a pile of dog poo.
I gasp, releasing the trigger at the same time she does. Mo slowly lifts her free hand, which is now a disgusting shade of brown.
