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I freed my puppy from her leash, giving her the option to run away. I’d done it quick so I wouldn’t let myself think. I just wanted her to be happy, and though she started to run away and play with the others, she didn’t get far before coming back to me. She pressed paws to my knee, wagging her tail.
“Go,” I said, trying to be selfless when I nudged her. “Go play. That’s your family.” I guided her away, but once again, she’d get maybe a few steps before coming back. She wouldn’t leave me and actually tried to climb on my leg to come back to me.
“I guess she’s made her choice,” Royal said, smiling at the pair of us. Taking a toy out of my bag, he tossed it. Eventually, I watched him stand and go after the other pups. He played fetch with them, even showing them tricks like sit and roll over. He knew what he was doing.
She chose me.
I knew it was stupid, but I wanted to break down in damn tears at that. I cradled Hershey’s little face, scratching her deep behind the ears the way she liked.
“Come on. Let’s play, little girl,” I said, tossing a toy. I kept her unleashed, trusting her to come back, and each time she did. She never strayed, loving her good time with the others, but she always came back to me. She played her little heart out, and Royal was able to show her a few tricks as well. He got her to roll on her back before giving her a toy and even sit a couple times. By the end, she’d exhausted her damn self, and I carried a sleeping puppy in my arms to the cabin of the truck. I used the front of my bag as a dog bed for her, and no sooner had I placed her on it than she fell asleep.
“She obviously doesn’t have as much stamina as them,” I said, laughing at her. I closed the door silently, watching as Royal climbed in the back of the truck bed and tossed more toys.
I joined him. The two of us sat and tossed toys until there weren’t any more, and eventually, we both heard a whistle. The doggies darted off in the general direction, disappearing behind the cornstalks.
“My cousin, no doubt,” he said, raising a leg. “Probably called them inside the house.”
“Well, they exhausted this one,” I told him, laughing when I glanced inside the truck window. Hershey’s tongue hung out and everything in sleep.
This made Royal’s smile quirk up. His gaze found the stars, and mine did too for a while. It really was beautiful out here, open.
I panned his way. “What exactly is Route 80?” Honest to God, the words fell out of my mouth. I mean, true, I’d thought about them. More than once, and seeing Royal… I don’t know. I just spoke…
I shouldn’t have, and I knew the moment his fingers went to his mouth. He clamped up a bit, not how he’d been before when his jaw worked.
“So you had been spying?” he asked.
“I didn’t,” I lied. I pulled my arms around my legs. “I mean, I didn’t mean to do it. Jax was just showing me around Windsor House. I heard.”
His nod had him looking out to the stars again. “My dad’s a jerk.”
“I guess we share that, then.”
His gaze flicked over, his expression softening a bit when he laced his fingers. “Your dad is just cold. Mine’s an ass.”
“Why didn’t he want you to go out to that Route 80? What’s out there?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you.”
“Why?”
Green irises shifted toward me. “Because that’s the last place I saw your sister.”
I froze, not what I’d been expecting him to say. “What?”
His sigh was heavy. “It’s the last place I saw your sister, the last time we were together before…” His jaw moved. “Before she took off and basically told me the next day in a text. She said she was skipping town and didn’t respond to any of my texts after that. Straight ghosted. Anyway, my dad doesn’t want me out there because he knew why I was out there.”
“Why were you?”
He stared off. “I guess I was doing some sentimental shit. Paige was one of my best friends.” He shrugged. “I missed her, wanted to be where I last saw her, and my dad wasn’t having any of that. He isn’t her biggest fan. Never has been. When we were kids, we always got into trouble and, when we got older, even more. We skipped class together. Skipped town sometimes, and he just wants me to forget all that and her as he sees her as the source. She’s not, though. He is. He and your dad. I think that’s how we got to be friends. We bonded over our shitty dads.”
My heart squeezed, at a complete lack of words.
His hands came together. “I owe her so much, everything. She looked out for me. My dad’s a real fucking asshole, and she was always there.”
I swallowed, seeing just a snapshot of that. I cradled my legs tighter. “Any idea why she left? Was it Dad?”
He wet his lips. “I wish it was this time. It’s more complicated than that, though.”
