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“Maybe. I’ll drive by again.”
“Thank you.” She kissed him once more. “Okay. Now I really am late.” When Sunny made it to the door, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that Sean was once again staring out at the grounds.
Pete was letting Chevy’s pups have the run of his living room, which used to be his parents’ living room. He’d taken over the house when his folks moved to Florida a decade ago. This was the same living room where Sunny, Cici and Pete used to play—Twister on the hundred-year-old floor orSpace Invaderson the boxy television. The irony was not lost on Sunny that Pete’s mom had hated dogs, and would never let him have one, and now canines ruled this roost.
“That one.” Pete pointed to Ziggy, a wiggling ball of energy. Her brindle coat was heavy on the black and her ears were larger than a typical pit bull’s. “She’s being trained for mobility service. And that one—” Pete pointed to Munchkin, the smallest, who had a large caramel spot around his left eye “—is being trained for psychiatric service. And that one—” Pete pointed at Zelda “—the one rolling around on her back like a buffalo wallowing in the dirt?” She was mostly white, with random splotches of tan and black that looked like continents on a map. “I still haven’t figured that one out.”
“Different personalities for different jobs,” Sunny agreed.
“I’m tempted to rename them.” Pete gave a sly grin. “Cici, Pete and Sunny.”
“Oh, no, you didn’t.” Sunny giggled. “I’m the one wallowing in the dirt?”
“You know it.”
Sunny gave him a shove. “I hate you.”
Pete tilted back the brim of his baseball cap and grinned. “I’m happy to see that smile. You’ve been really tense lately.”
“I didn’t know you’d noticed.” Sunny reached out and ran her fingers down the sides of his chin. His beard was softer than she’d expected. “How long you going to grow this?” Personally, she liked it right where it was. It gave him a sexy, rugged look, but any longer and Pete would start to look like a guy from a Civil War photo.
“Don’t change the subject,” Pete said. “But since you asked, I was thinking a little longer. What do you think? You like it?”
“I do like it.” Sunny was surprised. Typically, she preferred clean-shaven. “But any longer and you’ll be trendy.” Pete grimaced. Sunny pointed a finger. “I knew that would get you.”
“Yeah?” Pete’s humor died a little. “And what’s getting you? You haven’t been yourself lately. That guy you’re dating treating you right? The cop?”
“Sure.” Sunny sank to the original hardwood floor of Pete’s living room. Sunny often thought about all the feet that had walked on this wood, what kind of shoes they wore and where those shoes had roamed. Zelda, the little crazy one who Pete couldn’t figure out, streaked into Sunny’s lap, her head hitting Sunny’s abs as she flopped onto her back. “We’re not really dating, anyway. I’m not sure what we are, other than the product of a bargain. Sean lived up to his end in spades. Took out Janice Matteri’s puppy mill in one fell swoop. I’ve been picking away at her for years, and along comes Sean, with his badge, and she’s down for the count.” Sunny shook her head. “Who knew?” She left out the part about Janice’s threat. Even though weeks had gone by and nothing had materialized but a moved feed bin, Sunny still felt Janice’s icy words in her veins.
“You’re the one that took her down,” Pete corrected. He rolled his eyes as Sunny indulged Zelda’s “crazy” by rubbing her tummy. “Your cop wouldn’t have had any interest in Janice Matteri without you in the pot.”
“In the pot?” Sunny gripped Zelda’s ears gently in both hands and stroked them, enjoying the silky feel in her palms. She was pretty sure that the stray who mated with Chevy was a lab, based on the puppies’ ears and coloring. “You make me sound like a bargaining chip.”
“No offense to you, Sunny, but your cop isn’t helping you out of the goodness of his heart or for the love of the dogs. You’re not just part of a bargain to him. He’s helping you because he’s sweet on you.”
Sunny kissed Zelda on the head and rose up to face Pete. “That’s funny. Sean said the exact same thing about you.”
“What thing?” Pete’s eyes narrowed.
“He said you were ‘sweet on me.’” Sunny laughed as she made air quotes. “He brought up how much time we spend together and suggested you like me. Isn’t that the most hilarious thing you’ve ever heard?” Sunny giggled and waited for Pete to bend in half, his body racked with laughter.
“Oh.” Pete’s face relaxed, all lines erased as he considered her words. He watched the puppies race around with each other. “I guess he’s a pretty good detective, then.”
“I know, right? I told him how dumb he sounded. I told him how you’ve always had a thing for Cici and... Wait.” Sunny’s mouth closed. She did a mental rewind. “Did you just say he was or wasn’t a good detective? I don’t think I heard you right. Or maybe you didn’t hear me right?”
Pete crossed his arms over his chest. “I said he was. And I heard you right.”
“Oh.” Sunny thought back on her words, just to make sure she’d said them the way she meant to say them. “But that means that...”
“Guess we know who isn’t a good detective.” Pete’s seriousness ceded to a half smile. That was his uncertain smile. One side of his mouth would tuck up at the corner and his eyes would get big. He’d been doing it since that day, ages ago, when he’d come upon Sunny and Cici in the woods, halfway between their homes, and said, “I’m Pete. You guys wanna play hide-and-seek?”
“So you’re sweet on me how? Like a sister?” Suddenly, she was sweating.
“That’s not what ‘sweet on’ means. Nobody’s ‘sweet on’ their sister.”
“But you have a thing for Cici.” Sunny rubbed her sweaty palms down the front of her pants. “You always have. You even said so recently, back when we first found the pups.” Sunny pointed at him, like she’d caught him in a lie. “I said you had a thing for Cici and you said, ‘A little bit.’”
“Yeah.” Pete shrugged. “A little bit. But with you, it’s a lot.”
