AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lucy.” Mat’s voice sounded a low warning note.
“I’m going.” She flounced to the rear of the Winnebago and banged the door.
“I’m getting a really bad feeling about Grandma,” Nealy said.
“She’s a college professor. How bad can she be?”
“What are you going to do if she doesn’t measure up?”
“She will. Don’t worry about it.”
She wondered who he was trying to convince.
Just then, a loud yip came from the back.
“That’s not an engine noise!” Mat swore under his breath, braked, and pulled off onto the sh
oulder. “Lucy! Get out here!”
The door at the rear slowly opened. Her head was down, shoulders slumped. She crept forward. “What’d I do now?”
Mat regarded her stonily. “You tell me.”
A mournful howl echoed through the Winnebago.
He vaulted up from the seat and charged to the back. “Son of a—”
“I guess he found Squid,” Lucy mumbled.
“Squid?” Nealy said weakly.
“That’s what the guy at the service station called him. I’d like to give him another name, but I don’t want to confuse him.”
Another curse from the back, then Mat stalked forward, followed by a dirty, malnourished dog that appeared to be part beagle and part everything else. It had a mottled brown coat, long droopy ears, and a mournful expression.
“I didn’t steal him!” Lucy pushed past Mat to kneel by the dog. “The guy at the service station said he was going to shoot him! Somebody dropped him off on the side of the road yesterday, and nobody wanted him.”
“I can’t imagine why.” Mat glared down at the pathetic animal. “Shooting him would be a gift to humanity.”
“I knew you’d say something crappy like that!” She hugged the dog to her thin chest. “He’s mine! Mine and Button’s.”
“That’s what you think.”
While Mat and Lucy scowled at each other, the dog disengaged himself and hoisted his weak body up onto the couch next to the car seat. Nealy was just moving forward to get him away from the baby when he gave Button a doleful look, then covered her from chin to forehead with a long, slow lick.
“Oh, God! He’s licking her face!” Nealy charged forward to push the dog away.
“Stop it!” Lucy cried. “You’re hurting his feelings.”
Button clapped and tried to grab the dog’s ear.
Mat moaned.
“Get him away from her!” Nealy tried to wedge herself between Button and the dog, only to feel Mat slip his arm around her waist and pull her back.
“Where’s that handy cyanide capsule when you need it?”
“Don’t! Let me go! What if he has rabies?” Even as Nealy struggled to get away from Mat, one part of her was thinking about how good it felt being right where she was.
