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Griff’s face broke into an amused grin. “Welp,” he said, clapping his hands together. “I think it's almost time for me to read a story to the kids. I must’ve forgotten Beau out here,” he said to no one in particular. Then he whispered down to me, “Come through the front door.”
I shook my head stubbornly. I would not do that.
He cocked his head to the side like a teacher who was testing me. “Well, you can climb the fence again, but how is he going to?” He motioned to Beau. “Plus, you want to get the wind knocked out of you again?” His face pinched. “That looked painful. Your dad would kill me if he knew I didn't let you through the front door.” He held a hand down to help me up. “You and Duke,” he said with a chuckle.
“What about us?” I asked defensively as I quickly brushed some grass off my body.
“To be honest, neither of you think very far ahead,” he said thoughtfully, scratching his head. “You are both very impulsive and have been ever since you were little kids. I imagine that's why you like each other and why you hate each other.”
I was already mentally annoyed with myself for not thinking through how to escape with Beau, but it was more irritating to have him point it out. I did not want to sit here and be psychoanalyzed. I stuck my jaw at him. “You’re annoying, you know that?”
That just made his face crack into a big smile. “C’mon,” he said as he started moving toward their house.
As soon as I entered the kitchen, Sav’s face faltered before she quickly recovered and gave me a bright smile.
“Hi Claire!”
“Hey,” I grumbled. Great, she was just another person who now saw me during my covert operation.
Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, and she brushed her short blonde hair behind her ears. “Staying for breakfast?”
“Nope,” Griff answered for me. “She is stealing our dog, babe,” he said while leaning down to kiss the top of her head.
Her eyebrows shot up with that one.
“Don’t ask. It has something to do with Duke,” he said with a smirk. He looped his strong arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head.
It was annoying seeing their touchy feely love when I couldn’t have it.
“No offense, your brother is a dickhead,” I added.
She pressed her lips together to stop from laughing. “Okay, well, I guess I could use the break from cleaning up after Beau’s shedding,” she said, completely ignoring my comment about her brother.
I nodded and snatched the leash sitting on the island counter before marching my way to their front door.
“He likes peanut butter!” Sav called out right as I was closing their door behind me.
On the way home, I stopped at the CVS down the street from our apartment for food for Beau.
While walking up to the checkout line, I took a little detour through the hair section and grabbed up a box of black dye. How pathetically cute to think I even considered going back to my roots. There was no way I’d give him that satisfaction. In fact, I wanted to remove all satisfaction from his life at the current moment.
27.Claire
A couple hours later, Addie stood by the front door holding her suitcase as dad blared his car horn out by the driveway. He was driving her to a last round job interview in Detroit.
“You sure you don’t mind that I’m leaving?” she asked with a hesitant expression. She opened the door and scolded dad to give her a minute before turning back to me.
I rolled my eyes. “I am fine, Addie. Don’t worry about me, you just go out there and nail that interview,” I told her while cutting into the steak I made for myself for lunch. I couldn’t really bring myself to eat much on account of how pissed off I still was though. I was anxiously waiting for Duke to realize what I’d done in retaliation… Beau leaned his furry chin on my knee to notify me that he was still waiting under the table for more food. I took pity on him and dropped another little piece of steak under the table. I was honestly grateful for his presence. He cushioned the blow of being alone.
“And you really don’t mind that dad comes too? I think he’s just afraid I’ll get the job and move out there, so he wants to spend more time with me,” she said with a little smirk.
That was definitely my dad’s motive. I waved this off though. “I’m totally good. But I won’t lie and say I’d be happy if you moved to Detroit though,” I warned.
She shrugged. “I probably won’t get it. I’m just throwing everything at the dart board and seeing what sticks.”
“You will get it,” I told her firmly. She had too little faith in herself. As soon as they saw her writing and realized just how high her sports IQ was, she’d be snatched up in a second. She watched hockey with a keener eye than most scouts.
She shook her head like I was speaking nonsense– which I totally wasn’t– and looked around the apartment. “You sure you wanna stay here? You could go to dad’s after we leave. Then Beau would have the yard to play in?” Her voice went higher at the end of her sentence.
