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“Forty-five minutes,” I say, knowing an hour would be too much. I need to get her and the dog to my car, then speed off. The faster we can do this, the more lead time we’ll have.
“Twenty,” Jason snaps. “And not a second more.”
I look at Paigelynn, splaying my hand on my chest. “Is he, like, your father?”
“No.”
“Then no offense, Jason, but why are you telling a grown woman what she can and can’t do with her time? I don’t understand. I know I’m just the dog trainer, but I’m also a professional who is watching a very weird social situation here.”
Paigelynn grins. Jason doesn’t.
“Butt out, Simon,” he grunts.
“I will not. My mother taught me to help the underdog.” I let out a fake laugh. “Hah. Get it? Under dog.”
“I get it,” he grinds out. “I hired you, but I can fire you.”
“I hired him,” Paigelynn says loudly. “Not you. And I hired you, too, Jason, and I can fire you.”
Based on how quickly this is going down, something has changed in her overnight. Never in my best-case scenario strategic planning did I think I’d have Defiant Paigelynn.
“You’re asking me not to do my job. My job is to watch over you and protect you,” he says.
“Is your life in danger? Is someone stalking you?” I ask her. She falters, face rippling with a series of emotions I am not supposed to understand, but I do.
I really do.
“It’s complicated,” Malcolm says as both Jason and Paigelynn turn awkward.
“I don’t know anything about complicated,” I say. “Dog obedience is simple. Prompt and response. That’s my motto. And besides, Winnie will bark if there’s a problem. I have a cell phone and some mace on me. Paigelynn, you must have a phone, right?”
“I do.”
“Then we’re set! We’ll just walk on the sidewalks,” I say, too enthusiastic. Pretending I give a shit, and deep into my role now, I hold one palm up toward Jason, then Paigelynn. “But you make the final call.”
Tension rises in the room. It’s clear that Paigelynn’s defiance is new.
Anything I can do to fuel it is key.
“Jason,” Paigelynn says, walking over to him. She whispers something in his ear and he closes his eyes, aggravated, but he nods as he sighs slowly.
“Fine,” he mutters. “You are right.”
“Of course I am,” she says as she bends down to connect Winnie’s harness, already on her, to a leash. I follow her lead, the door opening, the spot between my shoulder blades tingling.
Either they’re letting us leave, or I’m about to get murdered on the spot.
And so we leave.
As Paigelynn shuts the front door, she lets out a huge breath and moves quickly to the sidewalk as I follow.
“Simon? Simon?” she says under her breath as she looks at the house. Jason’s standing in the window, arms crossed, Malcolm appearing at another on the other side.
“It’s a long story.”
“You didn’t kill the real Simon, did you?”
A flash of the poor dude’s body hits me. “No,” I say honestly.
