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“Can I stop in later?” Rafe asked.
“You don’t have to,” Abbe said, trying to sound relaxed about it. She didn’t want to be waiting around for him if he was just going to let her down again.
He looked stunned. “Iwantto stop by later.”
“That’s not necessary, Rafe,” she said, already moving out of the room. “I have to change.”
She noticed Bianca’s wide eyes as she passed. She knew she was practically running out of the room, way more upset than she should be, but she couldn’t help it. She took off the borrowed clothes, left them in a hamper in Bianca’s room, and changed into her own. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and brushed her teeth, glad that she’d at least had the sense to pack a bag even though Rafe had told her she wouldn’t need one.
She wasn’t angry. It wasn’t as if he’d counted on breaking plans, but that’s how it always went. At this point, Abbe knew better than to rely on anyone but herself. She was glad she’d learned that lesson when she had. The only problem was it still hurt. She’d believed Rafe when he’d told her she could count on him. Maybe she hadn’t learned her lesson after all.
Abbe was back out in the kitchen in fifteen minutes to find Rafe, fully dressed in one of those sleek, understated tracksuits that looked better than most people’s actual suit-suits, talking quietly with his sister. Their conversation ended abruptly when Abbe entered the room.
“It was nice meeting you, Bianca,” Abbe said, nodding at her from a few paces away. She turned to Rafe. “Do I need one of those key cards to take the elevator down?” she asked.
He looked annoyed. “I’ll walk you down.”
Bianca’s eyes bounced back and forth between them. “Let’s all go down together!” she said, forcing cheerfulness.
Rafe’s annoyance turned to seething in the elevator. Bianca seemed to shrink inside her clothes, unsettled by her brother’s stormy mood. Abbe counted the seconds until it was over, the sound of her heart in her ears.
As soon as they were street level, Abbe lifted a hand in their general direction saying, “Bye,” and broke off to head to the T station, which was just steps away.
“Where the hell are you going?” Rafe asked, his tone just short of shouting.
Abbe pointed to the subway awning, still backing away from him. “Home.”
“Alejandro will drive you,” he said, starting toward her.
“No thanks,” Abbe said, then turned around and ran to the T stop.
“Abbe!” Rafe called after her.
It felt wrong to be running away from him, but she was already taking the stairs below ground, and didn’t stop.
Fourteen
After all the time she had to think riding on the train, and then to put the whole thing behind her on the walk from the station to the shelter, Abbe felt much more like herself when she arrived at Furry Faces.
Her phone kept buzzing in her pocket with incoming texts, but she didn’t look to see who it was. She didn’t want to know if it was Rafe. Or, if it wasn’t. She just wanted to focus on something other than him for the rest of the day. Get her equilibrium back.
When Abbe came through the front door, she could hear Rachel in the office, speaking in a very polite tone. Abbe knew something was wrong right away. Rachel was onlyreallypolite when she was angry.
“And I said that taking pictures without the operator’s consent was…” Rachel broke off when she saw Abbe standing in the doorway.
The woman standing across from her was in her thirties, dressed in shades of cream from head to toe, and carried the latest “it” bag carelessly over her bent forearm. She turned around and for a fleeting second, Abbe felt like she was getting stabbed with hate icicles flying from this beautiful woman’s eyes. The millisecond of hatred was followed by a wave of saccharine-sweet smiling.
“Hi, you must be Abbe,” she said coyly, which struck Abbe as strange. She couldn’t figure out if this woman was mocking her or not.
“Yes, hi,” Abbe replied warily. She looked at Rachel, who mouthed the wordsshe’s crazywhile the woman was still turned to face Abbe. “Can I help you with something?”
“Yes,” the woman said, reaching out and putting an overly familiar hand on Abbe’s arm. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” she said. She pulled way too close to Abbe for her comfort. “Can we talk privately?” she whispered. She smelled discreetly of perfume, and the skin on her hands was so moisturized it was too soft, like plastic.
Abbe eased away from her and looked at Rachel. “Why don’t we just talk here?” she said.
The woman huffed, raising her eyebrows, like she couldn’t believe that a request for special treatment from her could be denied by anyone.
“Well, I’m interested in adopting, and I wanted to take pictures of the animals that I was considering,” the woman began.
