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“It’s been fourteen years.”
“Some things, you don’t forget.”
Our eyes collide again, and then it’s there. Unspoken. The kiss.
She pops up out of her seat. “Uh—I better take this ball of fur out for his walky-walk and then see if he wants to be a big boy and go to beddy-bye.”
“Yeah, I’ll go. Let you get to it.”
“I’ll send you the graphic for the flyer tomorrow.”
We update each other about our contact info and then part ways.
Are we on track to be best friends, like we were when we were freshmen? Is that kiss we shared going to keep getting in our way?
It’s like Maddison said…
Only time will tell.
Chapter 6
Maddison
I haveoneimportant job to do while staying at Pansy’s: Keep Outlaw safe.
Only one.
Should be simple enough.
And yet, somehow, I’ve messed up the job already.
“Outlaw?” I call, as I poke my head into the laundry room at the back of the house. “You in here, bud?”
The ancient washer and dryer setup stares back at me, dials like wide eyes proclaiming my failure:You’ve been dog-sitting for less than twenty-four hours and you lost the dog.
I close the laundry room door in a hurry.
I don’t need to project feelings onto inanimate household objects right now. I need to find the darn dog.
I stride into the living room. I already looked in here, but I cast my gaze about again.
No.
No, no, no.
There’s a tear in the window screen, behind the couch. The window pane is pushed up, too, since it was warm last night and I wanted to let a breeze in. Did the darn dog escape?
Is he across town by now, dodging traffic and chasing squirrels?
Is it my fault?
With a pit of anxiety in my stomach I hustle out onto the Victorian’s creaky porch floorboards. The hushed morning feels ominously quiet, like I’m in a scary movie and a bad guy’s about to jump out.
I’m barely aware of the crisp edge in the air as I make my way down the purple-painted steps and then pad down the slate walkway. Twin bumpers of overgrown plants, wet with dew, tickle my legs.
It’s still early, and a peach-gold sun is shimmering over the ridge of Montshire Mountain, to the east. Pretty, technically, but I’m too distressed to appreciate it.
I hug myself and fear claws at my gut as I peer down the road. “Outlaw?” I holler. “Outlaw! Outlaw… Come!”
