AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I throw my hands in the air. “Forget the show! I’m not leaving here without Julie and Ash. That’s ridiculous.”
He takes two bottles from the cooler this time and offers one to me, but I shake my head. He sucks his water down and wipes droplets from his beard when the second bottle is empty. “I understand. But it makes sense.”
“Not even close.”
The empties get tossed back into the cooler. “This way, we can get checked in, and Ash will bring Julie with him later, when she’s found.”
I can see the logic, but my emotions aren’t having any part of it. “Even if I would remotely consider that option, it would mean abandoning my dog, my car, and…Ash. Just to enter a car show? No.”
“We’d take your car. The Maybach isn’t in the show. Our cars came on a truck via the Interstate. They’re probably already in Denver, waiting on us to complete check-in.”
“Cars?”
“Uh-huh.”
“If this show is important enough to Ash to enter more than one car, why isn’t he the one going to Denver?”
“Stubborn.”
“I don’t understand. Why’s he doing this?”
“I asked him the same thing.”
“What’d he say?”
“Something about closure.” He shrugs. “I have no idea. When he gets all abstract like that, I don’t even try to figure him out. Do you know what he’s talking about?”
I don’t even try to stem the tears beginning to roll down my cheeks.
Taylor’s brow furrows, and he grasps my upper arms. “Hey, don’t cry. Is this about Julie? Jake’s real sure they’ll find her.”
See You Again from one of the Fast and Furious movies sounds from his phone. He pulls it out of his back pocket and checks the screen. “It’s Ash, hold on.” He taps a button. “You’re on speaker. Any luck?”
“Look to your right.”
Both Taylor and I swivel our necks. I can just see Ash’s head. Suddenly, Julie’s signature howl blasts through the air. She must have caught my scent. They found her! Tears erupt all over again.
“Taylor,” the speaker barks, “if you’ve drunk all our water, you’re walking back to Sycamore Hill.”
“It would serve you right for dawdling,” Taylor taunts with a big grin.
Ash grunts. “What’re you still doing here? I told you to get to Denver.”
“Your girl wouldn’t go. Apparently there’s somebody on the planet who’s even more stubborn than you.”
‘Your girl.’ I kinda like the sound of that.
But Ash isn’t finished bawling Taylor out. “I told you that even if you had to harness up and drag the Model A yourself, you were to get her and it to Denver and get checked in.”
“Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.” Taylor winks at me and hangs up on Ash.
The closer the dogs get to where we’re waiting, cheeseburgers become their target, and they practically drag Jake toward the Maybach. I call out to Julie, wanting to hug her and scold her at the same time, but she just yips an acknowledgement and stays with the other dogs.
Humph. Guess it wasn’t my scent she was baying at, after all. Compared to a bushel of cheeseburgers and two new best friends, I barely rate. “Nice to see you, too,” I snark her way.
Laughing, Taylor says, “Guess ‘faithful old hound dog’ is an outmoded concept. Even to the dog.”
The celebration gets into full swing when he passes around the yummy rewards. “Eat up, you knuckleheads. I’m not carting this smell all the way to Denver.”
