think about it some more.”
He was silent for a moment, so long that I checked the screen of the phone to make sure the call hadn’t failed. The timer was still ticking away, so I guess he was just processing.
“I thought you said your dad was getting better,” he finally said.
“He is.”
He was silent some more and then he gasped. “You don’t want to leave.”
“That’s not true,” I denied automatically.
“What’re they doing to you in that town?” he demanded. “Is this a Stepford situation?”
“I gotta go, Boz. And don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.”
I hit the End button to the sound of his spluttering and went back to my spying. Some of the dolls earned their way out of time out, and the little girl started rearranging her toy army.
I gave Raisin a skeptical look where she sat grooming herself in the passenger seat. She didn’t seem to care that her person was right fucking there. Didn’t that speak volumes? She didn’t have an affinity for this place of perfection. Of course, I hadn’t let her out of the car. I grumbled as I stuck my binoculars back to my eyes.
Yes, I brought binoculars. I was a fucking professional.
I hadn't realized how much room I was making in my life and heart for this little ball of fluff that barely weighed ten pounds. But it wasn’t like I could take her with me everywhere I went anyway. Some people traveled with their dogs, sure, but in foreign countries it was all red tape and complications.
I lowered my binoculars before someone called the cops. I was stalling. She had to go back to her family, and I had to find a way to let her go. “Tomorrow,” I said hoarsely into Raisin’s unblinking gaze. “I'll bring you back tomorrow, okay?”
I sank my fingers into her fur, and she stretched out on her side, exposing her belly. Not tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow wasn’t going to make a damned bit of difference—it was just another shitty day with a different name. And I’d never put off doing what needed to be done, even if it was hard.
I lifted Raisin and brought her to my chest, where I kissed her about a dozen times. She looked at me with wise old brown eyes as I told her I loved her and kissed her nose some more. She usually hated that, but she allowed it because dogs were as intuitive as they were sweet. She knew something was going on.
I got out of the car. The little girl playing on the lawn glanced at me once with curiosity and then dropped her toy when she saw what I carried in my arms. She came running pell-mell in my direction as Raisin squirmed against me madly, trying to get free. I had no choice but to let her down before she hurt herself.
“Hold on, hold on,” I muttered as I unhooked her leash. The moment she heard the clip release, she took off.
She and the little girl met somewhere in the middle of the yard as I stood there with my hands in my pockets. In a second, I’d go to the door and talk to her mom to let her know she was back and give her a good report. But for right now, I watched the girl crying and petting Raisin while the dog licked her face madly.
I reminded myself that I wasn’t giving anything up.
She’d never been mine in the first place.
Chapter 24
Journey
I took my time getting home. Truthfully, I wasn’t all that eager to go back without Raisin because it just made it all too real that she was gone. Instead, I busied myself doing all manner of useless things. I stopped by the drugstore and bought things that I already had. I went by the gas station and topped off my tank, even though it was already over three-quarters of the way full. I enjoyed a nice carwash as well. Then I stopped for a vanilla ice cream cone. I indulged my masochistic tendencies by eating it on a bench at the dog park while the sun went down.
It was after ten by the time I decided to head home.
I heard the water running as soon as I walked in the door and let out a groan. After my father had gotten stuck in the tub twice, we agreed that he should hold off on baths. Showers sitting on the bath bench only. He knew that. It was like