Kiss Me in the Summer - Barbara Dunlop Page 0,54

door.

Butch trotted happily beside me, clearly up for an adventure.

“Butch,” Victoria called out. “You stay here.”

Butch gave her a fleeting glance over his shoulder then leaned his body into my leg as I stopped at the door. His nose turned to point to the exit, and he couldn’t have made his intentions clearer.

“He thinks he’s coming with us,” I said to Josh.

Josh looked down at the dog. “Are you okay with that?”

I realized I was.

*

Josh’s windshield wipers were going double-time, sheets of water sliding off the glass as we headed for the highway.

Butch sat on the floor of the back seat, his head resting on the console between Josh and me, an ear leaned up against my arm.

“Should we call someone?” I asked Josh.

“She’s not missing,” he said. “She’s joyriding. I don’t know what gets into her head sometimes.”

“She was talking about taking a trip to New York City.”

He shot me a look of disbelief. “Please tell me she’s not going on the interstate.”

“It sounded like that plan was a ways in the future. I think she likes the freedom.”

“Where I like keeping her in good health.” He was concentrating hard on driving.

The streetlights showed a couple of inches of water that rooster-tailed out behind his tires as we drove along the deserted road.

“I can’t disagree with you on that,” I said. “I’ve ridden with her, remember?”

He was silent for a few seconds. “I do.”

My phone rang, vibrating against my chest, reminding me I had breast pockets, reminding me I was still dressed in a ridiculous pair of coveralls.

“Maybe it’s her,” I said.

“You think we’re that lucky?”

It was Cecily.

“Hey,” I said into the phone. “Finally.”

“I tried earlier,” she said. “You didn’t answer.”

“Oh, I must have been bathing Butch.”

At the sound of his name, Butch pressed and rubbed his head against my arm.

“Come again?” Cecily said in a tone that had perked right up.

“Butch is a dog,” I said, knowing what she was thinking.

I caught Josh’s smirk.

“Drive,” I said to him.

“What?” Cecily asked.

“Nothing.”

“You were bathing a dog.”

“Yes.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my friend Laila?”

“He’s a really nice dog,” I said.

She paused, like she was gathering her thoughts. “Okay. Dog aside, not that we won’t talk about that later, but it’s all over the office that Luke called you.”

“He did,” I said. The reality of my firing hit me all over again. I didn’t know how I’d managed to push it to the back of my mind.

“Why did you answer?”

“I thought it was you. I’d left that message, and I was distracted. We were talking in the wine cellar, and the number didn’t register right away. I answered before I thought it through.” I still felt stupid making such a big mistake.

“Wine cellar?” Cecily asked. “Where are you?”

“Rutter’s Point, Maine. He would have fired me anyway. It wouldn’t have helped to wait.” I’d been telling myself that since the phone call. I actually believed myself on this one. Luke wasn’t going to calm down and change his mind.

“You should see the fallout,” Cecily said.

“There’s fallout? From the video, you mean.”

“Elizabeth quit.”

I felt terrible. “This blew back on her?”

“Laila?” Josh said.

“No, she blew back on them. She threatened—”

“Laila?” Josh repeated a little louder.

I looked over at him, wondering why he was interrupting.

“—to take her clients,” Cecily continued.

“You’re about to lose service,” Josh said.

We were heading up the hill out of town.

“And she did,” Cecily finished.

“I’m going to lose you,” I said to Cecily.

“What?”

“The cell signal. We’re leaving town, and I’m going to be out of the service area.”

There was silence.

“Cecily?”

“She’s gone,” Josh said. “We just passed Black Rock.”

“She’s gone,” I agreed.

“Is it urgent?” he asked.

“Not as urgent as finding Madeline. I’ll just be curious for a while is all. She said there was fallout from my firing. Some people were upset.”

“I hope they were upset. You’re a big loss.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t know anything about my legal skills.”

“I know you’re smart, energetic, and compassionate.”

“You also know I’m a klutzy chicken.”

“A cute klutzy chicken,” he said with a grin.

Butch gave a yawn and nuzzled me a little more. I impulsively stroked his head, feeling the soft, fresh-smelling fur between my fingers.

“Do you think we’ll find her?” I asked.

“If she hasn’t gone too far. We’ll head for the main highway. But if we don’t find her between here and there, we’ll have to take a guess at which direction she went.”

“Is there any way to make an educated guess?”

“I wouldn’t have guessed she’d go joyriding in a thunderstorm in