put poor Wally? Theo sighed. If he was still alive.
He held his hands to his head, carefully avoiding the painful bruise. Jean would be angry with him for how he'd just treated Alice and Cam. He wasn't a happy man at the moment. If he lost Wally, he couldn't bear it. And now he had probably lost Alice.
Theo wandered outside on the deck in hopes that the morning light would lift his spirits. The dog park structures in the yard waited for the next meeting. He hoped there would still be one. Negative thoughts poured in, threatening to overtake him.
"Oh, Jean," he said aloud. "I just don't know how much longer I can keep going."
Chapter 25
Just as Shelby turned the corner on the way to Mindy’s house, she received a text from Dana. She wished she hadn’t given her mother her cell phone number, but Dana had insisted. “Besides,” she’d said, “I want to send you pictures of Florida. It’s so pretty.” Ugh.
Urgent, must speak to you.
All she could think was, Not now. Dana had promised she’d only call Shelby’s cell in an emergency, but here she was calling. Dana thought everything was an emergency. Before calling her mother, Shelby texted Mindy to say she might be a little late. Her appointment to walk Eleanor’s dogs was scheduled for much later in the day, so she had enough time.
Works out perfectly for me, Mindy texted back. I didn’t want to disrupt your morning, but if you could come in about an hour that would help a lot. My boss wants to do a conference call and it would be better if Karma was out then.
That did make it easier, Shelby thought. She was only a few blocks from home, so she decided to turn around and go back there and make the call to Dana in private. She texted her mother she’d call in a few minutes, but by the time she reached her grandmother’s steps, her cell phone was already ringing.
“Hello, Mom,” she said as she let herself in the door and greeted Scarlett. She sat down on a comfortable chair facing the front window, kicked off her shoes, and pulled her legs up under her.
"Hello, stranger,” Dana answered.
Dana sounded perfectly fine, happy in fact. Shelby shook her head. “What’s up? I'm kind of in a rush. I have my dog walking job soon.” Scarlett must have heard the word “walk” because she started doing her “let’s go” dance.
"Oh, really? That's nice," Dana said.
Now what? Shelby half listened until she heard her mother say the word "move." She could hear road noise in the background of the call.
“Are you calling from the car?” Shelby asked.
“Gus is driving. We couldn’t wait to tell you something important.”
"What did you say?" Shelby asked.
"You're going to love it here," Dana said louder. "I've never been happier. The ocean is actually warm, the sand pure white, and you can swim all year.”
Shelby thought, Yeah, and there are hurricanes too, but she didn't say it. Her mother was enough of a storm. She didn't want to live somewhere where people had to be evacuated. She didn’t want to live there, period.
When Shelby didn’t answer, Dana continued. “And some exciting news.”
"What is it?" Shelby said, trying to be patient as she put her shoes back on, hoping to leave soon.
"Gus has decided to relocate to Florida near his family, buy a nice big house where we can all three live together. And you could even get a dog."
"Oh," Shelby said. "And when is this supposed to happen?"
"Well, actually, Gus and I have already been looking with a realtor, and I think we’ve picked one out. It’s a fancy, two-story house, and the high school is nearby."
Shelby thought about it for a minute. If the sale went through, and if was the important word here, did she want to go? There were so many more ifs: if Gus didn't kick them out, and if her mother didn't mess it up, they would have a more permanent home for her to finish high school.
“What do you think? Shelby, are you there?”
Shelby’s breath was ragged, and her chest ached at the thought of leaving Moonwater Lake. "Let me think about it," she said.
"What do you mean, think about it?" Dana’s voice started to rise. "I'm your mother. We're planning to come and get you in a few weeks, so you need to pack up and be ready."
Sunlight drifted through the windows. It filled the room and Shelby’s heart with