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“No, it was a dog. Apparently, some lady’s grandkids took her Chihuahua up in their treehouse and forget about him.”

“Oh, no, not again. You must mean Button.”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“This isn’t the first time he’s gone missing,” she said, snapping the cap shut on the lotion. “Poor little guy must’ve been hungry and scared.”

“I don’t think so. He seemed pretty content. The kids had left some snacks up there and a busted sprinkler head was shooting water inside the treehouse forming a puddle for him to drink from.”

“Why didn’t Mrs. Davis call the fire department?”

“That was my question. Justin said something about her hating them.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Katherine rolled her eyes just before Matthew gave her quizzical look. “It’s a long story. Have Justin tell you about it.”

“That bad, huh?”

“No, he just loves to tell that story. You’ll see.” She smirked as she rubbed the excess lotion from her hands up and down both her arms. “How long are your parents in town?”

“A few days. By the way, they’re gonna want to meet you. Think you’d be up for it tomorrow?”

“You told them about me?” Katherine asked, getting up to put the lotion back on the bathroom counter. What she really wanted to ask was if he’d told his parents about them being a coupleor about the woman living next door.

“Of course I did. I wanted them to know where I’d be. Especially if Libby needs me in the middle of the night.”

“Wait… are your parents next door?”

Matthew looked puzzled. “Well, yeah, I told you they were here.”

“Oh,” she said, then walked into the bedroom. “I guess I thought they were staying somewhere else.”

“You mean like a hotel?” Matthew said when she reappeared. “You don’t know my mom. She wouldn’t go for that. She’d tell me she didn’t drive three hours in nightmare traffic to see her only grandchild, then wind up at the Holiday Inn. Besides, you know there’s plenty of room at my house.”

The more Katherine listened, the more her body grew heavy.

“Katie, are you okay?” Matthew rushed over to steady her. “You look like you’re gonna be sick. Do you feel sick?”

Katherine nodded as her body went limp.

“Come on, let’s get you over to the bed.” After getting her settled, Matthew got a cool, damp cloth for her forehead and sat beside her. “What else can I do?”

“Nothing,” she whispered as her head swirled in dizzying circles. She imagined sewing scarlet A’s on her shirts and an extra-large one on the front of her overalls.

“Do you think you could stick your finger down your throat?”

“What?”

“So you can throw up. You might’ve gotten food poisoning.”

“That’s not what this is.”

As she tried to sit up, the washcloth from her forehead fell into her lap. On its way down, it brushed against her chest, leaving a damp spot across the front of her nightgown, rendering it virtually see-through.

“Let me fix that for you!” Matthew said, rushing to the closet and yanking the first shirt off its hanger before hurrying back to cover Katherine and wrapping the blouse around her like a straitjacket.

Despite how bad she felt, she laughed. “Are you trying to cover me or cart me off to the asylum?”

“Sorry, did I hurt you?”