Page 123

Nora hugs me, then starts up the car again. “Okay,” she says, a tear escaping from underneath her glasses. “Let’s go home.”

CHAPTER32

Eli

TRACK:Sturgill Simpson, “The Promise”

Rufus barks as Reese’s car pulls up, jumping in my lap and pressing his paws against the window.

“I know, buddy.” I wrap my arms around his ribs, scratching him there, and then behind his ears. “I’m excited too.” Rufus barks again. “Yeah and a little scared, but it’s okay to be scared, right?”

I’m losing it, talking to this dog. But it calms the tangle of nerves in my stomach as the car’s lights go off.

But it’s not Reese who gets out of the driver’s seat.

“Hey,” I say to Nora as I cut across the street, Rufus pulling excitedly at his leash.

I get him to heel. “No barking, okay?”

Nora holds her finger to her lips, then points inside the car.

There, sprawled out on the reclined chair, is Reese.

She looks like an angel. An angel with a mess of hair, mouth slightly agape, and a puffy jacket pulled over her as a blanket.

“I can take Rufus upstairs if you want?” Nora asks. She doesn’t have to whisper with her soft voice.

Rufus whimpers beside me, desperate to be with Reese.

Get in line, buddy.

But I can see the weariness in Nora’s eyes, along with the way she looks longingly at a little hatchback next to us. She must have parked at Reese’s place so they could drive to the city together.

“We’re good,” I say. Then, because I’m not sure what Reese has told her, I say, “I’ll just make sure she gets inside, then I’ll head home.”

“Sure,” she says. But her lips curl up like she knows something I don’t.

A moment later, her car’s pulling away and I’m holding Rufus’s leash.

“Okay, Rufus. We’re going to be nice and quiet, right?”

Rufus cocks his head. It’s as close as I’m going to get to agreement.

“Good boy.”

I open the passenger door.

Rufus immediately becomes a very bad boy, barking his head off and exploding into the car onto Reese like a four-legged tornado with a tongue.

“Rufus!” I exclaim, reaching for his collar. “Shh!”

But Reese is already gasping, sitting up confused as Rufus jumps up and down, licking her face and barking. “Ugh, Rufus!” she sputters, pressing him down off her face. But I can see the confused smile on her face too.

Then she sees me, and her smile falls.

My stomach drops, but I still manage a “Hi, Reese.”

Rufus keeps going though, and it takes both of us to calm him down. We end up with Rufus in her lap in her arms, and me squatting beside them, stroking his back to keep him from leaping up again.