Page 3 of The Journey of a Lifetime (Tiny Homes and Happy Tails #2)

W alker lifted his head and smiled when he heard Maggie call his name. His eyesight may be blurry but he would know her voice and her scent anywhere.

She was his Maggie.

The scent of oil and gas hung in the air. He didn’t much like this part of the house. It was cold and damp and he kept running into the car.

“Walker.” Maggie knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.

He smiled and nudged closer. He’d missed his Maggie.

When she pulled away, he tried to focus on her face. But his eyesight wasn’t what it used to be. The last few months it was getting harder to focus.

Good thing he still had his nose. He could find his Maggie anywhere using his nose.

Maggie sat beside him and ran her fingers through his fur before scratching him behind the ear.

He grinned and curled up in her lap.

“I’ve missed you, Walker,” she whispered against his fur.

He gave her a lick across the face letting her know he’d missed her too.

She let out a giggle.

He liked the sound of her laugh. It made his heart want to burst with love.

“Walker.” Maggie blinked, and a tear rolled down her face. “Mason is cheating on me. I can’t believe he would do something like that.” She swallowed. “I guess I never really knew his character.”

Walker let out a bark. He wanted to let her know that he never liked Mason. He tried to warn her when he peed on the guy’s pants leg. But all that got him was Maggie’s mom yelling at him.

A dog could always tell what type of character a person had. Dogs were never wrong.

Maggie looked deep into his eyes. “I can’t tell my parents, at least not yet. They really like Mason. It would disappoint them to know I’m not staying with him.”

Walker gave her hand a lick to let her know everything would be okay.

“Thanks, boy.” Her eyes drew together in concern. “Mom told me you are having some eye issues.”

Walker sighed and lay back down in her lap.

Now was not the time to be worried about him. He didn’t like to see her sad.

He whined.

“I don’t know what my parents told you, but you’re not going anywhere.”

Walker stood and cocked his head.

She got to her feet and patted her thigh. “Come on, boy, let’s go to my room.”

He let out a stretch and then tried to follow the sound of her footsteps. He bumped into the fender of her mother’s car.

Maggie gasped and immediately went to him. She cradled his face between her hands. “Oh, Walker. I’m so sorry. I forgot …”

He wished he could tell her he wasn’t hurt.

Maggie looked around the wall of the garage. She found something and came back over to him. Kneeling, she snapped a collar and leash around his neck.

Walker sighed. He hated a collar.

“This is so you won’t run into anything. Come on, boy. Let’s go to my room.”

He made his way up the familiar steps back inside the house.

He could smell her mother cooking something in the kitchen. Whatever it was smelled good. But he knew he certainly wasn’t getting any of it. Since Maggie had gone away to college, all he got was dry dog food. Yuck.

Maggie’s mother stepped out of the kitchen and scowled when she saw Walker.

“Maggie, he needs to be in the garage, so he won’t bump into something and destroy it.” She pressed her lips into a thin white line.

“He’s not staying in the garage. He’s my dog, and he’s going to my room with me.” Maggie lifted her chin and walked past her mother with Walker in tow.

When she opened her bedroom door, he smiled at the familiar scent.

They both stepped inside, and he bumped into the bed.

“Oh, Walker. Here, let me help.” Maggie picked him up and put him on the bed.

He walked in a circle and curled up into a ball.

He was back inside, in Maggie’s bed. Most importantly, his Maggie was home.