“I’m sorry, Vig,” he said, his words sounding loud in the quiet darkness. “I should’ve done something. Not sure what, exactly, but there had to’ve been something I could’ve said or done or…something. I’m sorry for being an oblivious asshole and not seeing when Don was hurting so bad he thought death was the better option.”
Viggy’s muzzle poked out of the shelter, followed by the rest of his shape, silhouetted dark against darker. When he was several feet away from Theo, the dog sat and watched him.
“And now you’re fucked up, and I’m fucked up, and I don’t know how to fix it.” Leaning forward, Theo felt the cool chain link press into his forehead. “Don’t really see the point in fixing it.”
With a low, almost soundless whine, Viggy lowered his front end to the ground and rested his head on his paws. The silence stretched, filled only by the low whistle of the constant wind, and it felt like he and Viggy were the only living things in the world. Loneliness hollowed him out, and he tried to think of something, anything, else.
Jules popped into his mind, and he relaxed fractionally. As messed up as he was, there couldn’t be anything between them, but it was nice to have an ally, or maybe, possibly, eventually, a friend. From the little information he’d gotten from her, it seemed like she could use one, as well. Their grocery-store encounter gave him an excuse to talk to her, too. He found himself actually looking forward to going to the diner, and it had been a while since he’d looked forward to anything.
And he was back to thinking about Don. Viggy shifted and whined, as if sensing that Theo’s mood had dimmed.
“I know you miss him.” His voice came out rough, almost hoarse. “I do, too.”
They sat together quietly until the sun turned the sky orange and the neighborhood began to wake. Only then did Theo stand and stiffly walk toward the house to get ready for another shift.
* * *
“This is a bad idea.”
Viggy didn’t respond, not even to shift positions in the back. Not that Theo needed confirmation that this was indeed a very, very bad idea. It had been a long, frustrating shift, and he needed to go home. Despite knowing this, he couldn’t stop himself from turning onto the rutted driveway leading to the old Garmitt place—the one currently occupied by a squirrelly, yet extremely hot, waitress.
He told himself it was his duty to check on her, to make sure she was okay in that remote, ramshackle house. As scared as she was, Jules was obviously running from something, and the thought of what possible danger she could be in made him grind his teeth and push a little harder on the accelerator. Even as he tried to convince himself that his impromptu visit was for Jules’s safety, Theo knew the real reason he was dodging potholes and tree branches along this godforsaken excuse of a driveway was because he wanted to see her. He needed to see her, to feel the stirrings of excitement and even happiness he always experienced when she was around. Before he returned to his tiny, too-quiet, suffocating house, and everything inside him returned to its usual deadened state, he was going to grab a few minutes with Jules, so he could feel alive for once.
As he rounded the final bend, he saw smoke billowing from the open front door. A curl of tension tightened his stomach, and he reached for his radio as his gaze scanned the house, searching for Jules. Her SUV was parked in the front, so she was probably home. The door was open, but she wasn’t outside.
He brought the radio to his mouth, ready to call in the fire, but then he hesitated as he stopped his Blazer abruptly, right next to the front porch. This close, the smoke was much less alarming than it had appeared at first glance. In fact, the haze coming from the house was rapidly dissipating, thinning to almost nothing. Theo decided to check things out before he brought Fire and Med and everyone else running to what might be a false alarm. Stepping out of his SUV, he hooked the radio to his belt, sending a quick glance toward Viggy. Before they’d left the station, Theo had rolled the passenger window most of the way down to give the dog some air. Although it was a warm day, the house and surrounding trees shaded the vehicle. With the window lowered, Viggy wouldn’t overheat in the few minutes it would take for Theo to figure out what was going on at Jules’s house and quickly leave. Assured of Viggy’s safety, Theo turned away from his Blazer and climbed the front steps.
The porch was old, and each riser gave an alarming, high-pitched creak as it took his weight. It was eerily quiet, especially considering the wide-open door and the smoke. Theo had second thoughts about not calling in the fire. Both times at the diner, Jules had acted scared. What if whatever—or whomever—she was trying to escape had caught up with her? Jules could’ve been attacked or injured or taken—