Sit...Stay...Beg(84)
“What?” Molly and Pru called out in unison.
“Where’s our story?” Gramma asked.
“This isn’t right,” Dad said.
“Um, Garrett.” Darcy put her hand on his shoulder from behind the couch.
“Yeah?”
“I think you better come to the door. There’s someone here to see you.”
Shane, working the remote, hit pause, and every single person in the room turned to him with a few audible gasps.
“Come on, Garrett,” Darcy said, adding pressure.
Without a word, he pushed up and rounded the couch, heading to the front of the house, hating his heart for beating so fast.
He glanced over his shoulder at the TV, frozen on the face of a famous prince.
Somehow she’d gotten the story killed and it looked like it cost her the job. She—
A dog barked from the front porch. Loud. Three times. She got Lola back? He rushed to the door, squinting into the early evening light at reddish-blond hair that brushed narrow shoulders.
The wrong hair. The wrong shoulders. But it sure was the right dog.
“Sherry.” The name came back to him as Lola came close and sniffed, then padded around him, looking into the house.
“I have to give her back,” she said.
He tried to process that, and the incredible burn of frustration and disappointment that this wasn’t the woman he wanted her to be. “Okay. Why?”
She handed him a leash. “I’m moving to France, and I can’t take her.”
“It’s safer for you there?”
“It’s better. I met a man there, and I want to go back permanently.”
“They have dogs in France,” he said.
She gave a tight smile and a nod. “He wants to travel with me. A lot. I think Trisket is better off with that woman who works for you. Jessica? Trisket misses her. And only answers to the name Lola now.”
No surprise, that made him smile.
“I don’t want to give her to a stranger,” Sherry said. “I really love her, but I can’t figure out a way to fit her into my life now.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” he said softly, petting Lola’s head.#p#分页标题#e#
“Can you take her?”
“Of course. I’d be happy to.”
She reached into her purse. “Here are her registration papers and license. Thank you.”
He reached down and gave some love to Lola, rubbing her ears and welcoming her back. The whole time, she stared at him with those bottomless brown eyes and one obvious question: Where is she?
Sherry took a moment to say goodbye, got a little teary, then gave Garrett an unexpected hug.
“I’ve heard that some dogs and people are only supposed to be in your life for a brief time,” she said. “Long enough to change you.”
“I’ve heard that, too.”
With a quick nod and another blown kiss, Sherry turned and hustled away to her parked car, as if lingering would hurt too much.
Only in your life for a brief time? “Unless you get them back, right, girl?” He ruffled Lola’s furry head again.
When he walked into the family room, there was a lot of chatter, all of which stopped cold, except for the dogs who barked when Lola came into the room.
Dad looked as crushed as Garrett felt. “That wasn’t her? Because there’s no story about you, Son. Not tonight, anyway.”
“Just a dumb interview with some prince,” Pru said.
“Lola’s owner brought her back,” he said. “And now…I have to…” He had to. Tonight. “I have to take her to New York.”
“And do what?” Dad asked.
“Beg.”
Instantly, Lola sat back on her haunches, raised her paws, and let her tongue out.
The entire room burst into hoots and hollers and heartfelt clapping. But not for Lola. Garrett was pretty sure they were clapping for the best decision he’d ever made.
* * *
The sun was high enough that it had to be close to nine when Jessie opened her eyes. She listened for sounds of life in the three-bedroom apartment, but Hannah and Erica had left for work well over an hour ago. As she would have, too, if she’d had a job.
She rubbed her eyes and stretched, thinking of the day ahead.
And all the ones she’d left behind. Not the rat race, not the competitive, stressful, fight for your life at ITAL. No, she missed the halcyon days of gentle North Carolina hills and barking dogs and spring breezes and…
Her cell phone rang, and she hated that it made her heart squeeze. She stared at it on her dresser, not able to see the screen from the bed, but knowing it didn’t say Garrett on the caller ID.
She’d let herself go down that sad hole every time her phone made a noise for days.