Sit...Stay...Beg(85)

Instead, she checked the clock and drifted back to Waterford. By nine, all the chores would be done, the kennels clean, the dogs walked, the training circuits started.

Her chest literally hurt at how much she missed it all.

The call went to voice mail, and she closed her eyes, but almost instantly, the phone rang again.

“Leave me alone!” She pulled the pillow over her head, hating the lump in her throat that wouldn’t disappear.

How long would she pine for him? She had to get a job. She had to get her life together. She had to…go back.

Nope, not an option. No more Waterford. No more Garrett.

But all she could think about was the hurt in his eyes when she left. Would that be any different if she showed up on his doorstep like a stray dog looking for a home?

Once more, the phone rang, and this time, she threw a pillow at the dresser, but it didn’t make it beyond the foot of the bed.

“Fine.” She rolled all the way out of bed, took three steps on the hardwood, and picked up the phone.#p#分页标题#e#

Steph.

Really? Her sister? Closing her eyes with a little self-disgust, she answered. “Hey, Steph. What’s up?”

Before her sister even answered, Ashton’s shriek could be heard. “Stop it right this minute, young man!”

“And good morning to you, Sister.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry. Have you heard from Mom? She totally blew me off again today.”

Maybe she was trying to finally get her own life. “I talked to her yesterday, and she said she was going into the city with some friends from her church.”

“Oh, that church. It’s all she does now is go feed the hungry.”

“Stephanie, seriously? Are you really that selfish?”

The comment was met with dead silence, well, unless she counted Ashton in the background.

“Just listen to my schedule, Jessie. I have to…”

While she droned on, Jessie put the phone on speaker, then slipped into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and ran her fingers through her hair, popping over to respond only when necessary to the tale of an interview at Ashton’s preschool.

“So then what happened?” Jessie asked, taking off her tank top and sleep pants, finding a bra, and stepping into a yellow cotton T-shirt dress. For…whatever she would do today.

Pine.

“Anyway,” Stephanie said. “What the heck happened last night? Where was your interview with the dog guy?”

And she’d known that was coming. “I didn’t get the job.”

“No?”

“I quit, actually.” She reached over to the blind, tugging once so that it would go all the way up and let in some sunshine. “Oooh, nice day.”

“Nice day?” Stephanie choked. “You quit?”

She looked down three stories to the street below, checking out the cars and taxis and a yellow Jeep parked on the…

Inside, every cell, every molecule, every drop of blood absolutely froze.

“How can you quit, Jessie?”

She was dreaming. She was imagining. She was fantasizing.

The driver’s door opened, and all that was visible from this height was…a hat.

No, not a hat. The hat. The doggone hat.

And it tipped back so its wearer could look right up at her window.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, her hands already shaking and her knees almost hitting each other.

“Do you have something else lined up?” Stephanie demanded.

“I…might.”

“Doing what?”

Just then, a brown and white dog climbed onto his lap from the backseat. No, not a brown and white dog. Not any dog at all. Her dog!

“Lola!”

“What? Is that a new company? A website? Because I think you ought to try and get serious about interviewing at a real company…”

Jessie pressed her face against the glass, still not able to believe what she was seeing or the chills that blossomed all over her skin.

She still couldn’t make out his face, only the rim of that precious, worn, ridiculous hat, but he turned to put his feet out and help Lola to the ground, clipping a leash on her.

“…I bet he could get you an interview, Jessie. And I would do that for you. Would you like that?”

“I would like that.” She reached down and frantically tried to unlock the window, but her hands were damp and shaking.

“Oh, here’s Mom! It’s about time!”

Yes, yes, it was about time. Her time. Her happy, wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime time.
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Finally, the window released, and she dragged it up all the way, dipping down to stick her head out.

Just as she did, Lola looked up and barked three times.

Instantly, Garrett looked up, too, grabbing the hat to keep it from falling off as he tipped his head all the way back to see up to the third floor.