Page 143 of Last Light

The dog has been curled up at my feet, occasionally lifting his head grumpily when Travis jars the car too much for his liking. He goes wherever we do, and he always makes the best of it.

But he’s like us. He likes to be home the most.

We’re not very far away now, and I’m getting excited. I reach over to poke Travis in the arm. “You don’t have to go quite so slow. I promise I won’t puke on you.”

“Don’t much want you pukin’ on the dog either.”

I laugh. “He has a name now, you know.”

“Yeah. But still think he prefers to go by ‘dog.’”

“No, he doesn’t. He knows his name. Don’t you, Duke?”

The dog lifts his head at that, but seeing as nothing’s happening, he puts it down again with a long huff.

“Still can’t believe we named him after that poem,” Travis mutters.

“I thought that poem is your favorite.”

“It is. But the Duke is a murderer!”

I’m giggling helplessly now. “Well, it was either Duke or Lancelot, aftermyfavorite poem. You’re the one who picked Duke.”

“Not about to name my dog freakin’ Lancelot.” He’s been holding on to an indignant scowl, but it fades into softness as his eyes rest on my face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“You know.”

He reaches over with one hand and rubs my cheek gently with his thumb. “Can’t help it. Love you too much. Sometimes it spills over. Specially when you laugh. Almost forgot what laughing was like before I hooked up with you.”

“Well, that’s true. When we first started traveling together, all you’d do is make that soft snorting sound. I didn’t even know it was a laugh at first.”

“It was. Just took a while for me to remember how to be human.”

“You were always human. You were always good. You reminded me that it was possible.”

We gaze at each for a long moment, and Travis slows to a crawl so he doesn’t run the Jeep into a tree.

I’m flushed and smiling when he looks back at the trail in front of him. “I’m glad we were able to work this job.”

“Me too.”

“Mack looks happy. Don’t you think?”

“Sure does.”

“I’m glad. He’s a good man. He deserves to be happy.”

Travis looks like he’ll say something in response, but we’ve reached the turn up the mountain to our house, and it distracts us from everything else.

Even Duke sits up and sniffs at the air.

“I can’t wait to take a shower,” I say as we get close. “It’s been almost two weeks.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

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