Page 29 of The Good Guy on My Porch

CHAPTER SIX

Oscar

I scratched between Buddy’s ears and watched Dilly walk toward us. When she looked up, the sorrow and the bone deep worry on her face twisted something in my chest. She covered quickly, forcing a smile, but there was still sadness in her eyes.

“I hope you don’t mind I have Buddy,” I said. “I heard him whining and, when I knocked on your door, it swung open.”

Her smile fell so hard I was worried it would carry her to the ground with it. “I should have walked him before I left. I was just…” Her shoulders slumped. “I forgot…I was in such a hurry and…”

“It’s fine.” I wanted, more than anything, to take that look off her face. “That’s why we’re co-parenting.”

“I should have called you. I just…I lost track of time.”

“Out with your guy?” I hoped she’d say no, because if her guy had put that weary, sad expression on her face, I was going to have to hate him. Then, I’d have to find him and talk some sense into him.

“Sure was,” she said, her forced smile back.

“Everything go okay?”

Confusion wrinkled her petite brow. “Of course, why do you ask?”

“You just looked sad for a minute there.” No need to tell her that her smile was obviously faked.

“Oh, right. Well, it was a rough day for him. He just found out…Um, his cat has cancer.”

All my earlier hatred of her boyfriend vanished. I’d never like him, but I could feel sympathy for the guy. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. What’s he going to do?”

She twisted her hands together. She was really broken up about this guy’s cat. “He’s going to have to have her put down. He can’t afford the heart medicine.”

“Heart medicine? I thought you said the cat had cancer.”

Something like panic entered her eyes and she shook her head. “She does. Of course, she does, but the cancer isn’t the biggest problem. She also has heart problems, um, caused by the cancer.”

I just stared, because I was getting the distinct impression that Dilly was lying to me. Why would she lie about her boyfriend’s cat, unless…? My heart sank, and my hands fisted. Unless she was covering up something worse. “Dilly, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“If something happened with your boyfriend, if he did something?”

Pure shock and horror filled her expression. “What? No. Oscar, nothing like that happened. I would never…I just…” She sighed. “It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted. I didn’t explain it right, but his cat is really sick and is going to be put down. That’s all that happened.”

I didn’t believe her, and it must have shown on my face, because she hurried up the steps past me. “I should go. I’ve got a million loads of laundry to do before work tomorrow.”

“Go to dinner with me.” I couldn’t let her leave like that.

“What?”

“You must be starving after such a sad day and it’s after six, too late to start laundry, unless you want to be up all night.”

A hint of a smile peeked out, her first real smile since she’d arrived, and I felt like jumping for joy. “I need clothes to wear to work tomorrow.”

“Put a load in. We’ll walk to the taco bar on fifth and have a quick bite. We’ll get back before they’re ready to go in the dryer.”

She slumped a bit. “Thanks, but I don’t feel like being around people right now. I just need to veg tonight.”

A sort of desperation crept over me. “Then I’ll get the tacos to go and bring them back here. We can sit on the porch with Buddy and eat. We don’t even have to talk if you don’t want to.”

“That’s really sweet,” she said, her smile growing. “But I—”

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