Page 32 of Take Me
Snatching the blanket off the back of the couch, I say a silent thanks to my twin for putting it there in the first place.Luce said I needed more homey touches, andtouchingis what I try not to do as I swaddle the half-naked woman in front of me.
“Sorry, sorry, shit, I’m so sorry.”
“Mason, quit it.”Grabbing the blanket with one hand, Erika uses the other to swat me away.“Go answer your door, dummy.”
Backing away, I stumble over my feet and rush to the door, leaving Erika wrestling her clothing in place.Through my stupid glass door, I see Annabelle clutching a cardboard box and pretending to cover her eyes.
“I didn’t see anything!”She giggles as she says it, making it clear she saw plenty.Dropping her hand, she stoops down to pet Scrumpy.“Hey, buddy.You’re looking good.”
“Annabelle, hi.”I drag a hand through my hair, aware of the sounds of Erika dressing behind me.“This is a surprise.”
“Whoops.”With a grimace she calls out to Erika.“So sorry, girl.If it makes you feel any better, I got caught with my top off at Puffin Point last week.Gave Frank Bundy an eyeful.”
I try not to picture the scene.“Why were you topless with a cop?”
“I wasn’t topless with Frank.”Her cheeks go pink as she gets to her feet.“I wanted to see Puffin Point.I didn’t date much in high school, and I never got a chance to park there and neck.It’s silly, but so freakin’ fun.”
“Gotcha.”I think—but don’t say—that I would have taken her to Puffin Point anytime she wanted.I was the Puffin Pointmayorin my day.As a horny teenager, I steamed up my fair share of car windows there.
Why didn’t Annabelle ask to tick off that bucket list fantasy withme?
“What’s in the box?”I ask instead, since that’s a much safer question.
“This is for you.”She thrusts the cardboard rectangle at my chest.“Some stuff I thought you might like to have.”
I peer in and see a weird wedge of clay, along with an old ratty collar.“What’s all this?”
Annabelle bites her lip.“When pets get abandoned at my clinic—especially when they have medical issues requiring surgery—I keep anything they arrive with.Collar, leash, tags, whatever.”She shrugs.“I mean, they rarely have tags.People don’t want others to know when they surrender an animal for medical reasons.”
Reaching into the box, I pull out the ratty blue collar and leash.The collar looks way too small for Scrumpy’s thick neck.“He was tied up with this?”
She must see me judging the width of the collar.“It’s probably better they had it a little too snug.If he’d been able to wiggle free, he might’ve run loose and been hit by a car.”
Bile fills the back of my throat.I still can’t believe they’d just leave him.“They abandoned him with porcupine quills in his face.”
“I try not to judge.”She bends down again to pet Scrumpy’s soft head.“People panic when a pet has medical needs they can’t afford.They don’t always know we have payment plans or ways of working with owners who don’t have the funds.”
That makes me feel better, but only a little.I imagine how scared my dog must have been, his face full of quills, tethered outside a strange place on a cold, rainy night.Did he watch his old owner drive away, wondering when they’d come back?Did he whimper in pain and cry out in the night?Did he wonder what bad thing he’d done to prompt them to leave him tied up alone in a dark, scary place?
“Mason?”
I turn to see Erika looking at me like she’s just asked a question.I must have spaced out for a second.“Hey.”
“Hi, Annabelle.”She flutters a hand toward the living room.“Sorry you had to see that.”
“Are you kidding?God, I feel like a jerk for barging in like I did.I know better than that.Sorry, Erika.Didn’t mean to catch youin flagrante delicto.”
Her laugh says she’s not that embarrassed.“If that’s Latin for ‘tits out,’ no biggie.”Erika shrugs, and I notice she’s gotten her outfit reassembled.“I’ve got good tits.”
“Yeah, you do.”I’m looking at them when she says it, and the words just slip out.Jerking my gaze off her body, I look back in the box.“What’s the clay thing?”
“Oh, that.”Annabelle sticks her hand in and pulls out the thin terracotta heart.“Whenever I put a pet under anesthesia for the first time, I take an impression of their paw, just in case.”
“In case—” Oh, I get it.“In case the pet doesn’t live?”
“My dad loves the one you made for Zippy.”Erika holds out her hand, and Annabelle hands her the paw print.“He has it up on the wall behind his computer.”
“I’m so glad it’s special for him.”
