Page 22 of Heart Me Up
“One night Drew wanted to go out, but I told him no. I’d decided it was time to cut things off, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet.” He looked sick. I couldn’t imagine the feelings of guilt and regret he had to deal with.
“Craig, you—”
“No, let me go on, please. Anyway, even though I’d told him I didn’t want to go out, Drew came by the house. Probably trying to see if I was with another guy. He gave me some story about being in the neighborhood and foolishly I let him in. Honestly, I was working out whether I wanted to fuck him one last time.”
“But Lucy.” He took a shuddering breath, and I squeezed his hand with both of mine. “Lucy came over to greet him. He’d actually always been good with her. Up until that moment, of course.” Another pause. “Lucy was having issues with incontinence, particularly if she was excited. She ran up to Drew, and as he petted her she peed right on his shoes.”
More deep breathing. Tears were on his cheeks. With the hand not gripping mine he dragged Mariposa off his lap and hugged her. She didn’t seem to mind, fortunately.
His voice was fairly composed as he went on. “I apologized and started toward them so I could take Lucy outside. But before I could get there, hekickedher. Right in the side. She, she…”
Now Craig was sobbing for real. “Sorry, sorry,” he gasped out.
“Don’t worry about it. Take your time. You’re doing great. If you give me that asshole’s full name, I’m happy to turn in my badge so I can commit homicide later.”
That pulled a kind of half-laugh out of him. “No need. My vet helped me report him and he got a fine for animal cruelty.” He tipped his head to the side. “And I’m pretty sure Greg got some sort of revenge, but I decided I’d be better off not asking what it was.” Fuck yeah. Greg seemed like the kind of guy who would dosomething. Hopefully it wasn’t anything illegal since I’d love to ask him for the details one day without having to compromise my ethics.
Craig continued, “Last I heard he’d moved to Dallas.” He tucked his face into Mariposa’s fur. “In all honesty I know he didn’t mean to kill her.”
“Yeah, but you can’t kick a dog, no matter what youmeanby it,” I interjected. Craig nodded.
“But I didn’t know Lucy had a tumor on her spleen. When Drew kicked her it damaged the area where the tumor was attached and she bled out internally. She was dead before I could get her to the vet.”
“God, I’m so sorry, Craig. That’s horrible.” I wanted to pull him into a big hug but I wasn’t sure if he’d welcome it.
“Yeah, and as you can tell, I’m still working on dealing with it. The guilt, and any stress these days—well, my brain goes into spirals sometimes. Therapy is helping though. You might have to be a little patient occasionally.” His eyes widened. “I mean, only if we keep seeing each other of course.”
Fuck it. I dropped Craig’s hand and put my arm around his shoulders instead. I kissed his tear-stained cheek. “Of course. I can’t wait to see where this goes.”
Craig gave a wet snuffling laugh. “Really? After I showed up at your house and dumped all my therapy issues on you before we were fifteen minutes into our first date?”
I laughed. “I promise.” I let go of Craig and got to my feet. “What do you say we get on with our date? I bet you could use some comfort food right now.”
Craig let me pull him up beside me. He carefully set Mariposa back on the couch and wiped his face with his hands. “Um, maybe I should clean up a little before we go.”
“Of course. There’s a half-bath right off the kitchen.” I waved in the general direction.
“Thanks. And thanks for listening. I promise any other drama I have is mostly around employee issues.”
I gave a little laugh. “Speaking of your employees, Silvia gave me permission to tell you what happened when she confronted Corrie.”
He perked up. “I can’t wait to hear. Maybe over dinner?”
“Sounds good. I’ll find some shoes….”
But then I noticed the fur. “Oh, crap. Mariposa sheds like crazy.” I started brushing at Craig’s shirt. At first he tried to help me, but soon he just lifted his hands out to the side. After a few more passes I was getting down near his belt. Once I registered what I was doing, I stilled my hands and sheepishly raised my eyes. Craig was looking at me with amusement, which was an improvement over his earlier sadness, butshit.
“Um, sorry.” I backed up and brushed my hands off on my jeans. My face was on fire; I had to be hot sauce red. “I’ll, um, go find a lint roller.”
Craig laughed. “Don’t bother. I own a pet resort. I like things a little furry.”
He patted my chest, winked, and walked off toward the bathroom.
Chapter11
Craig
I dugdeep for every drop of energy I had so I didn’t just sit and stare out the window on the way to the restaurant. I was emotionally wiped out, but I’d promised Foster a date, and, wow, did he deserve the best date imaginable after having to deal with me crying on top of my depressing-as-fuck story.
