Page 20 of Love It or List It
Austin gave him a moment while he finished dinner and plated it up in a couple of plastic bowls he’d salvaged from DeeDee’s.They had scenes from Peter Rabbit on the insides.But before either of them could take more than a few bites or Joe could spin his wild tale of refrigerator terror, there was a shuffle of noise from outside the trailer, the rattle of plastic and tin.
They met eyes over the table.Underneath it, their legs tangled for a fraction of a second as they both sprung to their feet.
“Is it—”
“The dog—”
Austin half tripped as he went for the door and grabbed the plug-in flashlight from the bulkhead as he went.The trailer door flapped behind them.
The recycling bin had been tipped over—no shock there; he should’ve realized keeping it outside was a bad idea—and the margarine container, which he’d dropped in without its lid, had wandered off.They stood on the driveway for a moment, listening, and then after a moment, Joe pointed around the back of the house.“That way, I think.”
Part of Austin recognized that chasing a dog that was running away would likely not result in the dog trusting them, but what else was he supposed to do?It was a dark country road, and the thing could get hit by a car.If it was out here scavenging in his trash, it was obviously hungry.And Linda had said there were coyotes around.
“So, foster kid.”Joe paused like he was making a point.“You always wanted a dog?”
“Fuck off,” Austin said automatically, even as the guilt set in, because—well, yeah.“Every kid wants a dog.”
Joe snorted as Austin played the beam of the flashlight around the side yard.No little-to-medium-size dog revealed itself, though he did catch an opossum trundling along next to the breezeway.It stopped its lopsided waddle to hiss at him.
“I mean, true.Mom would never let me have one, said it’d get dog hair all over the house.”
“Not a fan of messes?”Austin asked, casting the beam about.
Joe hummed.“She kept her house showroom ready.”
Interesting.“She’s a Realtor, right?So it’s not like she was sellingyourhome….”
“Live like you wanna be, and all that.”Joe shrugged.“Mom understands the value of a good impression and of appearances.If she’s going to tell clients to have their houses in order, then she should too.Not to mention, how can you trust someone to know the value of your home if they don’t know the value of their own?”He gave a rueful smile.
“Sounds like she has… high standards,” Austin offered tentatively.
Joe shrugged and moved forward, visibly searching once more for the dog, making Austin suddenly aware of the fact that he’d stopped in his curiosity about Joe.
“High standards is one way of putting it.Another would be that the house, the husband, the kid were all… checkpoints.She had a kid because that’s what successful women did, but she didn’t know what todowith us… me.Especially after I got too old to be an adorable showpiece and her marriage ended anyway so there were fewer family-style holiday parties.”
“I’m sorry,” Austin said feelingly.
Joe shrugged again.“Poor-little-rich-boy problems.”He shot a grin over his shoulder.“Though I guess my whole teen-adoption thing makes more sense now.I have MommyandDaddy issues.”
“Doesn’t everybody?”Austin said, letting Joe change the conversational flow.“I mean, I’m given to understand even good parents leave their kids with issues.”
“You’re probably right,” Joe huffed as they rounded the house, still no sign of the dog.“Should we keep searching?”
As much as Austin wanted to say yes, common sense prevailed.“Maybe we’ll catch sight of him on the way back to the trailer?”
“Maybe.”
They kept checking the greenery and under and behind objects, but they had no luck as they approached the trailer again.
Austin tripped up the steps and stopped in his tracks.Their dinner—or rather, the empty dishes of what remained of it—lay on the floor.
“Uh….”
“Austin?”Joe followed up the steps, but since Austin was frozen, Joe had nowhere to go but into him.His chest pushed up against Austin’s back, broad and warm, and he hooked his chin over Austin’s shoulder.“What’s—oh.”
They stood in silence, staring at the floor.
“Hey, Austin?I think we found evidence of the dog.”
