Page 26 of Run to Ground
“Yes.” Viggy waved a paw, urging the teen to continue, and Theo gave an amused grunt. The blissed-out dog, sprawled on his back with his tongue hanging out, was a completely different animal than the stressed, unhappy creature he’d been since Don’s death. Theo felt a twinge of gratitude for the family who’d returned the dog to his previous self, even if it was only for a minute or two.
One of the twins regarded Viggy with interest. “Is he trained to find drugs, then? Or does he chase after the bad guys and take them down?”
For the second time in as many minutes, Theo felt the foreign urge to smile. He managed to contain it. “Explosives. And the second one. He’s a dual-purpose dog.”
“He sniffs out bombs?Awesome.”
Theo’s gaze slid to Jules, and he saw she was regarding him thoughtfully. “Did you need something?” she asked.
The question confused him at first, random answers bouncing around in his head. There were so many things he needed. He needed peace, he needed Viggy to get over Don’s death,heneeded to get over Don’s death. Theo might even need Jules. He knew he wanted her. “What?”
“Why are you here?”
Feeling caught, he rubbed a hand over his mouth before answering. Even that extra couple of seconds didn’t give him time to think of a good excuse for his presence, so he just blurted out the truth. “I wanted to check on you.”
She flinched, and Theo grimaced. That hadn’t come out right.
“Your house is isolated,” he tried explaining, searching for the right words that would erase her hunted look. “You’re out here alone.” Great, now he was sounding like a psycho stalker. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I was…” He shifted uncomfortably. “I was worried.”
After regarding him in silence for a few awkward seconds, Jules smiled. The fearful, timid waitress he’d met at the diner was nowhere to be seen, and he found he couldn’t look away. The sight of Jules and the kids and a happy Viggy made his lungs tighten, and he forced his head to turn toward the stove again. The smoke had stopped, and it was time—past time—for Theo to go.
He opened his mouth to tell Viggy to heel, but he closed it again. The dog’s normal reaction was to ignore him and curl into a miserable ball, and a part of Theo—a rather huge part—didn’t want this family to see that.
“We’d better go.” He focused on the younger girl. “Do you want to help bring Viggy outside?”
“Yes!” Her face lit, and she jumped to her feet. “C’mon, Viggy!” She ran out of the kitchen, the twins following. Theo watched as the dog bounded after the kids, his tail up and wagging hard. It was the first time in a long time he’d seen Viggy without his tail tucked between his legs.
“Thank you.” At the sound of Jules’s voice, Theo turned from the now-empty doorway. “For being so nice to them.”
Theo blinked. He’d been nice?
“I’d really like to get them a dog,” she continued, speaking faster. Her drawl and quick speech blurred her words until they were almost unintelligible. “It’s just that, as you can see”—she waved at the oven with an unconvincing laugh—“we have so much to do with the house and getting the kids started at school, and with my new job and everything, it’s just better that we wait to get a pet. That’s what I meant about not wanting to get a dog right now. You know, what Dee said that I said, and I’msobabbling right now, so I’ll just be quiet.”
Her words ended abruptly, and she stared at Theo, her panic returning in an almost visible flood. Theo was a little disappointed. He hadn’t missed the squirreliness. Plus, her rambling monologue had just convinced him that the reference to “survival” hadn’t meant merely food and shelter. This family was in trouble. “Dee?”
“Yes. Deirdre.” She took a quick breath, as if she was about to launch into another speech. When the oldest boy—the only one who hadn’t run outside with Viggy—shifted slightly closer to Jules, she closed her mouth with an audible click and gave Theo a strained, closed-mouth smile.
Theo’s gaze shifted to the teen. “What’s your name?”
“Sam.” There was no stutter that time. Theo met his eyes, and the boy looked back. There was something in his stance—a hidden flinch, a sense that he was torn between running and throwing a punch—that was troubling and familiar. Theo had seen something very similar when he’d interviewed abuse victims.
Theo’s gaze moved to Jules. Although he could’ve been mistaken, could’ve been influenced by this stupid attraction he was fighting, he was pretty sure she wasn’t the abuser. The protective attitude Sam had toward her didn’t fit.
“You’re all siblings?”
“Yes.” Jules’s chin tilted in a slightly belligerent way that Theo noted with interest. The gesture made him pretty sure her answer wasn’t entirely truthful.
“And the twins’ names?”
“Tyson and Thomas.”
Her entire body was braced, as if she was waiting for a blow. After regarding her silently for a moment, Theo took a step back and gestured toward the doorway into the hall. “I should get Viggy.”
Exchanging a quick glance, Jules and Sam walked out of the kitchen ahead of Theo. Sam gave Theo a few worried looks over his shoulder, but Jules kept her gaze fixed ahead, her spine a little too straight.
Happy, excited shrieks greeted them as they walked through the still-open front door. The three younger siblings had found a fallen tree branch and were playing fetch with Viggy. The stick was so long it threatened to bowl over anyone in the dog’s path, and the kids had to dodge away, laughing.
Jules sighed audibly. “Sam-I-Am, we’re going to have to get them a dog, aren’t we?”
