Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Millie: Of course I’m sure, Bronte-B. Can’t let those puppies be exploited by the evil man.
Maya: Um, right. What’s with the names?
Livvy: Millie thinks we need code names and if you haven’t realized it, she loves dinosaurs. I’m a teradactyl, you’re a brontosaurus and she’s a stegosaurus.
Ahh, right.
There was a knock on her door. Crap. “Yes?”
Maya: Got to go. Matthieu is knocking on my bedroom door.
Millie: Over and out, Bronte-B.
Um. Sure.
“Can you come out, please,” Matthieu said through the door. “I’d like to talk to you.”
Crap. That was the last thing she wanted to do. But she guessed she couldn’t put this conversation off any longer.
“Sure.”
She climbed off the bed and checked her appearance in the mirror. Urgh, she looked like crap. She attempted to tame her hair, but it was like it had a mind of its own.
Opening the door, she stepped into the living room. Matthieu was sitting on the sofa with Princess Priss on his lap. She was purring loudly.
She’d never slept on Maya’s lap like that. Normally, she jump into her lap, claw Maya’s thighs until they felt like pin cushions, then climb off with her tail in the air and a superior look on her face.
“She never purrs like that for me,” she said as she sat down on the other end of the couch, next to Dougie. He was lying on his back with his feet in the air.
Gummy was standing on a side table, staring out into the backyard, on chicken duty.
She wished that Tank and Big B would join them. Maya glanced over at the spare bedroom door that was open slightly.
“You’ve been keeping the door open more,” Matthieu commented.
“I thought it might help Tank feel more like he belonged here if the door was open. I don’t know if that’s true, though. Or I’m just making things worse. I feel like I’m failing him so badly.”
Her shoulders slumped and ridiculously she felt like crying.
What was wrong with her?
Suddenly, she found herself pulled onto her feet and pressed against a firm chest. Then she was being slowly rocked back and forth.
“In no way have you failed him. Remember, you’ve given him a loving home where he’s safe and he has a protective friend.”
“But what kind of life is it where he faces the same four walls all the time? He’s so depressed. Even when he goes outside, he seems so sad. I was thinking that maybe I should take him on a car ride. However, I’ve never been able to get him into the car. He’s too heavy for me to lift.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he told her. “Together.”
She should pull out of his hold. It wasn’t right to lean on him like this. But it felt so good. She felt so secure and warm. And it was nice just to have someone to lean on. To feel like she was part of a team.
“How about we take him in the car one day with the other dogs. Even if he doesn’t get out of the car, we can roll the window down for him.”
“That sounds . . . amazing. We’ll have to take Big Berry too.”
“We can do that.”
It was like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. They had a plan. And even if it didn’t work at least they would have tried something.
Matthieu placed his hand on the back of her neck and it made her feel grounded. Some of her worries seemed to drift away as she relaxed further.
“How is your headache?”
She tensed slightly. Urgh. Why did she lie? She hated lying to him. “I feel good.”
“That’s good. You don’t need any painkillers?”
He was making her feel even worse with his caring questions.
“No, I’m good now.”
“Then I need you to sit down. I have to talk to you about a couple of things.”
28
Matthieu didn’t want to let her go. But he did need to talk to her and he knew that eventually, she’d attempt to get away from him. Like telling him that she had a headache. Although she did look a bit pale so maybe that was true.
He could never tell her that he’d heard her masturbating the other night. She would never speak to him again.
He eyed her as she sat on the sofa and Dougie immediately rolled over, nudging his face into her. She lifted him onto her lap.
“I need to tell you about Ryan.”
Surprise filled her face. Yeah, she hadn’t expected him to say that.
“What about Ryan?” she asked.
“He’s been arrested.”
She sat forward, nearly knocking Dougie off her lap. “What?”
He sat back on the sofa and Princess Priss jumped back into his lap, giving him a miffed look.
“Sorry, Princess,” he told her.
The cat sat with a plop on his lap so he figured that she forgave him.
“What was he arrested for? How do you know?” Maya asked.