Chapter 20
Hog
“Oh my God. Look at them, they’re so adorable…”
Well, I guess that answers that question.
Anika immediately crouches down, and is promptly rewarded by getting knocked on her ass by the two rambunctious pups. The two immediately take advantage of the situation by jumping up on her and bathing her face with their tongues. She doesn’t seem to mind.
“Do they have names?” she asks Annie, who is grinning down at the tangle of wriggling dog bodies.
“The one with the cropped tail is Zeke, and the one-eyed boy is Ryder. But they’re not attached to their names yet, so feel free to change those.”
Both brothers are black and tan, almost identical in appearance if not for the missing tail and eye. Annie mentioned those were fairly fresh injuries and not deformations that happened in utero. Some sick fuck had tortured these poor pups, but it doesn’t seem to have damaged their sweet nature.
“I like Zeke and Ryder,” Anika comments, with a side-eye on me.
I was in the market for one dog, but I have a feeling Anika would have something to say about that. Not that I’d be able to pick one over the other anyway.
“They’re good names,” I concede, earning a bright smile from her.
She can read between the lines.
Two dogs. Fuck, I might’ve been able to talk the chief into letting me bring one dog to the firehouse, but I’m not so sure he wants the station turned into a kennel.
Obviously, she can read my mind too, because the next thing Anika says is, “They can always come with me to the salon. I can put a dog bed in my office. I’m just two blocks from the riverside so I can take them for walks during my lunch break.”
Annie snorts. “You sound like me when I try to convince Sumo what a great idea it is to add yet another dog to our menagerie.”
“How many do you have now?”
“Five, but…” she quickly adds. “Two of them are seniors and barely take up any room. A Yorkie and a Chihuahua. No one wanted to adopt a dog with a fast-approaching expiration date, and I couldn’t just leave them when I had the power to give them a loving home for whatever time they had left.”
“Tell me, does anyone ever manage to walk out of here without adopting?” I ask her.
She grins at me unapologetically as Anika snickers.
“Rarely,” she admits.
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“Just so you know, these boys have a date with the vet at eight on Monday morning. Both of them had infections and have been on antibiotics since they came in. They seem fine, but he has to sign off on them before we can send them home with you.”
Presumptuous of her, but of course, I end up signing the damn adoption papers. Even after Annie belatedly warns us these guys may grow to be big boys, since she suspects they have Bernese mountain dog in them.
Great. That’s going to mean a fuck load of hair.
“There will be no sleeping in bed,” I warn Anika.
My bed is king-sized, but I don’t want to be cramped with two big-ass dogs taking up space. Anika’s is just a queen, so that would be even worse.
“Of course not,” she replies, her eyes fixed forward on the road through the windshield.
We don’t even have the dogs yet, but something tells me I’ve already lost that battle.
It’sa good fucking thing the new house has no stairs.
We have at least one more run to do after this one and already I’m feeling my age. It’s that damn heavy, oak bedroom furniture my mom loved so much. She inherited it from her parents and I remember the day my father and I hauled it up the stairs.
I was probably fourteen or fifteen, was already a big boy, and I recall my father threatening more than once to chop the “goddamn” furniture up and use it for firewood if we couldn’t get it up the stairs. It was a pain back then, and it’s a pain now, but it was my mother’s prized possession and I’ll be damned if I leave it behind.
“Tell me you don’t have another fucking oak dresser or armoire floating around up there that has to come down, because I’m out,” Bodhi grumbles.
Sumo comes down hauling the footboard, and cursing under his breath.
“That’s it for the bedroom,” he announces. “Is there room for this in your truck?”
“Yes, we left room on the passenger side. Once you load that up, we’ll strap things down and be on our way.”
Cheddar and Sumo showed up this morning in Cheddar’s truck, and Bodhi showed up a few minutes after in the Jimmy. We’ve been using the Jimmy for some of the smaller stuff, odds and ends we’ve come across.
This’ll be our second run, the first one had the kitchen table and chairs—I opted to leave the dining room furniture behind—my desk and computer, the filing cabinet, some artwork, and the golf clubs I stored in my office. We have all the upstairs pieces loaded up right now. All that is left is the family room furniture for the final run. The stuff in the formal sitting room is not exactly comfortable, nor is it my style, so I’m going to leave it with the house. Franco can decide what he wants to do with it.
Outside, Cheddar already strapped down the things in the back of his truck while we load up the final pieces in the back of mine. I toss Bodhi the bungee cords.
“Go ahead and tie it up. I’m going to peel your sister away from the piglets and we can get going.”
Anika takes her sweet time saying goodbye to the piglets, the goats, and Franco—who supplies her with another box of vegetables—but eventually I get her in the truck and we’re on our way back into town. The others got tired of waiting and already left.
“We’ve got one more load after this, then we’re done.”
“Okay, but I’m hanging back at the new place. Mom says she’ll probably be at the house around four. It’s two o’clock now, by the time we get there and you guys unload everything, three o’clock will have come and gone. I don’t want her standing in front of an empty house.”
I bite off a smile. As much as Anika gets annoyed with her mother, she’s concerned for her as well. I’m not so sure how I feel about leaving her alone at my place to wait for her mom though.
Then again, she’s probably safer there than anywhere else.
Anika
“Jesus, Mom, you’re cooking for four guys, not an entire goddamn football team.”
I watch as Dad brings in another of those aluminum trays from his car. I already helped mom unload three of them from her car. That makes five.
“Don’t swear, Anika,” Mom scolds me, while pointing Dad to where she wants him to leave it.
“There’s only one more in my car,” he contributes helpfully.
Make that six trays. Jesus.
“Those boys are going to be hungry.”
“Mom, those boys are grown men, and they’re not gonna be able to eat a couple of trays of samosas, and God knows what else you have in there.”
“Chicken korma, beef biryani, naan, and the samosas,” she lists. “And leftovers can be frozen.”
Dad drops his last load on the counter, kisses Mom on the cheek, does the same with me, and leaves for his poker game slash pizza night at the senior’s center just up the road from here. It takes place every Sunday afternoon from five to eight, and Dad has been going religiously the past couple of years.
“Oh dear,” Mom exclaims a few minutes later.
“What is it?”
“I forgot the napkins. They’re in a bag on the counter at home.”
“I’m sure Hog has paper towels somewhere.”
We spend a few minutes searching but, apparently, he didn’t pack any. As an alternative, I duck into the bathroom where I find a full pack of toilet paper under the sink and take a roll. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do.
“No,” Mom states. “Not happening. I’m not serving food with toilet paper as napkins. Paper towel is bad enough. No.” She grabs her purse and her keys off the counter. “I’ll run home and get them, but I need you to start heating the trays in the oven.”
My parents live clear across town, but my house is a couple of minutes away on the other side of Florida Road. I’m pretty sure I have a couple packs of napkins in the pantry. At the very least I have plenty of paper towels.
I pluck the car keys from Mom’s hand and shove my phone and house keys in my pocket.
“I’ll go, you do the food. I have napkins at my place. I’ll be ten minutes.”
I try to climb behind the wheel of Mom’s Prius, but her seat is so far forward, I can’t even get both legs in there without moving it back first. It’s a nice drive. Much peppier than you’d think. If my Mazda isn’t salvageable, I might have a look at one of these. More environmentally responsible, I guess.
At home, I pull in next to Hog’s Suburban and get out, ducking between the garage and the truck grill to get to the front door. A small Amazon box is leaning against it. It’s probably my protein powder. I ordered it two weeks ago, but it was out of stock.
I tuck the box under my arm as I unlock the door and quickly disarm the alarm. Barreling straight through to the kitchen, I set the box on the counter, and check on top of the fridge where I usually leave my napkins. Nothing there, but when I scan the pantry, I find two packs sitting right next to the paper towels. Tossing one of each in a plastic grocery bag, I hurry back out, set the alarm, and lock up behind me.
I’m just opening the car door when a FedEx truck stops at the end of the driveway.
“Hey, Anika!”
I look over my shoulder to see my neighbor waving from her drive.
“Hi, Alice!” I call back.
“Did you find your package?” she asks as she approaches. “It was dropped off at my door by accident.”
“I did. Thank you.”
The sound of a revving engine has me look to the road to see the distinct white truck driving off down the street.
“Guess he had the wrong address,” Alice observes. “Another idiot driver. I swear some of them couldn’t find their ass in the dark.”
Alice is a card. A high school teacher who retired just last September, she does not mince words or hold back on opinions.
“So…couldn’t help notice you caught yourself a fine one.” She jerks a thumb at the Suburban.
“The SUV? Not mine.”
“Oh, honey, I know that. I’m talking about the tall, silver, hunk of goodness that came with it. I can’t remember seeing him around before?”
I can’t help grin at her not-so-subtle fishing expedition. Anyone else I might be annoyed at their nosiness, but Alice is so unapologetically in-your-face, I find it hard to take offense.
“That’s Hog, and it’s a bit of a long story I don’t have time for now, but the condensed version is: brother’s friend and colleague turned to lover.”
“Sounds messy,” she volunteers.
It has me laugh out loud. “A bit. Anyway, he’s only here temporarily. We’re actually in the middle of moving him into his new place, and I should get back there before they send out the troops.”
“Fair enough. I’ll catch you later.”
She waves and walks back to her place.
I get in the car and am about to back out of the driveway when I hear the chime of an incoming message. It’s Hog, letting me know they’re on their way back. I shoot him a thumbs-up and toss my phone in the grocery bag I dropped on the passenger seat. I should probably hustle back.
I don’t really think too much of it when the FedEx truck pulls in behind me as I drive out of my neighborhood. I can’t see him anymore when I turn right off Florida Road. But when I turn left onto East 32nd a minute later, I note he’s a couple cars behind me.
Delivery trucks are everywhere these days, so it’s not that unusual to see them around, but when the FedEx truck follows me down Hog’s dead-end street, and blocks the end of the driveway after I pull in, I’m on alert.
Turning off the engine, I lean over the gearshift to grab the plastic bag. As I dig for my phone, I keep my eye on the side mirror, and see the driver getting out of the truck, carrying a box. I don’t recognize him, and I instantly relax, noting the guy is wearing the purple FedEx shirt.
Hog probably ordered something for the new place.
I wait for him to walk past before I open the door and step out, only to have him swing around and drop the box. Before I can react, he shoves up against the door, trapping me.
“Kim Cooper, where the fuck is she?” he snarls, his face inches from mine.
This is getting ridiculous. Why does everyone think I know where she is? I don’t even know this guy—I’ve never seen him—although there’s something familiar about him.
I struggle against the door, trying to slip free, but I can’t seem to budge it.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure where you get your information, but it’s wrong. I have no idea.”
It’s only now I realize he has a gun aimed through the window, pointing at my mid-section. I stop moving instantly.
“My brother says you know. You have no idea who you’re playing with here. They’re gonna kill him, they’re gonna kill me, and then they’ll come after you, if you don’t tell me where to fucking find her!”
This is the brother. Chris’s brother Bill Evans mentioned before.
“Look, I don’t know,” I repeat. “Like I told your brother, all I know is there’s been no sign of her for over a week.”
As I am talking, I notice movement from the corner of my eye, and struggle not to react when I recognize Mom sneaking up, carrying something in her hand. I want to yell out at her to stay back, but I don’t want to risk him taking a shot at her. Hoping to distract him, I keep talking.
“She’s not answering her phone, and her car was found abandoned at Lake Nighthorse. I don’t understand why you guys keep looking to me for answers.”
Before the last word is out of my mouth, the guy’s head abruptly jerks to the side, and his body crumples to the driveway.
Mom’s standing over him, a golf club raised over her head.
“Call 911,” she orders in a dead-calm voice, her eyes not leaving the man’s prone body.
But before I can even dig my phone out of the bag, I hear my voice called, and when I look up, I see Hog barreling up the driveway.