Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
After kissing the pavement again and watching June speed off with a cigarette in hand, I headed upstairs to my room to find my notebook.
I hadn’t thought about the recordings from the children’s home since I left, but now they took up just as much space in my mind as the house itself.
I wanted to find the tapes and burn them.
Or hand them over to the authorities with a promise they’d never involve me or tell me what they planned to do with them. But mostly, I just wanted to burn them.
Taco greeted me with her signature smile, and I tucked her under my arm as I allowed myself a peek through the slatted blinds. Dax was in the cleared yard, creating the edging for what would be our new garden beds.
Did I mention he was shirtless?
In the midday heat.
Did this man not have one of his zillion other jobs to do? I didn’t know where he found the time or the stamina to be here so often helping Breeze. Maybe he did like her after all. Or maybe it really was a big-brother thing.
I watched as he raised a spade above his head and drove it into the earth, his toned frame flexing with the movement.
His brown t-shirt hung from the back pocket of his jeans, and his black work boot pressed firmly on the blade.
Every so often, he paused to wipe his brow with the back of his arm, and I imagined pulling the shirt from his pocket and doing it for him. Along with the rest of his chest.
I bit my lip, my gaze following the line of hair from his tanned stomach to the top of his jeans, and to somewhere I was definitely trying not to think about.
It wasn’t that I liked him. It was that I had perfect eyesight. And I’d have to be blind not to notice he was a good-looking guy. Things in my woods had been barren for longer than I could handle.
I wondered if gas station guy was still around?
Surprisingly, I hadn't run into him again since I’d been in Glades Bay.
Perhaps it'd been a mistake to turn him down after all.
I ran a finger along my top lip as I continued to watch the shirtless show.
Dax could be an option? I could think of a few ecstasy-filling ways to keep his mouth filled, so I didn't have to deal with that part. But he knew more about me than I was comfortable with, and I couldn't shake the discomfort of that. Know my body for sure, I didn’t have a problem with that, but you didn’t get to know my mind.
That was one of the few things that had always been mine.
I watched as Dax connected the hose he’d brought with him this morning, and I pressed my face closer to the window, practically grunting with anticipation. Please hose yourself down. Or better yet, try to drink from it like a dog and kill the fantasy completely.
He did neither, and I was genuinely disappointed. He simply began watering the compost he’d spread earlier.
In that moment, Taco’s paw got caught in the string of one of the blinds, causing it to swing against the window as she aggressively flailed trying to detach herself.
“Hold on,” I soothed as I carefully untangled her.
But the movement from the window had already caused Dax to look up.
He stood on the mown grass grinning that smile that made me want to slap him and melt like an ice-cream at the same time.
Did he know it was me? I crumpled to the floor like a child caught doing something naughty.
“I’m embarrassed for you,” Breeze said from the doorway. Her tone was dry, arms folded.
“How much did you see?” I asked from the floor.
“I arrived somewhere between the heavy panting and the part where you ducked like a twelve-year-old whose crush just looked up.”
My lips twisted. “Not much then.”
I gave Taco a quick ear scratch and let her go.
Breeze gave me a long look, her lips pursed like she was reading me. I wanted to look away. I was afraid she was seeing something that wasn’t really there.
“He’s not a crush,” I said, getting up.
Breeze made a noise in her throat.
“Well then, I can’t wait to see what you’re like around someone you do like. If it’s any worse than that performance.”
I narrowed my eyes as she turned and walked back toward the stairs, laughing quietly.
“You’re something, Riley. I can’t wait to see when you figure it out.”
“Figure out what?” I asked, hands on hips.
She turned at the top of the stairs and glanced pointedly at the window.
I snorted and pulled my white t-shirt off over my head to get changed. I was about to get started on the inside of the kitchen cupboards, and there was no way I was letting the only white shirt I had get tie-dyed with old food splatter.
“Oh-kay,” she said unconvinced. “Anyway, when you’re done not perving up here, come down and help me decide on the garden layout.
There’s bribe snacks and coffee laid out in the kitchen,” she called from halfway down the stairs.
Breeze left snacks everywhere for everyone.
The post woman got a weekly container of cookies.
The milk delivery man's hands were always filled when he was leaving with whatever she had extra in the food cabinet. I had a feeling the spread she’d made downstairs had been for Dax.
If someone’s love language could be food, that would be Breeze’s.
My stomach rumbled. I hadn’t been able to eat before going to Dad’s, and I’d only managed half a gingernut before we got kicked out.
I wasn’t ready to unpack what his performance meant, but I knew deep down that I’d have to go back.
He was one of my only leads. Whether or not he wanted to talk, I had to make him understand how important this was.
I pulled on a pair of cut-off denim shorts and walked past the window in just my white bra on the way to the wardrobe.
If Dax was still looking, he was getting a show now.
Sue me.
“What are you doing, Taco Bear?” I tutted at the fur ball stretched out under the butcher’s block.
She’d kept me company while I turned the kitchen into a war zone.
The entire contents of the scullery were now strewn across the floor.
I felt a fizz of delight at the inside of the large food storage cupboard, now satisfyingly gleaming.
Having to put everything back would take the shine off slightly, especially as I hadn’t noted where anything went before pulling it out.
I was sure I’d destroyed a time-developed system.
I sighed and began filling a white plastic basket I’d retrieved from the laundry with boxed food items. One step at a time.
“Did you make this mess?” I asked Taco, immediately scolding myself for the coo in my tone. She didn’t even flick an ear. That wouldn’t have been surprising if I were across the room, but I stood right above her.
“Taco? Oh, my God!” I said, spotting the box of cooking chocolate spilled across the floor.
“No, no, no.”
I scooped her up. Her tiny head drooped over my shoulder, and she let out a groan. Temporary relief swept through me.
“You’re alive. Okay, yes. I’m going to help you. We can fix this.”
I sniffed her mouth, confirming what I feared.
What the hell could I do?
Breeze had gone to Harry’s for a new business budgeting club he’d started, and I had no idea what chocolate would do to a tiny dog. I was certain it wasn’t good. The fact that she was still conscious gave me hope, but I needed to get her to a vet. Fast.
I grabbed the partially eaten box of chocolate under my other arm and bolted out the front door, not bothering with shoes.
The sky was darkening as I ran down the footpath, trying not to jostle Taco’s head. The rough pavement clawed at my feet.
“I’m sorry, darling,” I whispered, annoyed at the stitch stabbing my side. I’d never been so grateful for the smallness of Glades Bay as I was when I reached the blue door of the vets, only minutes from Steamy Sips.
“Nooo,” I groaned, banging on the locked door. “Please, it's an emergency.”
Why did everything have to close so damn early here? I felt tears pinching at my eyes as adrenaline raced through me. Taco couldn't die. I couldn't be responsible for losing one of the few connections Breeze still had to her mum.
"Please!" I yelled, banging at the door again. Taco was looking at me with her dark brown eyes, her head still lolling on my shoulder.
"What's going on?" a familiar gravel cut through my panic. Dax stood in the doorway of the police station next door, a fitted uniform vest on top of his white t-shirt. Of course it was him. I didn't have the luxury of scolding the universe for this predicament.
"It's Taco. She ate cooking chocolate and no one’s opening the stupid door,” I blurted, kicking the base of the entrance.
He took one look at Taco and sucked in a breath. “I’ll call Savannah.”
“Please, you have to live,” I whispered, pacing the pavement. “You’re so special. Breeze still needs you. Please, if you have a choice, stay. I promise I’ll do everything I can to get you better.”
I sniffed hard, trying to stop the tears. My throat burned with the effort.
“I kind of need you too. It’s stupid to say that to an animal, but I do. I’m so sorry I was careless.”
“She’ll be two minutes,” Dax said to my shaking back.
The time passed with agonising slowness. I stroked a finger up Taco’s round forehead.
“Savannah!” Dax called as he jogged towards the alley between the day-care and Bean There. “Thanks for coming.”
I turned to see a middle-aged woman with long white hair walking towards us with a beaming smile.
“What have we got here?” she asked, her tone far too sunny for the situation.
Didn’t she realise this was an emergency?
I thrust the box of chocolates into her hand. “She ate this. I don’t know how much. And now she’s like this.”
Savannah checked Taco’s ears and gums before unlocking the door.
“Let’s get inside and see what we can do,” she said. Her voice still sounded as if she were giving out raffle prizes.
I followed her down a narrow hallway into the clinic room, where she placed Taco on a stainless steel table.
“She’s looking better than some who come in after eating chocolate. Good colouring. I'm going to administer a charcoal solution to help her bring up what's left in her stomach, and then we'll go from there.”
My eyes welled up with the fear that Taco's old body wouldn't handle the induced vomiting.
"I knew Breeze's mother," Savannah said, squeezing my hand unexpectedly. "I know Taco well. I won't do anything she's not strong enough to handle."
I nodded even though my brain screamed at me not to trust this stranger. An echo I was familiar with.
"Why don't you take a seat out in reception and I’ll come talk to you shortly."
It felt impossible to leave the room without the furry heart stealer, but I forced my feet to back away.
Everything felt heavy as I sat in one of the soft green chairs.
It wasn't until that moment that I realised Dax hadn't followed us inside. I felt the briefest relief that I didn’t have to share any more of this with him than was necessary before the reality of the situation filled me again. I didn’t want to call Breeze and worry her when I didn’t know what the prognosis was yet.
On the other hand, it felt wrong to keep her in the dark.
I got up twice in the next ninety minutes just to make sure the clock was working. My phone and watch confirmed it, but I was certain we'd stepped into some kind of space-time continuum that had bribed the minutes to stop ticking by.
“Riley.” A sunny voice interrupted my fuming, and I looked up to see Savannah with her beaming smile. I noticed the deep creases that lined her face as she stepped behind the reception counter.
"Little soldier got through great. She's perkier now but exhausted. I'd like to hook her up to fluids for a couple of hours and then you can come back and collect her, all going well."
I nodded.
After hours. Fluids. Another two hours of monitoring. This was going to be expensive.
"I recognise that look on your face," the white-haired woman said. "Tell me how much you can afford, and we'll make it work."
My cheeks flushed, and if I had any dignity left, this was the moment it died.
“How much would this usually be?” I asked.
Savannah tapped a few keys.
“Six hundred. Mostly for fluids and monitoring. Then there’s the charcoal, and some pain relief for later, if needed. Plus, it’s after hours.”
I nodded again, thinking of my bank balance. My entire life savings and only money for the foreseeable future was less than that figure. And there was no way in hell I was letting Breeze pay a penny of this.
"I could do four-hundred and fifty?"
Savannah leant forward to better hear my embarrassed whisper.
Four-hundred and eighty-three was all that kept me from destitution now, and I’d have given it all over for Taco, but instinct warned me to keep a bit to feed the Vitz.
I was learning to listen to that voice when it called, even if I wanted to cut its head off with a battle axe right now.
Savannah leaned forward and gently squeezed my hand, making me look into her eyes. Something I’d been avoiding since I spoke my offer.
“Because Taco’s a friend of mine, let’s call it an even four hundred.”
Sweat prickled in my eyes. At least that's what I’d call it if anyone asked.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice catching with relief.
She dipped her head.
“Shall I call you or Breeze when she’s ready?”
“Either. But let me pay now, so Breeze doesn’t.”