Chapter 6
SANDRA
Jerry spins on me as soon as I hop into his passenger seat. “Okay, spill. If I’m going to watch this dog for you, you need to tell me everything.”
“Everything?”
“Ev-ery-thing. I swear to God, Sandy, if you leave anything out I’m disowning you.”
He’s the only one that can still get away with calling me that. Natalie’s always called me Sandra, but my friends from high school or before called me Sandy. These days if someone needs a nickname, I usually go with Dee.
“Well, when I was a little girl…”
“I hate you.”
“No, you looooove me.” I grin at his exasperated snort.
Next to my sister, Jerry is the person who knows me best in the entire world.
In some ways he knows me better, because he was right there with me in the trenches when we were both at our lowest. We went to the same school, but had never really met until we found ourselves thrown into the same afterschool grief support program.
I was struggling and mad at the world because my parents went out to dinner one day and never made it home, and he’d been left to take care of himself after his mother lost the battle with cancer and his father could barely keep himself together, let alone a teenage son.
The support group didn’t work out quite the way the school councilor planned.
We still went completely off the rails, but we did it together, and if we hadn’t had each other, I’m not sure we would’ve survived long enough to come out the other end.
Ten years later, he’s an optician in a disgustingly healthy relationship, and I’m…
Well, I’m not quite sure where I am, but I have people who care about me, a job I like, and I’m alive to worry about it, so I’m counting it as a win.
“Fine, I’ll tell you, but what do we do? We listen and—”
“We listen and we don’t judge. Just tell me already.” Jerry pulls into traffic, making a ‘get on with it’ hand motion.
“I was at work yesterday and three hot Eagles showed up with a stray.”
He glances over. “Three we don’t know?” I nod. “I love that I have to clarify that when I talk to you. Continue.”
“I may have flirted a little. It’s possible there was kissing.”
“Sandy! I’m impressed. Did you take turns? I’ve always wanted to know the specifics, but the idea of hearing about your sister’s love life is—” He makes a gagging sound.
Honestly, I’m happy for Nat, but same.
“It wasn’t with all three of them! Just Piston.” Though, if Beast and Zero hadn’t already left, would I have turned it down? I stare down at my hands, picking at the chipped polish on my thumbnail and not feeling nearly as guilty about everything as I should.
“That’s such a biker name. I bet they all have boring real names, like Ted or Kevin.”
“Do you want to hear this or not, Gerald? It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not going anywhere. Nat would freak out, and I didn’t tell them I have family in the club so I think they’ll probably back off now that they know.”
“Why? You’re all adults. I know you and Natalie have a complicated relationship, but she loves you. Hard truth? I think you’re going to make yourself miserable trying to live up to some made up standard you think she expects from you."
I take a deep breath, pushing down the twisted feeling in my chest. “She gave up everything for me. I want to prove that it was worth it, you know?”
“And the only way you can do that is by what? Pretending to be someone you aren’t?” Jerry waits for me to say something, but we’ve been through this before. Eventually he sighs. “Fine, tell me about the dog.”
“She’s super sweet. Her name is Junkyard, and—don’t look at me like that, I know. I suggested Princess but I was overruled.” And Piston’s explanation was sweet. “I don’t know for sure, but I think she’s probably a year, maybe a year and a half? Some sort of bully mix.”
“If she just came in yesterday, why do you need me to foster her already?”
“This is the second part of the don’t judge, alright?
She’s so young but she looks like she’s already had a rough life so far.
The next day, some guy showed up asking about a dog matching her description but he couldn’t even give me a name.
I got a really bad feeling, so I lied and said I didn’t know anything.
I think he’s a breeder and she got loose. ”
“The bikers wouldn’t take her?”
“They might, but I don’t know anything for sure yet, you know?
I just want to buy her a couple of days to see if I can figure out the situation.
Travis is so by the book. I don’t want to put him in the position of having to cover for me, and you’ve fostered for us before.
If it turns out I’m just being paranoid, I can say I placed her temporarily because she needed extra care and there’s no harm done. ”
I did think about bringing her home with me, but Clark isn’t even four years old.
Junkyard hasn’t shown any signs of aggression, but sometimes dangerous behavior can take a little while to show up.
The initial trauma of surviving on the street and then getting thrust into a totally new situation can make it hard to judge.
Jerry has a lot of experience with dogs, and I’d never forgive myself if something happened to my nephew.
“Hey, do you mind if we stop here for a sec?” Instead of going straight to the rescue to pick up Junkyard, he puts on his blinker and turns into the parking lot outside South City Boxing Gym.
“No, but why?”
“Darren and I were doing Fitni-cycle but I got sick of getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to have an angry, skinny woman in overpriced leggings yell at me. I told him I’d find something fun to try and boxing feels like a totally different vibe.
I’ve been meaning to find a gym and this was on the list. I just want to see what it’s like inside. ”
“Boxing? Really?”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Why not?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Because it’s probably hot, sweaty and full of grunting men?”
“Oh no. My nightmare,” he deadpans. “But that’s just a bonus. I’ve done cardio boxing and it was fun.”
There’s a regular entrance on the front, but also big delivery doors that are wide open, letting in the warm, summer air and exposing the inside of the gym.
It’s not fancy, but it looks decent enough.
There are a couple of boxing rings in the center, some punching bags set up to the sides, and a weight area in the back.
Music is pumping through speakers in the ceiling, and a couple of muscular men in tank tops spar in one of the rings while others watch, maybe waiting their turn.
We get some stray glances as we walk in, but most of the attention stays on the fight.
Jerry looks around, taking it all in. “This might be a bit too authentic. I feel like I just walked into an old Rocky movie.”
"Hey, are you new here? Ladies' night isn't until tomorrow." A man built like a vending machine with a muscle-tee that says "Coach" on the front comes over. “The first three sessions are free if you want to give it a shot.”
“Uh…” I look to Jerry for help but he shrugs. “I’m just here with my friend, actually.”
“Sweet, two for the price of one! Name’s Connor, but you can call me Brick like everyone else. You’re both welcome, obviously, but we can always use more women around to balance out all the stupidity. He nods in the direction of the ring and winks.
I blink. "I'm not—"
Jerry nudges me with his shoulder. “She’d love to. We both would. Where do we sign up?”
“Awesome!” Brick looks so genuinely happy that I find myself following along just so I don’t disappoint him.
I mouth ‘Help’ at Jerry.
“You said three free sessions?” Jerry asks.
“Yeah. I just need your name and some info, and for you to sign a release of responsibility.
The usual stuff. Members can come work out whenever the gym is open, and we have classes most days, plus personal training if you want it.
The beginner sessions are co-ed, so you can come together if you want, but we have Ladies' Night on Thursdays.”
“Why am I signing up for something that was your idea?” I whisper frantically at Jerry as we fill out paperwork under Brick’s enthusiastic eye.
“Because you have the upper body strength of a pool noodle,” he whispers back.
“Rude.” I punch him in the arm and he doesn’t even flinch.
“Fine. I’ve been meaning to take a self-defense class anyway.
This is close enough, but I can’t believe you’re getting me to do this.
” I sigh dramatically for effect, place my signature at the bottom, then get Brick's attention so he can take our clipboards.
"Fantastic!" He glances at the papers then looks up at me with a broad smile. "You’ll come by tomorrow, right? Ladies night starts at seven."
"Uh, yeah. Absolutely." What the hell did I just get myself into?