JESSALYN
“He’s white and fluffy. Mostly, he looks like a German shepherd, but he’s thinner, and his right ear flops down when he’s tired.” I pulled out my phone, now in airplane mode. “I have a photo. See? He would have come in yesterday afternoon.”
While I was at the salon, getting plucked and waxed and primped and prodded.
Heaven forbid Ridge Packer’s wife looked anything less than perfect.
He’d signed me up for an anti-cellulite wrap because my thighs were “bumpy.” And even though I was ten pounds lighter now than when we got married, he still commented about my body every time we ate dinner.
Not outright calling me fat, more “Did you know that carrying a little extra weight makes you twenty-eight percent more likely to die of heart disease?” and “We’re having dinner with the Benellis this weekend—do you still fit into that green dress with the gold straps? ”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have a dog like that,” the girl who’d greeted me said.
“The only dog that came in yesterday was a blind chihuahua. A couple more people called trying to surrender their pups, but we just don’t have the room, and we mostly take smaller dogs.
Have you tried Saving Paws? They’re across town. ”
“Not yet. I’ll head over there right now.”
“Did he escape from your yard?”
“Uh…” What was I supposed to say? “My husband was meant to be taking care of him.”
“Ah.” She peered closer. “Have we met before? You look kinda familiar.”
The girl had shoulder-length green hair, perfect skin, and a ring in her nose. Not a face I’d easily forget.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Huh. Well, good luck.”
I was halfway to the door when I heard footsteps behind me.
“Hey, wait! You’re the cooking lady, aren’t you?
A Sprinkle of Happiness? My sister loves your videos.
She was having a real hard time after my niece was born, serious postpartum depression, and you had that series on five-minute desserts, and no kidding, she lived on the PB and banana ice cream for a month. ”
A sprinkle of happiness? More like a sprinkle of lies.
Once, I’d thought that if I faked enough smiles, I could convince myself that my marriage wasn’t a disaster.
And I’d only started the blog to help Saylor, who was bored on the other side of the world and couldn’t cook to save her life.
She’d send me a list of ingredients, and I’d turn them into a simple recipe that even the most culinarily challenged klutz could master.
Think I was exaggerating about Saylor’s lack of kitchen skills?
Well, both her parents and the Sanford Fire Department had banned her from owning a microwave after three of the darn things went up in flames.
“I’m glad she found comfort in one of my recipes, really.”
“Can I get a picture with you? She’d go crazy.”
“I’m so sorry, but I need to be at Saving Paws when they open.”
“You know what? I’m gonna call Carol. She works there, and if they have your dog, I’ll tell her you’re on the way to pick him up.”
Sometimes, kindness hit me harder than Ridge’s fist. A sob welled up in my throat and burst free before I could stop it.
“Th-thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
She regarded me curiously. “You okay?”
“I’m f-f-fine.”
But when I lifted a hand to wipe my eyes, I knocked my sunglasses, and the girl gasped.
“Ohmigosh! What happened to your face?”
“I… Uh…”
“It wasn’t the dog, was it?”
“What? No, Shiro would never hurt me.”
He did growl at Ridge, though, which was why he’d spent so much time in his kennel. I owed that dog so many apologies.
“You got mugged?”
“Please, could you just call Carol?”
She looked as if she had a hundred more questions, but she pulled a phone out of her pocket and dialled.
“Hey, it’s Shana. Did you get a white GSD yesterday? I have his owner here. … Oh, really? … Man, that’s messed up.” Shana’s gaze flicked toward me. “No, don’t. I think there’s DV involved there.”
DV? Oh, hell. She knew, didn’t she? She’d guessed what Ridge was doing to me, and although I should have been horrified that my secret was out in the wild, there was also a tinge of relief.
“Okay, hold on a second…” Shana lowered the phone. “So, they have the dog. But the guy who surrendered him yesterday just accosted one of the volunteers in the parking lot and claimed it was all a big mistake, and now he wants the dog back.”
The fear that had plagued me on the drive to the shelter ratcheted up tenfold, and my pulse kicked hard and fast.
“It wasn’t a mistake. He drove Shiro there deliberately, and now…and now… Please, don’t let them hand Shiro back.”
“They won’t. Carol says he filled in the paperwork, and legally, the dog belongs to Saving Paws now. But she also says they won’t risk putting him into a home where there’s domestic violence, so if you’re planning to go back there…”
“I’ve left my husband.” Saying the words out loud made it all the more real, and I began sweating. “I should have done it before, but I was scared of starting over, and I had to save money, and I didn’t have anywhere to go.”
“So you have somewhere to go now?”
My silence gave her the answer, and she touched my arm in a soothing gesture. “Shiro will need a place to live.”
“I know that, I do. We’ll stay in a hotel room for a few days until I can rent an apartment, somewhere far away from here. He stays by my side, always, and I only got the courage to escape because he’s my soul dog, and I don’t even know how I’ll go on without him.”
Shana made a “yikes” face. “Uh, if you’re suicidal, you should probably speak with a therapist?”
“That part came out wrong. Truly, I’m not suicidal. I just… For the past year, he’s given me a reason to wake up in the mornings, and my new life will be flat and grey without him in it.”
Shana raised the phone again. “Can you transfer Shiro to us? I know you’re full, right? … Uh-huh, uh-huh. But he isn’t the owner, and Jane is also an attorney, so if he gives us any trouble, we’ll deal with it.”
She hung up, and I managed to suck in a breath. That sounded awful and positive at the same time. Ridge was at Saving Paws? So much for the Benadryl. No thank-you note from me.
“Is he still there?”
“They’re both there—your dog and your husband, and your husband’s being real rude and talking down to everyone. Carol’s gonna sneak the dog out the back door and have someone drive him here.”
“Ridge won’t be happy about that.”
“Doesn’t seem as if he’s happy about a lot of things.
We have a volunteer who’s a trial attorney, and she’ll wipe the floor with him if he tries to sue.
Like, he’ll be a smear of doo-doo on the tile.
We have surrender forms for a reason. We also have adoption forms, and really, I need to get an address from you, but I’ll take an IOU if you give me a contact number. ”
“I had to put my phone into airplane mode.”
“Right. Did you turn off the location services?”
“The what?”
Shana held out a hand. “Give it here.”
Half an hour later, I wept in relief as Shiro licked my face nonstop, and who cared when he knocked me onto my ass? Shana had to hold him back by the collar so I could get back to my feet.
“Well, he’s definitely your boy.”
“Thank you so much for helping us.”
“Don’t forget to let me know how you’re doing.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
She’d accepted an email address in lieu of a regular address, and also loaded a bag of kibble into the Lexus’s trunk alongside the blankets and pillow I’d hastily stuffed in there.
Meanwhile, I’d paced in the parking lot, terrified that Ridge would see Shiro leaving the other shelter and follow him to this one.
But Ridge was apparently too busy calling the sheriff’s department, determined to get someone, anyone, arrested.
“Well, good luck,” Shana said as I opened the car’s back door and let Shiro jump inside.
He hesitated, probably because Ridge pitched a fit if he even breathed in the vicinity of the Lexus, muttering about claws and scratches and hair on the upholstery.
I’d had to take an Uber to training classes, which was where I’d met Saylor.
“Will you still make your cooking show?”
“At the moment, I’m not sure.”
“My sister will be real disappointed if you quit. Although she preferred the original episodes—you know, the ‘Dear Saylor’ ones.”
At first, when my blog had just been my silly way of keeping in touch with a bestie who’d moved a million miles away, I’d started every video with “Dear Saylor, today we’re gonna make…
” and it was only after Ridge had gotten involved that the show grew more polished.
Proper lighting, set design, product placement.
I’d gone along with it because he left me little choice, but secretly, I preferred the early days when I’d made each recipe with love for an audience of one.
“She did? Those were my favourites too. When I get settled, maybe I’ll be able to start cooking again.”
Although I’d have to be so, so careful about keeping my location under wraps. For the first time, and with help, I’d outsmarted Ridge, and I knew he’d never give me a second chance if he caught up with me.
Shana waved as I set off with Shiro, onto the highway and into the unknown. But one thing was certain—never again would I get entangled with a man. We were on our own now.