Chapter 13 #2
Bruce seemed torn between Nora and the bowl. ‘Give me the food.’ Nora took it from Jay, which meant she then had Bruce’s full attention. He tried to jump up but she turned her back on him. ‘Down. Sit.’
‘Sorry, he’s not big on commands,’ said Jay.
‘Only because nobody has taught him. Or he thinks he can get away with ignoring them.’ Nora tried turning around but Bruce kept jumping up.
However, Nora didn’t give up easily. After five minutes Bruce seemed to be cottoning on and was now sitting and calming down.
When at last she managed to put the bowl down without Bruce intercepting it, she told him, ‘Good boy.’ Bruce inhaled his meal in record time.
‘Wow. Just wow. How did you do that?’ asked Jay.
‘Easy. Don’t give in and don’t be intimidated by him.’
‘OK. I can do that,’ said Jay, pulling back his shoulders. All he needed was a cape and he would have had the look of a superhero. He had thrown himself into dog ownership and she loved that he was looking for ways to overcome their issues.
The doorbell sounded and Bruce lurched at where Jay was standing, making him yelp and dive out of the way. The superhero moment was short-lived.
‘Yeah, that may take some work but you’ll get there,’ said Nora, going to answer the door to the delivery man.
They munched their pizza in silence while Bruce chewed a toy and watched them closely.
‘Did you hear about that job?’ asked Nora, trying to extricate a slice of pizza from the box without losing any meatballs.
‘I got the truck health and safety gig,’ he said with mock pride. ‘I’ll be expecting a Bafta any day now.’
‘Yay, that’s good news.’
‘Plus Undercover Bullets has been edited and they’re working out where it’s being released, whether it’s a streaming service or cinema. Tasha Blake has now done something with Leonardo DiCaprio.’
‘Haven’t they all?’
‘Exactly. But it might be the publicity we need. And I got a text from Tasha today.’
‘Ooh, first-name terms.’ Nora grinned at him.
‘Actually, I think it was from the publicist because it referred to me in the third person. But we’re going to meet up when she’s next in the UK.
’ He tried to cross his fingers and fumbled his pizza slice, getting sauce on his hands.
Jay wiped his hand on a wet wipe. ‘I feel like I need to explain why I was at the cannabis farm today.’
‘It’s OK,’ said Nora.
‘I’d kinda like to explain, if that’s all right.’
Nora shrugged so Jay continued. ‘I wasn’t following you.
Honestly I wasn’t. Well, not intentionally.
I wanted to go towards the pet store but Bruce was having none of it.
He pulled and tugged and then he lay down.
When I finally gave in, he took off and it was all I could do to keep hold of the lead and match his pace.
I think he might actually be part greyhound.
Anyway, Bruce dragged me to a park, where he was distracted for a couple of minutes with sniffing around trees and weeing …
Anyway, while he was doing that I spotted you in the distance. ’
‘And that’s when you decided to follow me?’
‘Nope. No. Absolutely not,’ said Jay. ‘It was him.’ He pointed at Bruce.
‘He spotted you about ten seconds after I did. I then got dragged along. I’m amazed I have any soles left on my trainers.
There is no stopping him. He’s like a furry warhead.
Personally I’m just glad he didn’t see a squirrel because I would probably be stuck up a tree right now. ’
Nora laughed. ‘It’s OK. I’m not cross that you followed me.’
‘I know it’s not OK because we messed everything up with Benito. But thank you for not blaming me.’
‘It’s Benicio,’ she said. ‘And I guess there’s a lot I need to unpack about him.’ She took a moment to eat a bit of pizza and order her thoughts. ‘We dated for six months and he said he was a trouble-shooter.’
‘Not a complete lie,’ said Jay, although he was pulling a face.
‘It was a lie, but I understand he couldn’t tell me he was an undercover cop.
But it still smarts that I didn’t work it out.
I didn’t have a clue he was lying to me.
That makes me wonder what else he lied about.
Plus he never had time for me and would disappear without warning.
And he definitely wasn’t pleased to see me today. ’
‘To be fair, we had just blown his operation,’ said Jay with a wince.
‘I reckon he could front that out. We obviously weren’t the police. I only went there because I thought he was homeless.’ Nora dropped her pizza crust back in the box, making Bruce sit to attention.
‘Oh right,’ said Jay. ‘I thought you went because he was one of your post-37 per cent?’
‘Oh yeah, that too, he was number six.’ It seemed like a good moment for a recap. ‘Salvador was number four. He’s happily engaged with a baby. Hugh still has rampant toenail fungus and Benicio lies for a living.’
‘So you must be done tracking down ex-boyfriends …’ Jay was watching her closely.
Nora started to shake her head.
‘… or almost done by now?’ he asked.
‘Nope. The rule is that after you’ve ditched the first 37 per cent you carry on reviewing each next option until you find a viable one. Which means there could be a lot more to check out,’ said Nora.
Jay blinked.
‘Well, not a lot exactly. Some. A few.’
Bruce lay down with a huff and Jay leaned back against the sofa making a similar noise. Nora pulled out another slice of pizza and sank her teeth into it. Now she was itching to update her spreadsheet.