Chapter Two
Dinner that night was all it was promised to be. I just don’t think there are a lot of things in the world bacon can’t fix—and Hudson was super generous with the helpings. We even went on one of our long, Mia’s-out-of-town-rambles, then ended up with a game of fetch in the lake. We used a stick ’cause Hudson didn’t bring the ball. Not sure why. But the stick as almost as good.
And then Mitch came over and they had some of those crunchy sandwiches that have bacon and other stuff in them. Mitch is part of the pack, even though he doesn’t live here, and he makes me wag almost as much as Mia and Hudson do. Hudson drops me off to hang out with Mitch sometimes when he needs some extra looking after and we take tons of walks. Apparently I’m a chick magnet.
But last night, when he and Hudson were talking, Mitch got that same wincey look on his face Hudson had earlier. And then it was back on Hudson’s face as well. It made me whine and then their faces smoothed out, but Hudson still didn’t feel so bouncy. They relaxed again when I got up on the couch with them and lay across their laps. I mostly prefer the big squishy bed Mia got for me—it reminds me of curling up on her sleeping bag when we’re out in the big wild—but my pack brothers needed me and that was more important.
Besides, it made it easier for the extra bacon to accidentally fall into my mouth. Except after that, Hudson looked at his wrist and said, “Nothing after midnight” and I didn’t get any more bacon. Or any of the popcorn they made later on
The really weird thing was that Hudson forgot to put down breakfast for me after our run the next morning. I waited patiently, like Mia taught me, but then I nudged the bowl a little, and he still didn’t fill it up. He wouldn’t even look at me. I admit, I got a little rude then. Hudson usually gave me extra attention when Mia’s away ’cause he knew I miss her so much. But this morning I wasn’t even getting dry kibble.
Hudson felt twitchy and out of sorts. He didn’t even finish his own breakfast, just dumped it in the sink with a sigh.
“Sorry, buddy. You can eat after, okay? Mitch said he’d bring you one of those foot-longs you love.” Hudson dug his fingers into the scruff around my neck and I started wagging again. “Foot-long” is the name Mitch has for these super tasty tubed meats he buys from a man with a cart full of tubed meats. Mia says they’re not good for me, but Mitch and I disagree so he sneaks me one every now and then when I’ve been a good wingman.
I wondered how long “after” was. My stomach made a hungry noise and Hudson gave me an extra rub, then reached for the door handle. “Go play in the yard while I shower, bud. Damage is already done, after all.”
The yard! Yay! I used to hang out in the yard all the time. It was like my own tiny piece of the big wild. I ran from end to end, catching the scents in my nose and checking to make sure everything was as I’d left it. Everything was A-okay, so I headed over to the best part of my patch. The part where I could jump over the fence to be with Lola.
Lola’s my girl. She’s from a place where the ground was always hot under her feet and all the smells were different. When she first arrived, she was tired and timid and didn’t even know what to think of the two-legger she was staying with. Apparently Lola’s Mia is still in the before place and the two-legger staying with her is a “cousin”. Lola smells like the rocks by a stream after they’ve been baking all day and she feels like the wind when I’m running and it’s pushing my fur back. We fit together and both of us knew it from the second we caught smell of each other.
But she’s not in her yard. I haven’t seen her in ages. Ever since her two-legger came over and made the air go dark and stinky while she said things that made Mia pull all her energy in.
Of all the two-leggers I know, Mia’s energy goes out the furthest. When we’re out in the big wild together I can see it joining with the energy from all the trees and even the grass. But whatever this woman said to Mia made all her energy snap back until it didn’t extend at all. It was the same as how she was around people before she met Hudson. It made me sad.
I don’t remember many of the words Lola’s cousin person used. There was something that sounded like “irresponsible” and “teenage canine mother” that made Mia’s lips pinch tight, but what I was really concentrating on was Lola, behind the glass at the other end of her yard. She was on her back legs, trying to slide the door with her front ones, trying to get to me.
I was wagging hard and halfway up the fence when Mia pulled me back with a hand around my collar. “No, Nev. Stay here.”
The other woman stomped back across her yard, releasing the scent of the grass she was smashing. She yanked open the door, trying to block Lola in with her legs, but Lola’s smart, and she’s quick, and she dodged her way past the two-legger obstacle and bolted to the fence.
Mia’s energy shifted, loosened and then her hand had dropped off my collar. “Go on, buddy. Say goodbye.”
I took a step back then launched over the fence. Mia called my name, but didn’t add a command to it, so I ran to Lola and pushed my head over her neck and let her lick my face. I got some good licks in, too, before the cousin snatched her up by the collar and dragged her back to the house.
I started to follow, but Mia called me back. She didn’t say anything when I kept turning to look back at Lola, even though I’m not supposed to get distracted when I’ve been called. Mia’s energy was still pulled in when she let me through the gate between the two yards. That was the last time I was allowed out in the yard on my own. The last time I saw my girl. And that was ages ago.
But it definitely wasn’t Lola I was seeing out in the yard right now.