Pulling up into the parking lot at the vets, I took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare myself for being alone with Ty’s mother. Sure, we had spoken over the phone but that was different than being in the same room as her; without Ty.
Jumping out of the truck, I walked through the entrance, the door making a dinging noise as I opened it.
I spotted Elena straight away behind the main desk. She smiled when she saw me and stood up to greet me. She’d phoned the office an hour ago to say that we could pick up Monty. We’d waited for the call all week and I was ecstatic that he was coming home.
I knew that Ty would have wanted to get him but he was out with Luke and Kitty, scouting a possible location. I didn’t want Monty to have to stay at the vets an hour longer than he had to so I came straight away, only managing to get lost a couple of times before I found the place.
“Kay!” She came around the front desk, her arms open wide and pulled me in for a hug. I stood there frozen, not knowing what to do so I awkwardly patted her on the back and pulled away when she did.
“Morning, Elena,” I said, a blush creeping up my cheeks.
“He’s waiting for you.” She spun around and went down the hallway so I followed her, not knowing if that was the right thing to do or not but wanting to get to Monty.
We’d been to see him a couple of times, which would make you think I’d know how to get here, but no, I was a nightmare when it came to following directions. Some people would only need to drive a route once and they’d know where they were going. Me? I had no idea, I just about managed to get to the preschool and back without getting lost.
The fact that this was a new area, not the one that I had grew up in, made things worse. At least where I grew up, if I got lost I could just make it back to a neutral spot, normally the grocery store and find my way from there.
Here, I didn’t have a clue, it was all new to me and while that excited me, it also scared me at the same time.
“Here he is,” she cooed as she opened the door and headed straight to the corner where he was chewing on a toy.
They’d kept him in a room of his own because they hadn’t got any cages big enough for him. He loved it, I wouldn’t have wanted him locked up in one of those cages anyway.
His head lifted at the noise, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. I had two seconds to brace myself before he came at me full force, lifting onto his back legs and resting his front paws on my shoulders.
“Hey there, Monty.” I laughed as he slobbered on my cheek, his tail wagging manically.
“He’s so much better now,” Elena said, stroking his back and then pulling him down off me. He stood at my side and didn’t move. Even when we went out to the front to get all of his paperwork, he still didn’t move.
“Here you go, hon.” I took the paperwork and riffled in my bag for my purse to pay her.
“Don’t worry about it.” She waved her hand in the air. “I got it.”
“But-”
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “Come for dinner at the house on Friday, and we’ll call it square.”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah… You, Ty and Eli.” She walked back around the counter, stroking Monty once more and reaching out for a hug again. This time I was prepared and hugged her back, all the while, Monty stayed pressed against my leg. “Trevor is dying to meet you.”
“Trevor?” I asked with a furrowed brow.
“Ty’s dad.” She smiled. “He’ll just love you,” she said, the wistful smile widening on her face. It was clear that she loved him, just from the way she said his name and talked about him.
I wondered if I looked like that when I talked about Ty.
“Friday,” she said, bringing herself out of her haze. “Eight.” She walked away, turning at the last minute and shouted, “Bring pie!”
Looking down at Monty, I smiled and said. “Looks like we’ve got dinner plans.”
He barked in response and rested his paw on my leg.
“Come on.” I nodded to the door. “Let’s get you home.”
Monty jumped down off the seat as soon as I opened the door, his head turning all around him as he checked out his new home. I expected him to go running off to sniff the place out but he didn’t, he stayed by my side the whole way to the warehouse door. When I pulled the door open, he still didn’t move much, just enough for me to open the door.
None of the guys were back yet so there was only Evan sat at his computer desk. He turned his head, a smile on his face when he saw me, that soon disappeared when his eyes landed on Monty.
“Holy crapballs!” He wheeled back in his chair as if he was about to be attacked. Even though Monty still hadn’t moved from my side.
“Evan…” I laughed. “He won’t hurt you.” I took a step closer to him but he halted me, throwing his hand up in the air.
“Don’t come any closer,” he screeched. Actually screeched.
“Evan?” I frowned. “Are you really scared of him?”
I looked down to Monty, a confused look on my face. He tilted his head at me as if to say, ‘I won’t hurt him’.
“Can you not see how big he is? And look at those teeth!”
“Evan-”
“No, Kay. Seriously, don’t come any closer.” Looking back at him, I squinted my eyes, taking in his pale face. He was actually scared.
I’d never seen him scared of anything and it was a lot to wrap my head around. They were all fearless, so when I was faced with one of them scared, it was an eye opening experience.
“I’ll just sit over here then,” I said in a calm voice. Hoping that would ease him slightly. I was pretty confident that Monty wouldn’t go over to him and that he would stay at my side.
I went over to the meeting table and pulled my usual chair out to sit down, Monty sitting next to me like a sentinel.
I reached over and stroked him on the head, his fur so much softer than when I had picked him up off the side of the road. He wiggled closer, resting his head on my leg and closing his eyes.
I was fascinated by him. He brought me the same sensation of peace as the woods did.
His head shot up all of a sudden, his body shielding me, poised and ready for an attack. It became clear why, when the metal door opened and they all walked in. Kitty was first, behind her Luke and then Ty last.
Monty barked, causing all of them to stand still and look over to us.
“Awww, is that Monty?” Kitty smiled, stepping forward.
Monty growled, baring his teeth, causing Kitty to stop and look at me confused.
“Kay-” Ty stepped forward, holding his hands up and stopping when Monty barked again. “You need to tell him to heel.”
“What?” I frowned.
“Tell him to heel, he’s guarding you.”
“Huh?” I looked down to Monty, “Oh. Heel?” He turned his head slightly, not taking his eyes off of them.
“Say it more firmly, like you mean it,” Ty said with laughter in his voice.
“Heel.” He sat back on his hind legs but didn’t stop watching them as they sat down.
“Jeez, that’s one scary dog.” Kitty huffed as she sat down.
Ty reached over and kissed me, Monty growling at the intrusion again. “Monty, stop,” I said looking down at him and patting my knee for him to put his head back.
He looked around unsure, but finally put his head back in favor of a stroke.
“Jesus Christ. Kay won’t need no training with that thing next to her, he’d rip someone’s arm clean off.” Luke laughed.
“Exactly!” Evan said from the other end of the room.
“Evan, meeting.” Ty nodded his head at his chair, signaling him to come over.
“I’ll listen from here!” he shouted.
“Get your ass over here.” Ty huffed out, dropping his head into his hands.
“I take it that it didn’t go well?”
“No.” He lifted his head up, his eyes meeting mine. “Wasn’t a thing to be found. Just an old warehouse with nothing inside it.”
“Damn,” I said under my breath.
I saw Evan move closer, taking slow, measured steps as not to disturb Monty. He lifted his head, looked over to Evan, made a noise in the back of his throat and lay his head back down.
“Just sit down, Evan.” I chuckled. “He won’t hurt you.”
“Pffft,” he said as he lowered into his chair slowly.
Shaking my head, I looked back down at Monty and smiled. I’d always wanted a dog.
“So it was a no go?” Evan asked.
“Fuck!” Ty banged his fist down on the table, causing Monty to look up again. “We need to find those girls, why are we hitting dead ends?”
I turned to face him, not knowing what to say. Charlie hadn’t got any closer either, in fact, we were the only ones providing leads for him.
Reaching over, I placed my hand over his clenched fist. “How about going to see the parents of the girl that went missing last. We may be able to find new leads from that.”
“Charlie’s already interviewed them,” Kitty said from across the table.
I looked up at her, her eyes blazing with…something. I couldn’t put my finger on it. She hadn’t been herself lately, I wanted to ask her what was going on but I had a feeling she’d shut me down.
“I know,” I said, trying to stay calm. “But it couldn’t hurt for us to talk to them.” Looking back at Ty, unsure, I asked. “Right?”
“It’s not a bad idea,” he said, nodding and turning his hand over, entwining his fingers through mine. “I’ll talk to Charlie about it.”
“Okay.” I nodded and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “What do we do now?”
“Now?” He smirked. “Now we show Monty his new home.”
I smiled back, looking down at Monty.
This was the happiest I’d been in a long time; I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It wasn’t normal for things to go this smoothly. Not for me, anyway.
I thought I was frustrated before but now I was beyond that. Way beyond that.
We were getting nowhere. The only thing that may bring new leads, was going and talking to the parents of the last girl who went missing. It was a good idea, one that I should have already thought of but I could see now that I had blind spots when it came to this case, and I admit, that was all down to Serena.
Right now wasn’t the time to think about work though because we were on our way to my parents’ house for dinner. Kay had been back at the house all afternoon baking pies.
“Your ma told me to bring pie,” she’d said.
“Yeah, but from the store. She wouldn’t have expected you to make one from scratch.” She’d just shrugged her shoulders and carried on making the pastry.
Now she was sat next to me in the truck, three pies at her feet, Eli in the back, and Monty in the truck bed.
Yep, Monty had to come too. That dog hadn’t moved from Kay’s side since she brought him home a few days ago. The only time he did was when he was playing with Eli but, most of the time, that was in the same room.
The dog was loyal to a fault and, if I was honest, it put me at ease that he was watching out for her. It meant that when I couldn’t be there that he would.
“Stop,” I said to Kay, reaching over and putting my hand over hers. She’d been ringing her hands since she got in the car, now I understood why she’d made so many damn pies; to keep her hands busy.
“I can’t help it,” she whispered, looking back at Eli and Monty, giving them the ‘mom smile’. The one that all moms gave to reassure her children that everything was fine, even when it wasn’t.
“I know, sweetheart.” Giving her hand a final squeeze, I let go and turned on to my parents’ land. They had acres that surrounded their house, something which I loved as a kid.
Dad had a work shed out back. Well, shed was putting it lightly. It was basically a cabin; he’d built it from scratch with wood that he’d cut down himself.
Mom had a stable full of horses. She loved them, well, she loved any animals, but horses were her favorite. She had a habit of taking in horses that had been neglected or the ones that people didn’t want anymore. She currently had six; two ex-race horses, three mares and a foal.
“Can I go to Trevor’s house again, Ty?” Eli shouted from the backseat.
“Trevor’s house?” Kay turned to me with a frown marred on her beautiful face.
“You’ll see.” I smirked, and parked on the grass outside the house.
Looking away, a frown still on her face, I watched as she took the whole place in. I tried to see it from her eyes but it was hard to do having grown up here. This would always be home.
“Ready?” Pulling open the door, I waited for her to answer before I jumped down. Spotting Ma as she came out of the house, shielding her eyes from the glaring sun.
“Yeah,” she whispered, not exactly convincingly.
“Come on, mama,” Eli whined from the backseat, already standing up, ready to get out.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them and pulled her door open.
“Let’s do this.” She nodded and bent down to get the pies once she was out.
Pulling Eli’s door open, I helped him down and waited for Monty to jump out. I turned around to tell Eli to wait for me but he was already running towards dad’s work shed.
“Eli!” Kay shouted, each hand holding a pie with Monty at her legs again. “Where are you going!”
“To see Trevor!” he shouted back, not bothering to turn around.
“I’ll go.” I smiled and jogged after him after planting a kiss on her lips.
“Bud!” I shouted just as he got to the door. “You shouldn’t run off like that.”
“Oops, sorry.” He looked down at his feet, kicking the toe of his shoes in the grass.
“Hey.” I crouched down in front of him and put my thumb and finger on his chin, bringing his face back up to me. “You don’t need to be sorry, bud. It just that mama didn’t know where you were going. You have to ask her first, remember?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. His eyes moved to the door making it clear that he couldn’t wait to get in there.
“Come on.” I chuckled and stood back up, pushing through the door.
“Dad?”
“In here, son,” his gruff voice replied. I followed Eli towards dad’s voice. I should have known he’d be in here filing down some wood.
The last time we came, he’d promised Eli that he’d make him a chair, and from the looks of things, he’d nearly finished it.
“Ah! Eli!” Dad put down his tools and went straight to Eli, picking him up and spinning him around. “How’s it going? You being good?”
“Yeah.” Eli chuckled.
“Ah! That’s no good! We need to get some mischief in you.” He sat him on his work bench and I moved closer, making sure there was nothing that could hurt him. “Did you climb any trees?” he continued on with the questioning. I may as well have not been there.
But I didn’t mind, in fact, I loved that he got on with Eli so well.
Dad didn’t have any grandkids yet so Eli was kind of his first. Wait…did that mean I was Eli’s step-dad?
I didn’t know how Kay would feel about that, but I’d got to admit, I liked it.
“So…where is she?” Dad asked, finally looking at me.
“She’s in the big house with ma.” I pulled Eli down off the bench and held my hand out to him. His tiny hand was completely lost inside mine.
“Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” He threw his work apron down on the bench and walked straight through the door.