Page 263 of Daddy's Pride
I blew out a gusty breath, trying to calm down. It was fine. It was all going to be fine. I didn’t have to recognize him. He’d find me, because I was the only guy sitting here with a hurt dog on his lap.
Not really the first impression I wanted to make.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, my fingers trembling on the sweet little dog’s cheek as it hit me that I was about to meet him in person. Exactly what I’d both convinced myself might never happen and also been low-key freaking out over all week. “What if, um, what if he doesn’t like me in person?”
Something warm and wet and as light as a butterfly’s wing nudged my finger.
The dog had licked me.
I grinned, forgetting my anxiety about Daddy for a second. “Yeah? Does that mean you like me? That you’re feeling better?”
She didn’t do it again, but her eyes started to drift closed, and just as fast as the stupid bit of happiness had hit me, it fizzled out again.
“Please be okay,” I whispered. “I’m sure he’ll be willing to drive us to a vet. And um, I can even give him gas money or something? And I’ll pay for it even if we have to wait a few more months to get the plumber out.”
My parents would be pissed if I used the house money for something like that, but I couldn’t think about that right now. I didn’t exactly blame Tyler for giving up on this little girl, I just couldn’t make myself do the same thing. I didn’t even know how.
I bit my lip, worried for a second that I was being really, really stupid.
As much as I wanted to deny it, she did not look good. And I knew that vet bills could get, well… really high.
But I could get a job?
I mean, sometimes managing the house felt like a full-time one, between trying to do all the budget stuff and all the YouTube I’d watched to try to fix things and keep up with the maintenance. Thankfully, my parents had agreed to let me have a little bit of the rent money every month for like, food and necessities so I hadn’t had to actually get a paying job yet.
But I could?
Maybe at the pizza place?
A car turned onto the road, making me sit up straight and my pulse skitter with nerves. But no, there was a woman driving it, and she passed by without hardly glancing at us.
“I promise,” I told the dog, “he’ll be here soon.”
He hadn’t actually said where he was coming from, but I had to believe that. I had to.
The dog had her eyes all the way closed now, and when I gently stroked her little black nose, I had to stifle down a helpless sort of panic.
It was hot and dry, and that wasn’t right, was it? I didn’t know if it was actually a sign of injury, but I did know it meant dehydration, and that couldn’t be good.
Did she even have an owner?
Did anyone take care of her?
Why had she been running in the street anyway?
But most importantly, why didn’t I know more? I didn’t know what to do with her. I didn’t even know if I’d hurt her by carrying her over here, but I had to, didn’t I? She’d been right in the middle of the road. But what if I’d really messed up?
A big truck turned onto the road. Oregon wasn’t quite as far north as Wisconsin, but it still stayed light pretty late this time of year, so I could tell it was a dark color. Blue? Gray?
God, why hadn’t I asked Daddy what he’d be driving?
But then it started to slow, and it was like everything inside me slowed down, too. Calmed down.
Of course this was Daddy’s truck. And of course the man who stepped out of it, the man who I somehow knew was my Daddy before he even said a word, would look like he could have doubled for that actor who played Thor.
It only made sense, because he’d come to save me. Well, the dog, but somehow it felt like he was here for me, too. So how could he ever have looked like anything else but a superhero?
“Daddy?” I asked anyway, hopping up to my feet as a whole different kind of panic replaced that initial moment of calm.