Page 45 of The Fast Lane

Theo slowly approached, holding his hand out. Karen growled but leaned forward enough to sniff him out. He seemed to pass muster because she allowed him to pet her.

“She’s not so bad,” Theo said. “Come pet her.”

So, I tried. I followed Theo’s example and approached cautiously, holding my hand out. I got within a foot of her, and Karen’s angry little face grew angrier. She escalated from a growl to full-on, there’s-a-stranger-in-my-house level barking to snapping at my fingers, her whole body vibrating with rage.

“Wow. I don’t think she likes you,” Theo said.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Mack said, pulling Karen closer to him. “She’ll have plenty of time to get used to you on this trip.”

“Wait,” I said. “She’s going with us?”

“I can’t leave her here with someone else. She has separation anxiety.” He looked at the dog cradled in his arms with adoration. “Don’t you, sweet girl?”

“There’s not a neighbor that could keep her while you’re gone?”

“I think she’ll be fine. She is pretty sweet.” Theo reached over and began scratching Karen under the chin. She let out a contented little sigh and went boneless in Mack’s arms.

She did have that “so ugly, she’s cute” thing going on for her. I lifted my hand to scratch her like Theo had. Before I even touched her, she cracked open one eye and growled.

I yanked my hand back. “A whole week in the car with her. That sounds like…fun.” Right up there with root canals, letters from the IRS, and jogging on a street paved with Legos.

“My two girls can get to know each other.” Mack rocked back on his heels. “Watch, you and Karen will be best friends by the end of this.”

Somehow, I doubted that.

Mack’s mischievous blue eyes darted between Theo and me and a wide grin spread across his face. “It’s good to see you, Theodore. When are you going to put a ring on this one?”

I gasped. “Mack.”

“I’m just saying I’d like to see it happen before I die.”

“We are not dating. We’re friends.”

“Sure. Sure. Gracie and I were friends before we fell in love. I met her when I was seven, did you know that?”

Of course, I knew that. I’d heard the story many times.

Mack had been in his second-grade class when the door had opened and a new student arrived, a quiet girl with long blonde braided pigtails and enormous blue eyes.

“Love at first sight. Decided that day I was going to marry her.” His eyes turned soft and dreamy. “’Course, she hated me at first, but I was persistent.”

I smiled. “And it took fifteen years before she agreed to go out with you.”

He paused and winked at Theo. “Married her three months later. Take it from an old man, Theodore, you find a good woman like our Ali, you get her hitched to you as fast as you can.”

Theo smiled, his dimple peeking out. The look he shot my way could only be described as sly.

Mack threw his arm around my shoulder; Karen growled softly. “Alright. Alright. I’m an old man, what do I know? Now, let’s go inside. You can relax while I get myself situated.”

Shaking my head, I trailed behind Theo and Mack. That’s when it hit me: Theo hadn’t tried to correct Mack, not even once. What the heck did that mean?

NINETEEN

Note to self:

Mistakes, like bad seafood, have a way of coming up again.

Plan accordingly.