Page 78 of Making the Save

I stepped inside the bedroom and she was already getting back in bed. Plumping up the pillows behind her head, but she’d turned down the blankets on the other side of the bed. An invitation?

I got down on my hands and knees, to do an obligatory check, only to come face to face with two glowing eyes buried in dark fur.

Oh shit.

“Syd? Did you leave the window open?”

“I know it’s a little chilly, but I like the fresh mountain air.”

“Okay, I need you to not panic.”

“You know when you tell someone not to panic, that’s exactly when they panic.”

There was no other way to do this. “There is a raccoon under the bed.”

Her scream sent the little fucker deeper into the corner of the room. It was making some screeching noises of its own. The last thing I needed was a raccoon in attack mode.

I stood up and gave her my stern face. “No screaming.”

She was standing on the bed, pillow in her arms like a shield. “Does it have rabies?”

“How would I know that?”

“Is it foaming at the mouth?”

“No. All we need to do is leave the bedroom, close the door and it will go back out the window. It’s as scared of you as you are of it.”

“I can promise you that’s not true. I’m way more scared of it.”

I waved her over. “Come on, it’s on the opposite side of the bed. Two seconds and we’ll be at the door.”

She ran over the bed towards me but stopped at the edge. “I’m not putting my feet on the floor.”

“Why?”

“Raccoon poop!”

I reached for her around her thighs, pulling her down over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold. I carried her out of the bedroom and shut the door behind me. My hands cupped the strong muscles on the backs of her legs.

Do not cop a feel. Do not.

“What if it knows how to open doors?” she asked my lower back.

“It doesn’t,” I assured her.

“They have people thumbs. I saw it on Tik Tok!”

“You didn’t.”

“Maybe we should sleep in the Rover?”

“Babe, it’s going to climb out the window as soon as it realizes we’ve left it alone.”

I wasn’t sure if she was reassured by my tone, or the fact that I called her babe, but she relaxed against me. I carried her all the way to the sofa bed and laid her down.

“What if there is a family of them?”

“I only saw one set of eyes,” I said as I made my way to the kitchen.