Everyone She Loved by Sheila Curran

Author:Sheila Curran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Siobhan had barely locked the laundry room door when she heard the sound of June’s feet running down the stairs. Clomping was more like it. The child was not exactly light on her feet. Nor was the dog, who had launched himself against the door and begun to whimper.

“I was just coming to tell you your faithful companion’s returned from the groomer,” Siobhan murmured soothingly to June. “Have you finished your assignments?”

“Rocky!” June sighed happily, opening the door and kneeling to rub Rocky’s belly. “Did Daddy get back?”

The ten-year-old had collapsed into a ball on the laundry room floor. Rocky licked her face while his tail thumped against the metal side of the dryer.

“Lucy dropped him off. I thought it would be a nice surprise, since you’ve been so good, but you can only play with him if you’re done with your math.”

“Aunt Lucy was here?”

“Miss Lucy, June. Manners, please. Come now, why so glum! Your dog’s back. That’s good news, isn’t it?”

June buried her head in Rocky’s fur, which she tried to pretend was Lucy’s welcoming embrace. When she looked up, her tears were barely visible, but Rocky was astute when it came to salt, licking them into history before the next pair blossomed from the corners of his mistress’s eyes.

“Oh, June, grown-ups can be so thick sometimes. I’m so sorry Miss Lucy couldn’t come in. I don’t know if I mentioned, but my mum and pap were musicians. They never understood what we needed. Always off in never-never land while my brothers and I were practically wasting away. ‘You’re not hungry already?’ my mother would ask, as if it were the worst thing in the world to be wanting supper at eight in the evening. We were just children! Here now, that’s a girl. Let’s go into the kitchen and get some water for Rock.”

“Rocky,” June whispered, moving into the kitchen with the dog at her heels.

“Righto. Rocky, like the boxer. Did you see that movie, June? He does his best to get into shape. Did you see that?”

“Rocky, no!” June scolded. The dog was standing under the kitchen table and rubbing his nose against its underside. June pulled at his collar, but the dog was determined to loosen the hardened bits of food that Tessa had so laboriously set into a solid crust. June knelt underneath the table. “What have you got there?” She turned her head upside down to see what Rocky was trying to get. Before she could stop them, the words were out of her mouth. “Oh, gross! That’s disgusting!”

“What’s that?”

“There’s like—it looks like boogers. Oh, Rocky, stop it! That is too gross! Sick!”

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