Girl's Best Friend by Leslie Margolis

Author:Leslie Margolis [Margolis, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-09-07T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

♦ ♦ ♦

“You’ll be fine,” I told Preston as we headed out of Dr. Reese’s office. “Whatever the problem is, we’ll get it taken care of.” His eyes seemed bright and there was a spring in his step. So excited to be out of the vet’s office, he didn’t notice the nervous tremor in my voice.

But rather than reassure me, his good mood made me feel worse. Poor guy had no idea of the trouble that lay ahead. I decided to stop at Beastly Bites and buy him a rawhide chew. It’s the dog equivalent of buying ice cream with rainbow sprinkles to make you feel better after a lousy day.

Not that Preston knew he had anything to feel bad about. I’m the one who needed the chew. Er, ice cream. Because Preston’s happy innocence made me cringe with dread.

Before I got to the pet store, I noticed an elderly woman stop in front of the Key Food and tie her golden retriever to a parking meter. She bent down to whisper something to the dog, then patted him on the head and went into the store. She dragged her folded-up red shopping cart behind her.

Lucy and I developed this theory a while back that everyone in our neighborhood sports some kind of wheels, and what you have depends on your age. Babies are in strollers and toddlers on tricycles or in wagons. When you turn five or thereabouts, you graduate to Razor scooters and bikes and maybe some in-line skates, just for the sake of variety. Then at seventeen, real scooters and cars. Which you keep for years and years. Finally, when you get really old, you wheel around one of those fold-up shopping carts. Or you’re back to getting wheeled around again, but this time in a wheelchair. It all comes full circle.

Anyway, this lady had silver hair and a shopping cart, which meant she was most likely someone’s grandma—quite possibly someone’s great grandma.

Her dog was adorable, but seeing him tied up like that—alone on the sidewalk—made me feel sick inside because it reminded me of poor Kermit.

I’d been so preoccupied worrying about Preston, I’d almost forgotten about Ivy’s dog. And Ivy’s threats.

But now the awful memories came back in a rush: how Kermit was gone and I’d messed up his safe return.

I wished I could go back in time to Saturday.

If I hadn’t walked in on Ivy trying to steal from me, I never would’ve gotten involved. Which meant Kermit would be safe at home. And I wouldn’t have to deal with Ivy’s dumb threats about Milo.

But it was too late for that.

I kept my eyes peeled in case I spotted Jane or someone else with a Dial-A-Walker sweatshirt. Parminder and Cassie hadn’t yet called me back. And their silence made me nervous.

The old woman’s golden retriever was on the yellow side of gold, and fluffy like a baby lion cub. He stretched out on the sidewalk, resting his big head between furry paws. He seemed content, happy to wait and happy to be out on this beautiful early fall day.

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