The Ones Who Matter Most by Rachael Herron

Author:Rachael Herron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-18T15:36:17+00:00

chapter thirty

Abby punched the button that opened her Lexus. She opened the back door. “Up.”

Tulip sat on the sidewalk.

“Wrong command. Get up, dog.” She tugged on the makeshift leash, but Tulip sat firmly, as if it were his job.

“Pork medallions,” she said to the dog. He stayed in his firm sit and gazed up at her with joyful eyes. “I’ll make you pork. That can’t hurt you, can it?” When she got home, she would defrost the tenderloin that had been in the freezer since before Scott died. (Would this be the way she classified everything now? Before and after Scott? Would there be a time she wouldn’t date-stamp her life this way?) She had leftover jasmine rice from Thai takeout earlier in the week. “Pork and rice. Isn’t that what you give dogs with upset stomachs? Or is that chicken?” God. What on earth did you do if a Great Dane got diarrhea?

This was crazy.

She had nothing for a dog at home. She didn’t have a bowl, or food, or a crate. She didn’t even have a collar. She’d have to stop at the pet store on the way home, some place she could get real food that wouldn’t upset his stomach. Or . . .

Abby couldn’t do this.

Then Tulip pressed his wide, rectangular head into her knee. As if to say she could.

“Looks like you got more than you bargained for today.” Behind her, Diego’s voice was low. Abby spun.

His shirt was dark green and ripped at the hem, as if he’d caught it on a branch, which he probably had, right? “I guess I did.”

“I can help with Tulip. If you want.”

Abby stilled. “What do you mean?” Did he want to keep the dog? In the few minutes since Abby had made her decision, she’d gotten attached to the idea of watching Tulip grow into a full-grown zeppelin.

But if Matty’s uncle wanted Tulip, he should have him. It was that simple. It didn’t matter that the dog had already started chewing companionably on Abby’s purse, as if he liked the taste of the leather. She tugged it out of his mouth.

“Like,” Diego continued, “when you’re not home, I could come by and walk him.”

“What do you mean?”

He squatted and leaned forward to touch the pup’s huge ears, flapping one back and forth. Tulip closed his eyes and let his tongue flop forward. It was a smile. Clearly a smile. What a cute dog.

Abby bit her lower lip. Would it be setting a terrible precedent to allow the big dog to sleep in her bed that night? More than anything else about Scott, she missed his warmth in bed. She wanted the weight of the bed creaking next to her more than she wanted him. It was an awful thing to know about herself.

No, a crate. She’d have to get a crate. Dogs that size weren’t for bed.

Diego looked up at her. His eyes were the deep brown of ground black cardamom. “What do you do all day, anyway?”

“I’m .

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