Page 20 of You'll Be Sorry

“Now what would be the fun in that?”

Which is how she ended up with a pale Lab-ish creature in her new home.

Breakfast for Raquel was generally Greek yogurt with some fresh berries. Theo preferred egg whites and spinach. Whereas the dog enjoyed bites of leftover steak, delicately extracted from between Theo’s fingers. Honest to God, between her husband’s cooing and the dog’s smacking, she would’ve been better off in another room.

“That mutt needs a bath,” she attempted as Theo all but wentcoochie-coochie-coo over his new charge. “And a vet, let alone deworming pills and God knows what else.”

Theo held out another piece of meat, fussing over the hound’s happy but respectfully restrained acceptance.

“Clearly Darby’s very well trained,” he said now.

“His name is Darby? I thought it was Junior.”

“We’re still fine-tuning.”

“We?”

“Don’t be rude. Every family member needs an identity.”

“Including one who most likely belongs to our neighbor?” she asked dryly.

“He does not. I already took the liberty of asking. You were still asleep.”

Raquel gaped at him. One, as an insomniac, she rarely slept through anything. But two, this revealed a great deal of concerted effort from her normally impulsive husband.

“I also contacted the local shelter,” Theo continued. “We can bring him down to be scanned for a chip, but for the record, no dogs matching his description have been declared missing.”

“He might’ve been recently dumped.”

“Possibly. Or he’s a dog named Dog.” Theo stared right at her.

“Seriously? Ghosts of crime scenes past, that’s what you’re gonna argue next?”

Single-shoulder shrug. “You heard the sheriff. The Dixon family pet—”

“Stray.”

“Was never seen again. What are the odds that within days of us moving in, its perfect twin appears on our front porch?”

“Don’t be absurd!”

“Don’t be so closed-minded.”

She wanted to snap at him. She truly did. But that was the thingabout Theo. He was so often impetuous and amiable that on the rare occasions when he chose to take a stand…Theo was, in fact, a scarily brilliant man. Probably one of the brightest people she’d ever met. Which is why he was so comfortable playing the easygoing fool. Being underestimated only made his inevitable victory that much easier to accomplish. She’d watched him in action long enough to recognize the strategy. It still grated.

“I think you’re reading too much into this,” she attempted as she rinsed her bowl at the sink. “The dog may well be a stray. But that doesn’t mean he belongs to this house or to us.”

“Really? Then where is he?”

“What do you mean—” She turned around. Indeed, her husband remained seated at the long farmer’s table, but the dog…Junior, Darby, Cujo…was long gone. At least that ended that, she wanted to think. But already knew it didn’t.

As Theo rose to standing. “Follow me.”

She did, with growing trepidation, as Theo led her up the stairs to the dilapidated second floor. They entered the vandalized bedroom that had once belonged to the two Dixon girls. When Raquel and Theo entered, the dog regarded them through a single eyeball. Then it raised its nose to the ceiling and began to howl.

“Told you,” Theo murmured.

Raquel honestly didn’t know what to say.