Two minutes later, my phone vibrated in my hand.
Alice:He is.Why?
Me:I want to adopt him
Alice:Fantastic!Congrats!I’m sure he’ll love your pool
Me:Any chance I could talk you into going with me?Help me with the paperwork and settling DJ into my home, assuming I get to take him home today?
Alice:Throw in lunch and you have yourself a deal
Me:Play your cards right and I’ll buy you dinner too
I wanted to take the text back the second I sent it.So imagine my surprise when Alice immediately texted back:
Alice:Deal.I’ll meet you there
Me: Nah, I’ll pick you up.It’ll be faster
It took a few minutes for her to reply, but eventually she texted back agreeing and attaching her address.
Thirty minutes later, I was grinning like a fool as I drove down Lake Mead Parkway.But my smile quickly fell off my face as I turned onto her street.Tiny houses with peeling siding and dead trees lined the street, and at the end, her apartment block loomed like a decaying monolith.The façade was clearly from the sixties with an old cedar shake roof that’d definitely seen better days.
I drove past the falling down chain link fence lining the parking lot as anger slowly built inside me.Whatever we were paying Alice, it definitely wasn’t enough.I’d be damn if she—or any of our employees—had to live in a place like this.What the hell?I needed to have another talk about this with Harper.
I mean, what the hell?
I pulled into a spot, clear of the rickety looking shade structure and pulled out my phone to text her.
Me:here
It was all I was capable of typing at the moment.I didn’t want to embarrass her, but seriously, what the fuck?Lark could afford to rent a house in a nicer area of Henderson—I’d been there to unload their kit.I’d heard Bailey talk about the amenities at her building when she’d tried to get Alice to go to her complex’s pool with her.The only amenity this place could offer was free tetanus shots.Maybe.
Why was Alice living here?
But when she rounded the side of the building and I saw the set look on her face, I knew now wasn’t the time to probe her about it.
I popped out of my Escalade and walked around the front to open her door for her.My mom didn’t raise no asshole.
“Hey.”I smiled when she got close.“Do you think I’ll be able to take him home today?”
Alice blinked a few times and shook her head before climbing inside the SUV.Once I closed the door behind her and got in on my side, she turned to me and loosened up a little and smiled.“Yeah.There’s an application to fill out and a nominal fee, but since you don’t have a landlord, it’ll be a pretty straightforward process.There’s a slim chance they’ll want a yard inspection first, but I bet once they see your address they’ll waive that.”
“And you still think DJ is a good call?”
“We can look at any dog you like in the facility.But you and DJ seemed to hit it off.Like you saw, he’s pretty calm once he’s away from the chaos of the shelter.And he’s leash trained so you can take him on walks.”
“Okay, okay.You don’t have to sell me on him.DJ is the dog for me.”
“Good.”She sat back in her seat with a grunt of satisfaction, and it was all I could do not to grin at how fucking cute she was.
I tipped my head at her as I turned at the intersection.“And you can come visit him anytime you want.”
My eyes were on the road, so I didn’t see her face, but judging by the little gasp followed by the hitch in her breath, she wasn’t opposed to the thought.
“Anyone giving you shit online yet?”I asked.
“Nope.”She laughed.“No one has outed the band or me last I checked.”
