Corinne smiled. “Sounds like a great plan. And I already cleared it with Chief Tucker. He wasn’t going to suggest it, but I think he’s relieved. I hope he uses this as an opportunity to get his house in order.”
Bailee sighed. “I don’t know if he can. It’s so messed up.”
“It’s not your fault or your problem. It’s his.”
Bailee nodded. “I know. It doesn’t make me feel any better though.”
“Let me take you home. You can rest and then hit the road tomorrow.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I drove myself here this morning, remember? I’ll be fine, and now that I’ve decided to go, I don’tthink I’ll wait until tomorrow. I hadn’t let myself think about how much I’ve missed my family. Time with them may be just what I need.”
“Good. I promise to keep in touch, but if you need anything while you’re gone, you only have to reach out. Just be safe.”
“Always.” Bailee smiled, already looking forward to leaving Louisville in her rear view for a while.
Chapter Two
The red door.
Bailee smiled, recalling the day the door transformed from a plain, white frame to the vibrant crimson entrance. It had taken two coats of paint to get the right shade. The job could have been finished in a day, two at the most, but Bailee spent a week at her grandmother’s side working on the project. They talked and laughed and didn’t care a bit that they extended the job longer than was necessary.
Back then, Bailee had loved any project where she didn’t have to worry over the mess she made. She couldn’t remember what she wore, but it was likely a pair of shorts, a tank top, and ratty sneakers. Her brown hair, worn long back then and bleached to a vibrant chestnut by the sun, would have been in a ponytail, either askew or slipping out of the elastic band. Her knees would have been dirty with scrapes from her last adventure. Mud would have been under her fingernails, and paint spatter would have decorated her skin. She didn’t have to remember everything about that day to know the details because that’s how she’d always spent her days when she visited her grandparents.
Bailee was pulled from her journey down memory lane when the red door opened. The woman who stepped on the porch stood at a diminutive five feet two inches. Her hands restedon her hips, her khaki shorts revealing slender legs and sun-kissed skin. Her silver hair was contained in a long braid that draped over one shoulder like a rope. Her smile was just a slight crooking of her lips, but her blue eyes sparkled bright enough for Bailee to see from where she sat in the car.
Bailee drank in the sight of Darby Anne Maxwell under her smile widened enough to split her face. Opening the car’s windows, she switched off the ignition and pulled the keys free. She pushed open the vehicle door and eased her stiff body out of the car. Feeling the kinks fall away from her joints, she quickened her pace until she rushed into Gran’s open arms.
The hug started as a tight squeeze but eventually lightened into a clinging embrace. Bailee felt the years melt away, and she was transported back to being a young girl spending summers with the woman who symbolized security, joy, and love.
“It’s been too long, Bailee Anne,” her grandmother breathed next to her ear.
Bailee smiled. Darby Anne Maxwell was nothing if not dramatic, and because she was proud to share a name with her granddaughter, she used every opportunity to middle-name Bailee – if she was happy, angry, making a point, or even if it was just a Tuesday. Most of the people in Bailee’s life stuck to her first name or a shortened version of it because that’s what suited her most, but not her Gran.
Darby Anne, on the other hand, grew up being called by her full name. Anyone attempting to shorten it was told in no uncertain terms that she would never answer to anything other than her full, given name. Bailee was proud to have inheriteda bit of her grandmother’s feistiness, but there wasn’t a person alive who was exactly like Darby Anne Maxwell.
“I’m sorry.” Bailee shocked herself at the tears pricking the back of her eyes. She blinked them away and squeezed her grandmother tighter. “I shouldn’t have stayed away so long. I missed you. I didn’t realize how much until now.”
Darby Anne pulled back, and for a moment, Bailee thought she detected a telltale glistening in her grandmother’s eyes. “Let’s get you inside them. You must be starving. I waited to eat dinner until you got here. I kept it light since I knew you’d be tired from traveling. How does chicken salad sandwiches sound?”
“Perfect.” Bailee started past her grandmother to step inside before she drew up short. “Oh! I almost forgot the dog.”
The women looked at the car, and Bailee grinned. Sitting straight up, more alert than she’d been the entire trip, the dog peered through the windshield, her ears twitching and her head slightly tilted. The sun shining through the car windows washed out her golden fur to white, making the black around her snout and ears stand out even more.
Bailee noted the tip of the dog’s tail waving erratically in the air, but the dog sat stark still, waiting for her new owner to give her the okay to investigate this new person and the surroundings.
“Good Lord.” Darby Anne’s Southern drawl was more pronounced, doubling the syllables of the short phrase. “That’s not a dog. That’s a bear. How did you ever fit it in your car?”
Bailee chuckled, understanding Gran’s shock. She’d felt that way when she first spotted the dog cowering behind cars in theparking lot of her apartment complex. The furry beast ran from anyone who approached her, and Bailee noted the signs of abuse and malnutrition in the way the dog moved and looked.
She loaded her car for her road trip, thinking someone else would take care of the dog. To her surprise, the dog approached her, skittish but curious. Bailee shooed her away, but the dog kept approaching, inching closer with each pass.
Bailee opened the door, intent on leaving, but on impulse, motioned for the dog to jump in the car. The dog never hesitated. She jumped into Bailee’s car and settled in the back seat as if the space was rightfully hers.
Bailee smiled at the curious dog peering curiously at them. “Itis a she, and she believes she’s normal size. It’s endearing. I took her to a vet near Mom and Dad’s. She’s healthy, if a little underfed. The vet said she’s some type of English mastiff mix, so she’s destined to be a huge dog. I never saw myself with a pet, but she’s grown on me.”
“What did you name her?”
Bailee shrugged. “I haven’t. I wasn’t sure I was going to keep her. I planned to drop her off at a no-kill shelter on the way to Mom and Dad’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I tried to think of a name, and Mom and Dad made suggestions. Nothing felt right, so she’s nameless for now.”
