Zona groaned.
“I’m sorry,” Gilda said again. “You can fire me and I’ll understand.”
“I’m not going to fire you,” Zona said. “You couldn’t know.”
“Your mother tried to tell me. I only put him out while we were having our lunch. I was tripping over him in the kitchen. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes.”
Houdini dog had probably accomplished his escape in five. “It’s okay,” Zona said. “I’ll go look for him.”
She opened the door to begin her search and found Alec James standing there, holding a whimpering Darling by the collar. Again.
Startled, she yelped and backed up a step. “I didn’t expect to find someone on my porch.”
Before she could thank him, he said, “I didn’t expect to be here. Again.” The downturned lips and cold eyes told her he was in no mood to be as tolerant as he’d been the last time he’d returned Darling. Alec James revealing the man behind the friendly mask.
“He got loose,” Zona said. Nothing like stating the obvious. “I was gone and...”
Gilda stepped forward. “It’s my fault. I left him out back.”
Alec James replied with something that sounded like a cross between a sigh and growl and handed Darling over. “Take your damn dog.”
Louise joined them, leaning on her crutches. “We’ve been looking all afternoon.” She was smiling gratefully, as if their neighbor had done a good deed. As if she’d forgotten that he was not a nice man.
“Next time, just look on my front lawn,” Alec James said. Not graciously. “He’ll be there, taking a dump. And you’d better hope I don’t find him,” he said to Zona, making her heart give a nervous skip.
“Well,” huffed Gilda.
Louise lost her look of gratitude and glared at him.
Zona stepped outside and shut the door behind her, determined to defuse his anger. “Obviously, your patience is at an end, but we’re really trying over here.” Why was she bothering? He was in no mood to be reasonable.
He sigh-growled again. Looked heavenward. Praying for patience? That would definitely require an act of God.
Then he spoke. Tersely. “You can get a fence barrier on Amazon. That will keep him in and keep us all happy.”
“I’ll order one tonight,” Zona promised. Tersely.
“Good.” He gave her a curt nod and then marched back down her driveway.
“That is a mean man,” Gilda announced when Zona came back inside and joined Louise and Gilda in the living room.
“He’s got issues,” Zona decided as she toed out of her shoes. She slumped onto an easy chair and stretched out her legs. The day was over, and the dog was back, and all she wanted was to sit like a lump for the rest of the evening.
“I’m glad you got your dog back,” Gilda continued. “I’m really sorry I left him out.” She looked apologetically at Louise.
“It’s okay. Don’t feel bad. Darling is back and all is good,” Louise told her.
“I tried to call him.”
“He doesn’t always come when you do,” said Zona.
“You should take him to obedience school,” Gilda advised.
Right. In her spare time. Zona would get right on that.
“I’ll take him once my cast is off,” Louise vowed. “Right now I’m just glad he’s okay.”
“He probably hadn’t gone far,” Zona said.
