Spartan pretends he doesn’t care about humans, but I know from the way he greeted Rodney’s return after a long absence that he is a devoted dog—he just doesn’t display emotion. Does that mean he also adores JayB, the most wonderful human a dog could ever love? I would have no way of knowing.

  My love, Phoebe, is a happy dog, always wagging and ready to play. She doesn’t seem at all perturbed that Dominique and Bedford aren’t with us. Some dogs are like that, willing to follow anyone with a kind voice or a treat in their pocket. I’m not that dog—JayB is the center of my world, and I am so glad he’s along for this car ride.

  Odin, of course, is the opposite of Phoebe. Though it has been many days since some people took Helen away, he still mourns for her. Odin misses Helen in a way that can never be fixed.

  How does he feel about Alana? I think he’s reached the same conclusion that I have—our humans have resolved that she is Odin’s new person. He will accept this, of course, because dogs must accept what people decide, but I am pretty sure he still can’t imagine life without Helen.

  A larger concern is the hesitancy from Alana, a lack of commitment. When a human loves a dog unconditionally, the dog knows it, and knows that human is his person. But the same reluctance I sensed in JayB, the obvious withholding of complete devotion to Odin, is present in Alana. She hasn’t yet given herself to Odin, either.

  My friend knows I see this pain in him. His wise, sad eyes often meet mine in an exchange of information, telling me what it’s like to be Odin in this world—a dog who has lost his person.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Twenty-six

  “Look at the buffalo!” Maddy yelled from over by a sturdy fence. “They’re huge!”

  I could smell and see massive creatures moving slowly away from us in the distance. They carried a pungent odor, very attractive, but as much as I wanted to pursue their scent trail, I was not going to go anywhere near those ridiculously enormous animals. Instead, I focused on JayB, because I felt him tensing up as he regarded Alana.

  “Married?” he repeated in a whisper. “Are you sure?”

  Alana bit her lip. “It’s just that Guy hates to drive. Whenever we’re on the freeway, he swears constantly and is always hitting the horn. If this is only about the cat, why not ask me to come all the way to LA? That’d be more like him. Plus, he’s always told me that Vegas is for fools. He’s also been so evasive, lately. I’m not sure, but what else could be going on?”

  “Wow.”

  Alana looked over JayB’s shoulder. “Let’s talk more later.”

  Maddy grinned as she and Rodney joined us. “Those buffalo really make you appreciate cows, don’t they?” she said.

  “More than ever,” Rodney affirmed.

  JayB pointed to a row of small, plastic-smelling buildings. “I need to jump in there for a minute.”

  “I’ll take Clancy and Phoebe,” Maddy offered.

  Alana held out her hand for a leash. “I’ve got Odin.”

  “Yo, Spartan,” Rodney called. “You’re with me, dog.”

  I was ecstatic to be paired up with Phoebe. I lifted my leg to let her know I was not intimidated by the giant beasts foraging in the grass. Alana and Rodney walked off together and were soon near our big car. Maddy waited a moment, then followed silently, pulling Phoebe and me. While I checked anxiously for any sign of JayB emerging from the plastic buildings, Maddy stopped on the other side of the car and held still, listening to Rodney and Alana.

  “Okay,” Rodney told Alana, “this is as good a time as any.”

  “As good a time as any for what?”

  “To tell you my truth, what you’ve been suspecting. I mean, it’s obvious to everyone else, I’m sure.” Rodney gave her a nervous laugh.

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “I’m in love with you, Alana. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  I saw and felt Maddy react. Phoebe sensed it too, a sharp and immediate change in her mood.

  “Oh, Rodney,” Alana responded awkwardly, “I don’t know what to say to this. You do know that I have a boyfriend.”

  “Right, some guy.” Rodney laughed. “Get it? Some guy?

  “I get it.”

  Maddy pushed away from the side of the car and strode toward the plastic buildings, from which JayB was emerging. I wagged happily.

  “Well, I’ve been in worse places,” he advised Maddy, reaching for my leash.

  “You’ll never guess what I just overheard,” Maddy huffed.

  “You’re probably right.”

  “Alana and Rodney are making out on the other side of the van, saying they’re in love with each other.”

  JayB’s eyes went wide.

  “I guess,” Maddy speculated, “that means I’m back with you. I know it’s not what either one of us would’ve wanted, but we can’t let them get away with this without some sort of payback.”

  “You sure you heard right?”

  “Oh my God,” Maddy exploded, exasperated. “Yes. I mean they’re talking love, L-O-V-E. I appreciate that Rodney’s not afraid to use that kind of language. Maybe if you ripped a lesson from his textbook, we could spark some passion ourselves.”

  JayB didn’t reply.

  “Well, you don’t have to act like I’m second prize, or something. I’ll remind you we’ve got a lot more world history together than you and Alana could ever have.”

  “I guess I can’t believe it.”

  “Yeah?” Maddy put her hands on her hips. “Men don’t see something even if it bites your nose despite your face. Well, you just wait. They can’t hide. We get back on the road, I’ll prove it to you.”

  “How’re you going to do that?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Later, the sun was gone from the sky and we were driving through darkness. Maddy was in the back seat with her arms folded in a stiff posture. Rodney kept leaning forward to speak to Alana, who had swiveled her chair to face the front.

  “You like hiking, Alana?” he asked. “I love it. it’s like running, only you have hiking boots.”

  “Sure,” Alana agreed faintly.

  “Oh, so the two of you are going hiking?” Maddy challenged significantly. “Together? Alone?”

  “Sure!” Rodney confirmed brightly.

  Maddy snorted. “And then what? Out to dinner?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Rodney grinned.

  Alana looked troubled. “Well, I mean…”

  Maddy leaned forward intently. “What about a cruise? Those can be pretty romantic, if you don’t get food poisoning.”

  Rodney beamed. “Now that would be fun! When’s a good time to go? Once we move that Korean pig iron, I’m going to need a well-deserved break from it all.”

  “So, you and Rodney on a cruise off to the sunrise, while JayB and I stay behind and do your dirty laundry,” Maddy sneered. “Sounds like quite a hike.”

  Alana twisted to peer at Maddy. “I’m not sure what you’re saying, Maddy.”

  “That’s okay. I know. JayB knows. Rodney knows. And you know, too,” Maddy accused. “Don’t pretend you’ve got your hands behind your back, here.”

  Alana gave JayB a helpless look.

  “Alana,” JayB probed delicately, “have you fallen in love with Rodney?”

  “Whoa!” Rodney exclaimed.

  Alana shook her head. “Of course not.”

  “Well—” Rodney started to say.

  “So, Maddy,” JayB interrupted, “you can see you were wrong about that. Alana and Rodney did not spend all of Kansas getting romantically involved.”

  “I know what I saw when the lights went out in Georgia,” Maddy retorted.

  Rodney turned to Maddy. “What did Alana do to make you think that? It must have been obvious. Just curious.”

  Maddy scowled at him. “What did you do, should be the question here. If you weren’t so cute, I’d be sick to my stomach.”

  Rodney raised his eyebrows. “You think I’m cute?”

  “Just about twenty more miles ’til Grand Junction,” JayB interjected. “Be good to get out of the car.” He grinned at Alana. “You did tell the hotel how much our dogs weigh, right?”

  “Oh yeah, they know. They promised they’re dog-friendly.”

  That night, we slept in a whole new room. Phoebe and I wrestled and wrestled, full of energy from all the car naps. JayB kept saying, “Cut it out,” which was not a familiar phrase to me. I could see Phoebe didn’t know it either.

  The next day, we were back in the car before the sun had time to fully light up the sky. Everyone was quiet, sipping coffee.

  “Your dad’s text says that he got us all upgraded rooms in a hotel that welcomes dogs,” Alana said after a long while. “I’ll put the address in the GPS.”

  “My favorite thing to do in Vegas is the slots,” Rodney declared.

  “Me, too,” Maddy beamed.

  “Right? Because there’s a skill involved,” Rodney elaborated. “I mean, you go and you play blackjack or whatever … well, those are just cards coming up at random. The slot machines are completely different. You pick the right one, you win big.”

  “Sounds like a good system,” JayB praised.

  Alana put a hand over her mouth and looked out the window. A long, long silence followed. I slept. We stopped a few times, but JayB couldn’t find a dog park, so we got back in the car. I slept some more, but opened my eyes when my person spoke.

  “How are you doing?” he asked Alana quietly.

  “Honestly, I’m a little nervous.”

  “Is Guy at the hotel yet?”

  She held up her phone. “Not yet. He’ll arrive right after we do, I think. I’m really looking forward to seeing my cat.”

  I heard that word, “cat,” and I wondered why such an awful subject would be introduced at a time like this.

  “Oh my God, look! I see the Eiffel Tower!” Maddy exclaimed. “How did it get here? Did we go to war without knowing it?”

  “Ah, no,” Rodney told her. “Let me explain. We’ll see the Statue of Liberty, and the space needle from San Francisco. In Las Vegas, it’s like you can get anything you want. If you want Paris, they have Paris. If you want Greece, they have Greece, right? If you want—I don’t know, Alaska—they’ve got Alaska.”

  “Alaska?” JayB repeated skeptically.

  “Las Vegas is the one real place in the world. You wait. With the buffets and all, you’re gonna feel like royalty.”

  “Will they carry me on their shoulders in one of those chairs?” Maddy asked, excited. “I’ve always wanted to do that. Let them eat cake.”

  “Well … I don’t know about that one,” Rodney admitted. “They have golf carts, though.”

  Maddy waved a hand. “That’s okay. I’ll do it when I go to Egypt.”

  “Oh, they have Egypt,” Rodney assured her. “More than one.”

  We pulled into a driveway and a nice man came and opened the door for all of us. JayB watched as they put all our bags on a cart, and then I wagged because Walter was there, smiling and handing everybody something wrapped in little pieces of paper.

  “Welcome!” Walter greeted. “You’re going to love it here. It’s like a carnival.”

  “You lose much money?” JayB wanted to know.

  Walter shook his head. “No, I’m up, way up. Blackjack’s my game.”

  Rodney groaned. “See, I disagree there. Blackjack’s not nearly as fun as the slot machines.”

  Maddy reached out and touched his arm. “Let’s go hit the slots.” She spun and gave Alana a deep, significant glare. “You don’t like slots, do you, Alana?”

  “Oh no, not at all,” Alana assured her. “Besides … Okay, he’s here. Guy. Guy’s here!”

  Everybody looked around.

  “Where?” Rodney asked.

  “He’s coming. He’s got Rhiannon!” Alana was grinning broadly.

  I could sense a change in JayB’s mood, a quietness. Odin glanced at me—he felt it, too. Then I saw a man with dark hair approaching. He was not smiling. He held a bag in his hand, and from that bag came the unmistakable odor of cat.

  It was a cat bag.

  With a squeal, Alana ran across the parking lot and threw her arms around the man, who set the bag down and hugged her back. They kissed briefly and she stuck her arm through his. Then she reached down and grabbed the cat bag and put her face to it. Next, the three of them—Alana, the new man, and the cat bag—approached us. Alana was smiling. The new man still wasn’t.

  “Everybody, this is Guy.”

  “Yo, Guy,” Rodney hailed. “I’m Rodney. I know there’s a lot going on, but I just want you to know, whatever Alana has told you about me, I’m basically a good guy. Honest. Person, I mean. A good person, I should’ve said. No offense about your name.”

  “Sure,” Guy said.

  “He’s the best knife in the drawer, even if he doesn’t mean to be,” Maddy put in.

  Everyone decided to stick their hands out to the new man, saying their names.

  All the dogs turned their attention away from the cat bag to assess the man. We knew something about him, knew it instantly. Odin and I exchanged glances, and even Spartan seemed to react.

  This was a man who did not like dogs. There are few such people in the world, and I’ve never understood them, but it’s obvious from their scent and body language.

  I didn’t know why Alana would be happy to see him any more than I understood why she suddenly had a cat. I just knew that a man who doesn’t like dogs cannot be trusted.

  “We probably should grab some man time and talk, Guy,” Rodney observed. “You know.”

  Guy frowned.

  Maddy was looking the new man up and down. “Hi, Guy. For some reason, I pictured you being taller.”

  JayB smiled a little at this.

  All of the canines went back to being focused on that bag, but only Phoebe was wagging. She probably didn’t know what a waste of time it was to wag for a cat, even one in a bag.

  “And this,” Alana announced grandly, “is Odin, the dog I told you about.”

  The man looked down at Odin without saying anything. Odin did not wag.

  “Um, JayB?” Alana said, grinning shyly. “I guess … would you watch Odin tonight? I’ll take Rhiannon with us.”

  “Sure,” JayB agreed. I heard some unhappiness in his voice and wondered what it meant.

  “Okay—goodnight, everybody.” With her arm around the new man, she turned and they walked through the glass doors, taking their stupid cat bag with them.

  I didn’t understand any of it, except we were still in the parking lot and JayB felt sad.

  “And there she goes,” he murmured.

  Dear Diary:

  People make a lot more sounds than dogs, and I’ve never understood why—especially since, during the bland exchange of tones between people, it seems as if feelings are seldom communicated. Usually, their smells are a better indicator of what’s going on.

  When dogs vocalize, it’s easy to know what they’re experiencing. A dog will bark with glory at another dog; cry to be allowed up on the bed; and growl at cats. There’s no mistaking the meaning of any of it, and every dog within earshot will be affected.

  Humans, on the other hand, will talk and talk without clarity. Only the strongest of emotions come across in human voices—joy, anger, sorrow. Otherwise, people drone on to each other without any obvious purpose.

  After a time, some elements of conversation emerge that a dog can recognize, like “Clancy” and “dinner.” Normally, therefore, when a person is speaking, all dogs can do is listen and hope to hear something they understand.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Twenty-seven

  Maddy poked Rodney in the ribs. “Ready for the slots? I’d love to go home with a few thousand bucks putting holes in my pants.”

  Rodney grinned. “Now you’re talking.”

  Walter turned to JayB as Maddy and Rodney walked off together, Spartan snuffling along at Rodney’s feet.

  “Will they actually let Spartan on the floor of the casino?” JayB wanted to know.

  Walter shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve seen some dogs and cats there, but for all I know they were … what do you call it? Emotional support dogs.” Walter eyed JayB. “So what do you want to do? Go get a drink?”

  “No, Dad, thanks,” JayB demurred. “I’m really tired. I’m just going to take the three dogs and get in bed.”

  Walter was assessing JayB. “You’ll be okay, son. Look, I’m no stranger to this, to heartbreak, and I’m not going to lie to you. It never completely goes away. When someone walks out of your life, it’s like they leave a hole, and every time you pass by that hole, a little of you is sucked through it into the void. Anyway, that’s what it felt like to me. But I’m here to tell you that as you get older, it gets better, all right?”

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  “You’re a good man and I’m proud of you, even if you let some woman beat you up at your own office.”

  “Thanks.”

  Walter clapped JayB on the shoulder. “All right, have a good night.”

  We were all taken outside to lift our legs, and then we stood in a room where it felt like my stomach was dropping out, and then we were escorted down a long, long hallway. I knew Phoebe wanted to gallop, and I did too—the place was made for running!—but JayB kept our leashes taut. We eventually found our way into a room that was very chilly. Without Spartan there, Phoebe and I resumed our wrestling where we left off, while Odin sighed and curled up in the corner.

  “Cut it out,” JayB kept saying.

  I still didn’t know what that meant.

  The next morning, JayB led us outside. Alana met us at the door, and I was surprised to smell that she persisted in carrying a cat in a bag.

  I could not imagine why anyone would want such a thing. I could see the cat peering out from within the bag. There were holes along the side, through which she could see that she was in the presence of superior beings—people and dogs. She peered out with typical cat hostility. Alana kept saying the word “Rhiannon,” so I concluded that Rhiannon was the cat’s name.