We were taken to a dog park, a very small one with spongy plastic underfoot, from which wafted the enticing scent of the urine of many, many dogs. We all reacted by making our own marks—even Phoebe squatted.

  JayB held our leashes, which was unusual in a dog park. Apparently having a cat in a bag changed everything.

  “Where’s Guy?” he asked delicately.

  “He likes to sleep in,” Alana explained. “I ordered some coffee and left a note telling him to come to the dog run when he’s up.” She eyed him in concern. “Look, I know he came across a little unfriendly yesterday. But he’s actually a really nice person.”

  “It’s okay. So how do you want to do this?”

  Alana considered his response, then nodded. “Let’s start with Odin; he’s the biggest worry.”

  “You sure?”

  “I know my cat,” Alana replied simply.

  I’d hoped Rhiannon would stay in the bag, but she didn’t. Instead, Alana put the bag down and unzipped it and the cat waltzed arrogantly out, giving the assembled canines the barest of smug glances.

  Kelsey’s not bright enough to know she’s safe when dogs are restrained by leashes, but this cat apparently knew that JayB was preventing us from attacking.

  We all stared at Rhiannon, who was strolling languidly along the fence line, seemingly unaware of any danger. Phoebe was wagging madly and actually play-bowed—as if you could play with a cat! Odin’s tail went stiff and Spartan’s gaze remained unblinking.

  Alana took Odin’s leash. “Okay. Let’s try this.”

  Keeping him on a tight leash, Alana allowed Odin to approach the cat. His shoulders hunched as his claws dug into the plastic.

  Much closer and this would be the last of Rhiannon.

  The cat finally deigned to notice that there was a dog grunting and straining to hunt her. I knew she’d run now.

  Except she didn’t. Her ears went back, her fur puffed out, and she opened her mouth. A moment later she lunged straight at Odin’s face, slashing the air in front of his nose.

  I watched in amazement as Odin nearly fell over himself backing away from this terrible creature. And the cat kept pursuing! Odin dashed back toward where we were watching, yanking Alana behind him.

  The cat sat and calmly licked a paw.

  Phoebe was still wagging, but the rest of us were shocked and afraid.

  “Wow,” JayB admired.

  Odin appeared both wounded and baffled. He looked to me for an explanation, but I’m an expert in frightening cats, not attacking them. Especially one so full of aggression.

  “How about Spartan?” Alana suggested.

  Spartan looked up at his name. He watched Alana switch his leash for Odin’s, but when Alana tried to pull him over to the evil cat, Spartan did a resolute Sit. I didn’t blame him.

  “Clancy?” JayB asked.

  Oh, no. I flopped down onto my tummy. If Alana wanted me near the cat, she was going to have to drag me. When she tugged my leash, I whimpered.

  JayB laughed. I gave him a beseeching look.

  “It’s okay, Clancy,” he told me.

  I sagged with relief when he took my leash back, but I remained on the ground just in case.

  Phoebe was dancing around at the end of her tether, wagging frantically. The cat stonily watched this display. Alana slowly and cautiously guided Phoebe over. Phoebe positively radiated affection for Rhiannon but was wise enough to stay just out of reach of those claws. Even a loving dog like Phoebe recognized menace.

  Later, Alana’s new friend with the dark hair came out to join us in the dog park. He smelled of sweat and some sort of stale food. He was the same height as Alana, shorter than JayB. She seemed to really like him and held his arm and smiled at him. Neither the man nor JayB smiled; they simply nodded at each other.

  “I guess Spartan and Phoebe don’t want to poop on the artificial turf,” JayB observed. “I’ll take them for a walk, find some grass.”

  I was unhappy when JayB took Spartan and Phoebe with him somewhere, leaving Odin and me to sit in the shade and avoid looking at Rhiannon, who was sniffing along a line of bushes. Odin kept giving me hurt, accusing glances, but the cat was not my fault.

  Alana sat with her friend on a bench. I eyed him distrustfully. Clearly, he still did not like dogs.

  “Odin is such a good, sweet dog. No trouble at all,” Alana told him. “And Rhiannon already put him in his place.”

  The man sniffed.

  “I’ve grown really attached to him.”

  “Already hot here,” the man replied.

  Alana was silent a moment. “Sure is,” she finally agreed comfortably. Alana seemed relaxed and happy, but the man was tense. “I have to tell you,” she continued, “it was a real eye-opener to drive here. I’ve never been in that part of the country, and I just assumed it was all going to be dirt and dry rock, but it’s not. Utah’s beautiful. Colorado’s beautiful. There are rivers and trees. It was just wonderful. And the weather was perfect—except maybe for the tornado.” Alana laughed lightly.

  “Yeah?”

  “Why the look?”

  “Why the look? You cruise through beautiful Colorado with waterfalls and I drive from California across the Nevada desert. It’s got to be the ugliest stretch of road in the world.”

  “I’m sorry,” Alana apologized in a small voice. “It was your idea, though.”

  “Yeah, and you didn’t really thank me. I mean, I brought your cat and some clothes.”

  “That’s true,” Alana agreed. “Thanks. But you did come.… Why Las Vegas, of all places? I would have been happy to go to LA.” Alana gave him a speculative look, a small smile playing on her lips.

  Her friend glanced away. His agitation seemed to be increasing. “Why are you still in Kansas City? You never said you’d be gone this long.”

  “Well, it took a lot more time to go through my mom’s things than I thought it would.”

  The man glared. “It’s just crap, Alana. Throw it away.”

  Alana looked wounded. “Well, no, not all of it is crap. Some of it I’m keeping.”

  “Oh, I know all about that,” he snorted scornfully. “Who do you think’s been answering the door to UPS?”

  “Right, I know. I’ll find a place for it. I’ll get a storage unit.” Alana sighed. “I got an offer on the house and it fell through at the last second. I didn’t take any backup offers because that just seemed wrong. I mean, you make a deal to sell people a house, but only if somebody else drops out? Didn’t seem right to me.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake…” Guy muttered with a shake of his head.

  They were quiet. Odin sprawled on his stomach, his tortured eyes on the cat. I knew what he was feeling: he just wanted the world to go back to being the way it used to be.

  “Are you okay, Guy? What’s going on? You’ve been acting strange this whole time.”

  I glanced at the man because his tension seemed to be peaking. He looked away from Alana. “So, I should tell you—I got a roommate, to help with the rent.”

  “What do you mean?” Alana objected. “I’ve been sending my half this whole time.”

  “Well, I didn’t know if I could count on that. Come on.”

  “You could count on it, because I’ve been mailing checks.”

  The man turned back to Alana, scowling. “It doesn’t matter now. She’s already moved in.”

  Alana was silent for a moment. “She’s already moved in?”

  “Don’t make a big deal out of this.”

  Alana looked troubled. “Don’t you think you should have talked to me before you let someone move in?”

  “Yeah? Well, I had to make a decision quickly. There wasn’t time to reach out to you in Prairie Town.”

  “Okay. So, tell me about this woman roommate.”

  The man shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “Well, sure there is. What’s her name?”

  The man turned away and peered at the cars driving by. He said something in a soft voice.

  “What?” Alana demanded sharply. “What did you say?”

  “Nikki,” he repeated.

  “Nikki. Nikki—your ex-girlfriend, Nikki? That’s my new roommate? You moved your ex-girlfriend into our home?”

  “Look, you’ve been acting really weird. I had no idea when you’re coming back.”

  “I told you when I’m coming back: when I sell the house.”

  “Sure. In the red-hot real-estate market of Kansas City.”

  “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “Where’s the gratitude that I was fighting traffic all the way here just so you could be with your cat?”

  “And to see me,” Alana replied pointedly, “right? You came to see me. Or did I dream what happened last night?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’m very unhappy that Nikki has moved into our home without you telling me!”

  “Oh really?” the man shot back. “You know you never asked me before you started shipping crap to LA. Every day I’m stacking another box on the guest bed.”

  Alana regarded him with a cold expression. “And where exactly is Nikki sleeping, if the guest bed is covered in boxes?”

  The man looked away. There were no cars going by, but he was staring at the same place anyway. “I was going to tell you, but then you left.”

  “What?”

  Odin and I both glanced up at the strong emotions cutting the air.

  “It started as just a lunch, but then…” The man sighed. “You left.”

  Alana jumped to her feet. “Because my mom died, Guy. She died.”

  “Sure, but it was really bad timing.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Look, Alana. Things haven’t been great between us anyway. So, I brought you your cat, because she said it was the decent thing to do.”

  “She being Nikki?”

  He looked at his wrist. “You know what? I have to go.”

  “No,” Alana disagreed firmly. “We have to talk.”

  “No, we don’t.” The man stood up. “You know I hate when you act all … demanding.”

  “Demanding? How am I being demanding?”

  “You’ve changed. Remember how easygoing you were at first? Now all I get from you is a bunch of lip.”

  “No, you’ve changed,” Alana said through angry tears. “You said you would never hurt me. You promised. You were gentle and kind, but now you’re a … where are you going? Guy? Don’t just leave!” She stared after the man as he strode away. He did not look back. She wiped her face and I licked her wet, salty hand.

  Dear Diary:

  It is the job of every dog to keep people cheerful, so we are always alert for the first signs of human sadness. After living with JayB for so long, I’ve learned that there are many sorts of sadness swirling within him, though outwardly he always seems as happy as Phoebe.

  I have felt the creeping loneliness in him when we’ve spent days in our house with only a cat for company. I have noticed a bleakness when he’s eating—he’ll gaze off at nothing and forget to finish his meal. I nudge him to let him know that he could cheer himself up if he only shared a little of what’s left on his plate.

  When Alana came into our lives, JayB’s moods began to swing from one extreme to another. I can’t tell if, in the end, Alana is good for him, or not—if she makes him happy, or not.

  Love,

  Clancy

  Twenty-eight

  We spent a long time in that small dog park. Alana was so, so sad—I could taste it on her skin. She kept wiping her eyes until Odin put his heavy head in her lap.

  Rhiannon, of course, made no effort to comfort her, so it was up to Odin and me. We were better suited for the task, anyway.

  Eventually Alana pulled out her phone. “No, Guy’s left. I’ll meet you in the parking garage—the bellman has my luggage,” she told it.

  A short time later, a nice man loaded all the boxes into the car. Alana put the bag with the cat in the front. We all took a last leg-lift (except Phoebe, who squatted) while our people made obvious preparations to go for a car ride.

  Maddy was excited. “The trip back’s gonna be a blast,” she gushed enthusiastically. “Like time travel, only in reverse.”

  When Rodney climbed through the big sliding door, Maddy reached out and put her arms around him.

  He backed away. “Whoa,” he cautioned.

  “Come here, you,” she leered.

  “Okay, let’s just, you know…”

  “What I know is that last night was wonderful, times a thousand.”

  “No, no. Stop, Maddy,” Rodney objected. “I need to explain something to you. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this, but it’s state law. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

  Maddy was smiling. “Yeah, I know, but not that. That doesn’t stay in Vegas. That goes with us. Forever and ever.”

  “No. That, exactly that. They’re talking about that when they say what stays in Vegas.”

  “My life has changed forever,” Maddy told Alana, who didn’t respond.

  Finally, we were all settled into our places in the car. Even Walter.

  Cool air began to flow. The car was vibrating, but not moving.

  “Well, I’m not at all looking forward to the drive back,” Walter said with a sigh.

  JayB didn’t answer. He was regarding Alana carefully. “You okay?”

  Alana sighed and wiped her eyes. “I just had a pretty big fight with Guy.”

  “Oh?”

  She nodded, pressing her lips together. “I think we broke up. We did break up.”

  “What?” JayB replied. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  Alana gave him a weary look.

  Maddy leaned forward. “Well, that’s just what they do. Men always leave, like a rat from a sinking ship. It’s in male DNA to walk away from what’s good for them. If it weren’t for women, there would never be any babies.” Maddy reached over and patted Rodney’s arm. He moved it out of her reach. “You know what you have to do now, Alana? You have to go after him. Prove you think he’s worth the effort. See, Guy only left because he wants you to chase him down. Otherwise, it means you don’t really love him.”

  JayB frowned. “That doesn’t sound like particularly good advice to me.”

  Rodney was nodding. “Yeah, no, I agree with Maddy. If a woman’s really into me and I dump her and she keeps coming around and she wants me, I’ll take her back for a while, even if she’s not that hot.”

  “You have such a big heart, Rodney,” Maddy praised.

  Rodney shrugged. “Well, yeah.”

  “I wonder if anyone would ever think I was worth chasing after,” Alana pondered. She turned to JayB. “What do you think I should do? Do you think I should go after him? Would that be your advice, JayB?” Her voice had an odd edge to it.

  There was a long silence. Walter leaned forward. “Alana, the worst mistake I ever made was letting Celeste walk out on me. I have forever regretted that I didn’t go after her. I was hurt, and I let my hurt make my decision for me. I think this is one of those moments that is a pivot point in life, and I think you should go after the person you love. Don’t be like me. Stand up for yourself.”

  Alana remained focused on JayB. “JayB? Do you have anything you want to add?”

  JayB pursed his lips. “I think you should do what your heart tells you to do,” he advised at last.

  There was a silence, then, “Okay,” Alana blurted suddenly. “Oh my God, okay. JayB, will you watch Rhiannon and Odin for me? Just for a few days, I promise.”

  “Sure. I’m expanding into all kinds of new species.”

  “Way to go,” exulted Maddy. “Take him down, like a cheetah taking down a kangaroo. That’s what I did.” She patted Rodney’s arm again. He looked unhappy.

  Alana gave a quiet little scream. I wagged, confused, as she jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed a bag from the back. “Okay, I’m taking a cab. I’m going to the airport. Thank you so much, JayB. Thank you, everybody.”

  The door made a loud clang as it slid shut. We all sat there silently for a moment. I watched as Alana ran to a bright-colored car and jumped in the back seat. The car drove away.

  Odin and I exchanged glances. Alana had left and the cat had not. Neither of us understood.

  “Well,” JayB drawled, “that was certainly dramatic.”

  “It’s like the time my sister shot her boyfriend,” Maddy agreed. “So romantic.”

  “She shot him?” Rodney repeated, looking worried.

  Maddy nodded. “Just with a pellet gun. Of course, my sister didn’t know that. I mean, it looked like a real gun. Everybody was disappointed.”

  “I’m sure they were heartbroken,” JayB observed blandly. “All right, everyone ready to go?”

  All the dogs settled down and let the familiar vibrations wash over us. There was a long, long moment of silence. The other dogs slept, but I remained sitting, my attention rooted on my person. His voice was normal—cheerful, even—but I could feel his distress. I looked around for a squeaky toy or a ball or anything to comfort him, but couldn’t find anything.

  “Lots of traffic,” JayB remarked. “Should have gotten an earlier start.”

  Walter leaned forward. “I think you kids would be happier if I went back on my own. JayB, turn around and take me to the airport, would you?”

  “You should have gone with Alana.” JayB sighed. I felt the car changing direction.

  “Drop me, too,” Rodney requested. “I need to get home.”

  JayB raised his eyebrows. “How come?”

  Rodney sighed wearily. “This Korean deal’s going sideways. I’ll probably be on the phone all night.”

  Walter slapped him on the shoulder. “And if it doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. Things always have a way of working out, and if they don’t, other countries have pig iron, you know?”

  “That could be our family motto,” JayB suggested.

  “Well, I’m going with you, Rodney,” Maddy insisted firmly. “We’re like two peas in a pot from now on.”

  “And what about Spartan?” JayB inquired mildly.

  We all looked at Spartan, even Phoebe, but he didn’t look back.