Page 42 of Daddy's Little Cowgirl

The dog took one leap and was in the cab. “I wish I could do that.” She set the bag of food and other things behind the front seat and then climbed into the cab. It was a struggle, and by the time she got in the seat, she was panting.

“Whoa, that was harder than I thought it would be. Now, I have to figure out how to move the seat up.”

The truck had to be turned on for the seat lever to work. She was thankful the man had left the key in the ignition. She didn’t think she’d be able to go to his body looking for them.

The rumble of the engine startled her. The truck seemed to be bigger and louder than she remembered.

Ellie got frustrated when the seat wouldn’t go up enough for her to reach the peddles. “We’ll have to make do.”

She took several deep breaths before she turned to the dog. “I have to warn you, I’ve never driven before.”

The dog whined and lay down in the seat, staring at her.

“I’ll do the best I can.”

Even putting the thing into reverse gear was a struggle. She carefully took her foot off the brake and gasped when the truck moved backward. Her grip on the wheel tightened as she tried to turn it. She didn’t think to look behind them as they rolled back.

They both jumped when the back of the truck ran into a tree.

“Wow. Okay. I learned a lesson.”

Ellie put it in “drive” and moved forward. She kept from looking at the pile of clothing and blood that used to be a man.

In the first several minutes, they barely crept forward, but as time passed, she gained more confidence and went faster.

She would push on the brakes hard, making the truck jolt when it started to roll too fast. They had been driving for about an hour when they came to a fork in the road. She couldn’t remember when the man drove her there. They sat for a moment.

“Let’s take the left.” She wished she sounded more confident but started to drive again. The hours passed, and she knew they had gotten lost, and the sun was starting to set.

“God. What are we going to do?” They certainly couldn’t drive in the dark, but she wanted desperately to get home to her daddy.

“We’re going to have to stop.” They drove for another mile before she saw a pond surrounded by trees. It looked like a good place to stay the night. She was dreading the dark, but at least she had the dog, and the sky was clear, so there would be a moon.

She pulled up under a tree and put the truck in park before turning it off. After listening to the engine for so long, the quiet and sound of the birds helped her relax.

She rested back in the seat and took some deep breaths before looking at the dog. “We have to come up with a name for you. I can’t call you Dog or Puppy forever.”

She studied the animal for a moment. “How about Thor? I think he was a Greek god that helped people like you helped me. What do you think?”

Thor wagged his tail, making her smile. “Good. How about we try to wash some of the dirt off you? Will you let me do that?’

Ellie couldn’t tell if he liked it or not.

She struggled to open the door and then gasped when she about fell out. She was only a few feet off the ground, but it would still hurt.

She looked up at Thor. “Come on, Thor. We’ll get you cleaner when we get home.”

Thor followed her to the pond. “I’m not really good with water, so I hope this is shallow.” She pulled off her clothing except for the bra and panties before she waded into the water. Fortunately, it was only a few feet from where she stopped.

She grinned when she looked back to see Thor still on the grass. “Come on. It looks like we will be sleeping in the truck, and you stink.”

Thor gingerly stepped into the water and stopped a foot away from her.

“Good boy. We don’t have any soap, so we’ll make do.”

She started to cup her hands and fill them with water before smoothing it along the dog’s body. “See, doesn’t that feel good?”

She shrieked when Thor shook, spraying water all over her. “Hey!”

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