Page 68 of Married With Lies

To get to the house, I need to walk right past Peggy. Her white hair is loose. She wears a colorful yarn sweater that would probably look better as a blanket.

“You’re leaving,” she says. Not a question.

“Yes, I am. Thanks for all the tea and snacks.”

She leans on her garden hoe and gives me a penetrating look. “She’ll be sorry to see you go.”

Peggy can’t be talking about anyone other than Sadie.

“It’s better for her if I do go.”

“Probably,” she says. “But maybe not.”

Then she resumes stabbing the earth with her garden hoe, a sign that the conversation is over.

Inside the house, I call Sadie’s name but receive no answer. I jog up the stairs and find her bedroom door wide open. Zeus and Apollo are lounging on her bed. Their tails thump when they see me standing there and I don’t have the heart to walk out before petting each of their huge bony heads.

Sadie isn’t upstairs at all and she isn’t in the living room. The next place worth checking is the room at the back of the house, which she and Peggy always refer to as the hospital.

No Sadie there either but my entrance is greeted by a low growl. The little dog who has been named Tinkerbell stands in front of her two puppies and keeps a fearful eye on me.

Copying the moves I’ve seen from Sadie, I approach Tinkerbell’s pen slowly and keep my voice low and soothing. “No one will hurt you,” I say. “Everything is fine.”

The dog gives me a doubtful look but when I extend my hand she doesn’t try to attack it. Her two puppies come galloping over to join in the fun and now the other hospital patients are starting to perk up and make noise. There’s some barking, lots of tail wagging and even the two cats appear eager for their share of attention.

“Sounds like I walked into a meeting of your fan club.” Sadie’s voice comes from the doorway.

I turn around and find her standing there. She’s wearing her typical jeans and boots but in place of a shapeless hooded sweatshirt there’s a light blue sweater with a V neckline and the material stretches in exactly the right places.

It’s a hell of an effort to drag my eyes upward to meet her face.

“I was actually looking for you,” I say.

“I know. Jasper told me.”

“I didn’t want to just take off without saying goodbye.”

She tilts her head and leans against the door frame. “So this is goodbye. Watch out for flying bullets.”

“Will do.”

“That’s good. Because I think next time Gus will demand hand to hand combat for rights to the Halloween room.”

“That’s not a fight I want to pick.”

She snorts and backs out of the doorway. The silver chain around her neck, the one that she hangs her wedding ring on, catches a spark of light streaming in from the window.

Sadie leads the way out of the house, which is fun because then I get an extended opportunity to stare at her ass. Those jeans of hers are flawlessly molded to her shape. The idea of peeling the damn things off and pumping her from behind is seriously fucking with my ability to think. I should have taken the time to jerk off in the shower this morning. At this rate I won’t be able to focus on the road.

“Wait here,” she says when we’re outside the garage. “I need to give you something.”

“It’s not a dog, is it?”

“No.”

“A cat?”

“No, you little wise guy.”

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