Page 69 of Loco

A grunt was his response. “Gotta go, baby. You stay out of trouble.”

“I’ll try,” I laughed.

He growled and then threatened, “You do that, or I’ll tan that sweet ass so you can’t sit down for a week.”

How many times had he threatened that? “Promises, promises.”

We’d ended our conversation with him promising to let me know when he was back in town. I slipped out of my sleep tee and boy shorts and dressed. Even though we hadn’t made any plans, I’d been so hoping to see Loco again today. Now he was leaving town, and we couldn’t even talk unless he initiated it first. Not knowing where he was going, what he was doing, or whether or not it was dangerous was nerve racking.

Sighing, I headed out for Helen’s place. She would be surprised to see me so early. My other job was in the afternoon, and that was to pick up Sookie from the vet and take her home. Her owner, Mr. Stanford, was homebound. His family had taken away his car keys on his ninetieth birthday, and with good reason if the stories he’d told me about all his fender benders were true. They would take him wherever he wanted to go and would have picked up Sookie for him, but he was still pissed at them and refused to ask. Someone at the vet’s office had given him my number.

I parked my car and before going inside to tend to Owen I decided to text Lulu to make sure she still wanted to meet up. I knew she was pushing herself with her online classes and was eager to begin her new career as a vet assistant.

we stil on 4 tday?

A minute went by before she responded.

yes

I smiled, texting and walking toward the door at the same time.

good, lookin 4ward 2 it

me 2

c u at 12

I knocked on Helen’s door and let myself in, deciding not to scold her for leaving her door unlocked. It wouldn’t do any good anyway, she was set in her ways, and too trusting. As usual, when I went inside she was in her chair and sound asleep. There was a bowl on her lap that appeared to have contained oatmeal, and the TV was on fairly loud. Smiling, I carefully removed the bowl and took it to the kitchen.

“Hey there, baby.” Owen was up in the kitchen window and meowed when he saw me. I reached over and gave his head a scratch, glad to see that he was inside. “You hungry?” I gave him fresh water and filled his automatic cat feeder.

“Millie? Is that you, dear?”

“It’s me, Helen.” I joined her in the living room and found her turning the TV volume down with the remote. “I hope it’s okay that I came early today.”

“Of course. You can come any time that you want. I left the door unlocked for you.”

I just smiled, deciding not to call her on the lie. “Remember you gave me a key, too.” I sat on the edge of the chair on the other side of her. “I came by to check on you the other day, but you weren’t home.”

She nodded. “Must have been the day I had a doctor’s appointment. My daughter took me, and then we went to lunch.”

“Sounds like it was a nice day.”

“It was,” she admitted. “My granddaughters met us at the restaurant.”

My mind immediately went to Russ, recalling the last words Loco had texted me about him. No way was I going to bring him up. “You have a nice family.”

“Yes, I’m a lucky old woman,” she joked, smiling.

Owen chose that moment to wander into the room and jump up on Helen’s lap.

“You missed our morning nap together,” she said to the cat, and ran her hand over his head. Her eyes met mine again. “He usually curls up on my lap when I nap, but he likes to sneak under the blanket. I forgot it this morning.”

“Animals get set in their ways, too.” I got to my feet. “Let me go change his litter box.”

It didn’t take me long. The litter was still clean enough that I just needed to scoop it out this time. There was a litter mat, but there was still litter on the floor, so I swept it up. I also ran some Clorox wipes over the floor because I knew that Helen couldn’t get down and do it anymore.

“Do you need—” I cut myself off when I entered the living room to find that Helen had dozed off again. This time the volume to the TV was down and Owen had curled up against her. Smiling, I reached for the nearby throw and carefully covered them.

---