Page 47 of No Place Like Home

Juliet: Should I send my cleaning lady over?

Jana: You can send her my way. Lol.

Emma: Why can’t we just clean it up?

Freya: Lololololol.

Juliet: No comment.

I sighed. As always, with these chats, things tended to get out of control fast. That was why I usually muted them.

Jess: House is cleaned. He needs to eat something other than alcohol and chips. Can someone make some soup or some shit? I’ll be back there in like 20. Just changing now.

Emma: He likes my veggie soup. I’ll make that now!

Jana: I made some bread yesterday. I’ll have Rusty drop it off.

Juliet: Jake’s at work. He’ll drop off groceries later.

Freya: What do you mean you’ll be back? Did you spend the night?

It was stupid, but I could picture Freya wagging her eyebrows at me. I put my phone away and walked out the door.

When I got to Quincy’s house, I was a little nervous he would be up. It was something I didn’t let myself think about on the way over here.

“Simba needs you,” I told myself before getting out of the car.

Since I’d locked the front door—becausehello, killers—I walked through the back.

The house was silent, which made me sigh in relief. I don’t know what I was more afraid of—seeing Quincy drunk or sober.

Instead, I whistled.

“Simba, I’m here.” My voice was loud enough for the dog to hear, at least I hoped.

Sure enough, I could hear the scratching of paws, which reminded me I had to make an appointment for him at the vet since they also offered grooming services.

As soon as I saw Simba, I opened the door so that he could follow me.

“Wanna go on a walk?”

You would think I’d asked the dog if he wanted to be my companion in world domination by the way he started to wag his tail.

“I don’t have a leash, but just stay close to me, okay?”

The dog woofed at me, and I took it as an okay on his part.

“Don’t eat anyone. I am not in the mood to see Clark today,” I said, mentioning our town’s chief of police.

I was amazed at how well-behaved the dog was acting. There was a little trail that ran behind the houses. It seemed like it was in use. Hopefully, no one minded if I took Simba on a walk.

The walk would have been something I enjoyed had I not been functioning on no sleep.

“Do you have to pee on every tree? Dude, leave some for the other dogs.”

“I thought you said you hated dogs.”

I jumped back when I heard the smooth drawl.

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