Page 59 of My Ex-Best Friends

“Mom.”

“Keep that head up, baby. We’re almost home.” She marched me straight to the backyard and then made me stand still while she hosed me off. “He looked like someone had kicked his puppy. Not much longer and those boys will realize just how horribly they fucked up. Then they’ll come crawling back.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “They won’t.”

“They will.”

“Even if they do… It’s too late. The way they treated me… They believed that I’d cheat on them. They thought the absolute worst of me. They wouldn’t listen while I tried to tell them about losingour daughter.” My voice broke and I would’ve crumpled to the ground if Mom hadn’t been there to catch me.

“Alright. Here we go. Inside and straight to the bath. You need to soak and relax. Living on the streets has been hard on you, I can tell.” She patted my head the same way she had when I was little and the motion was so comforting that I lost the last ounce of strength I had.

“I just want it to stop hurting.” I took a shaky breath. “And I wasn’t living on the streets, Mom.”

“Sure, you were.” She led me to the bathroom and then undressed me. “Well, you’ve definitely filled out since the last time I put you in the bath.”

“Mom!” I finished undressing myself and sank into the steaming water after she ran the bath. It instantly eased the ache in my body from sleeping on the hardest mattress known to mankind.

“There you are. Just rest and relax. I’ll take care of you now, Brooklyn.”

I opened one eye and looked up at her. “I feel like you’re going to stab me to death when you say things like that.”

She splashed water in my face. “Ungrateful brat.”

I splashed her back. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Anytime, baby.” She looked at me with wide eyes and held up her hand. Moving it in a stabby motion, she made a ghostly sound and slowly backed out of the bathroom.

47

***Brooke***

Ifinished painting the diner over two nights, moved back in with my mother, and got hired by a random man on the street to paint his surfboard. I didn’t know where he was going with his surfboard but Beaumont didn’t get waves like that. That wasn’t my business, though. I got to paint on the beach and that was good enough for me.

When the public librarian, Martha Dugan, stopped me on my walk home and asked me if I’d paint a mural for the children’s section of the library, I was starting to wonder if people just felt sorry for me. When I got a little hysterical and asked Martha if that was the case, she’d told me she didn’t believe in charity for women who got dumped and asked me when I could start. That helped boost my confidence.

The wall in the library was almost as big as the hardware store mural and I felt a sense of hope when I looked at it. I dove into the painting fast and furious, sketching out ideas and painting them before Martha could keep up with it all. What should’vetaken a week took me two days. It was over too fast and I cursed myself on the walk home.

I felt the best when I was working, no matter the project. Finding myself with nothing to do meant I had too much time to think about the guys and what could’ve been.

The sinking feeling was just starting to settle over me when I heard a bark from behind. I turned back and saw a dog that had to be the biggest dog I’d ever seen following me. I stopped. It stopped. We stared at each other.

“Hello?” I looked around, waiting for its owner to pop out. That didn’t happen. The dog just kept staring at me. “Um… Can I help you?”

It sat and its tongue rolled out of its mouth, hanging halfway to the ground. I cleared my throat and looked around again. The dog didn’t have a collar but it looked healthy enough. I didn’t understand where he’d come from. I saw that he was definitely a he when I peeked around and saw that no one had taken his family jewels from him yet.

“Gross.” I winced. “Sorry. You’re not gross. I just… Balls, ya know?”

He groaned and I got the distinct impression that he was rolling his eyes at me. Not exactly sure what to do, I turned around and started walking again. I figured I’d call the shelter in town and tell them about the big boy but I immediately heard his heavy breathing as he followed me.

Looking back again, I figured I’d take a chance and see how far he’d follow me. Turned out, he’d follow me pretty far. We walked all the way to the small vet’s office across town. That was where he drew the line, though. He wouldn’t go in, no matter what I did. The vet had to come out to scan him for a microchip.

After a parking lot check up, Dr. White looked up at me and shrugged. “I’ve seen nearly every pet in this town and I’ve never seen this boy. He’s a little malnourished and I don’t like that he’snot fixed but he’s not in bad shape. He’s also not microchipped, though. My best guess is that he got away from someone visiting.”

“What now?” The dog never took his eyes off me. If I stepped away even slightly, he moved with me.

“Well. I can call the shelter for you. He’ll be put in a kennel next to the other dogs looking for homes. He’ll be held there until the shelter is sure no one’s looking for him and then they’ll try to find him a home. He’s big and probably middle-aged, though, so I doubt he’ll be scooped up right away.” She saw my eyes widen and nodded. “Or you could take him home with you. Put a notice on the town’s social pages about him and see if anyone comes looking for him.”

“And if no one does?”

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