Page 45 of Hey, Daddy

“Why couldn’t we have done this the normal way?” I asked curiously.

“Because my ex-wife is a psycho,” he said. “She finds out I was in her house, she’ll flip a fuckin’ switch and turn into the rabid bitch that she is and try to find a way to make my life hell.”

“She sounds like a pleasant woman,” I said as I followed him in through the garage door at the back of the house.

“She is something,” he grumbled.

“How do you know that she doesn’t have any cameras inside?” I wondered.

“Because she’s not technologically savvy. And she’d have to hire someone to put them in, and that’s something she’ll never do,” he explained. “The only reason she has that doorbell is because the alarm company installed it for her. And set it up in the app.”

“It’s not really all that hard,” I pointed out.

“And my ex-wife isn’t all that smart,” he grumbled.

He used some tools from his pocket to unlock the back door of the house, then pushed it open.

He walked directly to where he knew the cage to be and hunkered down to open it.

The dog, a massive Saint Bernard, was incredibly happy to see him. Despite having a cast on his front leg, he all but launched himself at Haze, giving him a bunch of happy kisses.

“This was the first dog I’d ever gotten from anywhere but a shelter,” he mused. “Julia insisted we have a pure-bred dog, and I was so damn pissed when she came home with him for my birthday. But the first thing I saw was his one blue eye, and one brown eye. Julia got pissy because the dog she wanted wasn’t there, and she had to settle for him. And I just felt an instant connection to him. The vet dubbed him Big Finny, and Julia hated it. She wouldn’t call him anything but Finneus. From the moment she got him, she hated him. He sheds a lot, and slobbers. And she just had no clue what she was getting when she got him.”

“He’s a beauty,” I admitted. “We should probably go.”

He smiled and patiently walked with Finn at his side, not bothering to shut the door as he left.

“Maybe a group of squirrels will invade her house, and she’ll have to leave,” he grumbled. “Fuckin’ hate this house.”

He helped first Finn, and then me, into the Jeep. Then he drove to his brother’s house.

He didn’t introduce us, and I didn’t get upset that he didn’t.

Desi came out to greet Finn, wrapping her arms around his big head and giving him a kiss, which he fervently returned.

They spoke for a few long moments, then Haze gave his daughter and the dog one last pat on the head before heading back toward me.

I didn’t fight him on driving.

Instead, I sat back in the passenger seat and said, “How far away is it?”

“Two hours or so,” he said. “Depending on traffic.”

I smiled and sat back in my seat, happy to be there despite the circumstances.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d missed him.

And today had been hard.

I wanted to forget that Butters was no longer here with me to brighten my day, and he seemed like a perfect distraction.

We’d been on the road for five minutes when the inevitable happened.

My phone, of course, chose that time to alert me of a high or low blood sugar.

When I didn’t make the move to check it, Haze pulled over and reached for my phone.

“What’s the code?” I asked.

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