Page 107 of Beauty and the Bayou

Her phone rang as she was rummaging in her suitcase for clothes.

She grabbed for it, hoping it was Sawyer.But it was Tori.

“Hi, Tori, what—”

“Is Sawyer with you?”the other woman interrupted her greeting.

“Um, no.I’m not sure where he is.”

“Dammit.”Tori sounded upset.

“Is everything okay?”

“No.Crap.Dammit.I’ve been calling him but he’s not answering.He’s probably down trying to secure stuff with the guys but I was hoping I’d catch him.None of them are answering.”

Juliet hit the button to put the call on speaker and started getting dressed.“What’s going on?How can I help?”

“It’s Gus,” Tori said.“It’s maybe nothing, but I’m at the clinic with a dog that was hit by a car because of the rain, and it just occurred to me that Gus might be in the cage.”

“The cage down on the bank?”Juliet asked, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

“Yes.I mean, he hasn’t gotten in it yet and maybe he’s not, but if he is and the water is rising…” She trailed off.

Juliet’s stomach flipped.The cage had been set up so that Gus would go inside for the treat Tori had left and then close behind him.It was hidden and anchored securely on the bank so he’d think it was just part of the vegetation that was there.If the water rose because of the rain and he couldn’t get out to float and swim with the water, he could…

“I’ll go check it,” Juliet said.

“Oh, no.You don’t have to.Can you just find Josh or Sawyer maybe?”Tori asked.

“It’s fine.It’s way faster for me to go directly over there.If I see them, I’ll ask for help but if I don’t, I’m not going to leave Gus down there.”

There was a long pause, then Tori sniffed.“Okay.Yes.Thank you.If he’s there…you’ll have to get in, Juliet.You’ll have to pull the cage out and get him up and out of there.”

Juliet nodded, then realizing Tori couldn’t see her, said, “I know.I’ll handle it.”

“Okay.”Again Tori paused.“I know this is a big deal.”

“It’s not,” Juliet told her firmly.“This is just what needs to be done.”

“Okay.Please call me when you get there and let me know if you need to get in or not.Be careful.”

“I will.”

Juliet pocketed her phone, slipped her shoes on, and headed for the docks.She wasn’t going to think about the rising waters, the pouring rain, or anything else.She was going to focus on Gus and the fact that he might need help.

But she almost wilted with relief when she saw Sawyer striding up the hill toward the house.

“Juliet!”

“Come on!”she said, hurrying past him and making sure she was out of arm’s reach.She knew he’d try to stop her and want to talk about what had happened and they didn’t have time right now.

“What’s going on?”

“I need your help.”

That was all it took to get him to turn and fall into step beside her.If she hadn’t loved him before, that would have done it.

“Where are we going?”

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