Page 81 of Red Hot Roaster

Bean Love Café & Roastery: 308 W. Overland Rd, Boise, ID 83709. House (housesitting for owners): 50122 Hill Rd, Boise, ID 83703. Eat or you’ll get sick.

Wednesday * 7:04 a.m.

Rose

Ate pint PB Choc Chip last night—does that count? IDK, felt sick after.

Rose

Seriously, thx for providing ALL the food. Even healthy bits. Will eat better.

Rose

I promise.

Wednesday * 7:12 a.m.

Me

Hold you to yr word, Rose. Got to go check my roast. Later?

Wednesday * 7:14 a.m.

Rose

Bye for now, Rafe. A kiss for Princess.

Bye, babe…for now.

“Hold your fucking horses, Princess.” I had her leash and a bag of groceries in one hand and was digging for my keys with the other. She was throwing herself against the door.

Baby girl was hungry for her dinner. My fault—I’d forgotten to take her kibble and treats with me this morning in the rush. Yeah, the café had a few dog biscuits for customers, and I’d snared a couple to tide her over.

She’d declined, thank you very much. They were apparently not up to her royal standards—or the Chocolate Lab standards, anyway.

Finally, I got the door unlocked and made it through the laundry room into the kitchen. Dropping the groceries on the counter, I unleashed Princess and grabbed her food dish.

“There you go, baby girl.” Princess hoovered her meal in fifteen seconds flat and settled back on her haunches for her after-dinner mint, er, treat. Not too spoiled.

She headed out of the kitchen, nose to the ground, sniffing like crazy. She performed the same routine as the last two nights, searching all over this big-ass house—this floor, upstairs and basement—for Pirate…and Rose.

I’d tried telling her it was useless—no need to lie and say they lived here. She hadn’t believed me and kept going. So tonight, I let her be and unpacked my groceries. Madge and Rocky had left me a few staples, but I wanted to bring in my own easy-to-fix go-tos—eggs, potatoes, bacon, bread, sandwich meat, shit like that.

After a quick breakfast for dinner (what did Rose eat tonight?), I let Princess out in the backyard. Good thing it was fenced because Hill Road was way too fucking busy for any walk, especially at night, and there were no nearby streets. This weekend in daylight hours, I’d scout out a park or a neighborhood or somewhere for her walks.

Standing on the patio, I opened my phone. It’d beenpingingoff and on for the past few hours. The firstping, I’d checked right away to see if it was Rose. Nope. Rocky had sent one last heads-up on the quirkiness of their roaster. After that, I’d restrained myself and let thepingsgo for a while.Who’d be texting me anyway?

Ah. Pete had left me a voicemail. And Mateo and Finn had texted me earlier. Still no Rose.Why would she, you shithead, after the way you insulted her?

Thursday * 4:34 p.m.

Mateo

Hey, manito, R said you got there ok. Mama worried becuz of drinking & no sleep—saw me come in late from the pub. Know you feel you made the right D. None of my biz, but your woman has sad eyes.

Thursday * 6:32 p.m.

Me

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