Page 158 of Come Back to Me

“Floof?!”

“Yeah. She’s all fur over a massive body. You should see the size of her dog bed. Zee and Colt are having to transfer their clothes out of the closet in the master suite to her old room so they have somewhere to put them.”

“Callan mentioned a service dog?”

“For Zee’s diabetes. Tee’s dog doesn’t want anything to do with her, so we’ve had to leave him outside in a paddock. We had to put Callan’s with him. It’s funny because they’re set to be BFFs.”

“Why Callan’s?”

“She went from trying to bite him every chance she could to humping him.” When Cole starts wheezing with laughter, I snicker. “They deserve it for shoving this on us without asking. Though, for the most part, it’s worked out well. They’re damn lucky.”

Or as good at pet matchmaking as they claim.

“Callan picked a pomsky for Mum?”

“Yeah, and a beagle mix for Mrs. Abelman. Aside from Callan and Tee—” The ones who actively wanted dogs. “—we all have new stalkers.”

“Clyde’s probably rolling in his grave.”

“He isn’t dead.”

“We can live in hope,” he jeers. “Callan said he saw Mrs. Abelman leaving Mum’s bedroom last night.”

Though my brows lift, I reason, “She could have been bringing her tea.”

“That’s what we call it nowadays, huh? You and I both know Mrs. Abelman might be our housekeeper, but she doesn’t hand-deliver food and drinks to our rooms.” He clears his throat. “Get this… Callan mentioned she was smiling.”

“Okay, thatisweird.”

“Right?”

Mrs. Abelman makes Lurch look friendly sometimes.

I rub my chin, wondering why Callan never discussed this with me during our ride this morning. “You think they’re together?”

“I dunno. Callan was implying that. They haven’t said anything to you?”

“No. But why would they? It’s their business, not ours.”

Cole hums. “How’s it going at work? The RCMP still trying to piss on your desk to claim it as theirs?”

That’s one way of putting it…

“They’re annoying and they’re not splitting the workload like they should, but it’s fine. We’re getting there. Sally-Anne’s on dispatch and she prefers me to Sergeant Reilly so she keeps it fair.” As I pull onto Main Street, I roll my eyes when I see the detachment in the near distance. “Fuckers keep parking in our spaces too.”

“You have a dog now,” Cole chimes in. “He can literally piss on their cars without any comeback.”

I hoot. “Good thinking. When are you coming home again?”

“Dunno. We have a lot of cats and?—”

“Bullshit. You could make it home if you wanted to. Get a catsitter.”

“Mia’s bar?—”

“Is still under construction.”

“Why do you want me there anyway? It’s a full house.”

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