Page 65 of Despite It All
Now do I get to tell my daddy joke?
Only to me, baby girl.
“Wyla!” a male voice snaps.
Startled, I nearly drop my phone at the harsh tone. “Goodness, Matt. What was that for? You scared the crap out of me.”
“I’ve been trying to get your attention to switch dogs, but you’ve been staring at your phone for five minutes now,” he huffs. “I’d like to finish up and get out of here, if you wouldn’tmind helping.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, and I slide my phone in my pocket. I call for Pickles, one of the boarding dogs, to come and leash him back up to send him back inside.
Matt gives me an irritated look before going back in to grab the next dog. I’m not entirely sure what his problem has been lately but he’s really starting to piss me off.
We’ve had a slow day, several cancellations, and only five dogs are staying overnight for boarding. I told him I could handle it myself but he insisted on staying. He opens the side door and hands me our last dog for the night.
“Jimmy has to be leashed the entire time,” he snarks.
“I’m well aware, Matt. I read Pickle’s sheet before letting him off the leash. I read all of them before starting.” I snatch the leash from him. “Asshole,” I grumble after he shuts the door.
After walking Jimmy around for him to use the bathroom I lead him back inside. Matt doesn’t say anything as I hand him over and walk up front to shut everything down.
I leave one computer up for us to clock out on then grab my stuff.
“You ready?” Matt asks, walking up with his keys in hand.
“Yup. Left the treatment computer on to clock out, but otherwise we should be good to go.”
“Alright.” He nods. “Sorry about snapping at you earlier.”
“Whatever, Matt. Let’s get out of here.” I breeze past him. I’m not telling him it’s fine this time. I tell him it’s fine one too many times and he’ll think it’s okay to talk to me that way whenever he feels like it.
After clocking out and arming the security system, we head out to the parking lot. I don’t wish to drag anything out with Matt but we both parked at the far end of the lot.
“Whose car is that?” he clips.
Well this ought to be good. “It’s Jett’s rental. He has Stevie today, so we switched cars so he could have a car seat.”
“Hmph” is his only response at first, but then he says, “It has a flat tire.”
“What? No, it—” Damn, it totally does. “What the hell? It was fine this morning.” I crouch down at the back wheel. It’s flat flat. No way I can drive on it.
“You probably ran over a nail or something. Flat tires happen, Wyla. Why don’t you let me give you a ride home?”
I stand back up and pull out my phone. “I’ll call Graham or Owen. They probably have pumps in their patrol cars. I’ll be fine.”
Matt leans against the car. “A pump won’t do you any good if it’s a hole. Let me drive you home, and you can have your dad tow this car later.”
Damn it, so much for not dragging things out. I don’t live far from work, and really besides being a bit of an asshole today, I don’t think Matt is going to do anything crazy. We’ve been friends for years which is why I find his hateful attitude even more annoying.
We make it out of the parking lot before the questions start. “So… Jett? What’s going on there?”
A lot. A lot is going on there.
“We’re friends. Finding our footing with co-parenting.” I shrug. It’s not a lie, and more details aren’t really any of Matt’s business.
Matt taps his fingers on the steering wheel. “That’s good. I mean, he is leaving Sunday, right? Going back to Seattle?”
“He is, but he’s coming back. I’m sure we’ll go up there from time to time too.”
