Page 136 of Hound Dog
In loving memory of Sharon AnneMarie Rogers
Finn squeezed my hand as I walked closer.
“This way, even after selling your childhood home, a piece of her—and you—can remain here in Rochester.”
I touched the plaque gently with my fingers.
My mom would have loved this.
Tears didn’t just fill my eyes this time. They spilled. They drenched my cheeks and down my neck as I hiccupped.
“Finn, this is… this is… How did you do this?”
His arms caged me in, pulling me against him as I sobbed. “It took a lot of calls to the city. Permits are a bitch to get… and even harder to do in a week. But Meryl is really persuasive. And apparently, she used to bone the city planner of Rochester.”
My sob turned into a laugh, and I scrunched my nose. “Ewww. Oh God. Don’t tell me that.”
Finn turned me around and brushed my hair back from my face. “I love you, Haylee.”
He held up a pen, and with a tilt of his head, he asked, “How’d I do? Have I earned that check mark?”
I tugged Finn’s list from my back pocket, checked offWin Haylee Rogers back with a grand gesture,and turned it so he could see.
“Thank you for this,” I whispered, tears still clawing up my throat. “It’s perfect.”
I pushed onto my toes and kissed him. The kind of kiss that made your toes curl and your head dizzy. The kind of kiss that stopped traffic. The kind of kiss they wrote books about.
As we pulled back from the kiss, he pressed his forehead to mine.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing his hand.
“Where are we going?”
“To spend one more night in my mom’s house. Together.”
He arched his brow at me as I tugged him down the street, back to the small three-bedroom home that held all my childhood memories.
“You don’t have to sell, you know. Not if you don’t want to. Wecouldlive here. Hound Dog is a very portable business.”
We reached my small front yard, and I looked up at the white shutters and yellow door that my mom and I painted together when I was only six.
“I love that you would do that for me, but no—it’s time for us to make our own new memories. Memories that aren’t here.”
“But it’s your home,” Finn said.
I shook my head. “My home is with you.”
He smiled down at me and swiped his thumb across my cheek to catch the tear. “Yes, but I could be here, too. If it’s what you wanted.”
“That’s the thing… it’s not what I want. Not anymore. I love this house. But I’ve also outgrown it. I’ve been holding on so tight because I thought I was preserving her memory. But really, I was just stuck.”
“Besides,” Finn said. “You’re a millionaire. You can always buy it back if you change your mind.”
I laughed and pinched his arm. “Come on. I’ve got pizza in there.”
He eyed me carefully. “There better not be pineapple on that pizza.”
I unlocked the front door and scooped up Freckles before she could charge outside. “Oh, there is.Andranch.”
