Page 33 of The Bad Girl List

Another whine. When I look up, I spot a pair of eyes staring out from beneath the truck. It’s a dog.

“Hey there.” I smile at the dog to show her I’m friendly. “I’m Dom. What’s your name?”

The dog whines again, but doesn’t move.

“All these people out here got you a little scared? Don’t worry, you’re in good company. I hate crowds.”

The dog edges forward, creeping far enough out of the shadows so that I can see her face.

It’s a medium-sized dog with a white face and a golden body. A pair of dark eyebrows rests on her forehead. Currently, those eyebrows are pulled together to form a triangle in the middle of her face.

“You’re a pretty thing,” I say. “What’s your name?”

The dog slinks out from underneath the truck. I realize with a start that she only has three legs. One of her back ones has been amputated.

“What happened to you, pretty thing? Did you get hit by a car?”

She hops in my direction, tail between her legs and her eyebrows still drawn together. When she’s a few feet away, she stops and stares at me. I notice the chewed end of the leash dangling from her collar and put the pieces together.

“Ah, a jailbird,” I say. “I see you found your way out of doggie prison.”

Another whine comes out of her throat.

I hold out my palm in a gesture of good faith. After a moment, she hops forward and sniffs. A second later, she licks my palm.

“See, I’m harmless,” I tell her. “I like dogs. Want to come closer for a head scratch?” I pat the top of my leg. “Maybe I can draw you, too. You can be the sidekick to the truck.” I turn my sketchbook so she can see my picture.

Her eyebrows do a funny dance on her forehead. They move to the left when she looks at my sketchbook, then move to the right when she looks at me.

“Come here, girl. Come sit by me.” I pat my leg again.

Her eyebrows flatten out, then she hops over and sits down on the gravel next to me.

“Thatta girl.” I scratch her behind the ears, smiling when her tail starts to thump. Her eyebrows form the shape of an upside down U when she looks up at me. “You’re a good girl. Let me see if I can incorporate you into my picture. I think every truck needs a doggie sidekick, don’t you?”

CHAPTER 10

Truck

TREVOR

“Can I try the Zinfandel, please?” A woman in a blue sundress with hair swept up off her shoulders gives me a flirty smile as she holds out her glass. With her is a group of four other girls, all of them sipping on wine as they chit-chat and snap selfies.

“Sure.” I pick up the bottle and fill her glass, doing my best to return her smile.

“Oh, no, I asked for the Zin,” the woman says, looking at the red wine swirling in the bottom of her glass.

My head feels like someone is trying to split it open with an ax. Not even four Tylenol and three glasses of water had helped.

This was supposed to be my day off. But Thomas had called me at eight in the morning and woken me from a blissful, dreamless sleep.

“One of our guys called in sick,” he’d said, sounding disgustingly put together after a night of drinking. “I know it’s your day off, but we need you in the tasting room today. We’re going to be slammed.”

“But Tequila–”

“What about your crazy dog?”

“I can’t leave her all day.” The last time I did that, she chewed at one of her feet until it bled. And she wasn’t the sort of dog who could hang out with me behind the bar. She dislikes big crowds as much as I do.

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