{ THIRTY-FOUR }

As I sat there looking at the two brothers, I heard Lacey on the other side of the closed door. I hoped someone would open it, but Grant was staring at Burke, doing an angry walk with just his eyes. He pointed his finger. “I think maybe you should just keep a lid on whatever it is you came here to say.”

Burke shook his head. “Wow, you so sound like Dad. But you don’t see that you’ve spent your whole adult life running from the only two commitments that ever mattered to you?”

“Commitments.”

“The farm. And Wenling.”

Grant’s grunt was full of disgust. “I don’t want to be a farmer. I’ve spent my life leaving the farm.”

“You don’t want to be anything but a farmer, and maybe you’ve been leaving the only place you belong.”

Grant sat down heavily on his bed, and Burke settled into a chair. Grant folded his arms. “Wenling and I broke up.”

“Yeah, a million years ago. And you two didn’t ‘break up,’ you just took off on her. She didn’t want to be a child bride, but that didn’t mean it was over. Come on, Grant. I’ve been in the same room with you all day. I’ve seen who you look at whenever you think no one is watching. And it sure as heck isn’t Ava.”

“Yeah?” Grant challenged. “I see you looking at Ava.”

“That’s true, she’s really pretty,” Burke admitted. “I hate to tell you this, brother, but with Ava you’ve peaked.”

Both men laughed quietly. On the other side of the door, Lacey drew in a deep huff of air through her nose, surveying the room—she knew we were in here and that she was out there.

“Did … did Wenling say something to you?” Grant asked tentatively.

Burke grinned. “Ho ho, so, there is some interest, then.”

“Just answer the question.”

“No, Grant. She doesn’t have to.”

Grant stared at him. Burke stood and opened the door, and Lacey bounded in and I fell on the floor so she could straddle me and bite my face.

After breakfast the next morning, Ava and Grant strolled down to the dock at the pond, so Lacey and I followed. I was surprised when Lacey didn’t leap in the water after the ducks, but at least she barked at them. We both did, going into a frenzy until Grant yelled “Cut it out!” at us. I didn’t know what he was saying, but his meaning was pretty clear.

I lay at Grant’s feet and Lacey dropped down next to me, putting her head on my back.

“Those two really love each other,” Grant observed.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Ava asked.

“How do you know I want to talk to you about something?”

“Seriously? You’ve been acting weird all morning. I know something is going on.”

“Well.” Grant blew out a breath. “Without ZZ, I’m really worried about my dad. How he is going to make it through the fall harvest, I mean. So I thought I would spend a few months up here, help him out.”

“Just like that? What about your job?”

“I texted them and said I needed to take a few months off for a family emergency.”

“You already texted them? Without talking to me?”

“It’s not like that, Ava. I wanted to see if they would give me the time off.”

“And they did?”

“Sure. Well.” Grant cleared his throat. “What they said was I could reapply for the position when I got back.”

“I see.” Ava stretched her foot out and ran it along Lacey’s back. Lacey groaned and rolled onto her side so Ava would have better access to her tummy.

“Dad says I’m probably better at farming than he is,” Grant added.

“And he needs the help.”

“Yes, it’s a tough job.”

“What about Wenling?”

“Sure, she’s okay. I mean, she can help, but I don’t know if she can replace ZZ. Or how long she’s going to want to stay; she’s a scientist, not a farmer.”

“No, I am asking, what about Wenling? Does she have anything to do with this decision?”

“She did just lose her father.”

“So the rambling man suddenly wants to live on the farm. With Wenling. His former fiancée.” Ava sounded bitterly angry, and both Lacey and I raised our heads to look at her.

“Come on, Ava, that’s not what I am saying.”

The next day Grant and Ava took us on the long car ride back to Ava’s house. We wanted to put our heads out the windows, but with them rolled up we elected to wrestle in the backseat until Grant turned and hissed “Stop!” at us. Again, the word was unknown, but we had no problem interpreting the tone.

“I think you should hire a security service. Ava? I’m serious. I know these death threats seem pretty looney, but you never know when one of those anti–pit bull nuts might make good on his bluff. Lady’s the poster dog for their cause, a fighting pit bull that lives like a pet.”

“You haven’t been worried about it until now.”

“Right, well, with me around, it…”

“Except you haven’t been around,” she interrupted him. “You travel all the time, Grant. If someone is going to try to shoot Lady, they’re going to try, whether you’re in Denver or Toronto or up at the farm with Wenling.”

Grant made an odd, dissatisfied sound. It was mostly a quiet car ride after that.

Lacey and I burst into Ava’s house ahead of them, excitedly sniffing around, then curled up on a rug and fell asleep. We padded out to the kitchen when Grant prepared dinner, though, because whatever he was doing had a delicious cheese-and-meat odor. He served plates for himself and Ava but not dogs.

“Grant.”

“Mmmm?”

“I want you to sleep on the couch tonight.”

“What? Ava…”

“Stop. I think you are a good man, Grant, I really do. And I think that you are doing your best to tell the truth, but something changed for you yesterday, and maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet, but saying you and Wenling aren’t still stuck on each other is as ridiculous as saying Li Min isn’t in love with your father.”

“What? Li Min? That’s ludicrous, Ava.”

“And that’s what you find ludicrous about what I just said? Li Min?” she challenged softly.

After dinner, with no treats given, Ava let us out into the backyard to scamper around and sniff. We were back by the fence when I smelled a man—Lacey smelled him, too. She emitted a low growl.

“Lady! Want a treat? Lady?” the man whispered. With the word “treat” the succulent odor of beef joined the man’s scent on the air, and Lacey stopped growling. We pushed our noses up to the slats in the fence, drinking it in. He was hunched over and wore dark clothing. I instantly did not like him and did not wag. I felt myself readying for a growl of my own. The man raised his arm and made a throwing motion. “Here ya go, Lady!”

With a thud a small piece of red meat landed in the dirt, virtually at my feet. There was something wrong with it: clinging to its surface was an odor foreign to any treat I’d ever encountered. I lowered my nose, suspicious. My hackles rose at the strong sense of danger.

Lacey lunged to grab the meat, so I picked it up and ran, with her in fast pursuit. The smell instantly became a sharp, sour taste in my mouth. Something told me we should not eat this strangely delivered meal, something similar to a memory except not based on anything that had ever happened. It was bad. We should let Ava and Grant decide what to do with it. We needed humans to help us; this was outside of a dog’s capabilities.

But Lacey wouldn’t leave it alone. When I dropped the hunk of beef to examine it more thoroughly, she dove at it and I was forced to snatch it up again. Finally, exasperated, I snarled at her, clicking my teeth. She bared her own fangs in response. Why didn’t she understand? She pressed forward and I was shocked at how fierce she appeared. She did not sense the same threat I did. She was ready to fight for this, even though it might hurt her.

So I ate it, turning away from her and bolting it down on the run. I could not let Lacey have it. I had to protect her from this menace, because it came from a sinister man, crouching on the other side of the fence with evil intent.

When I finished the meat, an unpleasant tang remained in my mouth. Lacey sniffed the grass where it had lain, and then my jaws. I wagged, but she did not play-bow. She went back to the fence, probably hoping for a repeat performance, but the man’s smell had faded away.

That night Grant stretched out on the couch in the living room, and Lacey sprawled on Ava’s bed. I was confused. I tried to climb up with Grant, but there was no room. Yet sleeping with Lacey and Ava seemed wrong, somehow. I worried about Grant being comfortable without a dog draped across his legs.

“Lie down, Riley,” Grant told me.

I did as I was told, closing my eyes, then snapping them open. The floor suddenly didn’t feel right; I had the sense it was tilting. I remember my first mother and the first den, with the metal walls. Those strange forces of torsion that threw around my siblings and me were, I had learned, the sensations of a car ride. I’d become accustomed to such things, but not when I was splayed out on the floor.

I lifted my head, panting, looking at Grant. I remembered lying in a field after playing with Lacey, my stomach feeling as if it was biting me from within. Something very similar was happening to me now, and I was fairly certain how it would end.

I staggered to my toy box and pushed my nose to the bottom for the nylon bone. Drooling, I carried it carefully and set it on the couch next to where Grant lay sleeping. When he woke up he would see it and know that I loved him. I stumbled back to my bed and fell heavily into it.

That long-ago day in the field, my last as the good dog Cooper, Lacey had been there, loving me, concerned and caring. Now, as if she sensed I was thinking of her, she eased off Ava’s bed, nosed open the door, and padded out to see me. I licked my lips. The sour taste from the forbidden meat was very strong on my tongue, and Lacey put her nose to it.

Lacey was, I realized at that moment, an old dog in a younger dog’s body. She had had a difficult life, and it aged her. The thought made me sad.

I urgently maneuvered to my feet, feeling suddenly sick in my belly. I went to the door and scratched at it, but by the time Grant was there to let me out, I was heaving up dinner. “Oh! Riley, what’s going on? No, Lady! Get back!”

Grant turned on the lights and began cleaning up the mess. I felt like a bad dog. Lacey knew I was in distress and nuzzled me helplessly.

Ava walked in, tying a robe. “What happened?”

“Riley threw up. I’m getting it.”

“Riley?”

I glanced at her but was having trouble seeing her. “He’s really sick, Grant, look at him.”

My legs collapsed and I fell to the floor. I was panting, unable to draw in air.

“Riley!” Grant shouted.

Lacey’s nose was right there. I felt her love and concern, even as my vision blurred.

Ava was sobbing. “I think he’s been poisoned, Grant.”

They both knelt by my side. Lacey dropped to her belly and crawled forward until our snouts were touching. I felt the caressing hands on my fur, the distress of everyone in the room, the sensation of rushing water.

The pain in my stomach unclenched. I was with Lacey and Grant and Ava. I loved them all, just as I loved Burke. I was a good dog, but something was happening to me now, something I had been through before. “We’ll get him to the vet,” Grant said.

“Hurry!”

Lacey licked me tenderly as Grant put his arms under me. She would be with Ava and Grant, now. I was glad for that. People need a good dog, especially when another one dies. Grant lifted me up into the enfolding darkness, and I felt myself keep rising, up and up and up, until I was far, far away, floating in inky waters.

“Bailey,” a familiar voice soothed. “You are such a good dog, Bailey.”

I could see a golden light, now. I had been here before. I liked being called a good dog by this voice. I felt his love for me in every word, even if I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“Your work is almost done, Bailey. Just a few more things for you to fix. One more time, Bailey, just need you to go back one more time.”

I thought of Ava, and Grant, and Wenling and Burke, and Chase Dad and Li Min. I pictured them all at the farm, running with Lacey.

The thought made me very happy.