By the time she finished her coffee, Hailey knew she had to check on Bear. And not just see him outside, but check on his food and water, which meant going inside. Throwing a hoodie over her tank top, she slipped her feet into her flip-flops and went out her back door.
Halfway across her yard, she hesitated. Bear was a lovable and lazy lump of Lab, but that was when Matt was around. When it came to the neighbor lady breaking into his house, Bear was still a dog.
But he might be a very confused, lonely and hungry dog, and that got her moving again.
Matt had taken the screen door off and stored it in the garage since it blocked the doggy door, so Hailey didn’t have to worry about opening that. She twisted the doorknob and muttered a bad word when it didn’t turn.
If he’d locked the back door, he’d probably locked the front door, too, but she walked around the house and tried it, anyway. It was also locked. She thought she heard a single bark from Bear when that screen door latched, but nothing after that.
Going back around the house, she resigned herself to the indignity of crawling through the doggy door. Bear was a big dog, so it was a big door and she knew she’d fit. But it was a little ridiculous and she was thankful the only reason she had to do it was because Matt wasn’t home. That meant he couldn’t witness her latest embarrassing episode.
She got on her hands and knees, then used one hand to push open the swinging door. It wasn’t very comfortable and she pushed the flap open all the way so she could focus on not kneeling on the door sill because that would seriously hurt.
A chime sounded, followed by a flurry of barking and dog toenails on the wooden floors.
“Bear, it’s me,” she called, pausing half in and half out of the doggy door as a mountain of black Lab barreled into the kitchen.
*
DESPITE LESS THAN three hours of sleep, Matt woke in a state of high alert when the dog door chimed. He’d been half-awake for a few minutes already, mumbling at Bear when the dog had let out a woof for no reason. Then the chime sounded and Bear took off at a run.
But if Bear had been in his bed, what had triggered the alarm? Matt usually locked it when they went to bed at night but, in the condition he’d been in, he might have overlooked it last night. Or this morning, rather.
Praying it wasn’t a raccoon, which was the risk they ran in exchange for Bear being able to get out, he pulled his service weapon out of the biometric safe on his nightstand and went after Bear. When he got to the kitchen, he hit the light switch, then shook his head.
“You have to be kidding.” The top half of his neighbor was through the doggy door and Bear was licking her face, his butt wagging in joy. “Bear, cut it out.”
“You’re home,” she said in a flat voice.
He arched an eyebrow at her, then set his gun on the counter and hit the button to start the coffee brewing. “Is that why you’re breaking into my house at six-thirty in the morning? Because you thought I wasn’t home?”
She finished crawling all the way into the kitchen and then quickly stood before Bear could get at her face again. “Yes. If I thought you were home, I wouldn’t have been crawling through the doggy door.”
“Anything in particular you were after?” Maybe she had a drug problem. That would help explain why she ran so hot and cold where he was concerned.
“I wanted to make sure Bear was okay.”
He went a little still inside, not sure he’d understood her. “You broke in to check on my dog?”
“I heard your truck leave yesterday morning and I hadn’t seen it since. I know he can get in and out, but I didn’t know if he’d run out of food and water. And then I thought he’d come get me, but maybe you trained him not to leave the yard at all when you’re not home. Or maybe he got scared and scratched at my door, but it didn’t wake me up, so he went looking for you and got lost.” She stopped, a pink blush spreading over her cheeks. “I wanted to check on him and your doors were locked, so...yeah.”
“I guess you’ve got a Good Samaritan streak, yourself.” Maybe she didn’t know how to bait a hook, but she’d crawl through a small door in sleep shorts to check on an animal. That said something about her. Something he liked.
“I like your dog.”
He nodded, then watched as the dog in question bolted through the dog door. The chime dinged again.
“Doesn’t that drive you crazy?”
“Not really. He’s a good dog, but I like to know where he is. And I usually lock the dog door at night. I must have forgotten since it was about three when I got in.”
Her eyes got big. “Three? Oh, the long weekend, right? It must be busy for you guys.”
“Long weekends always are.”
He pulled two mugs out of the cabinet, though he wasn’t really sure why, and poured them each a mug. “Cream and sugar?”
“I should go, so you can go back to bed. Now I feel even worse.”