“Okay, if you say so,” Louis said, rising. He went to the bank of windows.
Allie watched him open a window and noticed a man in the yard hauling wood. She looked more closely and realized it was Hannah’s stepfather, Ted. She kept her eyes on the man until he disappeared around the back of the house. “What’s Mr. Hanover doing here?”
“Miss Bitty hired him to build the new chicken coop.”
“Chicken coop? We’re getting chickens?”
“I would assume so if you’re getting a coop,” Louis said with a wink.
The mudroom door opened and closed, then Ted poked his head into the kitchen. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Miss Bitty said I could come in and get some sweet tea.”
“No, that’s fine. Help yourself,” Louis said. “We were just wrapping up anyway. Starting the coop today?”
“Yep. Hopefully it’ll be done by tomorrow evening. Then I can get started on the additions to the guesthouse.” Ted’s eyes flickered to Allie. He looked away without saying a word.
Allie frowned. He had been so nice to her at Sherwood Foods. Maybe he was just uncomfortable about the embarrassing conversation they’d had at his house. Maybe he thought she told Miss Bitty or Louis about it?
She watched the man pour his tea and disappear outside.
“Is there anything you want to share with me before I go?” Louis asked. “I want to listen if you do.”
“No.”
“Alright then.” Louis rose and began packing up. “Have your English and science reading done before our session Monday morning, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, staring out the window.
Louis zipped up his backpack and hoisted it onto his shoulder. “Okay, my smart girl. I’ll see you on Monday. Have a great weekend.”
There was that word again. Smart. Allie got butterflies in her chest.
A few minutes after Louis left, as she was basking in the glow of his words, the door to the mudroom swung open again.
This time it was Miss Bitty who poked her head in.
“Got a surprise for you, girlie,” she announced with a big smile. “Come out and see.”
CHAPTER 33
THE OLD WOMAN’S eyes were bright. “So what do you think? Ever have a puppy before?”
“Uh, not really,” Allie lied, staring at the little red puppy that was squatting in the yard.
“Well then, it’s about time you did,” Miss Bitty said, smiling broadly. “Every young lady should have a dog.”
Allie frowned. “What? It’s . . . it’s mine?”
“Yep. She’s all yours!”
Allie wasn’t sure what to say. Just looking at the thing brought back horrible memories. But she didn’t want to be rude. Not after everything the old woman had done for her.
“Thank you,” Allie said, crossing her arms and wondering what the hell she was going to do with it.
Bitty squatted down to pet her. “Isn’t she cute?”
Allie smiled weakly.
“I saw the poor thing barely dodge a truck on Main Street. When I stopped to get her, I saw that there was one that looked just like her dead in the ditch. A little male puppy. Poor thing never had a chance.”
The puppy wobbled toward her, sniffing. She was an odd-looking little thing. Her legs were too long for her body. Her head seemed too large. Her disheveled fur was an unmanageable frizzy mess.
“Well, I better get back inside. I have chores to do,” Allie murmured.
Bitty waved her off. “The chores can wait. You two hang out . . . get acquainted.”
A few minutes later, Allie sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the puppy as she wobbled around, sniffing everything. She had just devoured two large bowls of chicken and rice and lapped up half a bowl of water. She glanced up at Allie, her muzzle wet.
When Allie looked at the puppy, she couldn’t help but think of Petey, a stray dog she’d had when she was about eight years old. She’d found Petey roaming around their pond out back, took him in, and had instantly become attached to him.
She’d had Petey for about a month when her mother had taken an interest in the animal. Allie’d been napping in her room, with the dog at the foot of her bed.
“Petey! C’mon, boy. I have a nice, meaty bone for ya,” her mother had said, her tone strangely upbeat.
At that point, Allie had learned to avoid her mother at all costs, so she pretended she was sleeping, but her heart pinched thinking that her dog would be anywhere near her mother. She knew the woman was up to something and that it wasn’t going to be good.
The dog had been hesitant, too.
“C’mon, sweet doggy,” the woman continued to coax.
The dog growled in protest and the woman rushed toward him, hooked a rope around his neck, and yanked him out of the room.
A moment later, the screen door to the back of the house screamed open and snapped shut.
Tears in her eyes, Allie jumped out of her bed and went to the window to find her mother dragging a bucking Petey into the woods.
Now bawling, Allie hurried from the room and followed them through the woods at a safe distance. When she returned home, she spent the rest of the day crying under her blankets.
Later that evening she heard her mother screaming at her brother. Blaming him for what had become of the dog. The woman told him that he was a sick son of a bitch to have done what he did.
Her brother had claimed he didn’t know anything about it, which he didn’t. That night he got a good beating, and Allie lay huddled in her bed, trying to block out his screams and the images she’d seen earlier in the day.
Emerging from her memory, she realized the puppy was sitting in front of her, staring. The puppy let out a shrill, demanding bark, but Allie just watched her, not sure what she wanted.
The puppy barked again, louder.
She frowned. “What the hell do you want?”
The pup retracted from Allie as though Allie’d hit her. She sat on her haunches and whimpered. She was scared.
Reluctantly, Allie reached down and scooped the pup up. She peered into the puppy’s big blue eyes. “I have no idea what to even do with you.”