“Yes, you do,” he said, staring at her, his brows pulling together, as he wondered at that kind of dependency in a really ugly relationship. “What do you get out of the relationship?”
She just stared at him.
“You get out of it the fact that you’re not alone,” he said, “and I get that, but you need something more to be fully living your life too.”
“You don’t understand,” she said.
“I understand more than you think,” he said. “The bottom line is, it’s still not a healthy relationship if you’re only there because you can’t get out of it.”
“Well, she’s my friend,” she protested.
“Your friend told you to lie, and now you’re next in the line for the lies that you said based on her advice. Over something that she’s lied about too,” he said calmly.
She just stared at him and said, “I need to talk to her.”
“Well, I wouldn’t do that now that I’ve talked to her and now you,” he warned, “because that’ll be a whole different ball game with her once you do.”
She sank back. “I … I just don’t even know what to do right now,” she said, nervously pulling her purse closer and looking like she was ready to run.
“Well, you tell me,” he said. “What do you think you should do?”
“I’d like to go home and have a shower,” she said. “I feel icky all of a sudden.”
“Can you go home and not call her, or will you feel compelled to call her and to let her know all about our conversation?” he said in disgust.
“Well …” Then she stopped and shook her head. “No, I won’t call her,” she said. “She’ll rip into me pretty badly for it.”
“And why is that?”
“Because absolutely no way am I ever supposed to have told you about this.”
“You didn’t,” he said. “I already knew.”
She looked at him intently and then nodded slowly. “And that might help me,” she said.
“Besides, even if you did tell her, what would she do?”
“I don’t know,” she said in a whisper, “but I don’t want to find out either.” She looked up, shamefaced. “She can be mean.”
“So you go home,” he said. “Don’t contact her.” And then he lowered his voice, until it was soft and gentle. “Now I want you to think about other ways that you could find friends, who are true friends, who you want to have healthy two-way relationships with, who you wouldn’t be ashamed of knowing.” He added, “She lied. She’s tried to cheat the system to put an animal, … an innocent animal, to death,” he said. “There will be fallout, and you don’t want to be associated with it any more than you already are.”
She winced and shuffled closer toward the edge of her seat. “I still don’t have any way to get to know people,” she said, “and being alone sucks.”
“But being alone is way better than being associated with somebody like her,” he said quietly. “You need to come to some understanding of just what you have to offer in a friendship and find another way to make some friends. Maybe volunteer somewhere, do something that makes your heart smile—like taking an art class or a cooking class or something—instead of being with people who make you cringe,” he said, “especially right now when she finds out that you have recanted your statement.”
She looked at him and said, “But you only have my word for it.”
He picked up his phone and said, “I recorded it. Remember?”
She stared at him in shock, bolted to her feet, and ran from the coffee shop. Of course she would try and recant her confession to him. People were like that. They would tell you the truth until it came back on them. And then they didn’t want to have anything to do with it. He finished his coffee, got up, and slowly walked outside. And he was not at all surprised to see Addie waiting for him at his truck.
“And?” she asked.
“Olive was never attacked, never had any exposure to the War Dog, but she did say how badly your sister treated the dog, including getting blindsided by chair legs and stealing her dog food and then even adding dish soap to the food available to her.” He watched her face as she heard his words.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “Yes, and I’ve got it on tape.”
She shook her head. “I had no idea,” she said. “That poor dog.”
“Sounds to me like Bernie’s suffered enough,” he said. “I’ve got things in motion. I just have to make sure that the manager at the pound does not take things into his own hands.”
“I don’t know if we can trust him,” she said. “I think he’s an old friend of Bernie’s.”
“That’s not good,” he said. “I’ll head back there right now.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said. “I can’t take that chance.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to take the chance either,” he said. “Hopefully, while I’m there, I’ll get word on her fate.”
“I hope so.” She looked at him and said, “I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I,” he said. He hopped into the truck and said, “I’ll meet you there.” He reversed out of the parking lot and headed back to the pound. As he drove, his brother-in-law called him and said, “The governor’s making phone calls.”
“Good,” he said, “let’s hope it’s fast enough. I’ve just been told that the pound manager and the woman who put in the false complaints on the dog are friends.”
“Jesus,” he said, “make sure you get there and save that dog.”
“Oh, I’d like to,” he said, “but I need something official.”
“I’m calling the governor back.” Rodney hung up the phone.
Tucker pulled into the pound, racing up to the front. The receptionist looked at him in surprise. “You back again?”
“Yes, I need to see the dog.”
Right behind him, Addie came in too. Wendy looked at her and then at the two of them and whispered, “I think she’s being put to sleep right now.”
“Buzz us through,” Addie said. “Come on. Hurry, hurry, hurry.” Wendy buzzed the door, and the two of them raced down the hallway to see the manager standing with the gate open, trying to get a hold of the shepherd backed into the corner and growling at him.
“Stop,” Tucker called out.
The manager looked at him and said, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“You need to go answer your damn phone,” he said. “The governor’s calling.”
At that, he stopped and stared. “What are you talking about?”
“This dog’s not being put down,” he said. “That’s what I’m talking about, and nice try on moving the date forward.”
“Hey, we have to pay bills too. I can’t afford to feed her right now,” he said.
“Not an issue anymore.” He slipped past him, stepped into the cage in front of the dog. “She leaves here with me now,” he said. “So you can take this up with the governor on the phone,” he said. “Otherwise you’ve got a fight right now on your hands. If that’s what you want, go for it,” he said. And he stopped and waited.