My Chevy Cobalt was old, a high school graduation present from my parents and no longer in production. I wished I had sold it and bought an SUV, but we’d been through a lot together. My first car. Gift from my parents. No more Cobalts on the horizon. Yada yada. Sentiment or not, now it would probably stall if I drove much farther.

Muttering under my breath I ignored my umbrella, useless in the downpour, threw my door open, and stepped out into the puddle and the storm. I dashed back to the car behind me.

Just as I got there the driver opened his door and stepped out.

“Remember me?” This time John Quayle was not smiling. “Does your boyfriend remember me, too?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

For once the next morning, I was glad the girls dawdled. Keeping after them kept me busy, and I had no time to process last night’s dreams or what I intended to do about them this morning.

While they still dragged their feet, Holly no longer acted as if I had no business in her life, and Noelle was almost friendly. I had a surprise for them. After my first nightmare I’d researched YouTube for videos on little girl’s hairstyles. My favorite showed the one-minute variety, which took me closer to five, but that was still an improvement. I put Noelle’s hair in a tight ponytail, wrapped a ribbon around it and crisscrossed it to the bottom where I tied the ribbon in a bow. I sectioned Holly’s hair into something approximating French braids at the side, and fastened everything with an elastic band and barrettes. Since nobody bit me or called me names, the morning was a win.

By the time I came back from school, a tiny woman named Analena, wearing wireless headphones and a charming smile, was patiently waiting at the front door. She cleaned for Gracey Group and assured me that she always did the laundry. I had to restrain myself from sweeping her into a fierce hug.

I left as she came downstairs with sheets and towels in her arms. She’d already informed me she would lock the door behind her when she finished. I had no excuse to hang around.

Today as I headed toward Confidence K-9s, I ignored the designer running gear and wore jeans and a dark green pullover. I wasn’t going to jog past the kennels. I was going to drive my little Civic right up to the parking lot fifty yards from the front building, get out as if I had business there, and ask whoever I happened to see where I could find the owner.

By the time I arrived, my hands were perspiring, and I felt vaguely nauseous. But the moment to see Teo had come and gone a hundred times, and this time if I lost my nerve, my nieces might pay the price.

I’d combed my hair and put on a little lip gloss, which had probably already disappeared, but I didn’t check the mirror. It was too late for major repairs. I got out and started toward the door.