Ignite

The doorbell rang as I got up and made my way to the bus door. It was probably Waldo giving us an update. He knew I didn’t watch anything to do with the race on TV. From day one I thought it would be bad luck, so I didn’t listen to what they were saying as they talked pre-race shit.

Opening the door, I smiled. Adaline was standing there with an umbrella over her head as the rain came down steadily. “Hey. I had to ask which one was your bus. You’ve gotten a different one.”

My smile faded some as I nodded. “Yeah, well a lot of things are different now.”

Adaline’s face fell as she asked, “May I come in?”

“Um, yeah but Robert’s here and—”

Robert pushed past me and waved to Adaline. “Hey, Adaline! Great seeing you again. I’m headed back to the hauler, Emmit. See ya later.”

Slowly shaking my head, I shot daggers at my so-called best friend.

Lola barked and Adaline let out a gasp. “Oh, my gosh. There’s a dog!”

“Always were observant, Adaline.”

Adaline shot me a dirty look as she slowly nodded. “Well anyway, I’m sorry Robert ran off. I’ll let him know he can come back.”

Adaline turned and walked off as I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed under my breath. “Fuck!” I hissed through my teeth. Stepping out into the rain, I called for her. “Adaline, wait. I’m sorry, if you want to come in, you’re more than welcome to.”

Turning around slowly, Adaline raised an eyebrow. “Anyone else in there?”

I didn’t even care I was getting wet. “Like who?” I asked with a confused look.

With a shrug, Adaline walked back over to me and started up the steps as I stepped back in and told Lola to sit. Adaline stepped into my bus and looked around as her eyes widened in surprise as she glanced back toward the bedroom. “Oh, I don’t know, Cookie maybe?”

Holy living hell. Adaline was jealous.

Choosing to ignore her reference to Cookie, I said, “Ashley and her two friends are hanging out in the hauler.”

“Oh,” Adaline said, barely above a whisper.

I took her umbrella and shook it out as I placed it by the door. Lola quickly made her way over to Adaline. Instead of doing what she normally did, rollover and demand a belly rub, she jumped up on Adaline.

“Oh, my!” Adaline said as she took a hold of Lola.

“Lola! No, that’s a bad girl. Time out!” Lola jumped back down and ran back into the bedroom and jumped on the bed where she promptly began to pout.

“Wow. That’s impressive. She must be really smart,” Adaline said as she sat down on the tan leather sofa.

I sat across from her and smiled as I looked at Lola. Damn I loved that dog. “She is, but we also spend a lot of time together. I worked hard on training her when I first got her.”

Adaline looked directly at me as our eyes met. “Oh.” Adjusting in her seat, she asked. “Um, how old is she?”

“One tomorrow.”

Adaline smiled. “Did you get her a birthday present?”

My heart slammed against my chest as Adaline talked about Lola. Nodding, I said, “Yes.”

Looking away, she said, “Good.” Adaline glanced around my bus as her knee bounced nervously. “So, wow. You got a new bus.”

Looking around, I nodded. “Yep. About a year after you um . . . well, after you started school. I started making pretty good money, so I upgraded.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“Want to see all of it? I mean there’s really only the living room here, the kitchen, the bedroom, bathroom and the closets.”