I felt my chest lighten at her words, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my chest.
“So if I promise to kick that habit, you’ll give me what I want?” I asked, confirming her words.
“Do you promise to never say a word about how much ice cream I eat on a daily basis?” she asked.
“Promise,” I teased. “I’ll never comment.”
“One more thing,” she said.
“Okay…” I waited for her to ask.
“Is your family the type of family that runs races on holiday mornings, or is it the type of family that drinks mimosas?”Chapter 12
Skaweeeeeee reweeeerrt bedong beedong tschchchchchc.
-Dial up internet.
Dillan
“It’ll be okay, Delanie,” I said into my phone. “I promise. The doctor didn’t seem at all worried about it. The appointment is set with the specialist, and we did it for Thursday, so you should be able to get there in time.”
She made a non-committal sound in the back of her throat.
“Shit,” she said. “I’m just… terrified. Migraines aren’t that bad, right?”
I wouldn’t know. I’d never had them.
I’d been blessed, because I’d heard that they were god-awful.
Not that I would be telling Delanie that.
“Ummm,” I hesitated, not wanting to lie to my sister, but not wanting for her to worry while she was all the way in Austin. “I don’t know.”
She sighed. “I love you, Dill Pickle.”
“I love you, too, Delanie Weenie.”
She laughed. “One day you’ll come up with a good one.”
One day I would.
Delanie had nothing that rhymed with her name, and nothing that went cutely with it like ‘Dill Pickle’ did.
One day she would be right, and I’d find the perfect one.
Until then, I would just keep making up random ones that didn’t.
“I gotta go. Bourne needs to use the bathroom,” she whispered. “Bye.”
I frowned.
Hadn’t they gotten two hotel rooms?
Just as I was about to call her ass back and demand answers, my phone buzzed.
Thinking it would be Delanie, I immediately tapped through to the message.
I looked down at the text, first seeing who it’d come from.
Laric: Bobo was hit by a car. We were at the rest stop between Kilgore and Souls Chapel when I opened the back door and he bolted. He ran in front of a truck and the truck clipped him. He’s at the emergency vet on 59. I was hoping that you could go check on him over the next few days. I can’t stay with him because I have eight other dogs at home. They’re too volatile on their own to stay by themselves. I was hoping you could help.
I had a long moment of wondering A, how the man got my number and B, how the man’s number got into my phone. But I dismissed both of them as soon as I thought about poor Bobo, the dog that saved my life.
I immediately replied.
Dillan: I’ll go check on him. Is he going to be okay?
Laric: Yes. Thanks.
That was it. Two words.
I immediately looked at my watch and sighed.
I still had two hours to go. Visiting hours for the emergency vet hospital didn’t open until eight, meaning I needed to find something to occupy my time.
I decided to fill the space cleaning up Booth’s place.
I started with the kitchen, and by the time that I wound back to the living room, it was time for me to leave.
I bit my lip, wondering if I should inform Booth of my whereabouts, but chose to wait.
He wouldn’t be too mad… right?
***
Booth
“Something happen to your brother’s dog?” Dax asked.
I frowned and looked up from my mountain of paperwork to the big man heading into the room. Dax was looking kind of rough.
Then again, after another fuckin’ sleepless night, it wasn’t surprising that he was looking rough.
I was just wondering what he was still doing here. At least he was caught up on all of his paperwork.
I’d been getting behind lately what with SWAT calls galore, Asa getting sick and forcing me to head home before I’d done any paperwork, and then there was Dillan.
Needless to say, being forced to go in early on a Saturday after spending four hours at a SWAT call this morning just wasn’t my happiest moment.
I looked at my watch and checked the time.
Eight minutes past eight.
“Not that I know of,” I admitted. “My parents have Asa, and I’m fairly sure that I would’ve heard first thing if Asa knew. He didn’t say anything on our phone call first thing this morning.”
Apparently while my dad had Asa after Dillan’s big ordeal, it’d been decided that Asa would be spending the weekend at my parents’ place.
Meanwhile, that gave me a full weekend of uninterrupted Dillan time.
Only, SWAT calls never waited for convenience. And since I didn’t want to wake Dillan up on her first day of vacation, I’d chosen to come here, finish up as fast as I could, and head back home.