“And you will even have a scar to show them,” I said, nodding down to his feet dangling in the water. I’d suggested that maybe it wasn’t a great idea to put a new wound in the pool, but he’d claimed that the salt water pool would ‘clean it out.’ “Any idea what kind of gift basket we can get Cato? And maybe Levee too? I have to get them something as a thank-you.”
“A muffin basket hardly seems appropriate,” Myles said, pursing his lips.
“I thought the same thing.”
“You know, if you take your parents up on their offer, we could, like, buy him a fancy new bike or something.”
“That’s true,” I agreed.
I’d always been a little uncomfortable with the idea of “taking over” for my parents when they decided to fully retire. If I were being honest, I’d kind of felt, I don’t know, undeserving. Even though I knew I was a hard worker, and had been listening to my parents talk about all the parts of the family business since I was a kid, so I knew it all inside and out.
But maybe Myles was right. And my parents had made it clear that they were putting off full retirement until I “grew up and took over.”
The two of us could take over, and it would make it possible for me to, I don’t know, get my bigger house on more land and, possibly, even start my own little rescue or senior sanctuary or something.
I loved my job at the shop.
But I’d been there for, like, a decade.
It was enough.
It was time to trust someone else, put them in charge, and move on with my life.
“Speaking of the parentals,” Myles said. “What have you told them about this?”
“What? Nothing,” I said, shaking my head.
“What? Are you serious?”
“I mean… what could I say? ‘Hey Mom and Dad, guess what? I’m being tracked down by gang guys because I stole their dogs’? They’re not like your uncle. They would lose their minds.”
“If it makes you feel any better, Lou had some choice words to give me.”
“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“For not having a more secure door. Or a security system. I guess that is fair, but I’ve never really figured I was in any sort of danger. I’ve already got a system in my cart for when it is safe to go home.”
“I promise I will never put you in danger like this again. You won’t even need it. I swear.”
“Hey, you never know. He’s right. It is better for us to be safe.”
“Send me that link then,” I said, finishing my drink and setting it aside.
“Um, you have the best kind of protection money can’t buy. A hot biker guy on top of you. I should try to get myself one of those.”
“I highly recommend them,” I told him, smiling. “Have I thanked you yet for telling me to go to him instead of the police for help?”
“You have not.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Babe, you can always count on me for pointing you in the direction of a hot guy.”
“That is true.”
“It just works out that this guy is pretty much perfect for you.”
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”