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I found a spot on the street to leave the Caddy and bolted up and down the side streets calling both the dog’s name and the woman’s I was out of breath by the ti up the opposite side of the street frohtweight sleepwear she earing thisbut a pair of flip-flops on her feet Obviously, she hadn’t been planning on keeping the dog out long and whatever had distracted her into letting go of that leash must have been pretty serious I hoped like hell it wasn’t so her path on the sidewalk, because if that was the case, she hadfroht

I rushed across the street and wrapped my arms around her as she immediately threw herself into ainst the front of my T-shirt where ot soaked through from her tears I palmed the back of her head as her lithe fraainstwould be okay in her ear I needed to get her soet you inside so you can warm up I’ll look for Happy until the sun comes up if I have to He’s tiny, he couldn’t have made it very far"

She shook her head back and forth, her entire bodyas sobs ripped fro that loves o"

I didn’t understand what that ht frame of mind to have a heart-to-heart about it "Honey, you’re freezing You have to go inside"

She pulled her head back from where it was burrowed into me and blinked up at me "I have to find Happy"

"You will, but you won’t do hi at each other for a long ti to rief and trapped by whatever had started this mess in the first place I didn’t have a coat since I was still wearingI could do to waret her to move was to hold her close and cradle her in my arms like she was a baby I knew if she hadn’t been lost in the throes of her meltdown, she would protest because there was no part of her that wasn’t touchingher thin legs up into my arms and marched with her back to her apart her across the threshold on our wedding night She was so light, barely any kind of burden inuntil the day I died if it would give her the sustenance she obviously needed

When I rounded the corner of the block where her apart was located, I almost dropped her when I saw a furry little blur dart around the side of her building There was nothat brindled coat or the excited way the puppy h he was just a baby, he obviously knehere ho

I put Poppy on her feet by the front door and told her I would be right back I hated to leave her in the state she was in but I figured the best way to snap her out of it was to get the puppy back in her arms, whole and healthy

Happy thought ere playing a garab hirand old tiured out if I crouched down on uy would co for his head pats and tummy rubs When I scooped him up I couldn’t believe the wave of relief that washed over ether because I didn’t want Poppy to see how upset I had been She was already a ot back to the front of the building she predictably lost her rasp She started crying in earnest again and couldn’t seeht, waved her off as she babbled her thanks over and over again, and felt my heart squeeze as Happy tried to burrow into her chest the way she had burrowed into mine

Now more than dead on my feet, I decided I was done for the day I needed a few hours of shut-eye and I needed to know both irl were safe The only way to accomplish all of that was to pile all of us into the same bed I didn’t know if Poppy was ready for that yet, but I was too tired to ask I picked her up, Happy delighted to be in her arled close I ed along until I found her bedroom with no help or protest from her

I set her on the bed, pulled off her flip-flops, and bent to tug off my boots I didn’t want to crawl into her bed with my dirty coveralls but I didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with another emotional breakdown once she realized she was in bed with a half-naked man

I pulled her to me so that her back was plastered to my chest I rested ainstMy eyes drifted shut as I felt her press htenedto her hair It had been a long day but I would do it all over a hundred le coht now

Poppy

Most nights I woke up shaking and frozen all the way down towarm and safe, not to mention rested and refreshed I blinked my eyes and waited for the inin front ofI wrinkledinto bed and I definitely didn’t reht of a heavily tattooed arm locked firmly around my waist

I waited for the panic I anticipated the terror and the anxiety that would typically rise up and choke me when I fully realized I wasn’t, that there was adeep and even I expected my skin to crawl,I predicted the fear that would paralyze me and render me helpless … but none of it came I was still rattled and unsettled from the phone call that had blindsided me and caused s I thought I would feel when I ended up in bed with a ain were nowhere to be found and I was pretty sure it was because it was this ht not know if I could trust ment, but when led up ininside of me decided it could trust Hudson Wheeler All my barricades tumbled down and crumbled the instant he showed up to take care of h when the past showed up with its gnashing teeth and inescapable grasp I didn’t keep the pain from him … I welcomed him inside of it with open arms and let him take the brunt of some of it