Read The Kiss Off for Free Online Page B

are worried sick about him.”
    “He doesn’t have a collar or anything, I bet he doesn’t have a family,” Rory said.
    “He does seem like a stray, Mom,” I said. “I mean I tried to get him to stop and wait, and lie down, he couldn’t even sit. He has like, no training,”
    “Well we’ll find that out when we take him to the pound tomorrow,” Mom said. Dad walked in with a steaming bowl of vegetables in his oven mitted hands.
    “No buts, Rory!”
    “We could be his family,” Bex said.
    “Becka-”
    “Yeah, we could! He could be our dog!”
    “Rory-”
    The phone started ringing and Dad headed back to the kitchen as Mom started dishing out the vegetables. She gave Rory an extra big helping of broccoli.
    “Poppy, can you go and get the chicken while your dad’s on the phone?”
    I pushed out my chair and followed Dad into the kitchen where I could hear him talking as he walked toward the study for some quiet. But that was all I could hear. I mean, sure, I could hear Mom talking to Rory and telling him how we couldn’t keep the dog, but I couldn’t hear the dog. There was no barking, no howling, no nothing. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw the roast chicken sitting on a serving platter, ready for the dining table. On the bench behind the platter, were two big shaggy paws, and a head leaning forward, eyeing off our dinner. His black nose was shiny and wet and twitching as he sniffed it all up, took in the scent of our dinner.
    What was supposed to be our dinner.
    What I hoped was still our dinner.
    I pointed my finger at the dog, and stood perfectly still. “No!” I said. He opened his mouth and stuck half the chicken inside, closing his jaws around it.
    “No, stop it!” I yelled as we both ran forward. “Let go, let go you mongrel!” The mutt pushed off the bench and as I ran around to the left, the dog ran around to the right. I heard chairs in the dining room scrape back and I chased the dog around and around the kitchen counter. The next thing I knew, Mom, Rory and Bex were crowding in the doorway, yelling.
    “Our dinner!” Bex said. Rory’s mouth dropped open, his eyes wide with wonder. He didn’t say anything, just grinned at the whole debacle in delight.
    “Jesus!” Mom yelled. “Sit! Drop. Down. Roll over. Stop!”
    “My chicken!” Dad said as he walked back into the kitchen, confronted with the chaos. The dog zoomed past me toward the back door. The door that was ajar which he had clearly come through in the first place. Using the half of the chicken that was sticking out of his mouth and his nose, the dog nudged the door open enough to scurry through and he was gone, away into the dark backyard.
    We all stood there in silence. In disbelieving silence.
    “First thing in the morning, people,” Mom said. “First thing in the morning that thing is going to the pound.”
    Dad stared at the windows at the darkness where his chicken was no doubt being devoured or buried for later. His shoulders slumped in disappointment and with a sigh, he walked over to the oven and turned it off. I hoped our dinner burnt the stupid dog’s tongue.
    Dad pulled his car keys from his pocket. “So how does pizza sound?”
    After pulling Dad’s blue soccer-mom-mobile into a space in front of Luigi’s Pizza, he handed me a couple of notes and I climbed out, heading toward the red neon signage which hung over the plate glass windows and door. It looked pretty busy in there tonight and I joined the short queue at the counter, perusing Soccer memorabilia on the walls, the framed red and black shirt and team logo for AC Milan.
    I stepped up to the counter and was greeted by a man with curly black hair and flour on his cheek. “ Buonasera bella signorina ,” he said with a smile. Not that I knew Italian, but I knew what ‘bella’ meant.
    I smiled back. “Hi, I’m here to pick up pizzas for Douglas.”
    “ Si. Una momento. ”
    As I stepped out of the way of the next customer, I bumped straight into