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what.”
    “For
being the bestest best friend that ever there lived?”
    I
laugh. “For that and for accepting us both. For treating Spence the way a blood
relative would.” I roll my eyes. “Well, not my blood of course, because they’re
a bunch of assholes, but you know what I mean.”
    “Honey,
we may not be related by blood, but the two of you are more family to me than
any living relative I have left. I adore you both. Now get outta here; I got a
Marine to train.”
    I
cock my head in confusion. “You’re really going to put him through more
training tonight?”
    “Hell
yes I am. I can’t have my dogs out there jumping up on people and giving my
program a bad name. That boy might have a rough exterior, but he’s nothing but
gooey goodness inside—you can see it in his eyes. And he’s spoiling that pooch.”
    “You
can? See it in his eyes I mean?” The only thing I ever got from staring in Jake
Tucker’s eyes was damp panties. I’d wager there was nothing soft about that
man. Not after the way he gripped my wrist the other day at the salon. But I
hadn’t told Olivia about that. I wasn’t sure why, when I’d told her everything
else. I guess I just didn’t want her to blame him.
    “Oh,
Ellie, you’ve been out of the game for far too long.”
    “Okay
Cupid, I’m out of here before you force me to become part of this training.”
    She
grins, flashing her perfect white teeth at me, her blue eyes twinkling with
delight. “Now there’s an idea.”
    “Goodnight,
Olivia,” I say, and close the door firmly behind me.
    When
I reach the kennels, Spencer isn’t there. My heart beats a little faster,
because he has a tendency to wander off. Stupid . I shouldn’t have left
him alone but I thought he’d stay put what with the pups being there for him to
watch. I call his name as I walk through the kennels and back to the main
building for the shelter. I head around the side, hoping that maybe he went out
to the car to wait for me but when I get to the small lot, he’s nowhere to be
found.
    “Spencer?”
I shout, setting off a whole pound’s worth of pups baying and barking at the
noise.
    “What’s
wrong?” Olivia says, as she comes tearing out of the building.
    I
rake my hand through my hair. “Spencer’s gone walkabout again.”
    “Shoot.”
    “I
should have thought . . . I just . . . he was watching the puppies, so I came
inside.”
    “It’s
okay, honey,” she says, rubbing her hands up and down my arms. “We’ll find him.
He can’t have gone far.”
    I
just look at my friend, because we both know that’s not true. It’s not unusual
for ASD kids to just up and vanish, and Spencer wanders off at the best of
times. The last time he did it here, we found him thirty minutes later walking
up Main Street half way to Montrose.
    Jake
comes out of the main building, followed by a smug Eloise. He takes one look at
me and his whole body goes ramrod straight. His gaze scans the scene around us.
“Elle, what’s wrong?”
    “Spencer’s
missing.” I try to keep the panic from my voice, but I fail miserably.
    “You
three check the property,” Olivia says. “I’m going to jump in the car and drive
down the laneway, see if I can’t find him there.”
    I
nod.
    “Don’t
worry, well find him,” Jake says, and heads past the kennels toward Olivia’s
house farther back on the property while I run toward the training ring. He
isn’t there. I rack my brain, trying to figure out where he could have gone
before I remember that Olivia sometimes sneaks him cookies when he comes to
visit. I take off for the house imagining all the terrible things I might find
when I get there, but Jake Tucker standing on my best friend’s porch and
telling me to hush as I approach isn’t one of them.
    “Did
you find him?” I demand, wondering why he isn’t talking to me. I take the porch
steps two at a time, and all the breath leaves me in a rush when I see my son
and Jake’s dog, passed out on the loveseat with