Chasing Stanley

by Martin, Deirdre

  In no hurry to turn on the TV, she circled the room, looking at Tully’s trophies, interspersed with family photos. She realized there were no pictures in her apartment of her with either of her parents, or all three of them together. The thought saddened her, especially when she recalled Jason’s collection of photos of himself and his brother.

  “Thank God I’m not the only one who thinks playing charades is hell.”

  Delilah turned to see a rail-thin, fashionably dressed woman her own age coming toward her, champagne flute in hand.

  “I’m Wendy Dalton.” She covered her mouth as she gave a small burp. “My husband, Burke, plays defense on the first line?”

  She was looking at Delilah as if this explanation of who her husband was should ring a bell.

  “Of course,” Delilah murmured. She had no idea who Burke Dalton was. “I’m Delilah Gould. I’m—Jason Mitchell’s girlfriend.”

  “The new boy in town,” Wendy purred. “Très hot.”

  Delilah felt her cheeks flame, unsure of how to respond. Was she supposed to return the favor and say she thought Burke was hot? What was this woman doing blatantly commenting on Jason’s hotness, anyway?

  Wendy sighed, turning on the TV. “Do you mind? I just need to, like, zone out. All that noise is giving me a headache.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  Delilah joined her on the sectional sofa, stunned at the speed with which Wendy channel surfed. The sound of the party floated down the hallway, mingling with the rapid-fire bursts of TV patter. Behind the wall of sound, Delilah could have sworn she heard a dog barking. She listened hard.

  “Do you hear that?” she asked Wendy.

  Wendy had stopped a moment to peruse an old episode of The Dukes of Hazzard. “Hear what?”

  “A dog.”

  Wendy listened. “No.”

  Delilah frowned with impatience, listening harder. No doubt about it: she heard a dog. Without thinking twice, she got up and unlocked the sliding glass doors of the den, stepping outside into the chill night air. She held her breath, listening again. There it was: a dog howling as if its heart would break. A dog barking in a desperate bid for attention. As if pulled by an invisible force, Delilah moved in the direction of the sound, her feet nearly going out from under her twice as she tiptoed in her not-so-high heels in the frozen grass. She followed the sound to a basement window, crouching to peer inside. A golden retriever puppy was tied with a leash to a pole.

  Delilah stumbled back, breathing hard. She had ceased to feel the cold. She felt only fury, a deep, clenching anger that saw her heading back into the house, searching for the entrance to the basement. She didn’t care who saw her. She climbed down the basement steps, tears pricking her eyes as the puppy spotted her and began to go crazy.

  “It’s okay,” Delilah whispered, coming closer. There was no water bowl in sight. The dog had pooped on the concrete floor. Delilah untied the leash, scooping the puppy up into her arms. The dog yelped happily, licking Delilah’s face. Delilah checked her dog tag. Her name was Marnie. “That’s a good girl,” Delilah whispered, kissing the top of her small, silky head. “C’mon. Let’s take you outside.”

  Delilah carried the puppy upstairs and back into den. Wendy Dalton’s eyes went wide with surprise.

  “What a cutie!” she exclaimed as Delilah hustled toward the sliding glass doors. “How long have you had her?”

  “She’s not mine,” Delilah said over her shoulder curtly. “Though she should be.”

  Outside, the puppy relieved itself in the grass, then tried trotting off, straining at the leash, seeking adventure. Delilah let her explore a bit to work off some of her energy, but it quickly became too cold for Delilah to remain outside without a coat. Delilah scooped the puppy back up and reentered the den. Tully and his wife were standing there, along with Jason.

  Jason cleared his throat nervously. “Wendy Dalton said, um, you commandeered a puppy?”

  “Commandeered? Saved, is more like it.” Delilah tried to keep her voice from shaking as she approached Tully. “I found your dog in the basement. Tied up. With no water. She was crying her head off. But I guess you couldn’t hear it because you were so busy with your paar-tay.”

  “Delilah.” Jason started toward her cautiously, as if she were some rabid animal he was fearful might attack. Delilah turned to him angrily.

  “I’ll be done in just one minute.” She took a step closer to Tully. “How would you like it if someone tied you up with no water? How would you like it if you had to poop on the floor?”

  “Delilah,” Jason hissed.

  Delilah ignored him. “Marnie isn’t a toy. She’s a living, breathing creature with feelings and needs and rights. If it’s too much of a hassle for you to care for her properly, I’ll gladly take her off your hands.”

  “No!” Tully’s wife cried. “We love her!” She turned to her husband accusingly. “I thought you gave her water.” Tully’s wife held out her arms, sniffling with tears.

  Delilah reluctantly handed over the puppy. Tully’s wife disappeared with her down the hall. Delilah blinked, waiting for her anger to abate. It didn’t. In fact, if she had to spend one more minute in the house of someone who mistreated their animal, she was going lose her mind.

  “I’d like to leave now,” she said to Jason quietly.

  Jason looked down at the carpet. “Go ahead. I’ll catch a ride back to the city with someone else.”

  “Fine, then.” Delilah swallowed, holding out a quivering hand. “I need my keys, please.”

  Jason pulled the keys out of his front pocket and handed them over to her without a word.

  Delilah’s fingers closed around them tightly. Here was her escape. Just a few more seconds, and she’d be free. She made herself look at Tully.

  “Thank you for inviting us to your party,” she said stiffly.

  “Yeah, it’s been a blast,” Tully muttered as he turned away.

  Delilah nodded mutely, blindly moving through the living room and heading for the front door. It wasn’t until she was halfway down the Websters’ front walk that she realized she’d been expecting Jason to run after her, apologize, beseech her to stay, anything. He didn’t.

  CHAPTER 24

  Jason spent New Year’s Day nursing a slight hangover, halfheartedly watching a football game on TV and wondering what to do about Delilah.

  He couldn’t believe she’d morphed into the Canine Crusader at a New Year’s Eve party being held by one of his teammates, for chrissakes. She’d embarrassed Tully, embarrassed him, and embarrassed herself. Jason couldn’t wait for the clock to hit midnight so he could get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, he was at the mercy of the Fontaines, who’d offered to drive him back to the city. They didn’t leave the party until three a.m. By that time, Jason’s eyes were falling out of his head.

  A disturbing thought lodged itself in his brain: he loved Delilah, but right now she felt like a liability. Bad enough he’d whaled on Denny and caused a hairline fracture in team morale, even though Denny had it coming. But this incident could turn Tully against him, and that he didn’t need.

  Walking into the locker room for the first time since Christmas break, Jason felt a sense of excitement growing within him. The Blades were going into the second half of the season sitting first in their division. If they maintained their level of play, they’d make it into the playoffs without breaking a sweat, and would have home ice advantage for most of the playoffs. Jason pictured himself joyously skating the Cup around the ice at Met Gar.

  Standing in front of his locker, he stripped off his clothes and was beginning to suit up, when Burke Dalton passed behind him.

  “Woof, woof, woof,” Burke barked loudly. A couple of the guys in the locker room sniggered.

  “Bowwow,” someone else growled from the shower area.

  “You in the doghouse or what, bro?” Thad Meyers asked, suppressing a smirk.

  Jason ignored them and continued dressing. Fucking Tully. He obviously
told them everything. Jason knew they were just ribbing him. But that didn’t mean it didn’t piss him off.

  “What’d you do yesterday, Jace?” asked Ulf Torkelson, pulling his sweater over his head. “Watch 101 Dalmations with your girlfriend?”

  Barry Fontaine snorted. “I bet you like to do it doggy style, huh, buddy?”

  “Fuck you, you assholes,” Jason muttered, donning his cross.

  “Oooowwwwoooohhhh,” howled Denny O’Malley. The rest of the team joined in, baying like a pack of wolves.

  Jaw clenched, Jason said nothing as he sat down to lace up his skates. He could feel his blood rising, but was determined not to lash out. Instead, he’d take his desire to pummel them and use it on the ice.

  And then he’d go talk to Delilah.

  “ I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

  There, it was done. Delilah had been rehearsing that one simple sentence for two days, practicing different facial expressions and intonations. Sometimes, depending on her mood, the sentence came out angry; other times she’d start getting teary. In the end, she knew the only way she’d get through it was to say it simply. But Delilah being Delilah, it came out as a blurt.

  Jason, who’d had the courtesy this time to call ahead rather than just show up at her apartment, stared at her incredulously. “You’re breaking up with me?”

  Delilah nodded.

  “That’s ironic. Because I’m here to break up with you.”

  “I guess I beat you to the punch.”

  Delilah watched him slowly sink down on her couch in disbelief. Despite maintaining her regular routine with Stanley, she hadn’t seen Jason since New Year’s Eve. She’d wept all the way back to Manhattan, not only for that poor little puppy, but for herself. She wasn’t the right girlfriend for Jason. He needed someone outgoing like he was, someone who liked playing charades and going around in a pack. Delilah’s definition of “pack” was limited strictly to dogs.

  Harder still to admit was that Jason might not be the right guy for her. She loved his adoration of Stanley, and his sense of humor, and his unabashed enthusiasm for what he did. But Delilah needed someone who’d let her just be.

  “Why are you breaking up with me?” Jason asked quietly.

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “I asked you first.”

  Delilah toyed nervously with her left earring, avoiding his eye. “Because I don’t think I can make you happy.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Why were you going to break up with me?”

  Jason looked pained. “Same reason.” He paused. “You really embarrassed me at the New Year’s Eve party. Tearing into Tully like that? It was wrong.”

  “He tied his dog up in the basement!”

  “So, you should have come to find me, and then I could have dealt with Tully diplomatically. You should think before you speak, Delilah.”

  “And you should think before you act, Jason. You just assumed it was okay to show up here at Christmas, or RSVP a New Year’s party without checking with me first.”

  “I guess we’re both guilty, then,” Jason murmured unhappily.

  “Yes.” Delilah’s eyes began filling. “We just don’t work, do we?”

  “No.” Jason looked miserable. “I wish we did.”

  “So do I,” Delilah choked. She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t help it. “I tried. I really did.”

  Jason had turned his face from hers. “I know you did,” he agreed hoarsely. “And so did I. But some things . . .”

  He turned back to put a comforting hand on Delilah’s shoulder as she wept, but she gently rebuffed him. “I know you mean well, but please, don’t make it harder than it already is.”

  Jason nodded, rising from the couch. “I should probably go.”

  “Okay,” Delilah said numbly, swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “What are we going to do about Stanley?”

  “What do you mean?” Delilah snuffled. “I’ll still walk him and board him as usual—unless you don’t want me to.”

  “Of course I want you to. I just thought, you know, you might not want to.”

  “Just because we don’t work doesn’t mean I don’t want to take care of your dog.” An escaped tear trickled down Delilah’s cheek. “I love Stanley. You know that.”

  “And he loves you.”

  “It’s a nonissue, then.”

  “Good.” Jason’s hands looked shaky as he zipped up his jacket. “Delilah.”

  “What?”

  “Thanks for, you know, the good times we did have.”

  Delilah squeezed her eyes shut. “You, too.” Go, she thought. Please go now before I lose it in front of you completely.

  “Okay, then. Bye.”

  Delilah held her breath, waiting for the sound of the door closing. When it came, she exhaled hard and forced open her eyes, hoping to release the pain gripping her body. It didn’t work. She let herself cry, finding an odd comfort in the knowledge that at least she and Jason had been kind to one another and hadn’t gone for the jugular the way her parents would have. Eventually she sought solace in the best way she knew how: sinking down on her knees, she called her three dogs to her, hugging each of them before kissing their furry heads and rubbing their warm, soft bellies. At least she’d never have to let them go because their personalities were so different. For that, Delilah was grateful.

  “You broke up with Delilah? To quote that great philosopher, Bugs Bunny, ‘What a maroon!’ ”

  Jason stared at his brother, debating whether to throttle him within an inch of his life. Leaving Delilah’s apartment, Jason expected to be swept away on a tide of relief. Instead, he felt sick and hollow. After walking Stanley, he’d headed directly to Eric’s, seeking companionship as well as confirmation that his intent to break up with her had been correct. Never in a million years would he tell Eric that Delilah severed ties first. He’d never live it down.

  “Excuse me, but aren’t you Dr. Love, the man who told me for months I was a jackass to tie myself down? The fellow hockey player who claimed my play sucked because I was in a relationship?”

  “That’s before I really got to know the lady in question,” Eric replied coolly. “Plus—let’s be honest here—you always suck out on the ice.”

  Jason looked at the ceiling and counted to three. “No matter what I say or do, you’re always going to say the opposite, aren’t you? Just to break my balls.”

  Eric snorted. “You’re just figuring this out?”

  “For once in your life, could you stop being a dick and maybe act like a real brother?”

  Eric actually looked wounded. “I act like a real brother! Who covered your ass when you couldn’t make that brunch? Who found you your apartment before you moved to New York?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.”

  “What is it you want me to say that I’m not saying?” Eric asked as he tossed Jason some bottled water from the fridge.

  “I don’t know.” Jason sank down on Eric’s La-Z-Boy, his brother’s pride and joy. He couldn’t believe how freakin’ miserable he felt. “Tell me it was the right thing to do. Especially after the New Year’s Eve debacle.”

  “I can’t tell you that,” Eric said matter-of-factly. “I’m not the one in love with her. You are.”

  “Help me out here, you schmuck.”

  Eric sighed. “Okay. I like Delilah a lot. I think she’s great, and any woman who can deal with that drool machine you call a dog has got to be something special. But you jumped into it too fast, and now you’re seeing the error of your ways. And yeah, I do think it was affecting your play, okay? So it’s probably better you took the express route to Splitsville.”

  “Right.” Jason wasn’t sure he agreed, but it sounded good. Rational.

  “Does it suck that you probably devastated her and the next time we see her, she’ll turn and walk the other way? Or perhaps kick you in the crown jewels? Yes.”

  “See, that’s the thing. I’m wo
rried it’s going to be weird with her still taking care of Stanley. You know—awkward.”

  “It might be. But what are you going to do? Start looking for another dog minder?”

  “I don’t really have time.” And I don’t really want to, Jason added in his head. He couldn’t imagine anyone taking care of Stanley with the same love and attention as Delilah.

  “You’ll just have to deal, then. It’s over and done now, bro. Just let it go.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Just don’t tell Mom. You’ll break her heart.”

  “Shit.” Jason tilted back in the recliner, half expecting a dentist to appear to tell him to rinse. “I totally forgot about Mom.”

  “She loved Delilah. I mean, loved her. You tell Mom you gave her the heave-ho, and she’ll probably cut you out of the will.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Yeah, like Mom and Dad are rolling in it,” said Eric dryly. “When the time comes, you and I are going to be divvying up livestock, not dollars.”

  “You got that right.” Jason glanced around Eric’s apartment. For a guy whose taste was clearly in his mouth, he’d done an okay job decorating. Unlike Jason’s place, it looked like someone actually lived here. Well, now that he and Delilah were history, he’d have more free time to do things like shop for furnishings, right? Even better, he’d have time to just hang with his buddies—no guilt, no restrictions, no worrying about someone else’s schedule or preferences. He was definitely better off flying solo right now. Definitely.

  “You got practice tomorrow?” Jason suddenly asked his brother.

  “No. Why?”

  Jason’s feet returned to the floor. “I don’t, either. Let’s go out tonight and get shitfaced.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Late April