“Don’t,” Mrs. Levesque said, “we don’t know him. He could be…”
“He’s very friendly,” Arlene interrupted. “Trust me, that one’s a lover, not a fighter.”
Billy’s eyes misted over, as he watched Timmy and the dog instantly fall in love.
Arlene sighed heavily, as if to say “another mission accomplished.”
“I want this one,” Timmy squealed. “Can we get this one?”
Mr. and Mrs. Levesque looked at each other. “Are you sure that’s the one?” Mr. Levesque asked. “He’s a big boy and I’m guessing he’s only going to get bigger.”
Timmy never looked up, but remained locked onto the dog’s eyes. “He’s the one,” he said, as much to himself as to anyone else. “He’s definitely the one.”
He sure is, Billy thought.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Levesque nodded. “Fine,” his dad said. “He’s the one then.”
Timmy looked up at Arlene. “Does he have a name?” he asked.
“Whatever name you give him,” she said. “I’ve been calling him Romeo, but that’s only because I have a crush on the big flirt.”
Everyone laughed. Timmy studied the dog for a few moments. “I think I’ll name him Buck,” he said.
Billy joined the boy and the dog on the floor. “If you take good care of Buck,” he told Timmy, “you won’t believe how well he’ll take care of you.” Billy had said it with such conviction that everyone stared at him.
Timmy nodded and Billy could tell the boy was going to. Billy looked up at Arlene and, from her smile, he thought, She must be thinking the same thing.
Billy stood and smiled at the boy’s parents. “Great choice, Mr. and Mrs. Levesque,” he said. “You guys really picked a good one.” Suddenly, Billy felt overwhelmed with a sense of love and purpose, confirming what he already knew. This is very important work, he told himself.
Mr. Levesque nodded proudly. “We wanted to teach Timmy some responsibility. He’s at that age where he needs to think about others rather than just himself all the time.”
Mrs. Levesque grinned, nodding in agreement. “And hopefully, Buck will look after him…help protect him, you know?”
Billy nodded. “Oh, you’ll get all of that and so much more,” he promised. “Trust me, Buck’s going to help you raise your boy just like Jimmy helped raise…” He stopped, a pang of guilt ripping through him, leaving him speechless.
Arlene nodded and took over where Billy had left off. “Buck sure is,” she said.
The parents smiled politely, clearly not convinced it was even possible.
Billy nodded, his mind still locked on Jimmy. “Just wait and see,” he muttered, beating back the tears.
As the Levesques completed the paperwork and made their donation to the shelter, Arlene offered her parting words. “We recommend you feed Buck what he’s been eating here, so that you can ease the transition.” She handed them a five pound bag, which Billy knew they could hardly spare. “After Buck settles in, you’ll need to talk with your veterinarian about switching him to the food of your choice.”
They nodded gratefully and, as they prepared to leave, Billy got to the floor once more. This time, he spoke directly to the dog. “Watch over Timmy…the whole family,” he said, “and love them as much as they’re going to love you.” He kissed the dog’s forehead, causing a few surprised faces. “Now go do your job, Buck.”
Arlene provided the family with a “go home packet,” including behavior and animal care information which she handed to each adoptive family. Due to understaffing and lack of funding, there just wasn’t enough time to provide verbal instructions and tips.
Once the family left, Arlene stared at Billy for a few seconds, a giant smile covering her kind face.
“What?” Billy asked.
She nodded. “Have I ever told you that hiring you here was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made?”
Billy half shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
She chuckled. “Well, I just did,” she said.
“Thank you,” Billy said, blushing slightly.
She nodded. “You’re welcome,” she said. “Now get over yourself and get back to work. Those new dogs still need help socializing.”
Although he laughed, as Billy prepared to return to his chores, his mind and heart remained with Jimmy. It’s been too long since I’ve been there for you, buddy, and I’m sorry, he told the dog in his thoughts. But I’ll make it up to you, I promise.
When Jimmy had left the job at the animal shelter, there was even less time for him and Billy to spend together. Although the old mutt seemed to make the most of every moment they shared—and was always there for Billy, even when he was being pushed aside—Billy knew it wasn’t enough. The irony was that Jimmy was just too old and tired to hang out with all the yapping puppies and whining strays. But in the end, Billy thought, it’s Jimmy who’s been neglected.
After the successful adoption, Arlene sighed. “Finally, an empty cage,” she said.
Three minutes later, the avocado door’s buzzer echoed through the building and Billy opened the door. A frazzled woman walked in, being pulled by a small Tazmanian Devil on a leash. It was a Jack Russell terrier mix that looked like he was fired up on an overdose of caffeine. With desperation in her face, the weary woman looked Arlene square in the eye and confessed, “I just can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Arlene took a deep breath and held it. “What’s his name?” she asked, exhaling.
Still trying to hold the leash—like a kite caught in a hurricane wind—the woman managed, “Spaz.”
Arlene chuckled. “Of course it is,” she said, turning to Billy. “Can you go make sure we have a clean room for the Spaz?”
Trying to contain his laughter, Billy nodded. “I’m on it,” he said. “I’ll go clean out Buck’s cage.”
Billy had just finished preparing the cage in the back when Arlene approached, doing all she could to hold on to the squirming terrier mix. He faced his mentor and took a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question, Arlene?”
“Anything,” she said, managing to get the whirling dog into his temporary home, “you know that.”
Billy nodded gratefully. “What do you do when you really want to achieve something, but you’re not sure if you’re capable of pulling it off?”
“Not capable of pulling it off?” she asked, locking the cage door. “Are we talking about college?”
He nodded. “Something like that,” he admitted.
She smiled. “Knowing you’ll wake up one morning, Billy, ten years from today, ask yourself, ‘Where do I want to be? Who do I want to be?’ Start working toward that goal and on that morning, when you awaken, smile. You can do anything, Billy. With your mind and heart, you can become whatever your dreams can imagine.”
“Do you really believe that?” he asked.
“Of course I do,” she said, chuckling. “How do you think I ended up working here?”
“Fair enough,” he said, smiling.
⁕
Billy walked from the animal shelter to Nick’s Pizza, which was much closer than walking home. Before he reached Nick’s, he called in a take-out order for a small cheese pizza—to be delivered to his house.
When the delivery boy headed toward his car, Billy approached him. “Hey, do you mind if I hitch a ride with you?”
“Can’t,” the pimply-faced kid said, “I have a delivery right now.”
Billy smiled. “Yeah, I know. That pizza’s going to my house.”
The kid laughed. “Then jump in,” he said.
As they headed up the road, Billy thought, This isn’t a bad deal for a three dollar tip. He smiled. And a hell of a lot better than jumping aboard Mrs. Jacobs’ crazy train again. His cell phone rang. He looked down at the neon blue window. It’s Vicki. He answered it. “
Hi babe.”
The pizza delivery driver looked over at him and smiled.
“Hey sexy,” Vicki said, “when am I going to see you again? I know you must be tired from working so many long hours, but I already miss you like crazy.”
Billy grinned. It was great to hear her voice, as well as her message. “Soon,” he whispered. “I miss you too.” In a world that could get dark very quickly, Vicki was a constant ray of sunshine.
Listening in, the young driver continued to wear his daffy smile.
“Is everything okay?” Vicki asked. “You seem distant, like there’s something bothering you.”
“I’m fine,” he whispered, suddenly picturing Charlie’s face.
“I’m here to listen if you need to talk,” she said. “You can tell me anything, you know.”
I wish that were true, he thought, her considerate tone making him feel even worse. “I know,” he said, looking over at the grinning delivery boy, “but I’m getting a ride home right now and I can’t really talk.”
The teenage driver’s smile disappeared.
“Oh, sorry,” she said, sounding relieved. “I didn’t know.”
Billy nodded. “It’s fine,” he said, pausing. “I’m fine,” he added, still feeling the full weight of her cousin’s unsolved death in his guilty conscience. “I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”
“How long?” she asked, playfully.
“Five minutes, max.”
“Four minutes would be better,” she teased.
In spite of himself, Billy smiled. “I’ll shoot for four minutes then,” he said, before hanging up. He looked left to see the delivery boy grinning again. “Women,” Billy muttered.
As if he’d been struggling to hold it in, the kid laughed harder than he should have.
Billy returned home, surprised that Jimmy wasn’t waiting for him at the front door. “Jimmy?” he called out and waited. The dog never came. “Jimmy?” he called again, feeling his heart sink. Please God, don’t take him yet, he thought. I don’t think I can handle any more. Billy ran through the living room and rounded the corner, only to discover Jimmy lying outside of Sophie’s bedroom door. Thank God, he thought and, as he approached the mutt, detected the faint scent of marijuana seeping out from under the door. Shaking his head, Billy took a seat beside the dog. “Sophie’s okay, buddy,” he said, finally realizing that his sister was human.
Jimmy low crawled to Billy and placed his head in his lap.
“There are much worse crimes than smoking weed,” he added, immediately picturing the two police cruisers securing Dalton’s accident scene off of 88.
⁕
Charlie had spent weeks hiding out in plain sight. After answering Detective Swanson’s terrifying questions, he forced himself out in public to avoid any further suspicion. It wasn’t easy. As the weeks crept by, the buzz about Dalton’s death had been reduced to a murmur. Even the questions around his break-up with Bianca had stopped. Billy’s crazy, he thought. I may actually get away with this. As he tried to smile, the air was stolen from his lungs. Struggling to breathe, his heart pounded so hard in his chest he thought—and even hoped a little—that it might explode and finally put him out of his misery. A wave of adrenaline rushed through him, wave after overwhelming wave. While his extremities tingled, his mind plummeted into the depths of his guilty memory once again. He pictured Dalton’s cracked skull and opened, judgmental eyes. He saw the growing puddle of blood. Stop it! he screamed at himself, but the reel continued to play. Dalton’s mouth looked twisted, as if mocking Charlie for the pain he knew he would suffer. Stop, he heard echoing within his skull. Pacing back and forth, he tried to slow the hideous pictures that flashed in his mind. He was hyperventilating when a new picture—Billy’s disappointed face—appeared. “What about Dalton’s parents?” Billy asked. “Don’t they deserve to know how their son died?” Stop… stop…stop, Charlie chanted, but it wouldn’t stop. For weeks, it wouldn’t stop. Suddenly, he heard a cynical laugh, which could have been his or Dalton’s—he wasn’t sure. You got away with it, all right, he thought. This time, he recognized the voice as his own, his guilty conscious passing the harshest judgment of all.
⁕
In the newly repaired Honda, Billy and Vicki kissed until they fogged out the rest of the world. While the music played softly, Billy asked her, “What do you think about getting into the back seat? There’s more room.” Even he could hear the hope in his voice.
She plunged her tongue back into his mouth and, to his surprise, nodded.
Billy’s heart pounded out of his chest, while the sudden rush of blood headed south.
It took seconds before they’d both crawled over the front seat and were locked in each other’s arms again. Kisses—once soft and sweet—were now hard and hungry. Vicki undid the buttons on Billy’s shirt and began to caress his chest. More blood pumped into his crotch, throbbing painfully against his jeans. He returned the favor and removed her shirt and bra. She moaned softly. He felt dizzy, overdosing on oxygen, as he cupped her firm breasts in both hands and leaned in to kiss them. Oh, my God, he thought. It’s going to happen. Her nipples were hard and erect, matching the surprise in his pants. As Vicki reached down to undo the button on his jeans, he slowly slid his hand between her legs—awaiting her reaction. She never flinched. Instead, she raised her hips to accept his advance. He gasped, trying to conceal his reaction with a fake cough. Her crotch felt hot to the touch. Oh, my God, he repeated in his swirling mind. It’s happening. It’s really happening!
Hyperventilating, Vicki reached down and grabbed his hand. “Billy, wait…” she said, trying to catch her breath. “I’m sorry, but I…I just need a little more time.”
He pulled his hand away, trying to catch his own breath and make sense of what was happening.
“I love you, Billy, and I want to make love to you more than anything in the world, but…”
“I understand,” he said, cursing Uncle Buddy in his mind. “It’s okay, I understand,” he repeated, surprised he could even speak.
“No, it’s not that,” she said, shaking her sweaty head. “It’s just that I want the first time we make love to be perfect.” She sighed deeply. “Not in the back seat of some car.”
Matching her heavy sigh, Billy collapsed into the corner of the seat.
She dove after him, kissing him again. “You’re the one, Billy…my one. I just want it to be perfect when we do it,” she repeated.
More frustrated than he’d ever felt in his life, he nodded again—afraid he was going to explode.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you like this,” she said, giggling.
While he watched on in awe, she finished unzipping his jeans and pulled them down to his knees, freeing his manhood. While she kissed him hard again, she took him into her hand.
Not a minute and a half later, they were scrambling for something to help clean up—both of them laughing with joy.
“That was awesome!” Billy said, at a loss for any other words.
After some long, deep kisses, Billy dropped Vicki off. “Thank you for tonight,” he whispered. “It was unbelievable.”
“Do you think we can make plans to get a room sometime soon?” she asked. “This way, we can finally be together the way we both want.”
“Really?” Billy asked.
“Really.”
Billy’s head rattled up and down like a bobble-head caught in an angry windstorm.
She laughed. “I want to feel you inside me so bad,” she said, kissing him again.
Billy swallowed hard, while his jeans grew tight again. “I’ll plan the perfect night for us,” he whispered, “and it’ll be soon.”
“Good,” she said, “the sooner, the better.”
After another kiss, Billy took a few steps toward the Honda. Suddenly, he stopped, turned and hurried back to her�
�planting another wet one on her puckered lips.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“I love you so much,” he said. “You’re everything to me. You know that, right?”
She searched his eyes for the longest time before she smiled. “I do,” she whispered. “I feel it every time we’re together.”
Even before Billy reached the Honda, he decided to head over to Charlie’s to brow beat him some more.
He fired up the car and started to pull the shifter down into drive when he noticed a blue envelope sitting on the dashboard. He left the shifter in park, leaned over and snatched the envelope off the dusty dash. As he swung it down in front of him, he detected a hint of Vicki’s sweet perfume. It’s from her, he thought, looking out the passenger window to see if she was still standing there on her front stoop. She wasn’t. She must have left it for me before I dropped her off. Realizing Vicki had put some real thought and effort into the note, he tore it open and began reading.
Dear Billy,
It’s hard for me to tell you exactly how I feel sometimes. But I need you to know that I thank God every day that we met and I haven’t stopped smiling since that Fourth of July parade. I wish we’d met earlier, but I also believe that we met exactly when we were supposed to. You’ve become more than my boyfriend—who I can hug and kiss. You’ve become my best friend, who I feel comfortable confiding in. There’s nothing I wouldn’t share with you, Billy, and I honestly can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. Thank you for being you…sensitive and considerate and honest and kind. I can’t imagine…
As his eyes filled with guilty tears, Billy threw Vicki’s letter onto the passenger seat, threw the shifter into drive and sped away from the curb. One block away, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed Charlie’s number.
“What now?” Charlie said in a huff.
“What NOW?” Billy repeated in a hoarse yell. “You need to do the right thing NOW, Charlie…before you destroy more lives!”
The Changing Season Page 24
