“You have a parrot?” Aunt Charlotte asked. “He’s cute.”
“I like the green feathers,” Aunt Sarah said. “Maybe I’ll have green put in my hair next time.”
“What do we do?” Mac asked. “Can he fly?”
“I don’t know,” Carly said. “I only inherited him a week ago. I’ve never let him out of his cage except to move him from the big one to the smaller one. He didn’t fly then.”
“I don’t mean to alarm you,” Mr. Petrovski said. “But there are some eagles in the area who would consider him a tasty lunch.”
For a second, the briefest nanosecond, really, Carly wondered if that was such a bad thing. Then she shook her head; of course it was. Forgetting all about the hot guy, she began to move across the lawn back to the pickup in a sort of trying-not-to-scare-the-bird squat-walk that she hoped looked to Ike like she wasn’t really moving when she was hauling ass in his direction as fast as she could, given the weird hunched posture she was in.
Ike, not being a stupid bird, caught on pretty quick. He stood on one foot and raised his other in his favorite kung fu pose, and squawked, “Bring it, sister. Bring it!”
Then he flew off the window and up into the sky, where he wobbled awkwardly like an old man who was too blind to drive but refused to give up his license.
Carly froze. Then she yelled, “Ike, you get back down here! Now!”
Ike did a shaky barrel roll, which she figured was the bird equivalent of flipping her off. Saul, still in the car, wedged his nose into the opening and began to woof. Carly wasn’t sure if he was egging his bird friend on or trying to call him back.
“So, he can fly,” Mac said as she joined her.
“Yeah, sort of like a drunk when the bar closes,” Carly said. When she saw Ike heading at top speed for the trees on the end of the town green, her entire body clenched. “Ah, he’s going to crash!”
Another bark sounded and Carly saw a blur of motion shoot past her on the left. Ears were flapping, legs were pumping, wheels were turning . . . wheels?
“Hot Wheels, no!” James shouted and then he started running after the dog in the weird contraption. Carly and Mac exchanged a look and then they began to run as well.
Hot Wheels outmaneuvered them all, however, staying just under Ike, who had not crashed but was now flying low to the ground under the trees, dive-bombing the dog, who continued to bark at him. It looked almost like they were playing, minus the whole snapping teeth and flashing claws thing.
“I think your dog is trying to eat my bird,” Carly panted as she caught up to James.
“Really? I think your bird is trying to attack my dog,” he said as they raced side by side to catch their critters.
Suddenly, both animals disappeared behind a thick thatch of elderberry bushes. The barking stopped and Carly lost sight of Ike’s green plumage. Both she and James froze. Mac joined them, looking equally worried as they all stared at the place in the bushes where the dog and the bird had disappeared.
“Your bird—” James began but Carly interrupted.
“Your dog—” she began but was interrupted by the sound of a whistle.
“Is that—?” Mac asked, tipping her head to listen.
“Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’,” Aunt Sarah sang as she joined them.
“Keep them doggies movin’,” Aunt Charlotte chimed in.
The sound of a soft woof came from the underbrush as Hot Wheels came busting out from under the bushes with Ike perched on his harness whistling the tune to “Rawhide.”
“Oh, my god,” Mac said. “Gavin would die, just die, if he could see this.”
Hot Wheels trotted to James, clearly proud of his feathered cargo, and for his part Ike looked as if all was right in his world since he was being carried. He continued whistling the theme to Rawhide and Carly shook her head.
“This bird is going to be the death of me,” she said. “I know it.”
Hot Wheels stopped in front of them and Carly held out her arm in front of Ike, silently praying he stepped onto her hand and didn’t fly off again. After a brief hesitation, he deigned to climb on, and when Carly moved her hand to her chest to keep him close, Ike burrowed his head under her chin. She got the feeling that despite his parrot bravado, he had scared himself silly.
She felt her heart melt but then shook it off. Yes, he was an interesting bird and even sometimes he was amusing, but he and Saul needed a forever family and that was not her.
Carly had been lucky to unload the goldfish and the lizard on a couple of teen boys in her building. She had made them take a vow on the life of their Xbox that they would take good care of the pets, and their mother had promised to oversee the situation. So, it was two down and two to go; unfortunately, no one wanted an older dog and a mouthy bird. She couldn’t blame them.
James was kneeling down beside his dog, checking his harness and his back legs. The rig the dog was hooked into had two wheels at the back and Carly figured it was to help the dog with his hind legs, one of which looked thinner and less muscled than the other.
The dog was wagging, clearly pleased with himself and his adventure as a rescue dog. Carly approached with Ike still cuddled up against her. James rose to his feet and looked at her. She imagined the relief in his eyes was mirrored in her own brown ones.
“I am so sorry—” they said together. They both stopped and laughed. And then spoke together again, “I haven’t had him long.”
James grinned at her and Carly felt it hook her low and deep. She smiled back at him. She liked this guy, she really did.
“You have a great dog,” she said. She glanced at the dog. “You are a good boy, Hot Wheels, aren’t you?”
He wagged and woofed, obviously understanding praise when he heard it.
“And you have a very talented bird,” James said. “He’s a real looker like his mama—”
“Oh, I’m not—”
“Carly,” Mac interrupted. She took Carly’s arm and pulled her aside. “I just got three texts from your mom, asking where we are. She sounds a bit panicked. I think you’d better get home ASAP.”
Carly had to force herself to focus on what Mac was saying. She could feel James watching her and all she wanted to do was bask in his hotness for a while. She’d always had a thing for men with dark hair, blue eyes, and rocking bods. Yeah, if she had a type, he was it.
Unfortunately, Saul woofed from the truck and Ike ruffled his feathers, reminding her that she had beings to tend to. Mac handed her the keys to the truck and said something about coming by later to get it since she needed to deal with the aunts and their crazy scheme to buy motorcycles right here and now.
Before Carly knew what was what or who was who, she was striding back across the town green toward the truck with Ike. She climbed into the cab and put him back in his cage, making sure it was fastened tight. She patted Saul on the head and then fired up the engine. As she backed out of the parking spot, she glanced up and found James Sinclair watching her with an intensity that made her toes curl. For the first time, she thought coming home might not be so bad after all.
Former librarian Jenn McKinlay is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of About a Dog, as well as the Library Lover’s Mysteries, the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries, and the Hat Shop Mysteries. Jenn lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband’s guitars. Visit her website at jennmckinlay.com.
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