Boomerang Boyfriend (The Boyfriend Chronicles)

by Chris Cannon

  …

  Jack

  I held on to Delia as we made our way back into the house. Once we cleared the doorway, I let go, pulled off my gloves, unzipped my coat, and picked up the frozen pup, holding him against my chest. “I hope we aren’t too late.”

  “Is it a rabbit?” my mom asked.

  “A puppy,” I said.

  “Let me put a towel in the dryer to warm it up.” My mom hurried down the hall.

  “Is he okay?” Delia asked.

  “I can feel him breathing.”

  Delia placed her fingers on the towel-covered puppy, the rest of her hand against my chest.

  “What are you doing?” Zoe said as she came down the stairs.

  “Puppy rescue,” Delia said and then filled Zoe in on the details.

  My mom came back with the warm towel. “Why don’t you sit on the couch?”

  I unwrapped the puppy and transferred him to the warm towel. “Hey, little guy.” His eyes were open now, and he wasn’t shivering as hard. Bits of ice were clumped in his brown fur. I bundled him up and held him. He was about the same size as a football. He looked at me and whined. “Don’t worry, buddy. You’re safe.”

  “What kind of dog do you think he is?” Delia asked.

  “Can’t tell,” my mom said. “He isn’t wearing a collar.” She reached out and petted the exposed portion of his head. “Jack, you may have gotten an early Christmas present.”

  “What are you going to call him?” Delia asked.

  I thought about it. “Buddy seems right.”

  “I like it,” Delia said. “And since I helped rescue him, I want visitation rights.”

  “Like you’re not over here all the time anyway,” I said.

  “Now I’ll just have to come over even more.” She grinned and leaned close so she could peek at Buddy. “I think he’s sleeping.”

  Small snoring sounds drifted up from the towel. A sweet scent, like cake, drifted up from Delia’s hair. For the moment, all seemed right with the world.

  “Delia, why don’t we Google what you should feed puppies when you don’t have dog food?” Zoe said.

  “Good idea.” Delia hopped up and wandered off with Zoe. For a moment there, it had felt like Delia and I were a team, and then Zoe had yanked her away. But that was okay. I didn’t need to think about girls, because I had a dog. His soft snoring sounds made me smile.

  Zoe came back carrying a small tray with a bowl of water and a plate of sweet potatoes and turkey.

  “The turkey I understand, but sweet potatoes?”

  “We rinsed the turkey to wash off some of the seasoning, and we baked the sweet potato in the microwave. Apparently, dogs love them.”

  Buddy wriggled against my chest. “I think the smell woke him up.”

  “Where should we feed him?” Zoe asked.

  “Kitchen,” I said, “because that’s where he’ll normally eat.”

  Zoe put the food on the floor by the side of the refrigerator, and I set Buddy down next to the tray. His fur was wet but not frozen. He made quick work of the food and sampled the water. Then he turned in a circle and lay down on the towel.

  “I guess he’s worn out.” Delia reached for him but stopped. “Can I hold him?”

  “Sure.”

  Buddy became the most popular person in the house that night as everyone asked to hold him. It was kind of cool the way they acted like he was mine. I expected Zoe to run off with him, but she didn’t.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jack

  That night, he slept in my bed. In the middle of the night, I woke to him whining and standing at the edge of the mattress. When I put him down, he ran to the door. It took me a minute to realize he needed to go out.

  Great. How could I do this in the ice? Maybe he could just go on the porch and I’d clean it up in the morning, because I wasn’t going down those porch steps if I didn’t need to.

  I opened the front door and set him on the doormat, where he did his business and then ran back into the house, looking at me like I might try to make him go back outside. “We’ll figure this out in the morning.” I shoved the doormat over a foot so anyone stepping out the door wouldn’t land in the small steaming pile of dog doo and then took Buddy back up to bed. He was a smart guy. Had he belonged to someone and gotten lost in the ice storm? My heart sank at the thought. If he’d been someone’s pet, he would’ve had on a collar, right? And not to be a jerk, but barring extenuating circumstances, anyone who let their dog wander off in an ice storm didn’t necessarily deserve to get him back.

  In the upstairs hall, Delia came toward me wearing Wonder Woman pajamas. “Is Buddy okay?” she asked.

  “He needed to go out. Why are you awake?”

  “I woke up from the weirdest nightmare about my house falling apart around me.” She shook her head. “It sounds stupid, but it was scary, and it seemed so real. I’m not ready to go back to sleep. I thought pumpkin pie would make me feel better.”

  “Can’t hurt.” I felt oddly awake. “I think Buddy and I will join you.”

  She smiled and reached to pet Buddy. Her fingers grazed my chest as she scratched his ears. “He’s so cute.” I wished she’d look at me the way she looked at Buddy.

  …

  Delia

  Sitting in the kitchen with Jack and Buddy while everyone else in the house slept made it feel like we were having some sort of secret relationship. Not that I wanted a relationship with Jack. So what if he saved puppies from ice storms and caught me when I was about to fall? Any guy would do those things, right? Probably not, and they probably wouldn’t look so cute with their hair sticking out all over.

  There was one section of hair standing almost straight up on top of his head, like half of a Mohawk. “I have to fix this.” I reached over and ran my fingers through his hair a couple of time, flattening out the section. His hair was softer than I thought it would be.

  Jack was looking at me like he was confused about something.

  “What?”

  His gaze dropped to my mouth for a second, and then he glanced back up. The air between us felt charged, like if he touched me I’d be zapped with static electricity.

  I suddenly became aware of how close we were sitting next to each other. Earlier, he’d pulled his chair over to mine so I could hold Buddy while he ate, and he’d never scooted back. And I’d been totally comfortable with the proximity, just like on the porch when he’d caught me and held me in his arms for a moment.

  If he were anyone but Zoe’s brother, I would have leaned toward him, encouraging a kiss. What would he do if I leaned in right now, closing the distance between our mouths?

  Buddy barked, startling me and breaking the spell. I looked down at the little guy. “What was that for?”

  He wagged his tail at me and put his paws on the table. “I don’t know if you can have pumpkin pie.”

  He whined.

  Jack scooted his chair back and stood. “I’ll make him some food.”

  I avoided eye contact with Jack, afraid he’d somehow know what I’d been thinking. Once Buddy’s food was ready, I set him down on the floor so he could eat, put my dirty dishes in the sink, and faked a yawn. “Thanks for keeping me company. I think I can go back to sleep now.”

  “Night,” he said.

  Apparently, I was the only one experiencing inner turmoil, which sort of sucked. “Night.” I padded off across the floor and back upstairs.

  When I woke up the next morning, Zoe was nowhere to be seen. She must have gotten up and decided to let me sleep. I checked my cell. It was nine thirty.

  Since I’d eaten pie at two in the morning, I wasn’t hungry for breakfast, so I took a quick shower and found some of my clothes in Zoe’s closet. It really was like I lived here. Over the years, I’d left clothes here on accident, and Zoe’s mom had always just washed them and hung them in Zoe’s closet. It was such a blessing to have Zoe and her family in my life. Without them, I’d be sitting at home on the holidays and most eveni
ngs, watching television by myself. And that was the reason why I had to stop daydreaming about kissing Jack. If by some weird twist of fate, he liked me, too, and we started dating, eventually we’d break up, and then I’d lose everything—no more Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or girls’ trips to the nail salon.

  Why am I worrying about something that will never happen?

  In the kitchen, I drank a cup of coffee and talked with Zoe about Grant. Jack sat in the living room holding Buddy while watching football at a surprisingly reasonable volume.

  “It doesn’t look so bad outside,” Zoe’s grandmother said.

  I popped up and looked out the kitchen window above the sink. “It looks like the ice melted off my truck. That’s a good sign. Do you mind if I pack some leftovers for my mom and dad?”

  “Of course not,” Zoe’s mom said.

  “You know, I really appreciate you guys being here for me all the time.” Why did it feel like I was about to cry?

  “We love having you here.” Zoe’s mom gave me a quick hug. “Hopefully, next year your parents will be smart enough to come with you.”

  I packed up some food, said my good-byes in the kitchen, and then stopped to see Buddy on the way out, which meant I also stopped to talk to Jack.

  “See you later.” I rubbed Buddy’s ears. “You, too,” I told Jack as I walked away. He grunted in response.

  The drive home was fine. The ice had melted, leaving slushy puddles and ugly gray snow. When I pulled up my driveway, I was surprised to see both my parents’ cars. Even if they were there, that didn’t mean they were available. More than likely, they were both sleeping.

  I used my key to open the front door and heard the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen, and the house smelled like cinnamon rolls. Curious, I investigated.

  “Good morning.” My mom saluted me with her cup of coffee. “We were hoping you’d be home soon.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “I told your mom what you said about us spending Thanksgiving together as a family. We’ll try to make that happen next year, but for now, we’re starting a new tradition called Family Friday. Your mom is going to cook, which could be scary.” Then he pointed at the table where Monopoly and Clue were stacked with some other games. “We can play games or watch movies or do whatever you want, as long as we do it as a family.”

  It felt like an empty space in my chest filled up with warmth. “That sounds wonderful. And if whatever Mom cooks doesn’t turn out, I brought home leftovers.”

  “I would be offended, but I’m hoping you brought home stuffing. I can make the box kind, but it doesn’t compare to Zoe’s grandma’s.”

  I set the bag of Ziploc containers on the table. “No, it doesn’t, and yes, I did.”

  “Then let Family Fun Day begin.” My mom pointed at the oven. “Do you want to check on the cinnamon rolls?”

  “Sure.” I grabbed a pot holder and opened the oven door. The popcorn pan contained what looked like two tubes of Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls. “It smells good.” I pulled the pan out and put it on the stove top. “The most important question is where is the icing?”

  “On top of the microwave for safekeeping,” my dad said. “And we made two batches so we’d have more icing per roll if you want.”

  “I like how you think.” I slathered icing on half the rolls.

  “I think there’s canned frosting in the pantry if we need more. I’ll pour the milk.”

  We ate cinnamon rolls and played Monopoly while watching It’s a Wonderful Life.

  …

  Jack

  All weekend I worried about someone knocking on our door asking about a lost dog. At this point, unless it was a little girl crying over her lost pet, I was ready to lie and claim I’d picked Buddy up from the shelter. He was content to sit on my lap when I watched television. He was too small to chase a tennis ball, so Zoe had come up with the idea of balling up a clean sock so he could chase that, which turned into a game of tug-of-war.

  “You should make an appointment at the vet,” my grandma said. “Just to make sure he’s okay.”

  Buddy growled as he pulled on the now stretched-out sock. “He looks healthy.” I slowly let the sock slip from my grasp like Buddy had yanked it from my hand. He did a doggy victory trot around the room and then brought the sock back to me to start the game again.

  “We want him to stay that way. I can take him while you’re at school tomorrow.”

  Stupid as it may sound, the thought of leaving Buddy and going to school made me nervous. “I wonder if I could sneak him into school in my backpack.”

  “He’d fit,” my grandmother said. “But I don’t think he’d be happy about it.”

  “I know.” I hated to let him out of my sight. Good things had a way of disappearing from my life.

  “Don’t worry,” my grandmother said. “I’ll keep a close watch on him while you’re at school.”

  “If someone shows up looking for him, promise me you won’t give him away without me having a chance to say good-bye.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that. If anyone was looking for him, they would have come around asking about him already.”

  A knock sounded on the door. The timing was ominous.

  “I’ll get that,” my grandmother said.

  Having a bad feeling about this, I picked up Buddy and carried him to the kitchen, where I could eavesdrop but no one could see us. A guy in a leather motorcycle jacket stood in the doorway with a boy who looked like he was in seventh grade.

  “Good morning. I was wondering if you found a puppy around here?”

  Shit.

  Buddy chose that moment to start wriggling and barking. Taking a deep breath, I walked over where they could see me. “We found Buddy.”

  The man smiled. “We called him Brownie.”

  Double shit.

  The kid walked into the house and held out his hands. “Is he okay?”

  Against every instinct, I held Buddy out to him. “See for yourself.”

  He took Buddy and hugged him. “I’m so sorry. I thought you’d be safe in the shed.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  The kid’s dad said, “We kept a litter of pups in the shed, not realizing that ice storm was going to hit. I think the sound of it made some of the puppies run away. I’m glad he’s okay. He’s the only one we hadn’t tracked down.”

  “He’s a good dog.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat and backed up a step, trying to put some distance between myself and Buddy. I should have known better than to become attached.

  “You want to keep him?” the dad asked.

  “Yes,” I blurted out.

  The boy kissed Buddy and passed him back to me. “He was my favorite of the bunch. You’ll take good care of him, right?”

  I held Buddy and looked into his soulful brown eyes. “Yes.”

  “I’m glad this had a happy ending,” the man said. “I was scared he didn’t make it.”

  “We’ll give him a good home,” my grandmother reassured the man. “What kind of dog is he?”

  The man smiled. “Our dogs are both rescues. Near as we can tell, his mom is a beagle-border collie mix, and his dad is a chocolate lab-hound mix. So he’s not going to stay little for long.”

  “I thought his feet looked big,” my grandma said.

  We all said our good-byes, and then I took Buddy over to the couch and sat down. He was mine now. Really mine.

  My grandmother sat next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. “Just so you know, I was prepared to arm wrestle that man for Buddy.”

  I laughed. “With those muscles you built up crocheting all the time, you probably could’ve taken him.”

  …

  Delia

  Family Friday had been amazing. Now it was back to the normal school and work week, which meant I heard my parents leave in the middle of the night, and they were sometimes home before I left to go to work at Betty’s. I ate dinner alone every night and went t
o bed alone, and of course, I had Zoe to hang out with, and I could have stayed over at her house, but the general rule had always been that we avoided sleepovers on school nights, if at all possible. Because even though it sometimes felt like I lived at Zoe’s house, I didn’t actually live at Zoe’s house.

  Friday, on the drive home from school, my truck started pulling to the right. What was that about? By the time I made it into the driveway, I knew it had to be one of the tires. Sure enough, when I investigated, the right front tire was almost flat.

  No other cars in the driveway meant my dad wasn’t home. And yes, I knew how to change a flat tire, but it was twenty-two degrees outside, and I didn’t want to do it, damn it. I’m not the damsel-in-distress type, but every once in a while, it would be nice to have someone who could step in and fix things. A guy who would take care of me because he thought I was special and he liked doing nice things for me. Of course, that guy only existed in the fantasyland of my imagination.

  I stomped into the house and checked the time. I was due at Betty’s in an hour. First, I texted my dad. He answered right away, telling me not to mess with the tire. He’d take care of it when he came home. Thank God. Problem number one taken care of.

  On to problem number two. How would I get to work? If Jack was working, maybe he could give me a ride. Problem number three…I didn’t know Jack’s cell number, so I texted Zoe. She texted back, offering to give me a ride to work if Jack wasn’t able to, and she gave me his number.

  I texted him.

  My cell rang. “Do you want me to look at your tire before work?” Jack asked.

  Wow. That was nice of him. “Thanks for offering, but my dad said he’d take care of it when he comes home, so I just need a ride.”

  “I’ll pick you up in forty minutes.”

  “Thanks.” Okay. Crisis averted. Now what? I changed for work and ate some Pop-Tarts, because there wasn’t much else in the house. I’d have to order some carry-out from Betty’s so there’d be food when my parents came home.

  Jack honked when he pulled up to my house. I slipped my coat on and jogged out the front door. It was snowing again, which made me think of Buddy.

  I grabbed the passenger door handle of the Honda Accord and pulled. Nothing happened.