Hot Under the Collar

by Roxanne St Claire

  “Good heavens,” Cassie said, sliding an arm around Yiayia. Then she turned and snapped her fingers for Jelly Bean, who was taste-testing a treat. “Let’s go, JB.” Instantly, he broke away from the lady giving him the treat and came over, the leash he really didn’t need dragging in the grass. “My car’s right on Ambrose Avenue,” Cassie said. “Let’s go.”

  With a halfhearted wave to the others, Yiayia acquiesced and walked next to Cassie. “This isn’t going to help you impress that Jace Demakos,” she muttered.

  “I’m not trying to impress him,” Cassie said. “I’m worried about you.”

  When Yiayia didn’t argue with that, but put a hand on her chest again, Cassie knew she’d made the right decision.

  In the car, Yiayia sighed as if she was finally relieved. “I feel better.”

  “We’re still going home.”

  “That’s fine. I want to get some more oregano to sprinkle on some of the treats. Finnie really made me go light.”

  “Yiayia.” Cassie shot her a look. “You’re not going home, getting oregano, then coming back until I know you’re okay.”

  She didn’t answer, but looked out the window, strangely silent. Cassie figured she was saving up for an argument, but none came, even after they pulled into the driveway of the Victorian on Dogwood Lane.

  When she turned the ignition off, Yiayia’s expression softened as if she really was happy to be home. “Thank you, koukla.”

  Cassie’s heart folded in half. “It’s fine. I’m going to stay with you for a while to make sure you’re okay.”

  “No, you are not. I’m going straight to my bed, and you have so much work to do at that event.”

  Cassie lifted one dubious brow. “If you do something like get that oregano and Uber back to the square—”

  She laughed. “That’s what you would do, Cassie.”

  She knew better than to argue with the truth.

  “And maybe, a long time ago, I would have, too.” Yiayia let out a long, slow sigh. “But I know my limits, and I promise I’ll go to bed.”

  “Okay, but I’m calling Mom to come over and sit with you. I’ll stay until she gets here.”

  “Please.” Yiayia narrowed her eyes and squeezed Cassie’s arm. “You have an important job to do over there. Ella’s up to her eyeballs and in over her ditzy little head. Go back before she completely screws the whole thing up.”

  Cassie half smiled. “You sounded a lot like that old Yiayia I knew and mostly loved.”

  She gave a frustrated grunt. “That old meanie does rear her ugly head every once in a while. Truth is, Ella is a sweet girl, and her flightiness is endearing. But they need you there. Please.”

  She was right about that. They did need her there, and fast. “Okay.”

  Yiayia gave her a quick peck on the cheek and got out of the car, having enough pep in her step for Cassie to feel comfortable letting her go in alone. After the door closed, Cassie pulled out and reached for her phone to call her mother.

  She was halfway out of the driveway and still digging through her purse before she remembered the phone was on the bleachers in Bushrod Square.

  “Damn it.” She hit the brakes and pulled back in, opened the door, and instantly, Jelly Bean scrambled out of the back to come with her.

  “Oh, JB,” she said on a laugh. “Now you’re my best friend. It’s like you know exactly what I’m thinking. Don’t tell me you can read, too, and saw what I wrote today. Come on. In the house to use Yiayia’s phone.”

  He followed her and stopped when she pulled the screen door open, only to find the house door locked.

  She knocked and called out, keeping one hand on Jelly Bean’s head. When Yiayia didn’t answer in thirty seconds, Cassie banged a little harder. “I forgot my phone, Yiayia!” she called out.

  Still nothing.

  “That’s weird. She’s barely had time to get to her room.” She smacked her hand on the wood again, hollering her grandmother’s name. Next to her, Jelly Bean barked, then paced the porch and barked again.

  “Right?” Cassie mumbled, feeling as frustrated as the dog. “What the heck? Yiayia!” She peered through the kitchen window, squinting at the…open door to the basement. “She went down there? For oregano? Oh, that woman!” That was Yiayia—manipulating as always.

  Furious, Cassie shifted from one foot to the other, huffing out a breath as she waited for her to come back upstairs, cupping her hands at the window to see into the kitchen. And waited some more. And waited long enough that her usual buzz to take action mixed with a low-grade worry that something was wrong down there.

  She looked around, digging back to her childhood, to Yiayia and Papu’s house and…where they’d kept the spare key.

  “Please, God. Please.” She stood on her tiptoes and patted the top of the windowsill, already spinning through plan B. She’d go to a neighbor’s house and call—

  Something metal hit the porch.

  “A pain in the butt, but a creature of habit,” she said to Jelly Bean as she scooped up the key. He grew even more anxious as she unlocked the door, giving a growl as he nosed his way between Cassie and the door. “Hang on, hang on. We’ll get in.”

  But she barely had the door open before the dog forced his way in, barking hard, and headed straight for the basement door. He stopped at the top, pawing the floor.

  “Jelly Bean!” She followed him, looking down into the darkness, patting the wall for a light switch she couldn’t find. Why wasn’t the pantry light on? Was her grandmother down there? “Yiayia? Are you there?”

  All she heard was a moan, barely audible, but that was enough to make Jelly Bean lunge forward, and in that split second, Cassie realized she was standing on his leash. Time stood still as her foot went flying off the top step.

  There was no second step. No third step. And no soft landing as her legs buckled under her, and her body went tumbling. Her head hit the handrail, and her hands smashed the steps before her face did, bringing her to a sudden, vicious stop that sent her foot through the open riser, where it lodged as she fought for balance and control.

  The crack of a bone in her foot was loud enough to hear over the barking, and violent enough to make her instantly nauseated.

  White-hot sparks of misery exploded in her head, making her cry out in a voice that didn’t even sound like her own, and for a few frightening seconds, she couldn’t even remember her name.

  She stayed perfectly still then, trying to get her bearings in the dark and trying not to howl as pain licked through her entire body.

  “Oh God.” The fact that she could actually moan was good. She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t dead, but the pain made her wish she were.

  Jelly Bean’s barks were loud and out of control, but they stopped when he came right to where she was sprawled over three steps. He licked her face, whined, and licked her again.

  “Yeah,” she grunted. “I need help. Yiayia?” Her words were barely a whisper as the searing pain sliced through her. “Are you there?”

  From the dark pantry, another groan. “I think…I’m having…another one.”

  Another what? Blinded by tears and choked by a sob, Cassie attempted to push herself up to get to the pantry. “I’m coming,” she said. But it would be slow.

  “My heart.” A reedy voice floated out. “It’s stopping again.”

  An injection of adrenaline spiked through her veins, making Cassie push through the pain and force her foot out from between the stairs. Holy mother of God, it hurt.

  But she was free and able to crawl down the rest of the stairs to the pantry. Sharp, hot stabs of agony jabbed at her calf and ankle, but she ground her teeth together and ignored them.

  She had to save Yiayia. She had to.

  At the pantry door, she could make out her grandmother’s body slumped on the floor.

  “Yiayia.” Cassie dragged herself closer, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. “Are you having a heart attack?”

  “I think so,” she m
outhed, her eyes closed. “This one is worse than the last one.”

  The last one? She reached for her with hands pulsing with bruises. “I’ll help you.” But how? She had no phone and could barely crawl. By the time she got back upstairs and got help, Yiayia could be dead.

  Yiayia moaned and moved, starting to become visible in the dark. “This is my fault.”

  Yeah, it was. But Cassie had no will to fight. She had to act.

  “I have to get back up those stairs and get help.” She put her hand on the floor, and it smashed into something that felt like dirt, but from the smell that hit her nose, she knew exactly what it was. She’d come down for that stupid oregano!

  Using the anger to help her push, Cassie tried to right herself, but the pain was too intense as another wave of nausea hit, and her head suddenly felt disconnected from her body. “I can’t get up.”

  Yiayia sobbed quietly. “I wanted to change. I did. I tried. I don’t want to die, koukla.”

  “You’re not going to.” Although, even as she said the words, she couldn’t be sure that wasn’t true. “Not if I can do anything about it.”

  But she couldn’t.

  “I don’t want to go to the…other place.”

  “We’re not going anywhere at the moment.”

  “I was there. They sent me back.”

  How could they get out of here? How could they get help? Who’d hear her yelling, even if she could in all this pain? “What are you talking about?”

  “When I died…the first time.”

  Cassie blinked, surprised by the news and encouraged that her night vision was starting to work. She could see…a little. At the same time, she tried to make sense of what Yiayia was saying, but failed miserably. “You…died?”

  “And now I’ve changed. I feel…love. I care. I want you to love, too. All you kids. Even…Katie.” Her voice cracked. “But I lied to you and came down here, because I’m not changed.” She choked on the next sob. “And now I’m going…to…hell.”

  “No, no.” Cassie shook her head, trying to will the adrenaline not to disappear until she could do something to save them. “You’re not going to hell, and we’re not stuck here because…”

  With her eyes adjusting, she looked around in desperation, able to see Jelly Bean taking it all in, barking and growling and occasionally sticking his nose in the spice on the floor.

  “Because…we have the world’s smartest dog.”

  Yiayia whimpered, but Jelly Bean looked up as if he knew exactly what that meant.

  “That’s right. You’re going to get help.” But how? If he went back to the square, would anyone even notice him with all those other dogs? Would Ella or Darcy or Gramma Finnie wonder why he was there and Cassie wasn’t? By the time they figured it out…it could be too late.

  “We need to call 911,” Cassie muttered as the thread of an idea formed. “We need to get the EMTs here. We need…” Her gaze fell to the half-empty bottle of oregano. “We need to send a message to the fire station.”

  He barked.

  “Fire station? You know what that means?”

  He barked again, and she almost cried with hope.

  “I think you do. And I think you’re going to pull a full-on Lassie and go there. With…” She snagged the small glass bottle marked rigani. “A sign to our favorite firefighter.” Fighting through the pain, she pulled Jelly Bean closer and tied the leash that had almost killed her around the bottle, securing it with a knot, then wrapping the remainder of the strap around his neck and tucking it all into his collar.

  It took forever, and every move hurt, but it was her only shot.

  Once it was secure, she got both hands on his head and forced his gaze on hers, just the way Braden did when he wanted to be sure the dog understood.

  “Go get Braden. At the fire station. Understand? Braden. Fire station. Help.” She gave him a nudge toward the stairs and heard his paws as he ran up them, thanking God that she’d left the kitchen door open and that the crappy screen door didn’t latch.

  Then she dropped her head on Yiayia’s lap in utter exhaustion and pain.

  “You think that dog speaks English?” Yiayia whispered.

  “I know he does.”

  Yiayia’s hand settled on Cassie’s head, moving slowly over her hair. The gesture was so comforting and welcome, Cassie didn’t bother to fight the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

  The tears didn’t stop while Yiayia managed to talk. They didn’t stop as she finally learned Yiayia’s secret. They didn’t stop when the old woman begged forgiveness from Cassie and the God she believed had sent her back with a purpose and a second chance.

  The tears stopped only when the blinding pain became so unbearable, Cassie blacked out.

  * * *

  “You gonna train that dog all day, or do some paperwork?”

  Braden looked up from where he crouched in front of Jazz, squinting at Declan as he crossed the grassy area in front of the station. “I’ll get it done,” he said. “I’m behind on handler training with her.”

  As Declan got closer, he eyed Braden. “You okay?”

  Define okay. Living, breathing, going through the motions? Yeah. “I’m good,” he said with a shrug.

  Declan came closer, wearing a face Braden knew all too well. “You’ve been better,” he said. “Like for a few weeks, you’ve been great. And now…”

  He stood with a huff of breath, knowing better than to dodge his oldest brother who, for twenty years, had decided he needed to be Braden’s father when he could. “Cassie’s moving to Chicago. Dream job. Need I say more?”

  Declan stared for a moment, then snorted. “Man, do I know about women and their dream jobs.”

  Braden had a good idea who he was talking about. Evangeline Hewitt, Declan’s closest friend since Braden could remember, had settled into Raleigh as a veterinary neurologist who rarely returned to Bitter Bark. Although his brother didn’t talk about it, he was always a little sullen when one of those infrequent visits ended. Long distance sucked.

  Of course, Declan and Evie were childhood friends and had been glued together in high school and college, but suddenly that friendship looked different to Braden. Maybe Declan could help him.

  “Makes you wonder about someone’s priorities, doesn’t it?” Braden asked, stepping away from Jazz. “I mean, what’s more important than…” Love. “Family?”

  Declan gave a sad smile. “Sometimes, work is. When it’s a purpose, a drive, a reason for getting up every day, who are we to say a woman can’t have that when we…” He gestured toward the truck in the driveway. “Do this.”

  “But we save lives, and she…” Does events.

  “She gets to do what she wants to do,” Declan said. “And if I know Cassie, she’s probably ridiculously good at it and can rise to the top in any situation.”

  Braden just stared at him. This wasn’t exactly the advice he wanted.

  “Give her time, give her space, give her a chance to pursue what she wants,” Declan said. “Family’s here, and there’s always a chance she’ll come back.”

  A chance. “And I’ll just wait?”

  Declan’s smile was sad and knowing. “Pretty sure you could get a job in Chicago, bro.”

  “I know I could, but…” But this town and these counties needed the services that Braden and Jazz could offer. Really needed them. There were probably a hundred arson dogs in Chicago.

  Behind him, Jazz barked, then darted toward the street.

  “No,” Braden called, but Jazz ignored the order, taking a few steps onto the sidewalk, staring into the distance, barking furiously at something or…someone.

  Braden’s heart catapulted to his throat. It was Cassie. It had to be. She’d come to tell him…

  What the hell?

  “Jelly Bean?” he and Declan said at the exact same time, with matching shock at the sight of the dog tearing down the street toward the station.

  They both ran toward the dog, along with Jazz, mee
ting him on the sidewalk, where Braden nearly fell to the ground to get at eye level.

  “What are you doing here?” He looked past Jelly Bean’s head, scanning the entire street and parking lot for any sign of Cassie. “Where’s Cassie? What are you doing?”

  “He’s not going to answer,” Declan said dryly.

  “But…” Yes, he was. “What the hell is this?” His leash was wrapped purposefully around his neck, with something stuck between it and his fur. “A bottle?”

  “She sent you a message in a bottle?” Declan suggested.

  As Braden pulled out the bottle and stared at the word and the tiny Greek flag, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s Greek oregano,” he said.

  “Mmm. Romantic.”

  Braden looked up at his brother, a hundred explanations running through his head, all punctuated by Jelly Bean’s insistent, furious bark.

  “Maybe it’s something to do with the scavenger hunt you’re setting up.”

  “Maybe, but…” He looked at the bottle, remembering her telling him she’d dropped the bottle in the basement pantry. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to think, but JB would not stop barking, like he really was trying to answer.

  Braden looked into the green eyes he knew so well, trying to decipher what the dog was communicating, but seeing only…wild and intense concern.

  “Something’s wrong,” Braden muttered, standing slowly. “Something’s very wrong.”

  “Call Cassie.”

  Braden grabbed his phone, corralling the two dogs closer, and only more frustrated by voice mail. “She should be at the square with Ella for an event today.” He jabbed the red button, ended the message, and tapped Ella’s name.

  “Very busy right now.” Ella’s frustration came through louder than her actual voice. “Very, very—”

  “Where’s Cassie?” Braden demanded.

  “Good question. She took her grandmother home ages ago, and I thought she’d be back by now. If you talk to her, please tell her we need her so flipping bad right now.”

  Braden didn’t answer, but sliced his brother with a look. “This came from a basement pantry at the bottom of stairs that I would bet my life aren’t to code.”