Unexpected Temptation

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

MAYA

“ I t makes no matter to me, Maya,” Mom says … well, croaks from bed. She’s been sounding weaker and weaker every day. I don’t even want to turn from the open window to look at her. It shatters me inside. Yet I want to scream at myself when I think stuff like that.

Oh, it shatters me. Oh, I’m the victim here. Pity me.

“He’ll come,” I tell her, unsure why I’m so confident. He hasn’t returned the last few nights. It’s always hit-or-miss. Anyway, it seems magical and strange. One evening, this random little dog showed up with Loki on his tag and the address of a dog home. The first time, I thought I’d have to take him back, but he just turned and disappeared into the night until he returned.

“I can hear him,” I whisper.

We’re on the ground-floor bedroom of our old house, in a row of old houses, the smell of the not-too-distant chemical plant trickling over to us. Sometimes, Loki whines as he approaches.

“I should cook more of that pie,” Mom mutters, but we both know she’s in no state to cook anything.

That was what drew him the first night two months ago when Mom could still move sometimes—the steak pie. Finally, the little doggy walks into the pool of light near the open window. He ducks his snout, cautious. He’s a careful, clever thing.

Reaching down, I offered him one of the treats I bought just in case he returned. “Here you go, boy.”

He whines and shuffles forward, then quickly takes the treat and scurries a few quick steps backward as if he thinks I’ll suddenly take it from him. He scarfs it down, then curls into a ball on the grass.

“What’s he doing?” Mom asks eagerly.

“The same as usual.

“So we wait?”

I nod. “Yeah, I guess so.”