STUCK |KOLBY|

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She was zooming down the highway at 80. As practical and responsible as she was, she was still a speed demon. She had some speeding tickets under her belt and for some reason she didn’t care. In fact, it sort of thrilled her. she loved to feel the air and wind in her face and hair she loved the feeling that she could crash any moment. It was sick, yes, but it was true. She always thought ‘if I crash, who would care’ the answer always came back quickly, and crippling ‘nobody.’ Of course she always shrugged it off and continued on faster than before.

She weaved her Mustang in and out of the little traffic that there was, with no real destination in mind, she was just driving for the trill of the speed. She went to tune the radio to a better station – one that wasn’t playing Justin Beiber- when she felt the car veer to the right it hit the rumble strips. She suddenly heard a loud popping sound. “No” she whined “NONONONO” she cried as she felt she lost control of the car for a bit, she sighed putting her blinker to the right and went off into the shoulder. “Fuck” she mouthed and hit the steering wheel. She did not need this. It was dark, there were cars speeding past her and she had not a clue how to fix a tire.

She was close to a panic, who could she possibly call at this hour to come to her aid? She basically could think of no one and the thought really got to her. What kind of girl doesn’t have not one friend to call in the event of an emergency? The lonely kind. Andee was not one for tears. She never was but she couldn’t help but feel a knot at her throat. She took out her cell and went through the short list of names when it hit her. Kolby(mech). Flashed before her. She could call him, he had said something along the lines of “call if you need me.” Maybe. She hit send and took a deep breath as it rang. She prayed for anything but the voicemail.

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

”Hello” Kolby’s voice answered the phone. Not your normal American voice from this far south in the world. California seemed like an odd place to hear such a northern voice. Apparently to everyone else Canadians had an accent not familiar to them. Either way he guessed he was a bit different. Kolby had recently moved to this new state, it had taken him two years to get here. A slow trip of course, intentional of course, he had a destination, but of course having dual citizenship helped out a lot. No workers Visa to screw around with. Guess that was the joy of accidentally being born on this side of the boarder.

Kolby had only been in this city for a couple days. Though it was last year he had bought the big grey house he now resided in. A destination to come to eventually. After he bought it he had made some major changes, though never seeing the house himself. A huge shop was built in the backyard. It was fenced up again with an added carport. The interior of the house had been redone. The second bath attached bedroom had been turned into his own personal hot tub room, complete with a eight person tub. His bedroom was set up with a bedroom set. A brand new television was mounted tot he wall with a built in sound system. As bad as it was it all sat untouched for almost a year. Everything moving very slowly around the house.

Kolby had set up himself with flyers to go with his license to have a legit shop in his backyard. It was where he would work and live. Perfect. Kolby of course had no idea who was on the end of his phone. Not many local numbers had called since he had arrived. Some about the flyers he had up but mostly from friends back home his aunt from Calgary and people he’d met along the way. This time in the night of course Kolby had not been sleeping. Sleep was something he could do when he was dead for sure. His blue eyes had just been staring at the television while he sat on his new leather couches. Still this bit four bedroom house still looked empty. He just didn’t seem to have enough stuff to fill it and a four bedroom three bath was a lot for a bachelor.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She patiently waited for an answer, still it surprised her when a deep “hello” came through. “uh” she hit her head on the dashboard. Real suave Andee’ she thought to herself. “Hi, this is Andee, I don’t know if you remember me? Or at least my car, white mustang parchment interior – you did an oil change for it a while ago” she rambled for what felt like forever. Andee was never too good on phones. It was her only fault, so says she. “anyway” she started after a slight pause “I kind of need a mechanic – I know it’s late I’ll pay you double!” she added quickly. “I'm kind of stu—noo noo I’m fine”

She put her hand to the phone so she wouldn’t be too loud on Kolby’s end. An older man who looked like he was an axe murderer—in Andee’s mind anyway and with her luck it probably was—was walking his way to her car. She shook her head as the man asked her if she needed help once more. “My friend is coming to get me” she told the man “you can come right?” she then said her attention back on the phone. She instantly regretted saying ‘friend’ Kolby would probably think she’s crazy for referring to him as a friend. After all they had only just met.

Her heart was pounding this was all just too much excitement for one night. A flat tire. A phone call to a stranger. A weird man asking her if she needed help and not taking his eyes off her chest. “Please” she added helplessly. Andee did not like this not one bit. She hated feeling helpless, she hated feeling out of control. This sucked.

She rolled up her window and locked the door when she realized the man wasn’t leaving. She inhaled deeply trying to regain some control over her body. It didn’t help that she was a bit shaky from not eating anything all day. It felt so good to be hungry, but right now, it just added to the list of things she was dreading.

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

Kolby listened to the girl scramble on the phone. ”Yeah, Andee, Hey.” He was interrupted as she spoke again. He remembered her, she was one of his first customers here. An oil change cheaper than the quick lube shops. He listened to her seemingly talk to someone else. ”Are you ok? Where are you?” Kolby stood up as he spoke. He had already been wearing a pair of diesel jeans, though threw a shirt over his tattooed body as he grabbed his keys and headed out the back door. Still with his phone to his ear he locked the back door. Jogging out to his car in the carport. Unlocking it he got into the car still on the phone. Just waiting for her to tell her where she was. ”I’m on my way.” he stayed on the phone waiting for where she was.

Starting the car the tuner exhaust howled in the night. His stereo was off luckily. Foot on the clutch, car in reverse he pulled into the paved back alley. Blue eyes looking around as he shifted into first and drove through the alley. When she told him where she was he headed in the direction, not hanging up the phone until she was ready. If she wanted to talk the whole drive there he would. He didn’t know what was wrong at the moment but surely he would find out. That was Kolby right there, jumping for people he barely knew. Blue eyes watched the road as somehow he held the phone to his ear, shifted and steered the lowered car down the road. ”I’ll be there in a minute what’s wrong?” He questioned as he was already halfway there. Kolby, like Andee drove fast. But he could easily hit 140mph before feeling any bit of joy. Weaving in and out of traffic he loved for the blinking lights of her car. Reaching the white mustang in no time. High powered HID headlights lit up the road as his Subaru pulled in front of the Mustang and backed closer. Flicking the hazard lights on Kolby left the car running, jumping out of the car when he saw a chance between traffic. He walked up to the passenger side of her car and leaned down to the window. Looking in and smiling childishly before motioning to open the door.

His blue eyes glanced at the flat tire. He could easily put her spare on here on the road. That was no big deal. Leaving it for morning would be the best idea with light but if she wanted he would do it now. The night was the worst time to be stuck on the side of the road. Well, anytime was bad to be on the side of the road. Night was bad, sometimes drivers confused the hazards and could swerve and cause and accident or hit you. That is why Kolby stood on the passenger side of the vehicle, not wishing to be pegged off by a passing car that was hugging the shoulder.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She sighed in relief when he remembered her. whether or not he actually did she wasn’t sure – some people went along just not to be rude. Either way, she was thankful. ”Are you ok? Where are you?” She smiled at the worry in his tone. She wasn’t used to that, being worried about. No one ever worried about her – she didn’t let them. She was perfectly capable of handling anything that was thrown at her. except tonight of course, tonight she was useless. “I’m fine” she told him. “Blew out my tire – and I know it’s lame but I have no idea how to put a new one on…”

She stayed silently on the phone watching the guy who refused to leave. She wished she was the type of girl who could fight, or carried a gun or mace or something in case he really was an axe murderer. She was genuinely worried for her safety. It wasn’t until Kolby spoke again that she realized she was still on the phone and that she hadn’t told him where she was “I’m on the highway” she went on to tell him landmarks and things she saw in order to get him to where she was. “There’s this weird guy – I told him I’m fine but he won’t leave” she told him trying not to show any fear in her voice.

It wasn’t too long before she was staring into blue eyes. She gave a weak smile at the familiar face and leaned over to open the passenger door. “Hey” she breathed out. “Thanks sooo much!” she said trying to show her sincerity in her voice and eyes. She really was grateful that this pretty much stranger went out of his way to help her. She quickly eyed the guy who was parked in front of her. She rolled down her window “Thanks, this is my friend ---” she said loudly and waved the guy away, hoping he would just go. She didn’t want to be responsible for Kolby’s murder; she had been the one to call him after all. Her murder she could deal with, but not someone as nice and as cute as Kolby – cute?? Where did that thought come from? She shook away the thought and returned her smile to the blue eyed man that had come to her rescue.

“If you can’t fix it tonight it’s cool -” she told him. “I’m just glad you came”

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

Kolby smiled as he sat in the passenger seat of the car. ”You ok?” His childish smile still all over his face as he looked over at her. Eying the other car a moment and shrugged it off, he could deal with people. Still smiling he nodded, ”I told you if you needed anything call. I can throw the spare on tonight, but I’d have to get the car back to my house to fix the tire.” He had tire plugs and everything at home, plus the built in air compressor came in handy too. Tools he didn’t just keep in the back seat of his sedan. He smiled and looked at her still, he better get to work. ”I’ll make you a deal, I’ll throw the spare on and you can follow me back to the shop so I can see if I can fix it or what I can do. You can sit in the house and visit with Chewy and have some coffee or something you look stressed.” His childish smile still didn’t seem to leave his face, he showed no worry about the other guy or even the traffic on the high way. Blue eyes looked at her still, ”If you pop the trunk I’ll get to work.” He started to reach for the door handle. ”If you want to lock the doors again to be safe go ahead, but your fine, I promise.” He smiled before opening the car door into the dark of the night.

He waited for her to reply before he stepped out. Letting her pop the trunk open before he dug for the tools he needed. Hopefully this car came equipped with a full sized spare, but he doubted it. He might have a spare tire at the shop, it was doubtful he could fix a blow out. It was all worth a shot though, he thought to himself as he found the scissor jack and jacked up the car so the tire would come off of the ground. Blue eyes kept and eye on the other car as he used the tire iron to spin off the nuts and take off the blown tire. He didn’t stop to examine it as he put the stupid donut on the car. A conveniently small sized tire to fit in smaller trunk space. Though you couldn’t do anything over maximum sixty with one on. The maximum speed was only fifty rated for the tiny tire.

He snugly put the donut on the studs and lowered the car to the ground, tightening each nut in sequence. Putting all the tools back he took the blown tire to his car. Pulling out what looked like an old rag of a blanket he wrapped the tire in it before placing it on his leather seats. Walking back to her car he moved back to the passenger side to talk to her once again.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

“I’m fine” she told him, reassuring herself more than him. She had been going through the “I’m calm cool and collective, I’m in control” mantra in her head and he had jus pulled her out of it when he appeared by her car with those eyes. Those eyes held something that intrigued Andee to no end. They were sensitive but she could tell could be fierce and passionate all at the same time. She only half listened to him as he spoke about the tire. Until he mentioned the deal. She thought about it, shouldn’t she be heading home? This really was too much excitement for one nigh- for her anyway. Somehow though she ended up nodding and replying “sure, yeah sounds good” with a grin on her face.

She did as he told her and popped the trunk open. Only, instead of locking the doors and staying put she carefully opened the door just enough so that her tiny body could get out and made her way over to where he was. As he began to work on the car the other man finally left. Andee felt bad for thinking he was a bad guy. He probably just waned to make sure Andee would be ok, and she was such a jerk. She shook her head with a sigh, she could be so judgmental at times.

She watched as he diligently worked on her car. Somehow it always struck her as fascinating and sexy when a guy worked on a car, or any machine for that matter. It was a nice site to see a man working with his hands not afraid of getting dirty. Some girls wanted a guy in an Armani suit and tie, Andee didn’t mind a mechanic shirt with oil stains. But that was beyond the point. A tattooed man that looked as bad ass as Kolby wouldn’t want to associate let alone go out with a girl like Andee. Again, she was too quick to judge she thought and mentally kicked herself. She thought too much, she really did.

“So… who’s Chewy?” she asked absentmindedly as the silence began to get to her. She assumed it was a dog. She liked dogs. She wanted one, but didn’t think it’d be a good idea since her apartment only allowed purse dogs, and she wanted something a bit bigger – puggles were always her favorite. She wondered what kind Kolby had.

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

His blue eyes looked back at her as she watched him. After putting the tire in his car he turned back to her. ”Oh you didn’t meet him? Chewy is my Doberman. I’d say you could play with the Iguana but he’s sleeping.” He smiled still hoping she wasn’t scared of either animal. Boomer could be quite a terrifying event, most Iguana’s were mean didn’t like people much. But Kolby had found himself a exception, not a normal mean green iguana but a kind red iguana. He thought of explaining all that but surely she would see. Chewy would probably be outside waiting for them when they returned.

”You can’t drive over like fifty or sixty with that spare.” He added having nothing to do with either animal in his house. He thought for sure he would tell her so she didn’t overdrive the tiny tire. ”You just want to follow me back to the house? We will go to the shop see how bad this tire is, I might have another in stock.” If you looked in Kolby’s amazing three bay shop there was a wall of tires in many different sizes. Boxes of new parts along with tons of tools and of course the huge car hoist. Then again think of his house, his basement was filled with oil filters and air filters. There were some tires there too of course, other things he’d surely need. How the hell could a twenty four year old be just as stocked as a parts store? It was amazing, but Kolby’s place was not just a shop, he got huge deals from a franchise of parts stores in the states. He had a bunch of things shipped here before he even moved in. He was one stocked mechanic. Lots of shops had to go to the parts store many times a day. Kolby had the odd time he had to go.

He looked back at her again, waiting for her, if she wanted to follow him. He would offer she could drive his car but was not a hundred percent if she could drive a standard, and well a stage three racing clutch was hard to drive. Plus that car was wicked fast, and well he could tell how she drove the Mustang. Kolby’s smile never seemed to fade as he stood out ont he busy road. Luckily he had stocked up on some kinds of food, mostly coffee, hot chocolate, bread, some other basics like milk and juice. Food was easy to order to his home in Styrofoam containers warm and ready for the eating. Plus if she was hungry they could easily order something in.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

“You had me at Doberman” she said as her smile grew. She loved big dogs, it was kind of funny really, chiwawas, poodles, tiny things scared her way more than the big ones. “iguana??” she wondered out loud searching her brain for a memory of holding one or seeing one up close. “believe it or not I’ve never really held one – or seen one really – not up close anyway” she told him unsure why she was divulging this bit of information. She was about to say something else when he got up and faced her for a bit. ”You just want to follow me back to the house? We will go to the shop see how bad this tire is, I might have another in stock.” “sure” she began when she saw a smudge of something on his cheek he got from working on her car. “You got something right-” she reached up and wiped the smudge away before she could realize what she was doing. ‘oh my god’ she suddenly began to panic in what world was it ok to touch a perfect stranger’s face?! Was she crazy?! She quickly let her had fall back to it’s place at her side. “sorry” she said a bit flush.

She turned away from him and wanted nothing more than to just disappear. What was wrong with her? this was not her normal behavior. She was calm, cool, collective, and definitely not a rambling, stuttering idiot. No, she was articulate and words came to her easily. It had to be the night she instantly thought. Nothing to do with his crystal blue eyes. Nothing to do with the fact that she was pretty much just a social reject. No.

She faced him again. “Uh no over fifty or sixty” she said in reference to something he had said earlier that she hadn’t replied to. “Got it.” She rushed to the driver’s side of the car and got in. She buckled up and turned the ignition on. She turned so she could see him and gave him a weak smile lowering the window. “ready, thanks!” she told him. She waited for him to get into his car before she pulled away.

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

He laughed slightly, ”Yes, Iguana. You will have to come over during the day to see him one day.” He smiled and nodded and started laughing as she tried wiping something off his face. ”Relax.” He smiled his childish grin and headed back to his car nodding as she spoke. He stepped back into his low car and put his foot on the clutch and drove down the highway. He kept it slow making sure she was keeping up ok. She couldn’t go fast and he was only doing about fifty five. Kolby found a place to turn around to head back to his house and took it. Making sure she was behind him the whole time. Keeping a watchful eye in his rear view mirror to make sure she was ok.

After the short drive Kolby pulled into the back alley leading to his shop. Clicking a button on the garage door opener the two huge bay doors opened. He parked his car in the sheltered car port and shut it off. Blue eyes looking around as he shut off the lights and turned off the lights. Stepping out of the car he pulled the flat tire out of his car and clicked the button on his remote. Locking the car and setting the alarm as he walked towards the bay door. Kolby motioned her to pull into the larger double door where it was free and clear of anything. She could easily pull in the middle and have about five feet on either side.

He turned on the lights so she knew where she was going and stood in front of her car so she could tell how far to pull in. Kolby stood in a decent spot telling her how much more room she had left. Blue eyes looking back at her as he helped her park the car. Putting her hand up for her to stop and told her to turn off the engine. Walking up to the driver door he looked down at her waiting to get out.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She followed him easily staying within fifty miles per hour. She didn’t even have the urge to speed up, learning from her earlier mistake. She didn’t want another blow out. How horribly embarrassing and unnecessary would that be? She pulled into the street that appeared to be his. She stopped when she saw him pull into a garage and waited for further directions. She pulled into where he signaled for her to, parked and turned off the engine just like he said. He was looking down into the car she couldn’t help but feel very small. She smiled at him and unlocked her door and got out.

She looked around the big garage. It was very impressive. She hadn’t been in too many garages in her life, but she knew it wasn’t your average shop. “nice place you got here” she said not really looking at him – still embarrassed about the face touching incident. She turned slightly and shut the car door and then turned back at him. “So, where’s the pup?” she called all dogs puppies, no matter how big or old they were. Except the scary little ones, those she called demons.

She wondered how long it would take to fix her car. She didn’t really care though, she had nowhere to be. At that moment she just felt the need to be with someone. Another human, not her hundreds of books or her computer or her homework. Goodness, her homework. She had so little of it this semester. She didn’t know what to do with her free time, hence the driving around doing nothing at this hour. She had the urge to ask him to just talk instead of working on the car – she had the overwhelming gut wrenching feeling of loneliness she sometimes got. It was not a good feeling. She hoped it wasn’t evident on her face. She hated being read, but people often times could. She plastered on her mastered fake smile.

“So…”

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

Kolby smiled as she stepped out of the car. His blue eyes watching he as he nodded. ”Yeah do you want to go inside or wait and see if I have a tire?” Kolby asked as he opened the man door. The tall Doberman rushed through the door at Kolby. ”She’s fine Chewy.” He commented as Chewy went directly to the girl, not growling or barking but sniffing at her body. He was a rather mean looking dog and well if Kolby hadn’t have been there he probably would have growled and jumped on Andee. Chewy was a protective dog and he could easily have ripped her apart if he wasn’t so well trained. He smiled and stared at the wall where he had sample tires telling him what sizes he had kicking around. Kolby found the tire he was looking for, he had taken a look at the tire and it was torn to bad to even think about fixing.

He looked back at her before speaking, ”I’ll make you a deal, I’ll change two tires for the price of one so you don’t have odd tread on the back. It’s just easier some tires vary in size by just a bit and that throws off the alignment.” He tried to explain it properly and in easy words for her. He pulled down the two tires in an attempt to show her the difference in treads. Putting just one, would just cause the wheels to travel at different speeds because he tires clearly didn’t have the same tread on them and they obviously weren’t brands new. Every tire was different and having two different tires on the back versus the two on the front wasn’t that big of a deal. He would probably take the opportunity to rotate her tires for her which would put the two better tires on the front of the vehicle and the two older tires on the back. Of course you needed the best tires on the front you did all your steering and losing a front tire was hell.

Looking down at the white car as he looked back at her. He didn’t want to charge her lots, even if it was a midnight call. Kolby didn’t even know what time it was anyway, he hadn’t bothered to check his phone. It didn’t much matter to him either way, he was pretty easy going and he was up anyway. ”Just relax ok?” He smiled noticing he tense attitude. His blue eyes focusing on her as he held each tire under an arm.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She saw the dog- presumably Chewy treading her way and smiled. She let the dog sniff her out a bit and after Kolby told him she was ‘fine’ she bent down and patted the Doberman’s head. “Hey” she said in the same octave she normally spoke in. She didn’t do baby talk. “You’re beautiful” she told chewy petting him like crazy. She loved dogs. She really did. She forgot all about Kolby and how uneasy she was now with the dog present. She was thankful for the icebreaker. As he proposed his second deal of the night she just shook her head. “No, no, I’ll pay you for both” she said money never being a real object for her. She didn’t mind paying him in full for all his work and all the supplies he used. Hell, she’d even pay him extra just for being nice to her.

Andee smiled when he told her to relax feeling herself ease up just a little more. “Sorry, I’m intense I know… I just, don’t know how to relax” she admitted. “I’m a bit of a mess” she ended up blurting out. Which was completely true, but more than she cared to share with this pretty much stranger. Andee was a very private person she never shared much about her past or her feelings or anything like that. She felt she didn’t need to bore or burden anyone else with her list of faults. And the list was long. Just ask her parents. It was the reason she did everything by the book. She didn’t do anything wild or anything that would risk the little bit of hope she had.

Andee strived for academic perfection; it was what she was good at. She knew when she got into the real world she’d strive for perfection in her career. She had to, to cover up the lousiness that was herself. It wasn’t all her fault she was so insecure in her self. If one were to take a closer look it was her parents and her upbringing. She was never good enough for them so she aimed to be that. Truth was she would never gain their respect or their approval. It was a wonder why she even tried. A part of it was the whole love issue. She’d never been told she was loved, not once in her twenty years of life. It was sad, but she wanted it so desperately.

Andee continued to pet the dog. “Can we stay?” she asked him regarding her and the dog. “In here, while you work I mean” she elaborated. “We won’t make a sound, it’ll be like we weren’t even here” she promised not wanting to be alone in a house she didn’t know.

[KOLBY JAMES DANTUM]

Kolby eyed her as the dog enjoyed the attention sitting at her feet quiety waving his stumpy tail. Chewy was a beautiful dog for sure. He shook his head and smiled, she would never know how much the tires were to cost anyway, the price he gave he would just be the price she paid, and surely it would only be a hundred dollars or so. He nodded now as she spoke again, intense was one word. He chuckled slightly, ”You’ll learn.” He commented as he set the tires down. He rethought his plan of attack on the car, the hoist would clearly be the best place to put this car. He asked her for the keys to move it he didn’t want to driving the car into the hoist or side swipe it on the lift bars.

Setting down the tires near the hoist before stepping back towards her and Chewy. ”Of course you can stay, you can even talk to. It would never bother me at all.” Smiling back at her, she didn’t have to go into the house if she didn’t want to. ”After did you want me to order something in? If you’re hungry that is?” He was still being himself, as nice as he could be. He waited for her to give himt he keys before getting into the car, moving the seat back for him and pulling out of shop. He moved it around a bit and pulled it into the smaller bay door of the big shop pulling the car over between the high standards of the hydraulic hoist he rolled down the window and left the car in neutral, shutting the engine off. Getting out easily through the small space he had left he moved the two beams under the car moving around the other side and doing the same. He pulled a lever and pressed a button, watching the car move up into the air. The hoist pulled the car four and a half feet into the air before stopping and looking at the car on the hoist. ”It’s going to get a little loud too.” He added as he moved towards the large tool box. Grabbing the large air impact gun before turning back to Andee.

[ANDREA LEE BENNETT]

She laughed as the dog wagged its tail; Chewy was such a great dog. She could tell by just a few moments with him. She gave a small scoff when Kolby told her she’d ‘learn’ to relax. She’d been trying for the past twenty years to lighten up, nothing was going to get her to change her perfectionist ways. She straightened up and moved towards a crate she saw by the wall and sat down on it figuring it was ok. She really should’ve asked first. “c’mon Chewy” she said patting her lap for the dog to come to her. Her smile grew once Kolby said she could stay and even talk. Though, she wasn’t too sure what she was going to say. Andee was a tiny bit socially awkward. She didn’t have time to spend with people, so she never learned how to properly deal with these situations.

Once Kolby proposed food her heart sank a little. She was hungry, but her mother’s comment yesterday really had her mind thinking twice about food.

“Andrea, you look heavier, have you gained a few pounds, you know what they say about the freshman fifteen, you’re a junior for Christ’s sake ”

Promptly she weighed herself, 112 pounds. She had gained two since last week.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful she gave a half hearted “sure.” Quickly thinking of ways not to bring attention to her lack of eating once the food arrived.

She got up and walked towards him giving him the keys. “Here” she said handing them over. She then walked back over to the crate and sat back down. “It’s going to get a little loud too.” She heard him say. She didn’t mind. Noise didn’t bother her.

When he turned around to look at him she smiled. “What?” she asked unsure if she was sitting in the wrong spot or was staring too much, possibly both? She called for Chewy again and hugged the giant dog with one arm while petting him with the other. She suddenly remembered the iguana.