Falling for Hadie (32 page)

Estella stared at us like we were batshit crazy as we stood outside the large building, waiting for Hadie’s mom.

“Are you guys sure about this?” she asked, twisting a strand of her honey brown hair around a finger. “I mean, if Lincoln’s parents aren’t alright with it then maybe it’s not such a good idea.”

“Relax, Estee,” Hadie said, breezily, “My parents are fine with it if Lincoln’s parents aren’t.” She conveniently left out the part where we both knew that my parents
wouldn’t
be fine with it.

Estella sighed and went back to fiddling with her long hair. “I hope your mom gets here soon. My dad is going to freak if I’m not home in an hour.”

“Don’t worry, you will be,” Hadie said, and then squealed. “She’s here!”

Hadie ran over to the car that was pulling up beside us and waited for her mom to get out. The two of them walked over to Estella and me as Mrs. Swinton smiled sadly in my direction.

Mrs. Swinton gave Estella a quick hug and then, to my surprise, gave me one too. When she stepped back, she looked a little sad. “So, what’s the plan of action, kiddos?”

“We go inside, get what Lincoln wants and get out of there,” Hadie told her.

Mrs. Swinton nodded. “Right. Good plan.”

The four of us went inside, Estella taking the lead, and were met by a guy who looked around our age. He was sitting behind the counter looking bored as he played on his phone.

He glanced up, that bored expression still on his face until his eyes fell on Estella. Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed and he sat up straighter. He was grinning by the time we reached him.

“Estella! I didn’t expect to see you here today! What can I do for you?”

Estella gave him a smile which would have most guys on their knees. There wasn’t anything seductive about the way she was acting—she was being genuinely nice, but guys probably fell over themselves based on her looks. Just like this guy was.

“Hi, Wilson. My friends want to adopt a dog. Do you mind if I show them around?” She nodded at Hadie and me. “And would you be able to throw in a few free things? Collar, bowl, leash, that sort of thing?”

Even as we stood here, I could hear the sounds of dogs barking, howling and whining as though they’d heard our arrival. I was already starting to feel bad for the poor animals that got stuck in here with no home to go to.

Wilson nodded as if he couldn’t believe that Estella had asked him for a favor. I’m pretty sure the guy would have offered to lick the ground if she’d asked him with a smile.

I watched Estella to see if she noticed his reaction, but she had already turned to us and seemed oblivious to the effect she was having on the poor guy.

“Follow me,” Estella said, waving Hadie and me over. She gave the guy a quick nod. “Thanks, Wilson.”

“Y-you’re welcome.” His gaze lingered on Estella which she failed to notice.

As we followed Estella through a door, I bent my head closer to Hadie’s. “Does Estella know the effect she has on guys?”

Hadie shook her head. “Not at all. Her father is very strict so she’s not allowed to date, but even if she was I don’t think she would.”

“She’s not allowed to date?” I echoed in disbelief.

“Nope. But you know what’s even stranger? Her older brother has a girlfriend and her younger sister is allowed to have a boyfriend. Just not her.”

I watched Estella as she walked ahead of us, wondering what her deal was. “That’s really weird.”

Before Hadie could elaborate, Estella turned to us and motioned for us to enter through another door. This one was metal with vertical bars lining it. Beyond it was an endless row of wire cages.

The noise from the dogs was louder now and a feeling of pity crept into my chest and sat there, making me uncomfortable.

“Is there a particular breed you were looking to adopt?” she asked, shutting the door behind us. “And did you want a male or a female?”

The thought had never crossed my mind. I’d kind of thought that I’d just know which dog was meant to be mine. Like it was here waiting for me.

“I don’t really have a preference,” I said with a shrug.

Estella looked thoughtful. “Well, in that case I should mention that a few of the dogs will be put down in a couple of days. They’re only kept for two weeks due to the volume of strays we get coming in here.”

“That’s so sad,” Hadie said, clutching my arm.

It was sad, but it was just the way things worked. Nothing lasted forever. One day, everything had to come to an end.

Something passed across Estella’s face for a few seconds, but then she bit her lip and turned away. “I’ll show you the urgent dogs first but if none of them is what you’re looking for then feel free to pick a different dog. Either way, they all need to go to good homes.”

I nodded, and we followed Estella into the large room that had a grey concrete floor and walls. The surroundings were pretty dismal and only lowered my spirits.

The barking grew louder with each step we took. Most of the dogs jumped up against their metal prisons to greet us. Some began barking to get our attention, and a small few simply lay there and stared as we walked past—maybe because they had already seen so many people come and go.

“Here we are,” Estella said, stopping by the cages at the very end and checking the clipboards attached outside each cage. “These three are scheduled to be put down on Tuesday.”

I stared at the three dogs, frowning. There was a white bi-eyed Siberian Husky, a tan Chihuahua and a small brown dog with stubby legs.

The Siberian Husky was making the loudest sound I’d ever heard in my life. It was beautiful, but just not for me. The Chihuahua was yapping and jumping up against the cage. It definitely wasn’t what I was looking for.

“What breed is that one?” I asked, pointing at the brown dog.

Estella checked the clipboard. “He’s a Corgi cross Staffy. He’s been here for a while. We found him at the lake by the old bridge.”

“The lake, huh?”

I bent down to study him, smiling at the way his tail flicked back and forth as he watched me. All of a sudden, he let out a cough.

“Is he sick?” I asked Estella, who started laughing.

“No, no, that’s how he barks. He’s perfectly healthy,” she assured me.

Hadie bent down beside me. “He looks really friendly.”

“So he doesn’t belong to anyone in town?” I wondered. “Wouldn’t it be easy to find out whose dog he is since everyone knows everyone around here?”

“That’s true,” Estella said, “but he might have wandered in from another town. Or maybe the owner meant to set him loose. We’ve found a lot of abandoned dogs tied to something, especially in the woods.”

“That’s horrible,” Hadie said, straightening up. “I can’t believe people do things like that.”

“That’s why it’s so hard to work here,” Estella said, a hint of sadness to her tone.

“And your new job at the community isn’t hard?” Hadie asked. “You have to tell me all about it. We should give Lincoln some time to pick which dog he wants, anyway.”

“Sure, just let me know when you’ve made a decision,” Estella said to me.

I nodded and watched the girls go back to the metal grated door before turning back to the dog in front of me. The white Husky was still jumping up against the cage, and I gave him a half-smile.

“Sorry, buddy, I wish I could save you—I wish I could save all of you—but I can only pick one.” The brown dog waved at me as he was certain he would be the one. “What do you think? Are you and me gonna get along?”

He wagged at me again. It looked like he was saying yes.

I leaned in closer. “I think we’re gonna get along great, boy.”

He stared up at me with those large brown eyes of his, and a smile crept onto my face. He seemed friendly and laid-back—definitely what I was looking for.

I stood up and walked towards Estella and Hadie who were so engaged in their conversation that they didn’t notice me.

“…Lana’s being very stubborn about it. She said that it’s not her fault that your boyfriend wanted her. Frankly, I’m done with her. She has no right to treat you that way.”

Hadie looked worried as she regarded her best friend. “I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her, but if you and Ray still want to be friends with her then I can’t stop you. We’ve all known each other since kindergarten; I don’t expect you two to give that up.”

Estella was shaking her head. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hadie. Lana made that decision for us. When she betrayed you, she betrayed all of us. Ray gave her a chance to come clean and she didn’t take it. Let her hold onto her aspirations of becoming the next Kance Logan. We’ll see if it gets her anywhere.”

Even though Hadie had said that she couldn’t stop Estella and Mariah from remaining friends with Lana, I could tell she was relieved that they had taken her side. It was good that she had the support of her friends. She would need it even more once I was gone.

“Estella,” I said, hating to interrupt the moment between the two friends, “I picked out a dog.”

The two friends turned to me with equally startled expressions on their faces.

“Which one did you pick?” Estella asked as she and Hadie followed me back past the dogs.

“This little guy,” I said, stopping by the cage with the Corgi cross Staffy.

Hadie bent over to study the dog I’d chosen. “Aww, Lincoln! He’s so cute! What are you going to call him?”

I looked back at the little guy wagging back at me, glad that he had new lease on life. Picking a name for him wasn’t a hard decision to make.

“Chance.”

***

“Get that
thing
out of my house,” Mom said, her face turning red with every breath that she was taking.

“That
thing
is called a dog and I’m not taking him back.” My tone was firm as I stared her down.

Mom seemed to expand with anger. “Lincoln, I am warning you. I want it gone. Now.”

“No.”

Beside me, Chance had stopped wagging as though he’d sensed that something wasn’t quite right. Either that or Mom’s yelling was upsetting him.

“We’re not taking care of him after you…you…expire.”

My eyebrows shot up. “
Expire
? I’m not a bottle of milk, Mom. You can say ‘die’, you know? And you don’t have to worry about taking care of Chance after I die. Hadie’s going to take him, and her parents are fine with it.”

Mom’s eyes flickered to Hadie, who was standing behind me, and her mouth twisted. “So that’s how you got the dog? Hadie’s parents got it for you?”

I nodded. “Her mom did, yeah. She filled out all the paperwork and she said that they’ll take him if you guys don’t want him.”

“Then tell her to take him right now because he sure as hell isn’t staying here!” Mom snapped.

Hadie pressed up against me and I could feel how tense she was. I was just as tense, and my hand was bunched up as it held onto Chance’s leash.

“Chance isn’t going anywhere. I’m keeping him, Mom.”

Mom opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Dad stepped forward from where he’d been silently watching the argument unfold.

“Let him keep the dog, Maggie,” he said, placing a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “If that’s what he wants and it makes him happy then let him have it. Hadie can take him when Lincoln’s not here anymore and we move back to New York.”

I could tell that Mom wanted to argue, but instead she turned her furious eyes onto me. “Fine. You can keep it, but it’s not staying in here. Get it outside.” She pointed at the door to emphasize her point.

Shooting Dad a grateful look, Hadie and I turned around and went back outside, Chance following after us on his stubby, little legs.

“That was insane,” Hadie said, letting out a long breath once we’d rounded the side of the house. “Lucky your dad stepped in.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s not usually like that.”

I hadn’t expected Dad to stand up for me at all. He never had the guts to stand up to Mom, so it was pretty amazing to see him disagree with her for once. Especially when it was so important for me to have Chance as company.

“Well, since you have to keep Chance outside, I’ll let you have Halo’s kennel. She never uses it because she’s inside ninety-nine percent of the time. And we have a lot of toys and stuff, so I’ll bring those too. I’ll be back in an hour.”

Hadie turned to go, but I reached out and grabbed her wrist. She faced me, her eyes wide and questioning.

“Thank you,” I said throatily. “You have no idea what this means to me. I couldn’t have done it without you or your mom.”

“Anything for you,” she said softly, planting a kiss on my lips, and walked back to her car.

I watched her drive off, a lump forming in my throat.

Hadie

“It’s so entertaining to see the way girls stare at you,” I said to Lincoln.

We walked into school on Monday morning, ignoring the way people looked at us. They were probably wondering what a guy like Lincoln was doing with someone like me. It didn’t really bother me though. Lincoln and I were secure in our relationship and it didn’t matter to us what other people said about us.