“Um, a W and D.”
She cracked a smile. “Tate, you’re not making any sense. You sound like a riddle.” She tugged on the dog’s leash, urging the asthmatic breathing bulldog up the steep porch steps. “Thanks for watching Latisha tomorrow,” she said, turning and opening the screen door. “I’ll drop her off around six.”
I stood on the stone path leading up to the screened-in porch, staring at the closed front door, wondering what I had committed to.
A dog sitter?
Since when had I become a lover of the furry, four-legged species?
* * * *
I arrived at Hanville Elementary School fifteen minutes later.
I parked in a tight space at the end of the faculty lot and shut off the ignition. I took a long, deep breath, closed my eyes, and lay my head across the steering wheel. My heart hastened at the
