Stray by Natasha Stories Read Free Book Online

‘what would your girlfriend say?’ and running through ‘don’t get too friendly’ and ‘I thought Papa’s was only open for breakfast.’ What came out of my mouth was a strangled ‘erk’. Jon and Max both tilted their heads. It was so funny I let out a sharp bark of a laugh, causing Max to thump his tail on the floor and Jon to look more confused.
     
    “I, uh, no, sorry, I’ve got plans,” I said, trying desperately to come up with something sufficiently urgent in case Jon asked what plans. The only thing I could think of was I had to wash my hair. Lame, lame, lame. Fortunately, he didn’t ask.
     
    “Another time, maybe,” he said, with an easy smile. Then he turned and left with a final pat to Max’s head. When I’d locked the front door behind him, I went back to Max.
     
    “Well, that was awkward. Hey, dogs are supposed to be good judges of character. What do you think of the very yummy Jon Whatshisname? Do you think it’s suspicious that he’s never given me his last name? And now that I think of it, why did Doc seem to know exactly who I was talking about?”
     
    Max gazed at me earnestly, but he didn’t have an answer. I had to assume that he thought Jon was okay, since he hadn’t bitten him.
     
    “Do you need to go outside, buddy?” I asked. Max’s tail thumped wildly as he got to his feet, noticeably with less difficulty than before. “Hey, you’re doing great!” I enthused. When we came back in, I let him accompany me to the front desk, where I ran the day-end before putting him back in the kennel for the night. “Sorry, buddy. Wish I could take you home with me, but I can’t. I’ll see you in the morning.”
     
    Max put his head on his front paws, his tail thumping once. I hated to leave him.
     
    ~*~
     
    The day hadn ’t been physically strenuous, but I was bone-weary when I got home. Tonight would be a boxed mac’n’cheese night, though I hated the stuff with a passion. To make it nutritionally sound, I cut up a hot dog in it. I hated those, too. With a bowl of disgusting orange pasta and a glass of white wine for the fruits and veg portion, I flopped into my favorite chair in front of the TV and moped.
     
    Had I made the worst mistake of my life in coming here? It seemed I’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Sure, I wanted to be hundreds of miles from any reminder of Greg and our four years together, but I’d never lived in a small town in my life. I was beginning to understand why my mom had tried to warn me. Who knew what repercussions the slightest wrong word or social misstep would bring? Now that I was aware of the tension between two of the factions in town, I was nervous that a wrong move was inevitable, especially if I couldn’t control myself around the resort people, like Jon.
     
    On the other hand, there was no way I could just quit and go home. I’d used every penny of my savings to get here, and besides I was under contract for a year. Mulling it over, I realized that the way the contract was written, Dr. Simmons could fire me, but I couldn’t quit. Oh, joy. That meant I couldn’t even talk to him about his impossible daughter, because surely he’d take her side. I was royally fucked, and not in a good way.
     
    Speaking of which, that hadn’t happened in a while, either. I didn’t think of myself as a sex maniac, but I did have a healthy respect for an orgasm, which was the one reason I’d stayed with Greg for so long in spite of his insufferable attitude. He was good for at least one whenever we had sex. Not an inspiring one, to be sure, but the physical release was welcome. Since I’d moved here, I hadn’t had a date, much less sex. In fact, I hadn’t met a single dateable guy since I got here, if you didn’t count Jon. I didn’t, because he had a girlfriend, and I don’t do that.
     
    Something would have to be done, or I was going to end up sobbing all night. Thank God for satellite TV! What I was going to do was turn on