The Ex Games(33)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“He’s an old dog!” Josh protested.

“He’s four!” I pointed out.

“That’s twenty-eight in dog years! He’s practically thirty!”

“Strike!” Mom squealed amid the noise of electronic pins falling. Then she shook her game remote at both of us in turn. “I’m not stupid, you know. And I’m not as out of it as you assume. I know the two of you are really arguing about something else. It’s those jeans again, isn’t it?” She nodded to me. “I should cut them in half and give each of you a leg. Why does either of you want to wear jeans with ‘BOY TOY’ written across the seat anyway?”

“I thought that was the fashion,” Josh said. “Grandma wears a pair of sweatpants with ‘HOT MAMA’ written across the ass.”

“That is different,” Mom hissed. “She wears them around the kitchen.”

I inhaled indignantly through my nose. “I said,” I announced haughtily, “I am going for a walk with my dog. My beloved canine and I are taking a turn around our fair community. No activity could be more wholesome for a young girl and her pet. And if you have a problem with that, well! What is this world coming to? Come along, dear Doofus.” I stuck my nose in the air and stalked past them, but the effect was lost. Somewhere around “our fair community,” Mom and Josh both had lost interest and turned back to the TV.

Or so I thought. But just as I was about to step outside, Josh appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the mud room. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

I said self-righteously, “I am taking my loyal canine for a w—”

“You’re going to Nick’s, aren’t you?” he whispered. “Do you think that’s a good idea? I heard you yelled at him for no reason at the half-pipe, right before he busted ass.”

I swallowed. Good news traveled fast. “So?”

“So, why are you going over there? Best case scenario, you make out with him again and then have another fight.”

Good news about everything traveled fast. I scowled at Josh. “It’s better than not knowing whether he’s hurt.”

“Is it?” Josh leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms. He’d never looked so much like my father, and it was time to put him in his place.

“Way better, and someday you will be old enough to understand.” I reached forward to pat him on the head. He dodged my hand and came after me across the mud room, bent on revenge. Doofus and I escaped out the door and ran all the way across the snowy yard. I wouldn’t have put it past Josh to chase me outside in his socks, but behind me the mud room had turned dark.

Doofus and I headed toward town. The sidewalk was icy as always but not nearly as slippery, now that I wore good walking boots rather than snowboarding boots. And the night was gorgeous, deep purple all around with the lights of downtown glowing from the valley, and a sky full of stars. We skirted the touristy area, with its streets full of happy families and laughing couples in love, and headed up the mountain.

Nick’s street was close to the center of town, but I couldn’t recall ever driving up it in my mom’s car. It allowed access to only ten mansions overlooking the slopes, the homes of nobody I knew except Nick. And somehow I had always resisted driving very slowly back and forth in front of his house. Willpower? No. I figured his front gate was equipped with security cameras and I would just be embarrassing myself. And this street was definitely not on the bus line.

Doofus and I hiked up the sidewalk. Since there was no one around, I dropped Doofus’s leash. He pranced in the snowdrifts and bit the snow and rolled in it until ice clumped and froze in his tail. He promptly trotted back to me, wagging his tail, and whacked me with the ice.

“Ouch! Sweet doggie.” We’d passed two mansions and had reached Nick’s. It was big and beautiful and distant amid the snow falling gently in the night. Through the cold landscape, warm light glowed from a second-story window. If he’d died alone in his big, empty house, at least he hadn’t died in the cold dark.

I couldn’t leave without knowing. With a sigh, I pressed the button on the imposing gate. Doofus and I both jumped at the buzz. I backed up to give the gate room in case it opened out.

It stayed shut.

After a few moments, I pressed the button again. The gate didn’t move, and the lights of the house stared at me across the snowy plain.

“Fine. Come on, Doofus.” I led the way back down the hill to the narrow passage between the Kriegers’ fence and the fence next door. Mistake: The unshoveled snow was knee-deep. I kept right on wading through it. “This is because I’m a good person,” I assured Doofus. “I am going to heaven, though hopefully not by way of the convent.” Doofus pranced happily around me.

Finally I reached the back corner of Nick’s enormous yard, where even the passage between the Kriegers’ fence and their neighbors’ was shut off from the ski slopes by another, higher fence. “Okay, this isn’t good. I’m sorry, Doofus, but I have to leave you out here while I go save the day. I’ll only be a minute.” I looked around for a tree to tie Doofus’s leash to, one that he would not pull out by its roots.

Something moved swiftly in the corner of my eye. Mountain lion! I gasped and whirled around.

It was only Doofus, climbing Nick’s fence. He’d leapt to the top and hooked his front paws over the wood. Now his back legs scrabbled against the smooth planks, searching for a claw-hold to push him over.

“Bad dog,” I sighed. He’d disappeared.

Well, if I’d had any thoughts of chickening out on my mission, they were gone now. I jumped to the top of the fence, hauled myself over, and dropped to the snowy ground.

And froze with horror. The mountain lion was here in the fenced yard with us where we couldn’t escape. Growling at us. Except for the square rectangular glow of a glass door on the deck, I saw nothing but blackness. But I heard the growl, too close.

“Doofus!” I screamed, needlessly. He barreled toward me and hit me in the chest, yelping. I’m not sure whether I dragged him or he dragged me, but somehow we dashed up the wooden steps to the snow-covered deck and headed straight for the door. I didn’t even have time to pray it was unlocked. The sharp claws of the mountain lion nicked my calves above my boots, through my long underwear and jeans. I yanked open the door and picked Doofus up bodily. We collapsed inside in a mound of Polartec and fur and backed against the door until it clicked closed.