Free Saving Summer by J.C. Isabella

until I had my bearings to ask her what the hell she’d been thinking.
    But before I could, she opened the door.
    And got out.

Chapter 12
    “Summer!” I yelled, scrambling to get my seatbelt off. She could barely walk upright. The wind was beating her. She couldn’t hear me. But she backed up a bit, gripping the door of the truck. “Get back inside!”
    I don’t think she heard me, but she got back in. Dripping wet. She left the door open. I reached over her to try and close the door, and was shoved backwards when something leapt into the truck. I tried shoving it off me, and got a face full of wet fur.
    Wet dog.
    “Calm down,” Summer shouted, and I wasn’t sure if she was shouting at me or the dog. When the door shut I relaxed into the seat. There had to be sixty, possibly eighty pounds of muddy, wet dog all over us. The smell was enough to make me gag. “It’s okay, shh.”
    We got the dog calmed down. It was some sort of lab or retriever. I’m pretty sure that if it had a bath, it would have been yellow.
    “You could have warned me.” I took a deep breath and started the car again. “Could have said, ‘Hey, a dog, I think we should stop.’”
    Summer peered at me over the dog’s head. “Sorry. I just reacted. Besides, he was walking into the street.”
    “He doesn’t have a collar. What do we do with him?”
    “Keep him, for now.” She smirked, seeming pleased with herself. If this wasn’t a life or death situation, I’d think that smirk was pretty cute, and try to kiss it off her face.
    “Fine, better hope we can find a hotel that takes dogs.”
    “We can smuggle him in.” She gave him a wet pat on the head and I swear he was smiling.
    “He’s not going to fit in a purse.”
    “Let me worry about him, and you drive.”
    I did as she said, knowing that there was nothing we could do now. I kept driving. We reached Miami, and once we were near the airport, there were several multi-story hotels that were still accepting people. It was probably going to cost a hell of a lot of money.
    At this point, I didn’t care if I had to empty my savings account just for one night.
    I wanted a shower. I wanted to bathe the dog. I wanted to eat. And then I was going to sleep for the next two days. Maybe three.
    Okay, eight hours would be great.
    “Look, how about there?” Summer pointed out the window. It was a well-lit, massive, very sturdy looking hotel next to the airport. “I bet they even accept pets.”
    “Yeah, or we are going to end up in a parking garage.”
    I pulled the car under the entryway where attendants were waiting to collect our bags. They gave us a sorry onceover, but didn’t seem too put off by us, and no one said anything about the dog.
    I hoped we didn’t get kicked out, or we were screwed again.

Chapter 13
Summer
    “I know this is a long shot, but you wouldn’t have any rooms left, would you?” I asked the lady at the front desk. I probably looked like a drowned rat, but she didn’t seem to care and glanced at her computer. “We’re almost booked. We do have a few…though they might be out of your price range.”
    God, why do people get judgy when you look less than perfect. I was not going to put up with her snotty attitude. “Look, I’ve got a credit card with a five thousand dollar limit. Feel free to charge the hell out of it. Just don’t make us go back out into a hurricane.”
    Her attitude flipped around so fast, and her smile was so bright, I backed up a step. “We will be happy to see to whatever it is you need.”
    Hell yeah. Now that’s how it’s done.
    “Great,” I said, acting like my sister. She could be a real snob sometimes. I’m sure she’d love the lady behind the counter. So I did my best to imitate her. Knowing that the snob act was probably the only way we’d fit in this place. “I’ve been through hell and so has my…boyfriend. We would love room service. Mexican food, if you have it. And I’m bringing my dog…” I glanced down at