Free Must Love Dogs: New Leash on Life by Claire Cook

impossibly elaborate lace bodice, the look in her eyes saying how did I get lucky enough to marry this handsome guy. Her cat's eye glasses with little rhinestones that I would give anything to get my hands on now and which were just flashy enough to make me wonder if I'd ever really known her.
    My grandparents ' wedding photos were up on the wall, too, as well as my brothers' and sisters'. I'd taken down Kevin's and my wedding picture the day our divorce had become final in a ceremony that involved my father's biggest hammer and the sound of breaking glass while my family cheered me on. There were so many photos that you might not notice the empty space unless you knew where to look. I kept meaning to bring another picture over to take its place, but somehow I never seemed to get around to it.
    Michael came into the hallway before I even had to track him down. "That old coot. Do you believe he can sing Mom's praises at the same time he's typing out a personal ad?"
    I sighed. "Yeah, sometimes I feel that way, too, at least a little bit, but she's gone, Michael. What's he supposed to do, bring flowers to her grave once a week and mope around the other six days?"
    Michael shrugged. "I don't think I could do it, that's all."
    " You'll get there. Give it time." I didn't have the heart to tell him that with Carol on my back, time meant about five minutes.
    I followed his eyes to his wedding picture, taken on the front steps of the church in Savannah where Phoebe grew up and where they were married. Michael with a fresh haircut and shiny brown eyes, dapper in his tux. Phoebe in a strapless white dress looking blond and fragile and like someone who didn't quite belong to this dark-haired family with their big smiles and shiny brown eyes, like the old Sesame Street game about which of these things is not like the other.
    I had a sudden urge to go get Michael the hammer, but I knew he wasn 't ready yet.
    He ran one hand through his scraggly hair.
    "Hey," I said. "Let's sneak out and get you a quick haircut while the roast is in the oven."
    He sighed a long sigh, like a simple haircut might be beyond him. "Yeah, okay. Let me just tell Annie and Lainie that I'll be right back. It could take me a minute. They've got some song they want me to listen to."
    " Great," I said.
     

     
    Michael drove, his Toyota 4Runner starting right up the way it always did, even though it had passed the hundred thousand mile mark and then some. I adjusted the beach towel he kept draped over the cracked vinyl of the passenger seat. Mother Teresa poked her head between our shoulders. I reached for a tissue to wipe some drool dribbling from the corner of her mouth.
    We headed in the direction of the nearest walk-in sports cut place. If I were a better sister, I probably would have thought ahead and called someone to get a referral to a cutting edge salon and then made an actual appointment, but at this point even a buzz cut would be a step up for my brother.
    "You know," Michael said, "if Phoebe wanted me to drive a nicer car, she should have said something. I thought we'd agreed that it made more sense to stay on track with the girls' college fund."
    " Listen," I said. "We've been over this a dozen times already. It's not about the car. We have no idea who this guy is or if they're even dating. He could be a client. He could be gay."
    " Right," Michael said. "Or he could be banging my wife."
    On the one hand, I wanted to make Michael feel better. On the other hand, I wanted him to get over Phoebe. There didn 't seem to be a lot of overlap, so I had a tendency to bounce back and forth between the two, trying to find a balance.
    I nodded carefully. "Or they could be screwing around together. When is your next session with the marriage counselor?"
    " Tuesday. But Phoebe will probably cancel again." He shook his head. "She'd better not. It's our last session before she takes the girls to Savannah to visit her parents."
    " Don't anticipate," I said. "Maybe she just