Free Immortal Ever After by Lynsay Sands

instructed as he cruised past her house again, his eyes scanning the area as they went.
    Valerie took the hat off, caught her hair in a ponytail, twisted it around into a bun on top of her head and then held it in place as she slid the hat over it. “Okay?”
    He glanced over, nodded, then turned his attention back to the road, but made one more circuit around the block before pulling into Mrs. Ribble’s driveway.
    Valerie had the door open and was hurrying up the driveway almost before the SUV had fully stopped. She didn’t head for the front door, however, but straight up the side of the house to the fence running across the end of the driveway from the house and going around the backyard. She didn’t need to go to the door and ask Mrs. Ribble if Roxy was there. She could see Roxy in the backyard.
    She was halfway to the gate when the German shepherd spotted her and raced to the fence barking excitedly. Grinning, Valerie ran the last few feet and reached over the gate to unhook the latch. She’d barely started to swing it open when Roxy burst through the narrow opening like a bullet. The dog circled Valerie, barking wildly, and then, tail wagging like a mad thing, she rubbed up against her legs and turned in circles in front of her. Roxy was happy and excited, but not so excited she’d forgotten that she wasn’t supposed to jump up on people.
    Laughing, Valerie dropped to her knees to hug the dog and ruffle her fur. Then she caught her face in her hands and massaged her cheeks and ears, saying, “Hi baby. Are you okay? I was worried about you. I missed you too,” she cooed happily as the dog licked her face.
    “Ewww. Seriously? You let her lick your face?”
    Valerie glanced around at Bricker’s words to see that he, Anders, Leigh, and Marguerite had followed her. While Anders looked tense and was dividing his attention between watching her greet her dog and the street, Leigh and Marguerite were smiling indulgently. Bricker, however, looked thoroughly disgusted. Chuckling at his expression, she said, “You obviously don’t have a dog.”
    “No,” he acknowledged. “But Anders has been looking into getting one.”
    “Really?” Valerie asked, glancing to Anders with interest.
    “I’ve been researching breeds to see which would be a good fit for me,” he said quietly, his eyes shifting briefly to Roxy before he glanced around the area again.
    “Roxy? Roxy girl! Where’d you get to?”
    Valerie glanced toward the backyard at that trembling old voice. She gave Roxy one last pet and stood up to walk to the gate and peer toward the back door of the house. “Hi, Mrs. Ribble.”
    “Valerie?” the woman said sourly, squinting to see her better.
    “Yes. Thank you for looking after Roxy for me. I appreciate it,” she said, glancing down and petting the dog as she leaned up against her side.
    “Oh, well, she was sitting out on your stoop whining one night and I couldn’t sleep so I brought her in,” Mrs. Ribble said, and scowled at Valerie. “Not that you care. Two weeks you left the poor girl on her own. She could have died.” The old woman scowled harder and added, “I don’t think you should have her back if you can’t take care of her.”
    “Valerie was gone two weeks and you didn’t bother to call the police and report her missing?” Anders countered, suddenly behind Valerie. He sounded pretty angry.
    “Well . . .” the woman scowled. “How did I know she wasn’t just out partying or something?”
    “You knew,” Anders said with quiet certainty. “But you wanted the dog.”
    Valerie peered at him with surprise and then back to Mrs. Ribble as she suddenly shifted on the back stoop, guilt plain on her face before she turned away. “Just take her and go. And don’t expect me to watch her the next time.”
    The door closed behind the old woman with a clack and Valerie raised an eyebrow in Anders’s direction, saying carefully, “You were kind of tough on her.”
    Anders quit scowling