Free Unbalanced by Kate Douglas Page B

Marks?”
    Eddy glared at her. “Do not call me Edwina.” She ran her finger through the condensation on the scarred wooden tabletop before looking up at Ginny and grinning. “Maybe a column about weird rumors and how they get started. I’ll cite you as Ground Zero, but I doubt it’s cutting edge enough for the front page of the Record. ”
    Ginny grabbed her purse and pulled out a lipstick. “Yeah, like that rag’s going to cover real news?”
    “Hey, we do our best and we stay away from the tabloid stuff . . . you know, the garbage you like to read?” Laughing, Eddy stood up. “Well, I’m always complaining that nothing exciting ever happens around here. I guess flying gargoyles, runaway statues and killer gnomes are better than nothing.” She tossed some change on the table for a tip and waved at the girl working behind the counter. “Gotta go, Gin. I need to get home. Have to let Bumper out.”
    “Bumper? Who’s that? Don’t tell me you brought home another homeless mutt from the shelter.”
    “And if I did?”
    Ginny waved the lipstick at her like a pointer. “Eddy, the last time you had to give up a fostered pup, you bawled for a week. Why do you do this to yourself?”
    She’d be lucky if she only bawled for a week when it was time for Bumper to leave. They’d bonded almost immediately, but she really didn’t want a dog. Not for keeps. “They were gonna put her down if no one took her,” she mumbled.
    Ginny shook her head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. One of these days you’re going to take in a stray that’ll really break your heart.”
     
    ***
     
    Eddy heard Bumper when she was still half a block from home. She’d only left the dog inside the house while she went to town for coffee, but it appeared the walls weren’t thick enough to mute her deep-throated growling and barking.
    Thank goodness it wasn’t nine yet. Any later and she’d probably have one of the neighbors filing a complaint. Eddy picked up her pace and ran the last hundred yards home, digging for her house keys as she raced up the front walk. “Bumper, you idiot. I only left you for an hour. I hope you haven’t been going on like this the whole time I’ve been gone.”
    She got the key in the lock and swung the front door open. Bumper didn’t even pause to greet her. Instead, she practically knocked Eddy on her butt as she raced out the front door, skidded through the open gate to the side yard and disappeared around the back of the house.
    “Shit. Stupid dog.” Eddy threw her keys in her bag, slung her purse over her shoulder and took off after the dog. It was almost completely dark away from the streetlight and Eddy stumbled on one of the uneven paving stones by the gate. Bumper’s deep bark turned absolutely frantic, accompanied by the added racket from her clawing and scratching at the wooden door to Eddy’s potting shed.
    “If you’ve got a skunk cornered in there, you stupid dog, I swear I’m taking you back to the shelter.”
    Bumper stopped barking, now that she knew she had Eddy’s attention. She whined and sniffed at the door, still scratching at the rough wood. Eddy fumbled in her bag for her keychain and the miniature flashlight hanging from the ring. The beam was next to worthless, but better than nothing.
    She scooted Bumper out of the way with her leg and unlatched the door just enough to peer in through a crack. Bumper whapped her nose against Eddy’s leg. Shoving frantically with her broad head, she tried to force her way inside.
    “Get back.” Eddy glared at the dog. Bumper flattened her ears against her curly head and immediately backed off, looking as pathetic as she had last week at the shelter when Eddy’d realized she couldn’t leave a blond pit bull crossed with a standard poodle to the whims of fate.
    She aimed her tiny flashlight through the narrow opening. Blinked. Told herself she was really glad she’d been drinking coffee and not that brandy she’d wanted tonight,