Free Romeo Fails by Amy Briant

the wealthier families in the area, also had a fancy automated misting system that kept the mosquitoes away. As she retrieved another “Girl Beer” (as Shaw called them) from the cooler, Dorsey heard a car pull off the highway and head up the long driveway toward the house.
    “Finally!” Dorsey said out loud. It was Maggie’s sensible sedan, not the cute little Bug. They pulled around to the side of the house where the large deck formed an L to the main structure. Dorsey waved to them from the top of the steps, then went down toward the car.
    “Hey there, women!”
    The engine was still running. The passenger door opened and Sarah got out, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. While she went to the back of the car to unload the trunk, Maggie leaned over to speak to Dorsey through the open passenger window. She looked a bit frazzled.
    “Hey, Mags—what’s up?”
    “Oh, you are not going to believe this! Mother tripped over that stupid Carmichael just as we were getting ready to leave and hurt her ankle. It might be broken.”
    Carmichael was Mrs. Bigelow’s elderly beagle.
    “Oh, no,” Dorsey said. “Is she going to be okay?”
    “Well, I just left her at Dr. Melba’s office, but I may have to run her over to the ER in Grover to get an x-ray. And then I had to take that damn Carmichael to the vet as well. He and Mother both went down in a heap and it looks like he may have broken his ankle too! Can you believe it?”
    “Uh…do dogs even have ankles?” Dorsey wondered.
    “Well, whatever the doggy equivalent of an ankle is,” Maggie said shortly, uncharacteristically out of sorts. “In any event, I have to get back. But I brought Sarah and the picnic basket—there’s no point in all of us having our evening ruined.” She sighed, clearly unhappy with the turn of events.
    Sarah had set a basket, a cooler and a beach towel down on the drive. She closed the trunk and joined Dorsey at the passenger window. As she crouched down beside her to talk to Maggie, the soft cotton of her shirt brushed Dorsey’s bare side. A visceral tingle ran through Dorsey’s body, releasing a shiver that was almost a shudder. She did her best to conceal her unexpected physical reaction. Be cool, she sternly told herself. But there was nothing cool about the way her body was responding to Sarah’s close proximity.
    “Really, Mags, maybe I should come with you,” Sarah was saying. It sounded like the continuation of a prior conversation. “I can keep you company at the ER or wherever.”
    “Yeah, I can come too, if that will be of any help,” Dorsey volunteered, although she already felt crushed with disappointment at the thought of abandoning their plans. She so rarely got to have just a fun night. Spending the evening at the Grover City emergency room—since there was no hospital in Romeo Falls—sounded utterly grim by comparison.
    “No, no,” Maggie said decisively. “You know how Mother gets. The more people around her, the more she’ll just act up. It’ll be easier, really, to deal with her by myself. Hopefully, it’s just a sprain and I can just take her home when I get back to Dr. Melba’s.”
    “What about Carmichael?” Dorsey asked, although she had zero affection for that scruffy hound. Despite the fact she’d been a regular visitor to the Bigelow house since long before Carmichael had arrived on the scene as a puppy twelve years prior, the damn dog still barked at her hysterically every time she went over. He’d also bitten Maggie twice over the years and was housebroken only when he felt like it. Lassie, he was not.
    “The vet’s going to keep him overnight,” Maggie said. “Anyhow, I’ve got to run—I’ll come back if I can and join you two later, so save me a beer, for heaven’s sakes! I’ll need one by then. But if I can’t make it, Dorsey, you’ll give Sarah a ride home, right?”
    “Of course,” Dorsey agreed.
    “See you!” Maggie called as she executed a quick three-point turn and headed