Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

“Steph.” His deep voice was low, almost like a whisper. I immediately envisioned that I was interrupting him having one of his Don Juan moments with the many ladies I was certain still fell at his feet. He had it made. He seemed to get more handsome with age with very little effort, and if that wasn’t enough, being an FBI agent seemed to lure the women right in. It amazed me how superficial females could be.

“What’s up? You sent me a text to call you, so that’s what I’m doing.” I didn’t want whoever he was with to think his ex-wife was making a social call. Okay, maybe it was him I didn’t want to think that because chances were, whoever he was with probably didn’t even know who was on the other end of the call. Jack was a master at keeping secrets.

“Yeah. Will you be up in a bit? I’m still at work in the middle of something pretty big. I wanted to talk to you about the body that washed up on the beach. They were able to match the DNA.”

“Actually, I’m pretty tired. Can you just say what you need to now?” I wasn’t going to stay up until he was done with his date to find out.

“It was a man named Tom Cavlan. He comes from a very powerful political family. His brother is a senator in California and is actually a potential candidate for the presidential election next year.”

“Hmm…never heard of him or his brother. But then again, I’ve never been into politics. Well, I’m glad they found out who he was. Hopefully his family has a little closure now that he’s been identified.” There were a million more questions I wanted to ask him about the circumstances, but I remained nonchalant, mainly because I was seething. He asked me to call him so he could relay important information like this, then had the nerve to want to delay it so he could finish screwing his flavor of the week. “I’ll let you get back—”

“Jack, we need you back in the conference room,” a man’s voice interrupted.

“Be right there,” Jack responded. Turned out, he wasn’t lying after all. He really was still at work. “I’ll give you a call at some point tomorrow if I find anything else out.”

“Okay. Sounds good.” My tone was a little softer. “Jack!” I called just before we were getting ready to disconnect. “Kara will be home tomorrow, and we’re going to order some pizza for dinner…if you’re free, stop by. I’m sure that would be a nice surprise for her.”

“I’ll make sure I am. Good night, Steph,” he said as he hung up the phone.

Chapter 5

“MOM!” KARA CALLED from down the stairs. I had just finished putting fresh sheets on the bed in the guest room for her “friend” because friend or not, they would not be sharing the same bed while they were staying here.

“I’ll be right down!” I shouted, placing the last throw pillow back on the bed before closing the bedroom door behind me. I hurried down the steps and into the kitchen, looking past Kara to try and spot a glimpse of her mystery man. She threw her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. I hugged her back and jumped when I felt something nudging at the back of my leg. I gasped as I stared down at the almond-shaped expressive eyes of what appeared to be a black-and-tan-colored German shepherd.

“Mom, meet my friend, Max.” Oh no. This was not the friend she was bringing home. The one who I had been nonstop binge cleaning for from the time I had gotten home from work.

“Kara…no, no, no!” I shouted as he lifted his leg, readying himself to pee on my freshly mopped kitchen floor.

“No, Max!” Kara shouted, causing him to put his leg down. “We go potty outside.” Her tone softened, sounding more like she was talking to a toddler than a dog as she walked him over to the slider and let him out in the yard.

“Kara.” I took a deep breath.

“Mom.” She smiled. “Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”

“Why didn’t you tell me this friend was a dog? He’s not even a dog, he’s a horse!”

“He is not, he’s actually still a puppy. He’s only ten months old. One of my roommates’ boyfriend got him for her, but my other roommate is allergic, so he can’t stay in our apartment.”

“Okay, so why didn’t your roommate who owns him take him home to her family?”

“Oh, because her mom would kill her if she brought a dog home,” she said nonchalantly, opening the refrigerator door and peering aimlessly inside.

“As opposed to your mom who would just welcome him with open arms.” My words were laced with sarcasm. We jerked our heads in unison to the back slider door where Max was letting us know he wanted to come in by standing on his hind legs, scratching his front paws along the glass. “He’s making a really good first impression!” I shouted as Kara dashed to the door to let him inside. It finally dawned on me, if her friend was allergic to this dog and this was the only option for him this weekend, did she plan on making him more than a temporary house guest?

“Look how obedient he’s being to you already.” She patted the top of his head as he sat at my feet, staring up at me.

“Kara, he is going back with you when you leave, right?”

“Well. No. He really can’t. Mandy is allergic, and we’re not allowed to have pets in our apartment.”

I took a deep breath. The last thing I wanted was to get in an argument with her the first night she was home, and over a dog of all things. “Then why doesn’t the boyfriend who bought the roommate the dog take him back?”

“Well…they kind of broke up, and he’s being a