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Jazz stood beside Winter and took in the living space that they had shared like sisters for the past couple of years. “Me too. It holds some good memories.”
“It does,” Winter agreed. “You know what I’m not going to miss though? The sound of Rosco upstairs at four in the morning.”
She grimaced at the thought of their party-hard neighbor. That was one thing she wasn’t going to miss either.
Winter nudged her with her shoulder. “You’ve got this.”
“I know,” she agreed. Leo was her other half, and she was determined to remember that no matter how scary things got.
“If you want to beat him home, you should head out soon,” Winter advised as she leaned forward for a hug.
“I’ll follow you down.”
The trek down the stairs was silent.
“Give me a hug,” Winter said, opening her arms wide the moment she’d deposited her bag in the back of her car.
Jazz laughed a little when they both teared up. “I love you, bish.”
“Love you too,” Winter whispered when they stepped back from each other. Climbing into the small car, she lowered the window and blew a kiss.
“Win…” she cleared her throat. “Thanks for everything.All the times you stood by me when my folks went off the rails, advice with Leo, just…everything. I appreciate you.”
“That’s what sisters are for,” her bestie yelled out the window as she pulled away.
Jazz didn’t waste any time getting herself loaded up and moving. She had two stops that she needed to make before going home and while they’d be quick-ish, they were still going to cause a delay.
It ended up taking a little longer than expected, but within an hour, she was pulling into the driveway of the house she’d be sharing with Leo. Climbing out of her car, she smiled when he opened the front door to welcome her home.
“Hey, you.” She walked straight into his arms, dropping her bag onto the front porch with a thunk.
Leo rocked her back and forth while they hugged and kissed the top of her head. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too,” she whispered into this chest.
“You ok, sugar?”
She leaned back only enough to look up into his face. “Never been better.”
Leo studied her for a moment before leaning down for a soft kiss. “Good.”
He picked up her bag and started to tug her into the house.
“We need to talk—”
“Wait.” She resisted his pull and looked back at her still open car. She hadn’t been able to grab everything, so she’d left the door wide open planning to go back. “We need to get the rest of my stuff out of the car.”
“Can it wait?”
Jazz bit her lip. “I’m pretty sure that the bags can wait, but Big Ricky may get a little impatient.”
Leo raised his eyebrows in question and glanced back towards her car.
“Big Ricky?”
Now it was her turn to tug Leo along as she hustled them back to her car.
Unlocking the travel kennel she had borrowed from the shelter, Jazz coaxed out their new rescued family member. “I know you mentioned a puppy, but this guy’s owners just moved into a nursing home.” She lifted the heavy dachshund in her arms, his shaggy reddish-brown hair blowing in the slight breeze. When the dog gave her chin a lick, she giggled. She’d had a soft spot for this walking sausage the moment he’d come in during one of her volunteer shifts. “We didn’t have much luck finding him a new home because of his age and well…he’s overweight so he’ll have to go on special food, which is not cheap.”
