Page 37 of Lucky Mother Pucker

“Well, my dad did.” My shoulder muscles tense just thinking about it. “He constantly rides my ass about rest and recovery as an athlete. He always tells me that quality sleep is key to playing at the top of my game.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” She clears her throat. “He sounds a little intense.”

“You have no idea,” I mutter.

She finishes her plate, then grabs seconds. I notice she’s only taken a bite of her bacon.

“You don’t have to eat the bacon if you don’t like it,” I say.

She looks down at her plate, then at me. “I don’t want to be rude.”

I just smile. “You’re not. It’s not a big deal. The guys will be happy to eat it when they come home later.”

She looks relieved. She finishes her plate, except for the bacon. “Can I save this?”

“Yeah, but it’s really okay if you don’t want it.”

“No, I…” She tugs on the sleeves of the gray hoodie she’s wearing. “I want to give it to Wally, if that’s okay with you. I was going to stop by the shelter to visit him today. He loves bacon.”

I take in the sadness flashing in her eyes. My chest aches. “Yeah, of course.”

I always wanted a dog, ever since I was little, but my dad never let me. He said anything that would take my focus away from hockey wasn’t allowed.

But if I had a dog and had to give him to a shelter, I’d be wrecked.

“How long until you can get him back?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Whenever I save enough money to get my own apartment. Hopefully soon.” She closes her eyes and sighs.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I have until the end of this month to get a place. If I can’t, the shelter will adopt him out to someone else. They’ve sort of been doing me a favor, keeping him there the past few months, but they’re no-kill, so they’re running out of room.” Her eyes go teary for a split second. She blinks quickly. “I’d go get him right now if I could, but I got in trouble with the police for having a pet while living in my car, and I had to give him up or pay a massive fine.”

This is insane. They should have helped her instead of fining her. How the hell does that solve the problem?

“Is there another shelter you could take him to until you get a place?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I’ve looked. The one he’s at is one of the few no-kill shelters in the city. The rest will euthanize him if he’s not adopted in a month. I already almost lost him to one of those places…” She trails off as her voice starts to break.

“Fuck, Lucy. I’m sorry.”

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “This whole thing…it’s because of my stepdad.”

“Wait, he tried to get your dog euthanized for no reason?”

She hugs her arms around herself. “Pretty much. When he kicked me out of the house, he dropped my dog off at some shady shelter. But thankfully, I found him and got him back. He lived in my car with me for a while, until I got in trouble and had to surrender him.”

She sniffles. I grab a napkin and hand it to her.

I’m fucking enraged. And confused. Why did her family allow her stepdad to do this to her?

“And this was okay with your mom?” I ask.

Lucy turns to look at me, her pretty face twisted in pain. “She’s dead. She died in a car accident two years ago. My stepdad was driving drunk and caused the wreck that killed her.”

It feels like I’ve been kicked in the gut. Holy shit. That’s horrible.

“Shit, I…I’m so sorry.” I feel like an asshole saying that. It doesn’t feel like enough.