“See?” he whispered. “Told you Grandma knew who the real favorite was.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and kept rubbing Bailey’s ear.
Then Mr. Harper turned a page, looked at me, and said, “To my granddaughter, Lily, I leave my beloved dog, Bailey.”
For a second, I thought I had misheard him.
Zack did not mishear anything; he burst into full, hiccupping laughter.
“Stop,” he managed, wiping at his eyes. “Stop, I can’t breathe. She left you the dog? That old mutt? That’s it?”
He shook his head at me. “Tough break, cuz. All that time playing nurse, and you get a senior citizen dog with bad joints.”
Bailey pressed closer to my legs like he understood every cruel word.I wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered into his fur, “It’s okay, boy, you’re all I need.”
And the thing is, in that moment, I meant it.
Grandma trusted me with the creature she loved most, the one living being that had been with her through almost every day of the last thirteen years.
I would have taken that job gladly, even if it came with nothing else.
