Darius reached forward and hugged him.
“He can’t be far, buddy,” Jase said. “We’ll start looking for him right now.”
Luis didn’t say a word. He knew Camp wasn’t the type of dog that would wander off the property line when he was outside with them. But if Luis had left the door open by mistake, which he doubted, and Camp had wandered off on his own, it could be trouble. If Camp saw a deer or another wild animal, even a squirrel, he was off to battle and always ready to protect his territory. There was a strong chance he could have chased a deer into the woods and lost his way.
“I want to go out and look for him, too,” Hunter said, sobbing through the words, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
“I’m not going to bed until he’s home.”
“You stay here with Darius,” Jase said. “Daddy and I will go out right now and look everywhere. It’s gonna be okay, buddy. We’ll get him back.”
To see Hunter’s face and to hear the fear in his voice broke Luis’s heart. He took his car keys off the counter, pulled two flashlights out of a drawer, and followed Jase out the back door. When they were outside and far enough away from the house for Darius to hear them, Luis pulled Jase by the arm and said, “I know I shut that door, Jase. I’d never leave a door wide open.”
“Calm down, baby,” Jase said. “It was crazy here earlier tonight. You were on the phone talking to Roland, and Hunter was upstairs shouting about something. You might have done it by accident. Even I could have done it by accident. We all do things like that sometimes without meaning any harm. Let’s focus on finding Camp now, because if we don’t, we’re going to have huge problems with Hunter.”
Jase was right. The only important thing now was finding Camp. So they split up in different directions and searched the entire property for the next hour. Luis looked behind rocks and trees, in gullies and ravines. He called the dog’s name so many times his voice started to waver. When he met up with Jase in the driveway and he saw Jase had returned without Camp, he felt the sharp pain return to his stomach and wondered how he was going to break the news to Hunter.
As Luis was about to suggest they drive around in the car, headlights flashed in the easement road and Thomas’s black Cadillac slowly crept toward them. Luis shrugged and Jase sent Luis a confused glance. Thomas never came to visit after seven unless he was invited to something specific. It was almost eleven o’clock by then and Luis couldn’t imagine why he was pulling into the driveway.
Thomas pulled up to where Luis and Jase stood. He lowered the window and smiled. “I think I have something that belongs to you,” he said in a deep, hearty tone. “I found this in my rose garden about ten minutes ago.” Then he lifted Camp from his lap and held him up in the window.
Jase closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth.
Luis pressed his palm to his stomach and exhaled. He reached into the car and took Camp from Thomas. He looked him up and down. The mop of shaggy blond hair on the poor little dog’s head was tangled and matted with thistles and thorns. But his tail was wagging and he licked Luis’s face.
“Oh Camp, you’ve been a bad boy. But I’m too damn happy to see you to get mad.” He turned to Thomas and said, “You have no idea how you’ve saved the day, Thomas. We’ve been looking for him for the past hour. He got out somehow and we were terrified something had happened to him.” He refused to admit he’d left the door open. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he hadn’t left it open.
Jase thanked Thomas and said, “Can you come inside for coffee or an after-dinner drink so we can thank you properly?”
“You have no idea how grateful we are,” Luis said. “If anything happened to Camp, Hunter would be devastated.
And I’m not sure how I’d be able to deal with it myself. He’s been a big part of my life for a long time.” He pulled Camp closer and kissed his snout. “Please come in for one drink.”
Thomas smiled and waved his arm. “You’ve already thanked me properly. I’ll see you later. I have to go home now and go to bed. I want to be at the hospital early in the morning to see how Cory is doing.” Then he turned the wheel and slowly crept back to his house, with the gravel creaking beneath his tires so gently Luis felt a yawn coming on.
As they walked back to the house, Jase put his arm around Luis and said, “As soon as Cory is up and around, the first thing I want him to do is install one of those invisible dog fences. I don’t want anything like this to happen again.”
“I didn’t leave the door open, Jase,” Luis said.
“It doesn’t matter who left it open,” Jase said. “Next time Hunter might leave it open by mistake. I think an electric fence will give us peace of mind.”
Luis decided not to disagree with him this time. He noticed Jase didn’t mention Darius might also leave the door open by mistake someday, as if this was something that would never occur to Jase, and something that could only happen to Luis or a small child. And Luis wasn’t smiling at the prospect of Camp getting an electric jolt from one of those doggie fences he’d read about. But maybe Jase had a point this time.
They didn’t have to get an electric fence. They could fence in the entire property with one of those tall deer fences and an electric gate. So he nodded and said, “I guess Cory will have plenty to do around here when he gets out of the hospital.”
When they reached the house, Camp barked and almost jumped out of Luis’s arms. Luis put him down with care and he ran to Hunter. Luis had never seen his son this happy before; it was Christmas morning, Easter Sunday, and his birthday combined. Hunter clutched the dog and held him tightly while Luis and Jase stood there gaping with huge smiles. The only one who didn’t seem as thrilled to see Camp was Darius. Oh, he smiled and nodded, but he didn’t hug Camp or pet the top of his head. All Darius said was, “Wow, I had a feeling he was gone for good” in a deadpan tone.
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning Roland called again as they were finishing breakfast. Darius was cleaning out the coffee maker and Jase had gone into his office. Roland told Luis to come over as soon as Hunter left for baseball camp. He didn’t ask.
He said he had something important to show Luis and it couldn’t wait any longer. Luis had been planning to go to the hospital after he put Hunter on the school bus, and Jase was planning to work at home all day in his office off the living room. So Luis promised he’d stop by in an hour. He’d see what Roland wanted and he’d go to the hospital from there.