Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Juliette Poe

Author:Juliette Poe [Poe, Juliette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Juliette Poe
Published: 2017-09-14T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Jake

After Trixie loaded Pap up and took him to the doctor, Laken asked me to take her home. We’d dropped Herman off there earlier, and I’m thinking she just wanted the familiar surroundings of her own place.

When we got there, I didn’t even think twice about getting out of my rental car—a Ford sedan this time—and following her into the house. She didn’t tell me to stay out, nor did she invite me in. Laken went straight to the kitchen and started unloading the dishwasher. Herman walked into the kitchen, and as if he sensed his mom was lost in thought, he merely laid on the floor beside her.

She doesn’t have to tell me how important her grandfather is to her, because I can read it by the waves of tension and worry coming off her. I don’t try to provoke conversation, but merely let her talk about what she wants to.

Weirdly, she wants to talk about elephants.

“Did you know that an elephant herd is led by a matriarch?” she asks as she starts moving clean glasses from the dishwasher to a cupboard.

“I did not,” I say as I take a seat at her kitchen table. It’s a light oak, farmhouse style, with a white tiled top. It totally suits her.

She nods and continues, moving on to the plates. “They’re fascinating animals. They show humor, compassion, and playfulness. They’re one of the closest-knit animal societies, and they even exhibit cooperative tendencies.”

I’m not quite sure where she’s going with this, but I feel compelled to ask. “You have to learn this stuff in vet school?”

She shakes her head, but keeps her focus on the silverware she’s now sorting and putting away. “I watched a Nat Geo special a few weeks ago.”

“They’re really smart animals, right?” I ask.

She puts a coffee cup and a small plate from the sink in the now-empty dishwasher, closes it, and turns to face me. She leans back against the counter, palms on the edge. “Extremely smart. They have the largest brain of any land animal and three times as many neurons as humans.”

“I didn’t know that,” I say softly, because I’m finally getting it. She’s trying to do anything she can to not think about her grandfather right now.

Laken nods a bit too enthusiastically and says, “They’re empathetic animals. They show affection by winding their trunks with each other. They show compassion for other species, too. They’ve even been known to help rescue other trapped animals.”

I don’t respond, but there’s no need too. Laken’s gaze drops to her linoleum floor and her eyebrows draw inward.

She takes in a tiny breath and whispers, “They grieve for their dead.”

I wasn’t going to make a move, figuring my place was just to let her occupy her mind in any way that she could. But I hear the tremor in her voice, and I can tell her mind has already skipped way ahead to losing Pap.

I’m out of the chair and pulling her into my arms before she can even look at me.

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