What's Left Behind Read Online Free Page B

scare her.” Grace pumped her lips between her teeth. Rob lowered his voice to a whisper. “If we’re calm, Bella’s calm. Isn’t that right?” Bella rewarded him by licking his hand. “There you go.”
    Grace’s eyes turned glassy with unshed tears, and she nodded.
    A picture of Rob’s mother flashed before him, Dad taking her by the hand for her last trip to the hospital. “No worries,” Rob had promised his mother. “Maria and I will watch out for Dad while you’re gone,” he’d said, even though everyone—Mom included—had known she wouldn’t be returning. Not sure whether the lie had made leaving easier for his mother or those left behind.
    Rob eased his hands under Bella’s belly, scooped her up. The dog’s ribs pressed against his chest, her heartbeat lub-dubbed through him, and she let him take her down the stairway.
    At the open door, Rob turned, intending to ask Maria and Grace whether they were coming with him. Instead, Grace lifted her house keys from the hook, and Maria scrambled up the stairway, leaving him to deal with the mess. He didn’t mind. But he suspected their daughter secretly wanted both parents along for this heartbreak. Grace couldn’t hold a grudge forever.
    Eight minutes later, Rob and Grace were sitting side by side in the vet’s waiting room with Bella at their feet. The dog sat to Rob’s left, the way he’d trained her. The reason she’d graduated first in her class, same as Grace.A bitter knot tickled the back of Rob’s throat, and he coughed to dislodge it.
    Grace stiffened and sucked in a breath, removing all the air in the room. Rob’s heart hammered, trying to escape through his ears.
    Last chance, last chance, last chance.
    They were doing the right thing. They were putting an end to the suffering.
    Same melodramatic reason Maria had given him for wanting a divorce.
    Grace swiped at a tear, and her hand jazzed across her cheek. She rested her hand on Bella’s head. Rob placed his hand on Grace’s, and their hands rode the waves of Bella’s breath, their dog comforting them.
    Rob remembered the first time Grace had strode into the vet’s office with Bella in her gangly six-year-old arms and deposited the pup on the metal examining table, proud as a new parent. “Dr. Anderson, look at my puppy!”
    Thing was, when Rob looked at Bella, he still expected to see an eight-pound bundle. When he gazed at his daughter, he expected a little girl.
    Rob had brought Bella home, ostensibly as a present for Grace. At the time, he’d thought Maria needed the puppy more. She’d wanted to have another baby, about four years after he’d given up trying to convince her. For a while the puppy had worked, and Maria had seemed content. She hadn’t complained. He hadn’t looked for trouble.
    Grace’s face paled under the fluorescent lights.
    “You okay?” Rob asked.
    Grace nodded, but she didn’t answer.
    Rob’s legs stiffened, as if he’d been kneeling, setting pavers and plantings from sunup to sundown. He stroked the dog’s back, avoiding her sensitive patches. By the time he’d noticed a swelling in Bella’s neck, the cancer had already migrated to her bones.
    Silent, insidious killer.
    Grace gave Bella a kiss on her head.
    Hammering in Rob’s ears, hammering through his chest. His whole body ached with warning.
    Last chance, last chance, last chance.
    Rob’s fierce-on-the-field girl struggled to maintain her composure. Her teeth chattered. Grace rubbed the dog’s ear, and Bella sighed.
    Rob stroked the length of Bella’s back, warm beneath his sweaty-cold hands. He took hold of Grace’s right hand, and his daughter squeezed. Freakishly strong, just like her father.
    Crazy, but Rob silently asked Mom to look out for his dog, as if Bella were headed for an eternity catching Frisbees and chasing seagulls along a dog-friendly beach. Power of suggestion, the hammering in his ears softened. He inhaled through his nose, deep and measured.
    Through Grace’s long