“What?”
“Cash,” I replied.
Lia came with me as we headed up the elevator and then to the unit we had inhabited. She stood near the door and looked around as I grabbed a couple of suitcases from the back of the closet. When I came out, she was staring at a spot on the floor in the living room.
Odin’s spare rubber bone was lying there.
“Get it,” I said quietly.
She glanced at me, and there were tears threatening to spill from her lashes. She didn’t say anything, just quickly walked over and grabbed the bone. She shoved it into her purse, and we headed back downstairs.
I tossed the suitcases into the trunk and was about to slam it shut when a voice shouted out from behind me.
“You there!”
I startled and went for my gun. Lucky for her, the crotchety old woman with the bitch Odin had knocked up didn’t end up with a bullet in her head.
“You owe me eight thousand dollars!” she snapped. “I have four mongrel pups I can’t sell for anything!”
For a moment, I could only see red. I was dangerously close to strangling the old hag, but before I did, I glanced behind her and saw her dog on the lawn with four playful, white pups rolling around in the grass.
One of them perked her head up and looked over to us. Her tail began to wag furiously as she tried to bound over in our direction but tripped on her own feet instead. Distracted by whatever scent filled her nose upon impact, she attacked a blade of grass and forgot about us.
“You’re a nut,” I informed the woman. “Fuck you and the dogs.”
I turned around and started to walk away, but Lia stopped me.
“Evan?” Lia said as her hand rested against my elbow. “Evan, can we…can we take one of them?”
My chest tightened. At first, I wanted to say no. I wasn’t replacing Odin—there was no way. But these pups…they were part of him, too.
He took a bullet for her.
I went back to the car, looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching, and then opened one of the suitcases full of cash. I quickly counted out eight grand and brought it over to the woman.
“Here,” I said. “Don’t ask for another fucking thing from me, and don’t give me any shit about it—we’re taking one of the puppies.”
She opened her mouth like she was going to argue with me anyway but thought better of it as she stared at the cash in her hand. I took Lia’s arm and led her over to the fluffy white, wriggling balls of fur. The same puppy that fell over her own feet earlier bounced over and licked Lia’s hand.
“That one,” I said definitively.
“I think you are right,” Lia replied as she picked her up.
She twisted and turned to get out of Lia’s arms at first, but then turned toward her face and licked her chin.
“That’s disgusting,” I told the pup, and her ears perked up at the sound of my voice. She stared at me intently for a moment and then struggled to get out of Lia’s arms and over to me. I rubbed her head, but Lia kept hold of her.
“She’s perfect,” Lia said as we got into the car, and the pup watched out the window as I pulled away. “What are we going to call her?”
“Freyja,” I said without giving it another thought.
“What’s that from?”
“She’s the Norse Goddess of fertility, love, and beauty,” I told her. I left out how she was also the goddess of death and war—that shit didn’t make sense to me, anyway. It sounded better to leave it as it was.
“That’s perfect,” Lia said with a smile.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as she rubbed the pup’s head and started to tear up again.
“She’s got her dad’s eyes,” I remarked, and Lia nodded in agreement.
“Her breath is better,” she said as she wiped the wetness off her cheeks. “Do you think she’ll like to play fetch?”
“Definitely.”
I pulled onto the freeway and headed northwest, out of Chicago.
“Where are we going to go?” Lia asked.
“Canada,” I replied simply. “I have a cabin up there.”
“Like the one in Arizona?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I said with a smile, “but similar.”
“Middle of nowhere?”
“You got it.”
“Will this place have electricity at least?” she asked.
“It’s got a propane tank,” I replied. I looked over to smile at her slyly. “Mostly gets used to heat the hot tub.”
Lia laughed, and I reached over to hold her hand.
Freyja licked the back of my knuckles.
“Disgusting,” I grumbled and sped up the highway as the Chicago skyline disappeared behind us. I would miss it—well, parts of it—but everything important to me was with me.
I reached over to hold Lia’s hand as we drove away.
Nothing could have been better.
Epilogue—New Life
It’s fucking cold.
I kind of like it.
I stood out on the enclosed front porch of the small cabin in a desolate wasteland somewhere in Northern Ontario. There was a good-sized lake not far off, and I could see the iced edge of it from the front of the cabin. Evergreen trees surrounded the other three sides of the property, encasing it in serenity.
I adjusted the towel around my waist and took a sip of my scotch. Behind me was the bubbling sound of the hot tub that had come with the place, and I planned on taking full advantage of it—for about the hundredth time—as soon as Lia was done cleaning up from the dinner I had cooked for her on the gas stove.
At least there was heat inside the cabin.
It had a living room, good-sized bedroom, a kitchen, and actual plumbing in the bathroom as long as the pipes were kept warm from the gas heat. There were fireplaces in each room and three cords of wood in the back, already seasoned for the winter. I’d have to get more for next year.
The cabin really was a lot nicer than the place in Arizona. It was a good thing, too—I’d paid quite a bit for it, given the remote location and lack of amenities. Some rich fisherman had the place built a decade ago but died of a heart attack before he ever had the chance to use it. I bought it off his widow as one of the many getaways I might need when the time came.
The time had come.
The door opened, and Freyja bounded out with Lia close behind her, Odin’s old bone in her mouth. She’d already grown a lot and resembled her father a little more than what made me comfortable, but I was getting used to the constant reminder of my old friend.
Lia had looked up her name and found out Freyja had been worshipped for war and death as well, but we ultimately decided it made sense. All you had to do was look at us—from war, death, and suffering, we’d achieved beauty, peace, and love.
Lia was dressed in a string bikini, which I found utterly ridiculous, but she never just came out to the hot tub naked. I wasn’t sure if she thought someone was going to spy on us all the way out here or not, but she refused to walk around outside without wearing something. The bikini usually lasted about thirty seconds after Lia got into the hot tub, and even more often, ended up never making it to the water.
“Holy shit, it’s cold!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around her chest.
“Don’t do that,” I whined. “I can’t see your nipples now.”
“I’m right, though, aren’t I?” she pressed. She came up, stole a drink of my scotch, and kissed me lightly on the cheek. “It’s getting even colder! I thought Chicago winter was bad.”
“It’s barely December,” I reminded her. “We haven’t even hit winter officially. It’s going to get a lot colder.”
She looked out over the snow and got a faraway look I didn’t like much. It meant she was thinking—remembering—about shit she shouldn’t have to think about. She shivered, and I moved up beside her to wrap my arm around her shoulders.