Pavel blinked, and peered over her shoulder at Sam’s now sullen bullie. “That’s a strange name, Back Up.”
“Actually it’s kind of a joke from this TV show about a high school detective called Veronica Mars… ever seen it?”
Pavel shook his head.
“Yeah, it’s probably a little above your viewing level. How old are you again?”
“Eight,” Pavel whispered.
Another pang of regret on his behalf went through Sam. Two addict parents, and now he didn’t have any family left.
“Yeah, eight’s too young. Maybe when you’re thirteen.” Sam broke off and looked around like she was just now noticing they were in a house with the body of his last remaining parent dead on a sofa in the other room. “So it looks like some bad stuff went down with your dad before we got here.”
The little boy clamped his lips together and nodded.
“The other Russians came through the door. They were yelling really loud, but I kept on hiding like you told me, even after I heard some loud popping sounds.” His eyes filled up with tears. “They were gunshots, weren’t they? Like on TV? Papa… he’s dead, isn’t he?”
Sam had to fight off her own tears, her heart was hurting so bad for Pavel. Memories of her own mother’s body lying lifeless on the floor flooded her mind and it took her a few tries before she could say, “I’m really sorry about what happened to your papa.” Then she said, “Looks like he was an Indiana Polar fan, too.”
The boy nodded. “Papa says I’m going to be a great hockey player when I grow up. It’s in our blood.”
“No way! That’s so cool!” Sam replied, even though she didn’t know all that much about hockey beyond the pushy player she’d met at tonight’s party and one viewing of The Mighty Ducks when she was around Pavel’s age. “Maybe we should get out of here and go somewhere we can talk some more about hockey.”
He peeped over her shoulder again. “The bad guys aren’t out there any more?”
“Nope,” Sam answered. At least not for now. But Sam continued to keep it casual, like she wasn’t afraid for both his life and her own. “I’m starving. Are you hungry? We should go get something to eat.”
It must have been a while since Pavel had last eaten, because he rubbed his stomach at the suggestion, even though his expression remained wary.
“You want me to come out?” he asked.
“Yes, I really want you to come out,” she answered. “My knees are starting to hurt a little in this squat and all I had to eat for dinner were party appetizers. I could really use a good meal.”
Pavel frowned, seeming to mull Sam’s invitation over. Then he said, “If she really wants to lick me, I guess she can.”
It took a moment for Sam to realize they were now talking about Back Up. Though really, she sensed, it was more about Pavel wanting to make sure Sam could be trusted. He was testing what she told him, to make sure she wasn’t a liar. He wanted her to prove Back Up didn’t intend to do him any harm.
Thankfully, unlike her story about starving when she’d actually wolfed down a sandwich on the way to the Hockey Ices Cancer event, this claim was true. She reached out behind her and motioned to Back Up. “Here girl, Pavel wants to meet you.”
Back Up didn’t need to be told twice. She jogged right on over and pushed her square nose into Pavel, slobbering the dirt off the boy’s face with such enthusiasm that he started to giggle.
“Calm down, Back Up,” Sam told the dog, tugging on her collar and pulling her back. “Don’t overwhelm him with the love!”
But Pavel didn’t seem to mind at all. He crawled out of the cabinet and hugged Back Up around the neck in the way of a child who loved dogs but didn’t have one. He petted her large head and got several more face licks as a thank you.
Sam watched him interact with Back Up, her heart continuing to break for the traumatized child who actually looked like a carefree little boy when he was with her dog.
Pavel looked up at her and said, “Can I hold her leash when we leave here?”
Normally Sam would have said no. Back Up was a lot of dog to handle, even for a full grown adult like herself. But in this case…
“Sure, sweetie, just hold it right here,” she said, placing Pavel on her left side, squeezed between her and Back Up. She placed his smaller hand in the middle of the leash and took the upper part for herself in her left hand. Then she began to walk them out of the apartment, using her body to block the sight of the boy’s father as they walked by the couch.
Pavel didn’t have to be told not to look. He kept his eyes on Back Up, stroking her short fur as they walked out of the house, leaving the body of his dead father behind.
6
“What’s this I hear about you taking custody of a kid in some dead meth head case?” Marco demanded two days later when she opened the door to her cottage.
Sam looked over her shoulder at Pavel who was on the couch, with Back Up’s large head in his lap, watching an episode of Peg + Cat on her small flat screen.
She was officially his guardian now and it looked like someone had finally gotten around to telling Marco Gutierrez, the cop who’d been flirting with her since she’d opened Ruth’s House Indiana which happened to be located right on his beat.
Kismet, he’d said when they’d had their first takeout date a couple of Saturdays ago. He often had to work weird hours for his beat, and she often did the same for Ruth’s House. They were kind of a no-brainer, he’d told her with an endearing smile. He also had dimples. Just like her. Just like the good cop from Veronica Mars.
But he didn’t look all that happy with her right now, and there was no trace of dimple action to be seen on his face.
Sam winced and stepped outside to talk to him.
“Please keep your voice down,” she said as she closed the door behind her.
“Why the hell did you bring the kid home with you? And why am I just now hearing about this from the station social worker and not from you?”
“Marco, don’t get mad,” she said. “But yeah, I’ve signed on as his guardian until further notice.”
“This isn’t a shelter case,” Marco pointed out. “The social worker said there was maybe some neglect but no domestic violence.”
“I know that,” she said. “But I’ve decided to help him as much as I can.”
“What, by teaching him to meditate and do yoga whenever he’s feeling sad about his addict dad getting shot?” Marco asked, his voice incredulous.