Stay with Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

of her, I’m sure of it.”
    “She’d be a good dog, you know? For your moms maybe, while you’re away.”
    “My moms, huh?” His eyebrows go up and he smiles. “You like her, right?”
    “She’s real nice.”
    “No, I mean do you like her like her?”
    “Your moms?”
    “Céce, bud. Yeah, I can tell: You’re crushin’ on her.”
    “What? Nah. Not that I don’t like her. I like her, but not like I like her like her.”
    “Why not?” Tone says.
    “I could never disrespect you like that.”
    “You’re funny, man. Anyway, Céce’s terrified of dogs.”
    “I kind of saw that.” I tell him about the dog who came up to us on the way home. “But I could fix her fear, you know? This dog here would be real good for her.”
    “Then I guess you’d better try to get her to take the dog, right?” Tony pulls his phone and holds it out to me. “Call her.”
    “It’s two fifteen in the morning—wait, ten after three.”
    “I guarantee you she’s awake, pretending she’s studying while she’s watching Polar Express .” Tony starts to call, but I clap his phone shut.
    “Look, man, she’s got to look a hell of a lot prettier than she is now before I’m ready to make that call.”
    “My sister or the dog?”
    “What? No no, your sister, man. I mean your dog — my dog. This here dog’s got to look as pretty as your sister is what I’m saying.”
    “So you do think she’s pretty.”
    “I’ll shut up.”
    “Don’t. It’s fun watching you twist.”
    “I need to rehab her first, Tone, my Boo here.”
    “Boo?”
    “What I name all my dogs, boy or girl. Tony man, sorry, man, I swear: When the dog’s all mended and trained, then I’ll reach out to Céce. You can’t rush these things.”
    “Of course you can,” he says. “That’s the best way, bud. Crash hard and fast. Nothing like it.” He sighs and helps me wash my Boo. We brush her down with a peroxide towel and lay her out on a clean blanket. I get into the pen with her. Tony sits against the far wall. The moon is on him when the clouds aren’t dunking it. “Man, she’s tough-lookin’ though, huh?” Tony says. “That big pit bull head? Massive.”
    “My favorite kind.”
    “Seriously?”
    “I love pits the most. They’re true. Don’t listen to what everybody says, that they like to attack folks. You’ve got more of a chance of a golden retriever turning on you.”
    “ Right .”
    “Serious. Pits are bred not to bite their handlers, especially in the heat of battle. If you torture them and bring out the fight in them, they’ll be dog-aggressive, sure, but even so, most always they stay human-kind. You’ve got to go a long way into evil to turn a pit against people. They forgive easy as rain falls.”
    “I heard they cry like people. Like they tear up.”
    “No dogs cry tears. A pit bull’s jaw doesn’t lock either. Tell you what, though?”
    “Tell me what.”
    “I seen pitties so sad and soulful. You see this girl’s eyes, big and wondering? She feels real deep. You know what this girl wants, the only thing? To give and get love. Right, girl? Right Boo?”
    “She’s cocking her head there, huh? She likes that name.”
    “Best thing about pits is they take in the fun. They’re the clown of the dog world. They have a ton of energy, which is why you need to exercise them a bunch and train them strict, and I do too. I include training free when I walk them.”
    “How much you charge?”
    “Buck an hour.”
    “We need to get you a business manager,” he says.
    “That’s all folks around here can afford. You string six dogs at once, you do all right. Sometimes the walk lasts two hours too, because I’m having so much fun I lose track of time.”
    Tony nods. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
    “Like what?” I hate when I let my softness show. Soft gets you killed.
    “I think you need to let me help you pay for this dog training class. Just let me finish. As an investment, I’m talking. You’ll rock the