“Don’t do anything stupid while I’m away,” Emma said, tossing her bag over her shoulder. “And please, for the love of God, call the vet and book Zoey’s booster shot—she’s overdue by like two weeks now.”

“Sure, sure, just dump everything on me like always,” I shot, pretending to be more annoyed than I actually was.

 “Oh, wait—almost forgot,” she said, spinning around. “Noah’s gonna be here any second. Keep him company for me? Put on Netflix or something, just don’t let him sit here bored out of his mind.”

I dragged out a long, “Okaaay…”

The door clicked shut behind her.

I stood there blinking at the closed door....