Nowhere to Turn by Norah McClintock Page B

my mother,” Connor said grimly.
    â€œHe was probably just startled,” I said. “He’s a great dog. Really. Ask your grandfather.”
    â€œI don’t like dogs.”
    â€œI didn’t used to like them, either,” I said. “I was bitten once when I was a kid. I was terrified of dogs after that.”
    â€œYou don’t look scared now.”
    â€œThat’s because I learned more about dogs from your grandfather.” I’d learned even more from Nick, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
    â€œMy dad says you volunteer at the animal shelter where Grandpa used to volunteer.”
    â€œI volunteered there last summer. That’s where I met your grandfather,” I said.
    â€œDo you know a guy named Nick?”
    Isobel had warned me not to let anyone in her family know that Nick and I were even acquainted.
    â€œNo,” I said. “Why?”
    â€œMy grandfather said he met a guy named Nick at the animal shelter. If you volunteered there, you must know him.”
    â€œThere are a lot of volunteers at the shelter,” I said. “I mainly met the ones who worked in the office. That’s where I did most of my volunteering. What does this Nick do at the shelter?”
    â€œMy grandfather said he was in some kind of special dog-training program.”
    â€œI didn’t have anything to do with the dog training.”
    â€œSo you don’t know Nick? He didn’t send you here?”
    It sounded like Nick had made as negative an impression on Connor as he had on Elliot.
    â€œI heard your grandfather was sick, so I came to see how he was doing,” I said. “That’s all.”
    â€œHow did you hear?” he said. “Who told you?”
    â€œSomeone at the animal shelter,” I said. It was the only answer I could think of that might satisfy him.
    Connor studied me for a moment as if I were a puzzle he was trying to solve.
    A car horn tooted. Connor and I stepped aside to let a dark blue Honda into the driveway. Isobel got out of the passenger side. She smiled and waved to me.
    â€œDid you get the job?” she said.
    I nodded.
    A woman climbed out of the driver’s side. Isobel introduced me.
    â€œMom, this is Robyn, the girl Daddy hired to walk Grandpa’s dog.”
    Claudia Schuster nodded shyly at me and said she was pleased to meet me. She confessed that she wasn’t much of a dog person but that she could see that Orion was important to her father-in-law and that she was glad I would be looking after him until they made more permanent arrangements. I wondered what she meant by that. Just as I was about to leave, Elliot came to the door and called to his wife: “A Mr. Jones came by to see you. He said he’d drop by again. Who is he, Claudia?”
    There was a moment’s pause before she said, “He must be from the home care service I called. We can’t stay here forever, Elliot. And your dad is going to need some help after we leave.”
    I found it hard to believe that Mr. Jones, with his phony smile, could be in the business of helping people. But you never know.
    On the way home, I called Nick’s aunt’s house. I’d decided that I should at least put Nick’s mind to rest and tell him that I’d seen Orion.
    Glen answered the phone. When I asked if I could speak with Nick, he said, “No, you may not. And stop calling here. Nick is not allowed to come to the phone.”
    â€œBut—”
    He hung up on me.
    What did he mean, stop calling? It was the first time I had tried.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I
    felt so sorry for Orion that I got up extra early the next morning to take him for a short walk before school. The minute classes were over that afternoon, I ran to get my backpack so I could take him for a longer walk. He was a big dog and needed plenty of exercise. Morgan was waiting for me at my locker.
    â€œUm, excuse me, but weren’t we planning to work on our