I couldn’t hear anything besides barking. Afraid we might interrupt a lovers’ rendezvous, I pulled Tally back toward the street. Sally always wanted to go wherever her brother went, so she and Haylee came along. When we were far enough away to be inaudible to anyone in the carriage house, I stopped and asked Haylee, “What was thumping and grunting inside the carriage house?” “An animal?” She didn’t sound convinced. “Sally and Tally bark like that when Clay is near . . .” “And you think he could have been back there with Loretta? In a moldering old carriage house? Give me a break. Give him a break. Even if he liked her, and I’m sure he doesn’t, at least not that way, give him credit for having some class.” She could always make me laugh. “I guess you’re right. We probably heard raccoons or cats or dogs.” “Maybe we should go back and try to figure out what was going on inside the carriage house.”
