Chapter 173

After wrangling Abby into her pajamas without waking her and tucking her into bed, Barry scooped up Freddie and headed back downstairs. He fed the puppy, took her outside to do her business, cleaned the kitchen, and then finally shoved the plate of food Mrs. Garrett had left him in the microwave. As he waited for it to heat, he slipped his hand into his pocket in search of his phone before realizing that he didn’t have it. He walked out into the front room and had a cursory search for it, thinking it was the last place he’d seen it. The beep from the microwave interrupted his search, and he headed back to the kitchen to eat. He sat at the bench with a beer and his dinner and took a few minutes to decompress. He couldn’t get out of work the next day, but he could make sure to be home early so that a repeat of tonight didn’t happen. Mrs. Garrett would be there by seven and if he left straight away, he could get some work done before the meeting and then come home straight after. He would