Ty parked his blue truck in front of the house and looked at his new friend beside him. Her brown eyes met his and he smiled a little. Maybe it had been a rash decision to make, but he felt better having her there than he felt about owning a gun.

Besides, getting a gun would almost feel like tempting fate: somehow, some way, it would go off instead of just being there "for safety" and he'd end up behind bars. Ty had promised never to go back that road again, and he was going to keep that promise, while trying to find other ways to protect himself - and Kerry-Anne.

"Okay. Let's go. I want you to meet someone," he told his passenger and then got out of the truck.

"Ty, oh my god! What is that?" Kerry-Anne walked out of the house as Ty helped a small King Shepherd down from his truck. The dog was on a leash and looked around curiously, sniffing the grass and the fresh country air, but then got a little guarded when she saw Kerry-Anne walking toward them. After lifting her head up and trying to catch the girl's smell, she started wagging her tail. That must mean she's okay with her, Ty thought, still learning to read his new companion.

"A dog," Ty stated the obvious.

"I know, but…" Kerry-Anne rolled her eyes and gave the dog her hand to sniff. "Why?"

"We need a guard dog," he said. "I feel lot safer if we have an extra pair of eyes and ears."

Ty had always been a light sleeper, since he had always had a reason to be: sometimes it had been about his dad coming home drunk and getting violent and other times he had been on suicide watch with his mom. He had relied on his ears while sleeping and so far it had worked, but he didn't know this house just yet, and already it had been invaded. So, he needed some backup.

"And legs and nose," Kerry-Anne spoke to the dog, using baby talk. "Aren't you a cutie… Yes, you are…" She got on her knees and let the dog greet her. The Shepherd seemed already familiar with them, feeding off of their body language. "What's his name?"

"Her. It's a female," Ty said.

"Oh… Well then, what's her name?" Kerry-Anne asked again.

"They called her Remi at the shelter," Ty said, shrugging. "So, I guess it's Remi, unless we want to change it."

"Remi's cool. — Hey, Remi", Kerry-Anne gave her a good scratch behind the ear, finding her sweet spot. "You're so pretty. Yes, you are…"

Ty looked at them, smiling. It was nice to see Kerry-Anne so happy with his decision to have a dog. Also, Remi's arrival had brought in the kind of positive energy the house had been lacking for a while now. But Remi wasn't just a band-aid to fix broken things, she had an important job to do.

"You still think it was the Wade guy?" Kerry-Anne asked then and got up. Ty nodded, all serious. He had no doubts about it: the guy's and the burglar's visit were too close to each other to be just a coincidence. No one ever found their way here unless they had a reason to.

"Just kind of stupid of him to check the crime scene before doing anything," Ty hummed. "I mean, I know it's a standard thing for criminals to do that, but at least be less obvious about it if you don't wanna get caught."

They didn't have much to go on, so for now, Ty had to wait until he'd go to the police. Nothing had been taken, as far as he knew, but he didn't like the idea of a stranger coming into the house - no matter how familiar he had been with his mother before her death.

"Maybe he didn't know we were here and just really wanted whatever he was looking for," the girl shrugged. "And maybe he was in a rush to get it."

"Maybe. But if he dares to come back again, we'll have Remi. Should scare him off", Ty thought and looked at the dog.

"Unless she runs to lick his face…" Kerry-Anne smiled. The dog seemed so mellow that it would have not surprised her the slightest if she would.

"Hey, girl…" Ty said as his dog greeted him on his way inside. The dog had been guarding the house ever since they had left with Amy, and was exactly where they had left her.

The Shepherd followed him in to the house, keeping up like a shadow, stopping when he stopped. Ty tried to think of something to do, but when he just felt exhausted and not really that focused anyway, he headed to the fridge and looked to see what was inside. Maybe eating would be a good thing, since it had been hours since his last meal.

"We still have some pie left," Ty let Remi know, feeling better when he could talk to someone, even if the dog would not reply. "Beats the beans any day."

As Ty sat on his couch, he took the remote and flicked the TV on. The silence felt too heavy to handle all of a sudden, so he had to have some kind of distraction. Scooping the pie in his mouth, he watched whatever trash show the television was airing at that hour. But after a while, he started to feel restless. The noise wasn't good enough for him anymore. Something else was off, but he wasn't sure what it was.

Ty looked around and noticed Kerry-Anne's old clothes still laying there. Amy had folded them neatly, and Ty found himself smiling at it. He liked that she had left some traces of herself here, to remind him that she was real. Kind of like this pie. It reminded him of the taste of her lips.

"Tomorrow she'll be gone," Ty spoke to Remi who was lying next to his feet. It was like he expected the dog to read his mind. "And it's gonna be just the two of us again. Well, us and Spartan." Remi used his attention to her advantage to get a few scratches. Ty put the pie plate on the table and gave the Shepherd just what she was yearning for. "Yeah, I know…" he talked to himself, imagining a conversation between him and Remi, "I'll miss her too. Really wish she wouldn't have to go…" He thought about something and amused himself with it. "Maybe I'll just say the part doesn't fit after all, so she'll have to stay few more days. I wonder how long it would take for her to realize I'm lying. Maybe not that long, 'cause she's so smart. But maybe by then she decides to fall in love with this town, hands me a check and moves into the Hanley place. Well, maybe not move in now, but you know, eventually. We'd fix it together and she'd have a reason to hang out with me. And by then… I'd finally have the courage to kiss her too…"

As Ty spoke the words, he became alerted by them. He had hardly even thought about it or even admitted it to himself, but somehow his mouth knew more than his mind did. Apparently he really wanted to kiss Amy. She had kissed him last night and it had felt like something he'd like to do again, but… what had really even happened? Was it just for comfort after she had been woken up from her nightmare or because of something else? Was there something between them that he wasn't as sure of? Or… was he?

Ty knew he had to ask her before she left. No matter the answer, at least he'd know for sure. His fingers started to massage Remi's thick coat as he explored the thought. "Maybe she has other men to kiss… and other dogs to scratch…" Ty looked down at the dog. "Or maybe she's waiting for me to do something…" The thought seemed terrifying. How would he not blow it, especially since he had never been the kind of guy who'd do grand gestures to prove something.

Then again, maybe he had never had a reason to. This felt like the type of thing that would require one of those things. Ty couldn't let her go without saying how he really felt.

And he had only one night to figure his feelings out.