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Harper was standing by the access door to the rear room, waiting for his companion, his former best friend, to come out and jump into his arms. Lydia watched him, and the technician behind the desk suddenly stopped chattering instructions to allow her that moment.
The door opened, and Venom was in Harper’s arms immediately, licking his face, dancing around. Dr. Gordon was trying to handle him with the leash, but Venom wouldn’t have anything to do with it. He nearly pulled the doctor over on the floor.
“Well, he’s sure glad to see you. And I’m happy for that. He bounced back quicker than I thought. I want you to bring him in every day for more bloodwork, and I’d like you to collect stool samples. If you see any blood in his urine or if he starts to jaundice, we want to know about it. Right now, he’s clear. We flushed a lot of saline through him. No free ranging on your property for a while in case there’s more poison laid out there. I think you should walk him on the leash, which is certainly more exercise than he’s had here, so he should be happy with that.”
As if Venom knew the doctor was talking about him, he came over and jumped to put a paw on his knee.
“You’re something else, Venom. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Doberman like you before. Thank goodness you’re still with us. You’ve got a lot of work to do keeping track of these two, protecting them, right?”
Venom cocked his head, as if he understood, and stared up at him. When he heard Lydia speaking to the technician behind the desk, he was over at her side, sitting, looking up at her until she bent down and pressed her forehead to his. He licked her ears, her neck. He placed his paws on her shoulder and tried to stand up, bracing himself on her upper torso. She hugged him and told him all kinds of little things that he liked to hear. He was squealing, almost a painful moan, but delighted to see his owners again.
Lydia paid the bill with her credit card, while Harper walked the dog out to the truck, putting him in the second seat where he had laid out a clean fleece. Lydia joined him, and they headed home.
Once they drove up the driveway to the house, the gate code still working as it had before, they found the Sprinter van there. The two men waited outside, Danny smoking a cigarette which he quickly put out.
“Hey, guys, nice to see you. Let’s go inside and talk. I’ve got Amos down at Sally’s, I think. Have you checked in with him yet?” Harper asked.
Greg answered him first. “Yes, he’s there. I told him what she was like. I’m sure he’s gonna have fun.”
Lydia inserted herself next. “She’ll probably stay up with him all night long, playing crossword puzzles. She hasn’t had a man in her house overnight for decades, I don’t think,” Lydia said.
“I think he can handle it,” said Danny.
Once inside, the two men retired to their respective separate bedrooms. Lydia told Harper to take Venum and go upstairs and take a long, hot shower.
She walked in to speak to both men one at a time. She was first at Danny’s door. “Harper’s pretty exhausted, and I need to make sure he sleeps in tomorrow.”
“So did you find out about the meeting?” he asked.
“You mean Harper didn’t tell you when he asked you to come up here?” Lydia asked.
“No. He just said things had come up. That’s Harper.”
She nodded “Well, apparently Lipori is responsible for these people who have been up here, and he thinks it’s a plot to kidnap me. That’s the new news anyway. We’ve got Venom, we’ve got Harper back, and I need to see to it that he gets a full night’s rest so that he can fully function. There’s gonna be some tough decisions made.”
“No kidding. He going to get the Feds or local police involved?”
“I think they’re going to try to handle it. But that decision hasn’t been made. I think the fewer people who know about this the better for all of us. But please be on your guard. Don’t take anything for granted. Question everything. You hear something, go check it out. You guys work together. Hopefully, you can get some rest, but my job right now is to take care of Harper.”
“Well then, ma’am, he’s in good hands.”
She went next to Greg’s bedroom and basically informed him of the same.
“You take care then. You’ve got a big job tonight, Lydia. I’m sure Harper will bounce back in the morning. He does that. He goes for it one hundred percent, and then he bounces back. Always been that way.”
“Thank you, Greg.”
She walked up the stairs slowly, suddenly feeling about ten years older herself. The energy she’d had earlier today was not there any longer. She was going to spend the evening doing everything she could to make sure Harper knew how much he was loved and how much she needed him.
Chapter 9
Harper was stillin the shower when Lydia stripped off her clothes and joined him. In the steamy confines of the four glass and tiled walls of their inner sanctum, they found each other. At first, her hunger for him far outpaced his for her. She washed his back, shampooed his hair, used the water wand to rinse him clean, and worked the bath oils into his skin while the warm water covered them both. He was nearly non-responsive.
It didn’t deter her.
She knew he’d been crying.
Had he gone too far round the bend? Were they all asking too much of him?
