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“They’re winter-season, that’s the only part that matters.”
Something wet and warm touched the side of her neck, and she let out a shriek.
“Buttercup!” Sam reached into the cramped crew seat. “You know better. Sorry, that’s my dog. He’s a good boy except when he’s a bad boy.”
She laughed, still a little breathless, as she met the unapologetic moist brown eyes of a collie, peering from behind a curtain of hair. “Like his owner?”
“No one owns Buttercup. He consents to keep me company so long as I fill his food bowl.”
Buttercup licked her neck again.
“Sign of affection,” Sam explained sheepishly. “I’ve been trying to train him to stop, but he wears his heart on his sleeve.”
Which was not like his owner at all, thought Molly. Sam kept his thoughts and feelings to himself. He hadn’t licked her neck once.
Or maybe Buttercup was like the part of Sam that he didn’t show to the world. After all, people did say that dogs took after their owners. Or non-owners, as Sam had pointed out.
“So your dog really is named Buttercup. I didn’t quite believe it.”
“My ex-wife named him. That’s practically grounds for divorce right there.” He grinned over at her, making her think he wasn’t too torn up about the divorce any more. “How about you?”
“I don’t have any pets.”
He gave a hearty laugh that pleased her very much. “No divorces either?”
“Hard to get divorced when you haven’t been married. And it’s hard to get married when you work all the time and are generally hard to get along with.”
“Who says?”
“You need a list?”
Another of those laughs of his. They made something inside her go warm and relaxed.
“Maybe I’m fine on my own. Child of a broken home, all that.” Her home hadn’t been broken so much as smashed to bits during alcohol-fueled rages.
“Fair enough.” He didn’t push the topic any further, which she appreciated. They drove in surprisingly comfortable silence for a while, as she got wrapped up in the stunning views of mountain slopes around every turn.
“I haven’t been down this road before,” she commented as the truck headed due west, toward the ridge of mountains that ringed the town. “But it was next on my list.”
“You’ve been exploring?”
“Running. I’m a distance runner. I get antsy if I don’t get a nice long run in every few days.”
“You can run in the snow?”
“Sure. I stick to the plowed roads, but the snow’s melting fast. I’m hoping to do some longer trail runs in the next week or so.”
“The next week.” He shot her a glance, his eyes deep blue against the backdrop of spruce trees and snow. “You’re staying longer, then.”
“For now.” She didn’t say more than that, since she didn’t know more than that. Nothing was calling her back to New York, and Lila needed her here. She still wasn’t exactly sure why or for how long, but she’d stay as long as she was needed.
“What about New York?”
She shrugged. “Someone wants to sublet my apartment. I have enough in the bank to take my time finding another job. You might be surprised to learn that I’m a thrifty person.”
BMW convertible aside. Charlie had “kindly” offered to take Red so she didn’t have to pay for the garage. Molly had “gratefully” accepted, while noting that Charlie wasn’t offering to cover the insurance payments.
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all. Nothing about you surprises me anymore.”
