“That’s great,” Tia said proudly, and Mackenzie felt her spine straighten, her shoulders go back, and her chest relax a little. “I was afraid Arthur would stock your fridge with premade meals or hire one of those driving services so you wouldn’t have to take the bus.”
“Nope.” He’d done both.
“Good, because you need to learn how to be more self-sufficient in navigating downtown.”
“Who needs downtown when I have everything I need right here?”
“The hospital isn’t here, your doctors aren’t here, and the support groups you’re supposed to be attending but haven’t shown up to since week two isn’t here either.” Tia closed the distance and spoke slowly. “The more you cut yourself off from the outside world, the harder it will be to find peace.”
Mackenzie wanted to argue that she had all the peace she could handle, then remembered how unsettling her morning had been.
“Keeping cooped up in the house isn’t good for you.”
“I get out.”
“Hiring a car to take you from one building to another isn’t getting out in the world. You need to get comfortable in all kinds of situations, step out of your safe bubble. And if that isn’t enough to get your butt moving, it isn’t good for Muttley.”
“I know,” Mackenzie admitted. “I’m working on it.”
“I’m only saying this because I care about you, and I think you and Muttley are the perfect pair or I never would have agreed to the placement.” Tia’s voice went serious. “But you need to work faster, because if we can’t prove progress, we might have to find another placement for Muttley.”
Mackenzie’s heart dropped, and her hands instinctively went for Muttley’s harness. He was the one stable thing in her tiny world. She couldn’t lose him. “You’d do that?”
“If it meant Muttley would get the kind of exercise and challenges he needs to be good at his job, then yes.” As if that wasn’t scary enough, Tia’s voice went even softer. “But it’s the foundation you need to worry about, not me.”
Oh boy.Guide Dogs of Tennessee had never been 100 percent behind Muttley’s placement. It had taken a lot of convincing on Tia’s part for them to agree to the match, but in the end GDT had approved the placement on only a trial basis. Their concern had stemmed from how hard rehabilitation had been for Mackenzie and how desperately she’d needed a companion. They’d made it clear that, while Muttley would be by her side always, he was not a companion pet. He was a working dog, who needed structure and to be challenged.
“Have they said something?”
“Yes. GDT is concerned that keeping a ninety-five-pound animal locked with you in your house for days on end isn’t fair to him.” Mackenzie’s panic must have been all over her face, because Tia added, “I’m not saying you have to start doing marathons. You just have to be consistent with your progress and Muttley’s routine. To be safe, I think both of you need to gain and display new skills as a team every time we meet. Muttley is a special guide dog with special needs, the main one being consistent discipline.”
“I love that he’s a snuggler.” Doggy hugs were the only regular contact she had.
“Then snuggle away at night. But during the day you need to get out with him, let him practice his skills, be confident in what he’s been trained to do. That was our deal,” Tia reminded her. “A guide dog is only as good as his owner allows him to be. And right now, you’re holding both of you back when the foundation needs to see forward movement. Even if it’s one step at a time.”
“I can do that,” Mackenzie vowed, knowing she would do anything if it meant keeping her little family together.
After three straight days locked in a recording studio, Hunter was desperate for a cold beer, a hot shower, and a solid twelve hours in bed. Preferably with a woman. None of which should have been a problem.
Tonight was ladies’ night at Big Daddy’s. With two-for-one drafts on the menu, ladies outnumbered the gents two to one, making the bar a sea of midriffs, miniskirts, and mile-long legs—many of them aimed in Hunter’s direction.
His problem wasn’t getting laid. It was mustering up enough interest in someone.
His mind kept winding back to Mackenzie in the fuzzy boots and sleep-tousled hair. The teal panties had been a showstopper. She was a pint-size bombshell with the face of an angel and the curves of a pinup. Every guy’s fantasy.
Andthisguy’s biggest problem, since she’d been avoiding him since Saturday. Okay, she’d been avoiding him since his wedding, but now that he knew where she lived, he couldn’t focus on anything else.
The band had spent the past few days trying to finalize their song list for the label. They’d listened to more than a hundred demos and found two hits. Both written by Mack and Muttley. Leaving Hunter with the few songs he’d been trying to write himself.
“At least consider using one or two of them,” Brody said, trying again to get Cash’s attention—which was securely affixed to a stacked blonde at the end of the bar.
“Did you even listen to the songsIsent you?” Hunter asked, but he could tell from his cousin’s expression he had—and they were as bad as Hunter feared. “Was any of it good?”
“The bones were there, but it was missing ... I don’t know. Something.”
Yeah, Hunter knew what Brody meant. His songs were lacking the same thing his life was: something authentic enough to hold on to.
“What did the label say?”
