He pulled out a harness with an extendable leash attached. “Will this work with her stitches?”
“It looks like it will be fine.” I took the harness and placed it on her quickly but carefully, then nodded. “The straps fall inches in front of the incisions, so it’s perfect.”
We spent a few minutes in the yard where I showed Kyle how to give Bella more leash and then less. It had been the first lesson I’d learned about dog care when my dad had finally let me have one. I’d picked Sonny at the animal shelter when he was six months old, and the old boy had stayed with me for seventeen years. I blinked back tears as I watched Kyle and Bella. I’d been mourning Sonny for over two years, but I didn’t realize how raw the pain still was until I watched them learning to work together the way Sonny and I had all those years ago.
Kyle didn’t miss my tears. He didn’t miss anything. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I was just remembering my dog, Sonny. I got him when I was twelve, and lost him a couple of years ago.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m beingridiculous. It’s just that every now and then, I suddenly remember he’s gone and it hurts all over again.”
“You’re not being ridiculous.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders in a side hug. “There’s never enough time with those we love.”
We stood silently, me leaning into him for a few minutes while Bella sniffed blades of grass. He held me, not demanding, not judging. I’d never dated anyone like him. And I still wasn’t, because despite my silly little fantasies about him, that’s not what we were doing here.
I wiped away tears and pasted on a smile. “I think we’re ready for a walk,” I said.
Kyle released me, but watched me carefully.
“Really,” I told him. “Being with Bella is good for me. It helps.”
It was the truth. The part of my heart that I’d closed to get over Sonny’s death was opening ever so slightly with each hour I spent with her.
“Then it’s time for another surprise.” He pulled a plastic sandwich bag out of his pocket. There were small disks of a chopped up hot dog inside it.
I immediately caught on to his plan. “You want to start teaching her to track.”
“I thought it would be something we could do slowly but that would keep her engaged.” He patted her head. “And if she likes it, when she’s allowed to do more, we can continue.”
He held out her leash to me. “You take the lead. If you’re ready...”
I held her leash and patted her head, too. “I am. It’s been a long time, but I really am.”
“Then I’ll create the trail.”
With Bella sitting, he dropped a piece of meat a few feetin front of her. I kept her leash short so she had to walk with me to get to it. He dropped another treat several more feet in front of us and we repeated the process. Outside the gate, he rubbed a cloth over his neck and forearms, then dropped the third hot dog chunk. This time as Bella ate, he held the cloth by her nose so she could attach his scent to the idea of the treat.
“I’ll head down the path into the woods,” he told me. “There’s a fork in a quarter of a mile. I drop the last treat there, then we’ll see if she can figure out which way I go from there.”
At first, he stayed several feet in front of us, leaving occasional treats. Then he moved ahead several yards, and then he disappeared from our view. Bella didn’t miss a single piece of meat, keeping her nose to the ground so she could find and hoover up each one. When we reached the fork, she ate the final treat, then sniffed in a circle. She looked up at me.
“No more treats,” I said. “You have to find Daddy. Where’s Daddy?”
She whined, then barked, then hung her head as if she was giving up. She’d had so much disappointment in her short life, it broke my heart to see her so sad. But a few seconds later, she dropped her nose to the ground and sniffed again. This time, she tugged me to the right, and we followed the path.
I didn’t know she’d chosen correctly until Kyle called, “She did it!” and stepped out from behind a tree.
He opened his arms wide and I surged forward, ready to hug him. He dropped down onto one knee and embraced Bella, praising her profusely and feeding her one last piece of hot dog.
“May I?” he asked, reaching for the leash.
I handed it to him. We walked back to the yard with Bella keeping to Kyle’s heel. They were already bonded. It was a good day for them. I was truly happy for them.
I was also wrecked. Moments like these made me want more from him. But I had to face the fact that this kind man, my hero, my fantasy lover, might never return my affection.
That afternoon,while Bella napped off the excitement of her morning, I helped Kyle paint the dining room wall that separated it from the office. I started on the left side and he started on the right. My heart was light again as we laughed and joked as we worked.
We met near the middle. He climbed onto a ladder to finish painting the last foot up to the ceiling of my section. I walked around the room, looking at the color from different angles.
“I have bad news,” I said.
