Page 35 of Rescue Them

“What the hell is going on?”James asked.“They were so quiet and peaceful.”At the moment, the dogs stood in a row, all glaring at a picnic table fifty feet away.

“Jesus.It’s Debbie and her husband.They’re just setting up at a table.”Lyle petted the four dogs and did his best to try to get them to settle.“She isn’t going to hurt any of you.”Lyle coaxed the dogs down off alert.“I know you are protecting me and James, but we’re fine and so are all of you.Just relax and cool your jets.”James managed to get Dash to calm down and lie next to him.That seemed to help the others settle as well.

“I hate that woman,” Lyle said softly once they had all settled once more.“Not because of what she wanted to do with the dogs.If she had inherited them, they would have been hers to do with as she wanted.I would never have known any different, and that would have been the end of it.”Lylehmphed softly.“The funny thing is that I would never have met you, nor had the dogs, and I’d have the same boring life I had weeks ago, just going on into the future.”

“Yeah, so… none of that has anything to do with her.”

“True.But I hate her because she keeps thinking that she is owed something.That she deserves more than what she’s getting, because that’s just not how it works.Her mother knew the type of person she is, and she didn’t want her dogs in Debbie’s care.”He sighed.“She knew that I would love them.”

“Yes, she did.”James lightly stroked Lyle’s arm.“And she knew that you would take good care of them.”

Lyle sighed, his hand resting on James’s belly.“I know I have to let go of this hate.That it will drive me crazy if I don’t just let it all go, but I don’t want to.Does that sound dumb?”

James didn’t answer.He just let Lyle talk if he wanted.

“I never want to see her again.She made things harder for her mom, not easier, and she couldn’t simply comply with her mother’s wishes.”

“In the end, she had to, and the four dogs are happy here with us.So letting it go means that she has no more power over you or the dogs.”He slowly sat up, looking at Lyle where he lay.“If you let go of the hate, it’s like doing it for them as well as yourself.And you know these guys, they’re happy.”

“Except when they see her,” Lyle said.

“I think they’re just trying to protect you,” James told him.“They sense your reaction to her.So let it go.Besides, we have real evil people that we can hate.People who are more selfish and uncaring than her.”There was so much he wanted to say about the guy who stole dogs and used them as bait to train animals to fight.It was disgusting and a hell of a lot worse than Debbie’s selfishness.At least in his opinion.

“Okay.I’ll give you that.”He stroked Daisy, who had pressed close to him.“It’s funny.I’ve had these dogs just a few weeks, but everything seems so right at the moment.Does it seem stupid for me to worry about things like that?”

“Why worry?”he asked, brushing the hair from Lyle’s forehead.

“Because I always wonder when things will change and when all the bad stuff is going to come charging in and wipe away what I’m feeling now.”

“How can it if you don’t allow it to?I mean, something bad might happen, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be fixed or that it negates the good things.Shit happens, and so does good stuff.I guess we need to be able to take one along with the other.”Sometimes it was the only way to get through the day.

“But I worry….”

James leaned closer.“I get that.But think of it this way.Right now, you’re happy, so am I, and the dogs are in some state of bliss.Worry only clouds that.So enjoy the good and hold on to it to get you through the sucky.”He grinned.“Think about it.This morning, we walked into a mess at the shelter.That was pretty sucky.But we got the dogs back in their enclosures, recovered the ones that had been taken, and rescued four dogs that had been taken from their owners.In the end, the crap brought a pretty good result.”

Lyle sat up too.“I know.It’s just hard for me not to worry about my mom.”

James nodded.“And maybe that was why she was reluctant to tell you.Parents will do just about anything to protect their children.I have a case right now in a family law class where a mother took the kids in the middle of the night.She snuck them out of the house, crossed state lines, and showed up at a school friend’s with a kid in each arm, asking for help.They took her in, but the husband filed kidnapping charges, and because she crossed state lines, she found herself in trouble and was facing arrest.She refused to return because of the abuse.”

“What happened?”

“The authorities threatened to arrest her, and she still refused.The feds arrived to arrest her.But the friend she had been staying with had the presence of mind to take pictures of her the night she arrived and was able to convince them that she was the victim of domestic abuse.The thing is that she was willing to go to jail to keep her kids away from an abuser.Mothers are like that.They will do just about anything to protect their children.We all do it.We don’t tell our spouses things that we know will hurt them.So I just think your mom wants to protect you.”

Lyle sighed.“I know.But she isn’t helping me.Knowing the truth so I can deal with it is a lot easier on me than her surprising me when something is wrong.But you’re right.I need to put all that aside and enjoy the afternoon with my boyfriend.”He sat up, and the dogs all jumped to their feet.“So let’s do something fun.”

“We can take them for a walk around the lake.It’s too cold to go swimming, but the water is beautiful.”He began packing up everything and closed the cooler, then carried the supplies to the car and placed them in the trunk.

AFTER A GOODlong walk that wore the dogs out, they left the park and drove back to Lyle’s.They put the dogs inside, and they immediately went to sleep out on the floor “What do you think?”James asked.

Lyle looked him deep in the eyes.“Will you kill me if I say that I want to drive to check out that area where we think the fights were happening?”

James checked the time.“It’s a little before four, and it will take about twenty minutes to get out there.It will still be light enough.”He wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but if they could find some evidence that dogfights were taking place there, they could take everything they had to the police and let them handle it.Right now all they had were suppositions and a case of breaking into a man’s truck to free dogs he had stolen.

“Then we should get going.”Lyle locked the door, and they hurried out to the car.Lyle paused behind the driver’s seat to kiss James.“Thank you for doing this.I know you think I’m nuts.”

“Maybe a little.But one way or another, hopefully this trip will tell us if that’s the dogfighting location.”James met Lyle’s gaze.“You have to promise me that if we come up with nothing, you’ll let this whole thing go.We have the dogs, and that puts us one ahead.If there is nothing there, then we bring this to an end before someone gets hurt.You must promise me and really mean it.”

“Okay.If there’s nothing there, we let it go.But if we do find something….”God, he was such a goof.