Page 19 of Sweet Devotion

Aiden seemed to think a moment before barely nodding.

“Not that it matters,” Sarah Sue continued, “the important thing is, he’s eating, and for that, I thank you.”

The bowl licked clean, Romeo shifted to a reclined position and set his head gently on Aiden’s lap. Sarah Sue was right; whatever reason, the dog chose Aiden, and frankly, from what she’d just watched, Colleen couldn’t blame the dog one iota.

Chapter Eight

One whole week. That’s how much time had passed since Romeo ventured out of his crate to sniff Aiden out and since Aiden sat his first horse. If anyone had told him how much his world could change in seven days, he would have laughed at them. After all, he’d spent weeks in the hospital and even more weeks in rehab. In that time he’d healed enough and struggled enough that he could walk on his own two feet, but not without a limp. A pronounced limp. He wasn’t totally sure what bothered him more, the pain or the limp.

What he had failed to mention to Colleen was that even though her therapy schedule for him was one day of equine and two days off, after feeling an actual difference in his pain level and his gait—yes, he still limped, but he could feel the difference—he decided that taking Boots for a short ride the day after his official equine therapy wouldn’t hurt. At least not if Colleen didn’t find out.

Seated at the foot of the paddock gate, Romeo’s gaze had followed every movement of man and horse. It almost made Aiden wonder what the dog would do if he didn’t like what he saw. A single bark reached Aiden’s ears. Glancing over, he spotted Romeo now on all fours almost dancing in place.

Aiden pulled on the reins, bringing Boots to a stop. What had Romeo so excited?

The dog sat again, simply staring at Aiden. When he shrugged and tapped the horse to move forward, Romeo began his in place dance again.

“Okay, boy. Something’s up. What is it?” The simple question was said in earnest. To his surprise, Aiden realized, he actually expected the dog to tell him what had him all worked up. When he thought about how far the K9 had come since his arrival, he couldn’t decide who had come farther, himself or the nervous canine.

Another bark, this time accompanied by throwing his neck over his shoulder—as much as a dog could—and then glancing back again.

Suddenly, understanding dawned. Aiden glanced at his watch. “Dang it.” Another few minutes and Colleen would be here. He needed to get off the horse ASAP so she wouldn’t realize what he was doing. Careful to nudge Boots toward the new mounting ladder, Aiden climbed off as quickly as was feasible and walked Boots back to the barn.

To his surprise, Romeo followed him. Having Romeo shadow him short distances was nothing new, but having the dog venture into the barn was definitely a first. What Aiden couldn’t decide was if this was a big deal or not.

“How’d it go?” Clint took the lead from Aiden and gently patted boots on the neck.

“So far so good.” Now he just waited to see if he felt better or worse for pushing the limits.

“Good.” Clint bobbed his head. “Soon we’ll teach you how to put a horse up without me.”

Right. A New York City boy caring for a horse. “Sounds good.” Taking his time, he made his way toward the house, Romeo faithfully on his heel. “Are you going to come inside with me today, boy?”

The dog didn’t say a word. Okay, so Romeo was a dog, a word was unlikely. He didn’t bark, whine, or even grumble.

Once they reached the back porch steps, exactly as had happened the last several days, Aiden turned left to enter the house and Romeo turned right to crawl into his kennel. Aiden knew he should be pleased that the dog was no longer needing to be hand fed, was moving around getting much needed exercise, but it still bothered him that the K9 would shut down around everyone else. He hoped more fervently every day that time was a good enough answer.

“You’re not overdoing it, are you?” Carrying a basket of laundry, Alice Sweet came into the kitchen.

“No, ma’am.” Years of military training under the thumb of screaming drill sergeants was the only thing helping him keep a straight face.

“Right.” Kade’s mom smiled.

That woman was the personification of eyes in the back of your head. It must have been hell for Kade and his siblings to try and pull one over on this lady. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

Alice nodded. “Hot water will help head off the ache before it fully sets in.”

“Yes, ma’am.” In less than fifteen minutes—again, thanks to his training from Uncle Sam—he was clean shaven, and feeling more human than he had in a while. His hip was only complaining mildly. Something to be thankful for.

The moment he opened his bedroom door, the sound of female conversation and laughter drifted in his direction. As if cued, his lips curled up in a contented smile. For just a second he paused to think back through recent years; had the mere sound of a woman’s voice ever made him smile? Shaking his head, he cleared the thoughts and proceeded to the heart of the Sweet family home before he began waxing foolishly sentimental over a stupid smile.

“There you are.” A cold lemonade in one hand, Colleen grinned up at him.

Considering that his contented smile stretched into a full blown grin, it would seem that more than just her voice made him want to smile. Dang, he was going to have to reel that in.

Folding clean clothes at the table, Alice smiled up at him. “Colleen has a change of plan for y’all this afternoon.”

“Really?” That could be interesting.