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“Honestly, I’m not fazed by that sort of stuff. Every family has its own dynamic, and the best of them are messy sometimes. Mila and her mother argued a lot, about everything. And I’m the youngest of six.”
I mouth, Wow.
“Yeah. Three boys and three girls. I was the youngest and an accident. But I remember a lot of fights at our table. Now both my parents are gone, and everyone’s busy with their own lives and their own families. Some of my nieces and nephews are in their late teens and twenties. I remember them being babies.”
“Is that why you’re so comfortable with Molly?”
“I guess. It’s been awhile though.” A soft smile tugs at his lips. “She’s adorable.”
“So were you, when you carried her out.” Adorable isn’t the right word. I can’t decide what is. Sexy. Potent. Intoxicating.
His cheeks flush. “I can’t tell you the last time all of us were in one house. What you have back there?” He nods toward my parents’ place. “Still getting together every week? That’s special. You’ll miss it when it’s gone. Even the nights you want to stab Jim with your fork.”
My deep laugh drifts through the still night. “You noticed that, huh?”
“It was pretty hard to miss.” He pulls me tighter against him, his thumb stroking my shoulder. “And I don’t blame you. I’ll bet that guy tells himself he’s the smartest person in any room he walks into.”
“He’s a pain in the ass, but he usually means well. I think he’s always doing stuff like that because he wants to prove his value to my father.”
“I can understand that. Your dad seems like the anchor in the family.”
“Yeah, I guess he is. We’re all a bunch of daddy’s girls, me being the worst of all. Our family would be lost without him.” Will be lost without him one day, I’m afraid. “But it’s my mom who’s the glue. She’s the one who insists on these weekly dinners. She’s always trying to keep the peace. Always bending to accommodate. Too much, sometimes.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” he murmurs, his arm around me squeezing.
I laugh. “You don’t know me well enough to start poking at my shortcomings.”
“That’s the thing I like about getting older. It takes way less time to figure people out.” Even at our slow pace, we’ve reached my porch too soon.
“So, this is the place Jim wants to evict you from?”
“It is.” I hesitate, but a yawning need aches inside me. “Do you want to come inside?”
He seems to consider that. “It’s better I don’t. Things will get out of hand too fast.”
Would that be so bad? I’m not ready to say good night yet. “By the way, the interview? With Bill?”
“Your dad is a hard man to say no to.” He slips his arm off me, turning to lean against my porch post, his hands sliding into his pockets. “But he’s right. The sport could use some positive attention, and I think my kennel and my dogs can do that. With your help, because I hate anything to do with the media.”
“I’m not sure you want me there.”
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re my vet, and an Iditarod trail vet.”
“And I have a lot of issues with the industry, with the laws, and all the money tied to the sport.” I guess this conversation needs to happen, eventually. I just don’t know how Tyler will react, given how firmly entrenched he is in this world. “I may have grown up in Alaska, around all this, but I struggle with it. I see dogs like yours, who are cared for better than a lot of the house pets that come into my clinic, and I feel the energy and excitement of the dogs on the trail. But then I see dogs like Aurora, and Nymeria who was owned by a champion musher—”
“I already know where your head’s at, Marie. I knew that first day when you showed up at my place. And we share the same issues. Haven’t you figured that out yet? Hell, I snuck onto a man’s property and stole his dog. I would have taken them all if I could.” His chuckle is without mirth. “Before I met Mila, I didn’t know much about this world, besides what I’d seen on the news. Then I moved to Finland and started living in it, and I saw a whole other side.
“That first snowfall, when I bust out the sled?” He shakes his head. “No one can see how those dogs react and actually believe they’re not living their best lives. But I’m no idiot, and I don’t have blinders on, and I’m not going to pretend there aren’t shitty people out there and things that don’t need to change. People like Zed Snyder shouldn’t be anywhere near this sport or these dogs. You can say whatever the hell you want during that interview, and I’ll back you up.” He frowns, and I sense disappointment. “I’m surprised you’d even doubt that.”
