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Looking at the contents of my cart, her offer was pretty damn tempting. “Yes.”
Her face lit up.
“To see the dog, of course.”
“Of course. Just…show up whenever you’re done. I’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes anyway and I’ll get started on dinner right away in the fancy new kitchen someone put together for me.” She grinned at me, like I was solely responsible for all the work that had gone into her home. The truth was that she probably owed Steve and Kennedy babysitting for the remainder of Teagan’s childhood.
I couldn’t tell you what else I shoved in my cart in my hurry to get out of the store, but it was probably crap. I had a list in my left hand that I hardly glanced at as I hurtled through the aisles, throwing bananas, cereal, eggs, milk and what may or may not have been partially-cooked turkey bacon into the cart.
I was in such a hurry, I almost forgot the cat food and had to double back for that, because Lucy was the queen of my castle and would have had some squeaky, unpleasant things to say about my forgetfulness.
She’d probably also nibble my toes in my sleep, as retribution.
By the time I pulled into Madelyn’s driveway it was nearing eight, the sun sinking low on the horizon, and I could hear excited sounds from the dog.
“Go get your boy.” Madelyn opened the door and the dog flew out into the yard, nearly taking me out at the knees as he wriggled and hopped, winding himself around my legs. She stood there watching him with a huge smile on her face, chuckling when he kept throwing his butt against my calf.
“Bailey,” she finally called when he’d circled around my legs forty or fifty times, keeping me from walking toward the house, and to my surprise he went immediately to her.
“He’s a very good boy,” she said, stepping back to let me into the house. “We’ve had a trainer come in the last few weekends and she’s been impressed by his rapid progress. She says he’s very eager to please.”
So am I, but I’ll never tell that to you.
“Thank you for him, Adam.” Her eyes were all soft and melty. “I’m completely in love with him and I know it must have broken your heart to leave him.” She swallowed hard. “I know there’s a strong bond between a man and his dog.”
Yes, it had broken my heart, but it soothed me to know he would guard her with his life; protect her with a ferocity most people would never see or understand.
“Maybe we should work out a joint custody plan.” Her smile was sweet and I realized she was serious. “He loves you so much, and you must miss him.”
“I’ll watch him when you’re away for work,” I answered slowly. “It’s not a good idea to continuously take him out of his familiar environment, so if you’re ok with it I’ll just stay here in one of your guest rooms. I’d have to bring Lucy, though.”
Something that seemed like disappointment flashed so quickly across her face, it was gone almost before I registered the micro-expression. Something was there, something we were dancing around, and I’d keep dancing as long as I could before I gave in.
Caved.
Asked her to be mine, knowing I had absolutely nothing to offer her but myself, and that wasn’t nearly enough.
In hopes of lightening the mood a little, I told her about the time I spent at the dog rescue in Clayton. Harlowe was running an expansion of the rescue at her farm, typically housing between thirty and fifty dogs at a time while she and a handful of other volunteers worked tirelessly to rehabilitate, train, and socialize dogs before carefully vetting applicants and placing the dogs in loving homes.
Harlowe was rarely at the rescue in Clayton anymore. Anthony largely ran it now and since his wife had passed on, he’d devoted an inhuman amount of time seeing to the staffing, budgeting, compliance, and fundraising. He kept it humming along like a well-oiled machine and even Harlowe admitted he was a far better business manager than she’d ever been. He was so efficient, she said, that he managed the majority of the paperwork for her branch as well.
“I’d love to see it,” Madelyn said with a smile on her face. “I’d always thought maybe one day I’d adopt a Pit. They’re such sweet, loving family dogs. If I did it soon–if I got a puppy–I could raise them together.” She gestured toward Bailey.
“You mean I’ll raise them.” I grinned. Unless she planned on no more than one or two assignments a year, she wouldn’t have time to properly train the dogs and with big, potentially aggressive breeds, that was essential. You had to know how to handle your dogs, because an inexperienced owner with an untrained or poorly controlled dog was a nuclear bomb just waiting to detonate.
It wasn’t an if, it was a when.
She didn’t respond to that right away. She dished something onto plates that smelled amazing, handed one to me and pointed toward the small table that sat at the far end of the kitchen, next to the huge bank of windows.
“I’ve asked Scott not to put me on a second border rotation,” she said quietly as she carried her own plate and a pitcher of water across the space, and I waited for her to elaborate. My stupid heart was hammering in my chest, hoping that just maybe it had something to do with me, and that was completely irrational and ridiculous. It was both of those things because the last thing I was going to do was get–or put myself–in her way.
“I’ll take the occasional overseas project,” she said, and from the way she was looking at her food I knew there was something big coming. “Most of my contracts will be domestic so that I’m not gone for more than a few days at a time, and he’s agreed to give me some scheduling consideration.”
Why?
I sat back, my fork on my plate, and waited for her to finish.
“I’ve been volunteering some time the last few weeks…” She still hadn’t lifted her eyes to mine. “We were at the border, providing security, assistance and extra eyes to one of the three-letter agencies.”
