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Cody chuckled. “You do get around.”
“Believe me,” Lassiter replied, “when I say you have no idea.”
“Oh, I believe it,” Cody mused.
HEWASONhis way home from work, still concerned about his feelings for Abby and where he was going to go next in their relationship, when a movement on the side of the road caught his eye.
He stopped, backed up, and pulled onto the shoulder. He got out, curious, because what he saw looked like an animal of some sort, making furtive movements.
As he went closer, he could tell what it was: a malamute, mangy, covered in mats, half-dead of starvation, and it had been hit by a vehicle.
“Poor old man,” he said soothingly, because the dog was very obviously a male. “It’s okay, old fellow. I’ll get you to the vet.” He opened the back door of the squad car, took out the blanket he kept in the trunk to protect his back seat from sick drunks, and then went to pick up the dog.
It whimpered, but made no move to bite him. “It’s okay,” he said. “I won’t hurt you. Neither will anybody else. You’ve had it rough, haven’t you?”
He eased the animal onto the back seat. It lay there, looking at him with misery tinged with hope.
“I’ll get you to a vet,” Cody said. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WHENSHESAWthe dog, the vet, Dr. Clay, was shocked. “I never can understand why animals are allowed to get into this condition. Did you arrest the owner?”
“Don’t know who put him out. Found him on the side of the road,” Cody corrected. “And I don’t think he’s had an owner. Not for a long while.”
“Well, you could be right.”
“He looks like a malamute,” he pointed out.
“Yes. Far too big to be a husky,” she agreed, going over the dog. “But he’s got blue eyes and malamutes are almost always brown. Could be a mixture of both breeds, though...” She winced as the dog yelped. “I think his leg’s broken. I’ll get X-rays...or do you want me to put him down?” she asked suddenly.
He looked into the old dog’s tired eyes and saw hopelessness there. He knew how that felt. He ground his teeth together. Well, his truck could do without those flashy hubcaps he’d been pricing. He wouldn’t miss them. “Get X-rays and do whatever else you need to.”
She looked at him curiously.
“I’ll be responsible for the bill.”
“Name,” she said.
He started to give his, laughed a little self-consciously, and then looked at the dog with his head cocked. He recalled the History Channel special he’d been watching on television and he pursed his lips. “Alexander,” he told the vet, turning to her with a smile. “His name’s Alexander. And can you get a groomer to do something about the way he looks? Poor old guy.”
“You bet I can,” she said. “Our regular groomer’s booked for three months, but she’s got a trainee, lucky for you. I’ll have her do him in a couple of days. He’s going to need to be checked for parasites and diseases.”
“Do whatever you need to do,” Cody said.
The vet smiled. “Going to keep him, huh?”
He nodded.
“She isn’t Anyu, I know,” she said gently, “but maybe it’s a good thing that you don’t have a dog who’s a carbon copy of her. This will be a new start.” She glanced at Alexander, who was trying to wag his tail, as if he understood what was being said. “For both of you.”
SOALEXANDERWASwormed and groomed and fed and put on a veterinarian diet and taken out to Cody’s ranch with his leg in a cast. Now that he was rid of the mats and the infestations, he looked quite handsome. When he was completely healed and his fur grew back, Cody considered, he was going to be a fine-looking dog.
“You don’t look so bad right now, old man,” Cody told the dog, smiling as he made himself at home on the big rug in front of the television. “We can watch TV together and when you’re better, we can go walking.”
Alexander looked up at him with pale blue eyes and actually seemed to laugh, just as Anyu had. His eyes misted, but he leaned over and petted the big dog. “You’ll fill a hole in my heart,” he said quietly. “A very big one. Welcome home, Alex.”
The dog wagged his tail.
