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Jillian chuckled. “I usually don’t investigate murders, but if that happens, I’ll pass that tip along to homicide,” she promised, with a smile and nod.
“How did you and Elizabeth meet?” Neecy asked when they joined the circle of women.
“She stole my dog.”
“I did notstealBoss!” Elizabeth protested.
“I came back from deployment, and you had my dog.” He fought not to laugh at the stern look she fixed on him. “All right. I’m kidding. She rescued my dog. And I owe her big for that. See, I left him with my girlfriend when I deployed. Only she got back together with her ex who didn’t much like Boss, and Boss didn’t much like him. Instead of finding somebody to foster him, my now-ex took my dog to the animal shelter.”
“Oh, my,” said Neecy. “What a—”
“You don’t have to say it. We all know and agree.”
“So, how did you end up fostering him?” Neecy asked Elizabeth.
“Actually, I adopted him. About a month after Barkley passed away, I looked at the shelter’s website. I went out to see two pitties. One had already been adopted and something didn’t feel right about the other. I walked past Boss on my way out. He looked so dejected in that tiny enclosure. I gave him a little love, but when I said goodbye, he gave me that look, likewhere are you going?And his whimper did me in. I took him out in the yard, thinking he’d be too rambunctious or wouldn’t obey. That wasn’t the case, and there was just something lovable about him. So, I started the paperwork and brought him home.”
“I came back from overseas and found out what my ex had done and made it my mission to find my dog. Sorry.” He’d watched Elizabeth’s serene face and listened to her tone of voice as she told how she came to be Boss’s guardian angel. Boss had come to mean so much to her too. He’d never want to hurt her, but she’d made the decision to let him have Boss back, regardless of how much it hurt her.
“No apologies needed,” Elizabeth said.
“I gotta say, you’re my hero for rescuing my dog and giving us a temporary place to stay.” Damn it, he was getting emotional in front of a whole room full of women. He loved Elizabeth’s heart and compassion. A tingle started in his arms and spread through him realizing how much he loved about her.
“Aw. It’s like it was meant to be,” Neecy said.
“Things worked out how they were supposed to with John getting his dog back,” Elizabeth added quickly.
“You should bring him over,” one of the women said.
“With all this food and all these people, I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’s one hundred and five pounds of stepping on toes and begging for food.”
“He sounds huge!” one of the women said.
“Compared to Barkley, he is. My old dog was a fifteen-pound poodle,” Elizabeth told John.
“Wow. At least he wasn’t a chihuahua.”
“What kind of dog is he?” Neecy asked.
“I think he’s part springer spaniel, half Rottweiler, and something else. Maybe Clydesdale.” His joke made some of the women laugh. “His full name is Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springweiler.”
“He loves telling people that.” Wren rolled her eyes.
He pulled out his phone, opened to his favorite picture, and showed it to Neecy, who passed his phone around to the other women.
“Are you sure he’s Rottweiler and spaniel?” Valerie asked.
“Not one hundred percent. I found him, or he found me, after being abandoned, so I don’t know his pedigree. Not that it matters.”
“He just looks big even for those breeds.”
“Like I said, he might be part Clydesdale.”
“I’m guessing you’re the comic relief around here.” Neecy gave a tinkling giggle.
“Definitely,” Wren interjected.
“I’m going to get more food.” After filling his plate with another round, he took up post on the fringes and studied the guests. A slender woman in her forties with a distinctive accent chatted with a woman with shoulder-length, bright blonde hair. When he edged closer trying to identify the woman’s accent, they both stopped talking to look at him. “I like your accent,” he explained. “Scottish?”
