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“She loves dogs,” Maggie said. “When we moved, one of my promises to soften the blow of leaving all her friends behind was that I’d get her a dog.”
“She can have this one.” Problem solved.
“No, she can’t. Why are you always trying to give things away? Anyway, my landlord won’t allow pets. If I’d had any sense at all, I wouldn’t have made a promise that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep.”
Jack had promised Robert that he’d have his back, but that hadn’t worked out quite the way he’d planned. The way he saw it, human beings were lousy at keeping promises.
“She’s like a different kid,” Jack said, as they watched Lexi rinse the soap off.
“This is the daughter I know, the one you’ve never met. Jack Butler, meet Lexi Bradshaw when she’s human.” Maggie turned to him and waved her hand in Lexi’s direction.
It wasn’t just the smile, but the way her shoulders relaxed, and for the first time since he’d met her he heard the sound of Maggie’s laughter. That girlish giggle woke something up inside of him, and he wondered what he’d have to do to hear that sound more often.
“Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll ask the sheriff if maybe there’s a way we could keep him down at the station as a mascot, and that way Lexi can at least visit him.”
“Is there any end to your generosity, Jack Butler?”
“Uh, what?”
If he wasn’t mistaken, that was one adjective that had never been used to describe him. Robert maybe, but not him.
“First you want to give us your computer. You help me sort through our boxes. Then you give us a ride to church, and now you want to make sure my daughter gets her dog-fix.”
While that didn’t sound like him, he couldn’t deny facts. “Just call me Dudley Do-Right. Speaking of which, how is your car? Any luck starting it today?”
“Nope. I’m afraid it’s gone to that big junkyard in the sky.”
“I can take a look at it. I know a little about cars.”
What he knew about cars could probably fit on a postcard, but he didn’t trust mechanics and something told him Maggie couldn’t afford one.
“You know about cars, too? I was going to have Joe over on Main Street take a look at it. I can’t afford much, but anything would be better than taking on a car payment.”
“If I can’t figure it out, you can take it to Joe’s. In the meantime, how are you guys getting around?” He should have asked about that earlier.
“We walked today. One of the perks of a small town: everything is close by.”
“Any time you need a ride, just let me know.”
One favor had led him to another one, and suddenly it wasn’t all that hard to be social again. Especially with Maggie.
Lexi had run inside her home for a towel and then dried Chief, and Jack had to admit the dog looked like a real dog. Still, the damp fur hung from him and revealed his scrawny form. Jack would probably dig through trash cans, too, if he were as hungry and desperate as Chief must have been.
“I want to finish drying him inside with my blow dryer. Is it OK, Mom?”
“I guess he can’t do much damage to the house if he’s in there only a few minutes and you watch him. Sure, why not?” Maggie shrugged.
“If you want to keep him tonight, well, it would be difficult for me, but I’d consider it.” Jack hooked a thumb to his chest and tried more of this generosity thing on for size.
Maggie whipped her head around in the direction of her house. “Don’t say that in front of Lexi. She’d take you up on it.”
“The dog is good therapy for her.”
That was his story, and he was sticking to it.
“Really? Well, who knows? He might make a good police dog, too.” Maggie elbowed him.
“That might be stretching things a bit.”
