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“This scoop in each bowl.” I pushed the container toward him and set the measuring cup on top.
He set to work filling and I distributed. It was never like this. We’d had volunteers over the years, and occasionally, they’d helped with the feeding, walking, and even playing with the dogs. But this felt different. As if we were a team. In sync.
“The queen first,” I said as Sadie jumped on me to get to her bowl. I snapped my fingers and pointed down. She ignored me and kept her big paws on my leg. Stubborn thing. “Fine. You win. Again.”
Teague and I worked together like a well-oiled machine. Miss Adeline popped in and took another dog out to walk. We were seamless. Didn’t get in one another’s way.
I could get used to this.
How many times had I thought that when he was around? It had been a slow battle to let Miss Adeline completely in. I’d never felt comfortable enough to be myself around anyone but the dogs. Maybe that was because they’d accepted me when I’d been at my worst. They’d never judged. They’d been genuinely happy to be around me.
Even if I couldn’t pinpoint why Teague was different, every time I was around him, I became more aware that he was. My initialstop! stay back!reaction had been normal. I hadn’t liked him. Yet even when he disappointed me, he still managed to redeem himself.
“Why do you keep coming back?” I blurted before I could think better of it. Seemed my subconscious determination to keep people away was still very much alive and active.
He hesitated mid-scoop but quickly continued. “I guess my father taught me one good thing. Don’t ever give up.”
I winced, hating I’d brought his father to the forefront of his mind. Obviously it was painful for him, though I wondered if the man wasn’t always there anyway.
I tilted my head, considering the brief time we’d known one another. Only one time had I seen him seem to give up. But it hadn’t taken him long to go back at it . . . with me at least. Maybe when he’d conceded to his father it wasn’t really that at all.
“If you don’t have much to do with him, how did he teach you that?” I became a sponge, eager to know whatever information I could glean about Teague.
He offered me a full bowl. “Growing up, he showed us that every single day.” His face hardened. “Except with the most important thing.”
My fingers trembled at the menace in his tone as I took the bowl. “What was that?”
His features were like granite, hatred etched into every facet of them. “Finding out who murdered my mother.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Teague
The wordsthat shall not be spoken.
My mother’s murder was a known fact. It had been covered by news organizations all over the world.
Yet in my family, it was no-go territory.
We could mention she was gone. But not the specifics.
Yet here I was airing personal business to a practical stranger.
Pepper gasped.
Judging by her reaction, she didn’t know my mother was murdered. I’d wondered after my entire family had barged into her space if she’d looked us up. Dug deeper to find out who we were. Although, given how busy she was, would she have had time? Would she have bothered?
My father had done an excellent job of burying those old stories of my mother’s death, but they were still out there.
She dropped the bowl and grasped my arms. “I’m so sorry.” She looked down a minute, but when her gaze lifted back to mine, I’d never seen such earnestness. “I know that doesn’t do any good, but I am.”
Somehow her sorry meant something. Some of the ones I’d heard had been heartfelt, yet most had been hollow.
“I appreciate that.” My voice was scratchy. “I should be past it by now. It was a long time ago—”
“You never have to get over it.” The firmness of her tone as she shook me caught me by surprise.
No one had ever said that to me.
