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Go play with your sister, Luke silently urged the boy. You don’t know how lucky you are.
Cooper’s bark broke into his memories. Luke pushed himself away from the fence as Cooper barked again. He had to take the dog out of the truck.
As he turned, a woman pulled up behind his trailer and got out of the car.
The widow, he presumed.
She was younger than he had imagined. Slimmer. Dark hair pulled back under a bandanna, dark eyebrows that winged upward enhancing her eyes. She had a droop to her shoulders, but then she stopped at the end of the sidewalk and a gentle smile eased across her lips. She bent over the flowerpots, picked a wilted blossom out of it and her eyes seemed to brighten.
Luke was still watching her as he walked to his truck and opened the door for his dog.
Bad idea.
Seeing his moment of freedom, Cooper bolted past him, almost knocking him over.
Luke caught himself on the edge of the door, regaining his balance and watched with the horror of inevitability as his Cooper streaked down the sidewalk, all legs and flapping ears and lolling tongue.
“Cooper. Come back here now,” he yelled, as if what he said penetrated the gray matter that was his dog’s brain.
Cooper was out, and he was in a new place full of new smells and new things to see. His master was, for the moment, invisible.
“Cooper. Heel,” Luke shouted, charging around the front of the truck.
Cooper stopped, and for a brief moment Luke thought all those dog obedience classes might have sunk in.
But the woman bending over the flowerpots had caught his attention. A potential playmate. And with one burst of exuberant energy, Cooper jumped on top of her just as he always did to Luke.
Only, this woman wasn’t as big as Luke and she went down like a rock, taking the flowerpots with her.
The woman managed to push Cooper off her and scrambled to her feet just as Luke ran up. Cooper cavorted on the lawn in front of her, ready to play.
“Sit, you dumb mongrel,” she snapped.
Cooper tilted his head, as if studying her.
“I said sit.” She sounded really ticked now.
And to Luke’s surprise, Cooper did. Right on the flowers that had spilled out of the pot, effectively squashing them.
“I don’t believe this,” she said, turning her startlingly blue eyes to him as he grabbed Cooper’s collar. “This is like a nightmare.”
Even though her mouth was pulled tight with disapproval, she couldn’t hide the fullness of her lips or the delicate tilt of her cheekbones. He couldn’t rightly say she was cute when she was angry, but he wanted her to smile again like she was when she had walked up the sidewalk.
Of course, he wasn’t going to be the recipient of that happy occasion anytime soon, judging from the depth of her frown or the way her hands were clenched into tight fists.
“Sorry about that,” Luke said, trying to sound apologetic without sounding obsequious.
“Could you please get your dog to get off my flowers?”
“Of course.” He didn’t apologize this time. That was getting old, and more apologies wouldn’t change the destruction his dog had created. “I own the house next door,” he said, trying to make conversation to bridge the awkwardness between them. “My name is Luke. Luke Harris.”
“Janie Corbett,” she said in a clipped voice, still glaring at Cooper, who was staring at her.
“I’ll pay for whatever damage he’s done.”
“That’s not necessary,” Janie Corbett said. “And besides, these plants can’t be replaced. They’re very unusual.”
“How unusual can flowers be?” Luke couldn’t understand what she was talking about. Flowers were flowers, right? You buy some more, stick them in the pots and you’re done.
“I started them myself from seed,” she said bending over to salvage what she could from the mess Cooper had made. “And your dumb dog just ruined five months of work. Five months I can’t reproduce.”
Was that a hitch in her voice? Was she really that upset over a few lousy flowers?
Then the door to the house slammed open and the little girl with the brown curly hair bounced onto the deck, clutching her bear.
“Mommy. You’re home,” she called.
Distracted by this new person, Cooper leaped to his feet, barking and tugging on the collar.
“Luke, hang on to that dog,” Janie cried out.
“Mommy. The dog.”
Autumn’s frightened voice caught Janie’s attention and, it seemed, that ludicrous dog’s. He barked again and took a step away from his owner, his focus on her daughter standing on the porch.
“Hold on to him,” she shouted at Luke. It couldn’t happen again. Please not again.
“Mommy.” Autumn’s voice grew panicky as the dog responded to her cry with unrestrained gusto.
Janie watched the creature pull free then rush toward Autumn, who had dropped her bear and now stood frozen on the porch.
“Cooper. Down. Now,” Luke yelled in a feeble last-ditch effort.
Autumn’s hands were pressed against her eyes, as if bracing herself for what might happen. Again.
But the dog came to a halt, then dropped to a squat on the sidewalk below Autumn, head cocked to one side.
“Luke, if that dog hurts her…” Janie couldn’t finish the sentence; her voice was trembling too hard.
“I think he’s okay,” Luke said, edging closer to him.
The terror circling Janie’s heart with an iron band eased as Luke reached for the dog’s collar. Then the front door opened, and Todd stood in the doorway. Thankfully, both Todd and her elder daughter Suzie had been gone that horrible day. They didn’t have the same reactions to dogs that Autumn did.
“Hey. Neat dog,” he said, grinning.
Cooper, suddenly distracted, charged up the steps, past Autumn and through the open door behind him.
Janie ran to Autumn’s side. She knelt, touching her daughter’s face looking for any sign of trauma. “Are you okay, honey?”
Autumn looked puzzled, as if surprised that nothing had happened this time. The trembling smile she gave her mother made Janie’s knees weak with relief.
Janie scooped up her daughter into her arms and gave her a quick hug just as she heard her own mother’s outraged voice from inside the house.
“What is going on in the bathroom?”
Janie heard a bark, then the sound of water being lapped up. Oh, my goodness, was that dog drinking out of the toilet?
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Todd said as Janie held Autumn close. “I didn’t think he would come in the house.”
“That’s okay, Todd.” Janie needed to go inside and see what that dog was doing, but she couldn’t leave Autumn outside. She caught her son by the hand and led him and Autumn to the porch swing. “Sit here and don’t move.”
“But I want to see the dog,” Todd complained.
“You need to stay with Autumn. You know why she’s afraid of dogs.”
“I’m not afraid of dogs.” Todd offered, putting his arm around his sister.
“What’s going on?” Now her own mother was outside and the dog was barking inside. “How did that creature get into the house? You must get him out. Immediately.” Then Tilly saw Autumn and swooped down. “Is she okay, Janie? Did that dog hurt her? How could you let this happen?”
Janie felt like clapping her hands over her ears and retreating somewhere. Anywhere but here.
She’d spent most of the afternoon making coffee for her customers and trying to balance the books of her coffee shop. Though the customers kept coming, there was still a negative sign in front of the final balance in the checkbook, an irony not lost on her.
She and her oldest daughter, Suzie, had had a fight this morning over the skimpy skirt Suzie insisted on wearing, which made her look closer to twenty than fourteen, and Autumn had thrown up all over her precious bear. The phone call from Todd’s teacher expressing her concern over Todd’s constant reading during lunchtime was another nice touch.
And then, on the way home, her car started making funny noises that weren’t the least bit humorous to her.
As a result, the ache perched behind her eyes all day had spread to her entire head, making it pound and throb.
When she’d turned onto her street, she had been so tempted to keep going past the house and down the road to the highway. Away from responsibilities and the constant demands on a single mother trying to juggle family and work.
But that was her ex-husband’s trick. Not hers. Not responsible Janie Corbett. And as a result, she had been attacked by a crazed dog that was now loose in her house. Her new neighbor was yelling up the stairs, and her mother was staring at her as if this entire chaotic mess was her fault.
Somewhere there had to be a lesson in all of this.
“So how did that dog get in the house?” Tilly continued, pressing Janie for an answer.
“I let the dog in, Grandma,” Todd said quietly. “He was looking at Autumn.”
Tilly pulled back, her hands fluttering over her granddaughter’s face. “Honey, are you okay? Is she okay?”
Though the edge of anxiety in Tilly’s voice echoed her previous fear, Janie resented the way her mother’s tone elevated the concern in her daughter’s face.
“Autumn’s fine, Mom. Please, don’t fuss.”
The look her mother gave her held a volume of unspoken fears and concerns laced with reprimand.
“Don’t fuss? Don’t fuss? This precious child was bitten by Owen’s dog only a few years ago. How could you forget that?”
Janie felt suitably chastened and, at the same time, guilty. It had been Tilly whom Janie called after she took Autumn to the emergency room and Tilly who had shown up to give her the support she should have been getting from her husband, Owen.
Even when Janie brought Autumn home, shivering with fear from being taken to the E.R., Owen was still not answering his phone. Janie had had to call the SPCA herself to come and get the dog.
“Cooper, come here,” she heard from inside the house.
“Janie, shouldn’t you go in and help him?” her mother asked.
“And do what?” Why did her mother think she could do anything with that out-of-control dog?
Tilly ignored Janie’s outburst as she held Autumn close. “And you, baby, how are you? That dog must have scared you half to death.” Tilly shot Janie an annoyed look.
With her headache subsiding, Janie trudged inside to see what she could do.
Luke stood at the foot of the stairs, one foot on the lower steps, his knee showing through a hole in his pants and the sleeves of his faded shirt rolled over his forearms.
His long, brown hair, curling over his collar and his unshaven cheeks would have looked slovenly on some men, but the even planes of his face created an appeal not lost on Janie.
And when he gave her a sidelong glance, she felt the vague beginnings of feelings so long dormant she hadn’t thought they even existed.
“Sorry. Still don’t have the dog,” he said, an apologetic note in his voice.
“What is taking so long?”
“I didn’t think you’d appreciate a complete stranger tromping through your house. Bad enough that my dog is.”
“Well, go get him if you need to,” she snapped, her headache, her recent scare with her daughter and the disturbing way he was looking at her giving her voice a sharp edge. Autumn was fine, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She wanted the dog and this unsettling man out of her house.
She heard a thumping sound from upstairs and then, thankfully, a few seconds later Suzie came down, holding a panting dog by the collar.
And Suzie was doing something she hadn’t done for months.
Her daughter was laughing. And not just a soft chuckle. No, this was a full-bodied laugh that made her eyes sparkle, her face light up and made Janie forget the skimpy skirt and tight T-shirt she was wearing that had caused such a huge battle only a few hours ago.
“Here. I’ll take him.” Luke met Suzie halfway up the stairs and took the squirming dog from her. He looked up at Janie. “And again, I’m so sorry.”
Her kids were okay and, from what she could see, no serious damage had been done to the house. And Luke wasn’t looking at her anymore. She just wanted to be alone.
“Just go. Please.”
“Does he have that ridiculous beast under control?” Tilly called out from outside. “Should I call 911?”
Janie glanced down at the dog, now sitting with his head tipped quizzically to one side, water still dripping from his snout. He seemed harmless. The emphasis on seemed.
“It’s under control, Mom,” Janie called over her shoulder. She arched an eyebrow at Luke, as if making sure.
“I’m leaving now.” Luke had a firm grip on the dog’s collar, and Janie took a quick step back.
“He won’t hurt you.” Luke’s eyes locked on to hers, and he tilted her a quick smile.
