Evan sat down beside Amber, as did Sonya. He gazed into Amber’s face. Its usual loveliness was marred a bit by a questioning look. “I rather like the idea,” she said. “At least once we’re ready to start scheduling more classes. I’ll be looking for all kinds of ways to attract potential students. What do you think?”
Him. His classes. The good parts, the not-so-good parts, preserved for posterity on video. And not only preserved, but also available for the whole world to see.
On the other hand, all those viewers wouldn’t be right in his presence, in his face, which would be a relief. And for him to do his job right, he would need to do as Amber wanted and find ways to attract new students.
He knew he was a skilled trainer. Even so… “Good idea,” he said, hiding his hesitation. “But to get people to come here with their dogs, let’s just provide a few teasers, show a bit of what our dogs in training have accomplished without detailed demonstrations of how they got there. Okay?”
He looked toward Amber, who nodded. “Sounds okay to me. We’ll let you know when we’re ready, Percy.”
Silence at first, then he said, “Fine. I was hoping, though, to come there and start filming, maybe even today.”
Amber’s eyes widened, then she appeared irritated. “As I said, we’ll let you know. Thanks for the idea, though. The other ones, too.”
There had been other ones? Evan was curious what they were.
Maybe the geek had some kind of crush on Amber and was attempting to come up with ways to see her.
And maybe—
Something occurred to him. “Percy, does the website have any videos of Corbin’s classes? If so, I can understand why you’d suggest new ones to encourage students to come now.”
“No.” The word came hastily. “He didn’t want them, but he had a great reputation already so he didn’t need to do that.”
Evan met Amber’s annoyed glance again, and also felt Sonya stir behind him at the table. “Yes, I gather he did,” Evan said. “And I hope to attain a great reputation eventually, too.” He enjoyed watching Amber’s expression morph into a grin, and he grinned back at her. He turned then to look at Sonya. Her smile wasn’t huge, but she nodded encouragingly.
“Are you doing okay accessing the ranch’s email now, Amber?” That was Percy’s next question.
“Yes, and I appreciate your getting me access to it But it’s mostly junk mail, though some messages are from former students asking if there will be more classes soon.”
“Well, if you need any more help getting into email, or blocking spam or whatever, you know how to reach me.”
“I do, Percy. Thanks. ’Bye now.” She pressed the button to hang up.
Sonya was the first to speak. “I think he means well, but…I thought you just wanted him to update the website.”
“True, but as I’ve given him input I made it clear that my technological knowledge is minimal and I didn’t mind suggestions.” She paused. “I may pull the plug on that, though he isn’t charging for ideas, just the things I ask him to do.”
“I get it,” Evan said. “Now, if you ladies will excuse me, it’s time for me to take Hal out for his lesson.”
*
Amber stayed in the kitchen with her mother and Lola for a few minutes, attempting to get her thoughts together.
Percy was a nice guy, good at what he did. But he’d been getting in touch with her more often than she felt comfortable with, almost daily, with lots of questions and ideas, and suggestions that they get together to discuss them.
Still, until she felt the website was all she’d wanted it to be, she didn’t want to alienate him. Even then, she would need him to update it now and then.
The good thing was that she had wanted to get word out that the K-9 Ranch was up and running again. And having Percy add teaser videos as well as updating the website with the reopening announcement, and hints about when different kinds of classes would be starting, could only help.
So did encouraging the four initial students who’d already been here to let other potential ones know.
As she’d already indicated, Amber even planned to contact her father’s former students once Evan was ready to start additional classes—including all those whom she would list as having sent messages to the ranch’s email address.
And, of course, she would give a copy of the list to Kara to have those people checked out, too, in addition to the list she’d already given her that contained her dad’s computerized list of students.
But for now, it felt good to hurry outside to the training area at the top of the driveway to the side of the house. The flat area there was large enough to allow for larger classes when the time was right. She’d told Evan to work with Hal there.
When she reached it she stayed back, watching. At the moment, Evan was kneeling on the pavement playing with Hal with a tug toy. The pup pulled on it, crouched and growled, his tail wagging. Maybe it was the way he would pull on a bad guy’s arm or leg after he was a fully trained K-9. Amber remained quiet, feeling her grin light up her face.
Evan must have been aware of her, since, without looking at her, he said, “Good dog. Now we’ll give a demo of what we did that led to this game as the reward.”
Evan stood and clipped a leash on the correction collar already around Hal’s neck. “Come,” he said, and the pup immediately released the tug toy and stood. Then Evan said, “Heel,” and began walking slowly away from where Amber stood. Hal remained at his side with the leash loose, no pulls or corrections necessary.
Evan picked up the pace and Hal remained with him. Then, abruptly, Evan gestured and said, “Sit.” The pup again obeyed immediately. “Good boy,” Evan said warmly, then gave the command to heel again. This time he walked faster and so did Hal, keeping up as they went in a circle, then a figure eight, then Evan stopped and said, “Sit.” Hal obeyed, and Evan laughed. “Good boy.”
This time, Evan pulled a ball from his pocket and, after unhooking the leash from Hal’s collar, he threw it. Of course, Hal went after it. As the pup dashed in that direction, Evan looked at Amber.
“Care to heel?” he said. “Oh, that’s not a command. Heel.” He nodded almost curtly but didn’t look away at all. “Or should I put a collar on you, too?”
Amber laughed as Hal returned with the ball. “I think you already have the right company for that.” Evan smiled, too, and tossed the ball once more.
This time when Hal returned with it, Evan told him to sit. The pup again obeyed, and for the next ten minutes Amber stood at the side of the training area watching as the pup who had seemed playful but less than eager to follow commands—though not as naughty as his brother, Rex—obeyed perfectly, again rewarded now and then with a little playtime.
Amber could have watched this forever, but as Evan appeared ready to end the lesson her mother joined her.
“Sorry, I meant to come out before,” she called. “Could you give me a little demonstration?”
“Sure.” And Evan went through the same exercises again. This time Sonya laughed and clapped and cheered, and Amber felt pleased all over again about having hired this skilled trainer.
Eventually, though, he stopped and joined them. Hal was at his side without a leash on and was sniffing the ground.
Amber grinned. “Looks like your new friend is happy about listening to you, at least today.”
“Yep, at least today.” He aimed a smile at her, then turned it toward her mother. “But I’ve got two more students I need to work with. Will you continue watching?” His tone had changed just a little—he seemed somewhat hesitant—and Amber recognized that he must be feeling at least a little uncomfortable.
“For a while,” Amber said. “Especially since I liked what I saw. So who’s next?”
She met Evan’s gaze. He’d relaxed. In fact, he now looked at her with a different expression. It was warm and… Sexy? No, couldn’t be, though everything about this man, when he wasn’t looking away in discomfort, seemed inappropriat
ely hot to her.
Maybe she should stay inside for his next lesson. Or leave right away to handle the idea percolating in her mind. But probably not.
“It’s Lucy’s turn,” he said.
*
As they returned to the house for him to take in Hal and fetch Lucy, Evan was pleased when Amber offered to bring both the other pups for a brief visit outside.
“Sure,” Evan answered. They made a good team when it came to the dogs.
He followed her and her mother inside to wait in the hall with Hal. Sonya indicated she would stay there with Lola.
Amber soon joined Evan and Hal in the entry with the other pups, both leashed. As they walked the pups slowly, Rex in particular strained at his leash, so Evan traded, giving Amber Hal’s leash and also Lucy’s.
“Heel,” he told Rex, then stood still until that pup stopped pulling. Rex stayed at Evan’s side as he led the whole group to the special fenced-in area for the pups.
Once they were inside, all three were released. “Go,” Evan said, and they ran around energetically.
“I thought you at least wore Hal out,” Amber said with a smile, standing beside him at the gate.
“So did I. Maybe he’s communicating to the others what we did, which would be a good thing.”
They remained there for about five minutes, Evan glancing often toward Amber and enjoying the pleased look on her face as she watched the playing dogs.
“Hard to believe they’ll be obedient K-9s someday,” she said. Was there a question in her voice?
“They will,” he told her with confidence. Maybe even nearly as good as Bear. So far he believed Corbin had done a good job in selecting these three, even as young puppies, as potential skilled working dogs.
Corbin. The more Evan learned about the man, the more he wished he’d met him, maybe even worked for him—although he knew as much as anyone that Corbin Belott had been a solitary trainer of dogs and people, and hadn’t even allowed videos of his training on his website. Evan understood that.
So what person had turned on him?
Almost as if she sensed his thoughts, Amber looked toward him. Her pretty, reddish hair blew in the breeze, a sexy cap that caressed her cheeks and taunted him to do the same. But, of course, he didn’t. “So,” she said, her voice soft in the outside air, “would you like me to take Rex and Hal inside so you can get started again?”
“How about the other way—I’ll take them in, and you wait here with Lucy.” He wanted to ensure that the two males settled into their quarters quietly, not that Amber was unqualified to handle them. But this way she would still be outside on his return.
“Sure,” she said, and Evan got the three pups to the gate to be leashed.
“Be right back.” He handed Lucy’s leash to Amber.
He had no problem enclosing the males in their room. Evan saw Sonya and invited her again to watch, but she thanked him and said no.
When he returned outside, Evan watched, amused, as Amber accompanied Lucy on her wide walk around the lawn and part of the driveway. Lucy was a member of the pack with the other two, but now that she was on her own, she demonstrated special interests—and useful skills—even before they reached the training area.
She seemed fascinated by smells along the ground, including the driveway, and even stood up with her paws on Evan’s leg as she sniffed his slacks as if checking his pockets for treats.
The toys were there, undoubtedly smelling like happy dogs to the pup. He had included a few dog treats, too, but that wasn’t his training method so he hadn’t given them out yet.
Even so, her clear fascination with scents was a great thing to know about for her training.
She might even have demonstrated an early version of it when Corbin picked her and the others out from whatever litter he’d found them in. He’d have known that well-trained K-9s usually had to have additional skills besides finding and restraining bad guys, and an exceptional sense of smell was among them.
Bear, for example, was a great scent dog, both for finding bad guys and explosives. He’d found the one that had detonated… No. This was certainly not a good time to recall that.
“I wish I knew what she was smelling.” Amber’s call brought his thoughts back to the present.
“Probably nothing we’d enjoy.” He attempted to sound cheerful despite what was going on inside him. “But it’s great that she appears to. Okay, come to the training area and let’s get started. If you have questions about my methods, be sure to save them and we’ll talk about them later.”
For the next half hour, Evan put Lucy through the same kinds of exercises that he’d used with Hal. She did well, clearly wanting, once she had gotten used to the idea, to obey him and even excel.
Of course, Evan knew he was attributing human thoughts to the dogs. He did that often—particularly because the idea seemed to fit the smart canines he worked with.
When he finished with Lucy, Amber was still watching. Smiling. That made him happy, too.
He went to get Rex. That lesson was a bit more challenging but he believed he made progress with that energetic young dog. Despite Rex’s occasional disobedience, Evan believed the pup would eventually make a skilled K-9, one who’d excel at cornering and bringing down bad guys.
Evan felt proud of his progress, even with Rex, and the apparent approval he saw on Amber’s face. Sonya seemed to approve, too, when the older woman came outside a couple of times to watch.
When he’d finished with Rex and rewarded him with an energetic ball game, Evan approached the two women by the fence. “We’re done for today. Want to ask any questions now? We could go inside and talk.”
“It looked wonderful,” Amber said, boosting his ego even more, and he looked forward to talking with her. But that anticipation vanished when she continued, “I definitely want to talk to you later. And, Mom, I’d appreciate it if you’d save any comments you have until later, too. I need to go downtown for a little while now.”
To see that Percy geek? Buy something? Whatever her reason, Evan felt a bit deflated.
Still, he just said, “Okay. We’ll talk later.”
Chapter 11
Amber hurried into the house, leaving her mother with Evan, Rex and Lola. Her mom would be able to help Evan get inside to put Rex back in the den with his brother and sister.
Their earlier discussion with Percy had planted a seed in her mind that had escalated into a strong desire: to go hand Kara the list of addresses from emails sent to her father by former students as soon as possible, and then talk to her about the current status of the investigation. Amber loved watching Evan’s wonderful training exercises, but she could no longer ignore that urge. She was going downtown.
She hurried into her bedroom, an adequate-sized hangout for her, with a queen-size bed with a neutral peach-colored coverlet on top, a tall dresser and a small table with a chair in front of it that she used for a desk when she wasn’t at the dining room table.
She grabbed the list of emails she’d previously made on the computer, printed and brought in here so her mom wouldn’t see it and get upset. She had stuck it in a small pile of magazines and snail mail she’d left on the table, figuring her mother would have no interest in rummaging through that. She picked up her purse, checked to make sure her phone and car keys were in it and left.
She was glad to see that Evan appeared to be working with her mom and Lola, maybe giving an obedience lesson, as Rex dashed around the fenced-in area around them. Unsure if they noticed her, she waved goodbye anyway as she went around to the garage.
She sat down in the driver’s seat, but before starting to back out she called the Chance Police Department and asked for Assistant Police Chief Province. Though Kara sounded a bit surprised, her tone seemed almost sympathetic as she said she could spare a few minutes to talk.
Ending the call, Amber headed down the driveway and toward downtown Chance. She met no cars going in either direction until she reached the town’s outskirts.
She continued to think of what she would say—and why she was going there.
Kara undoubtedly guessed the topic of their upcoming conversation, but not the entire reason for it. Amber had mentioned the emails to her, her excuse for coming. They needed to be turned over to make sure the authorities had that information in addition to the computerized list of her dad’s students that Amber provided before.
The only urgency about getting the email info to them this quickly was inside Amber.
Ridiculous, yes, but as she’d watched Evan give those three young potential K-9s their classes, she had recalled watching her dad do something similar now and then when she’d been visiting and he’d brought other young dogs in for initial training.
Their methods were far from identical. The verbal commands were similar, and some moves for sitting and heeling were, too. But despite probably having been trained similarly in the military for working with K-9s, the two men had their own methods of turning and repositioning and ensuring the pups’ attention.
That concerned Amber. What if her dad had been murdered because he’d been so good at giving those lessons?
Stupid? Yes. But no good motive had yet been found for his death. Her mind had just come up with another scary idea. And in the remote—very remote—chance that it had been some kind of jealous dog trainer or someone whose reason was equally odd, she was now concerned that she had brought Evan into a potentially dangerous situation.
She’d be concerned about anyone she might have endangered. But Evan—Well, she liked the guy…perhaps too much. Admired him, even with his PTSD. Maybe partly because of it, since he appeared to be dealing with it relatively well.
She wanted him to do a good job, especially since she hoped he would be working with her for a long time.
She reached the first traffic light as she entered the small yet busy town and made the turns to the police station. She wouldn’t tell anyone, especially not Evan, what was on her mind.
Second Chance Soldier Page 10
