The Cowboy’s Return

by Aarsen, Carolyne

  “I don’t know what she’s like. I don’t know if she’s wild.”

  “She seems okay,” Summer said. “Take her into the house, and we’ll have a look at her before you decide if you need to take her to the vet.”

  Lucas took the dog out of his vehicle, carefully cradling it as he followed Summer to the house.

  A woman was in the kitchen washing up some mugs as they came inside.

  The nurse friend, Lucas suspected.

  “So what did the doctor…” The woman’s voice drifted off when she saw Lucas come in right behind Summer, holding the dog who was now dripping on the floor. “What is that?”

  “Lucas found a dog. We need to check it over.” Summer kicked off her shoes. “I’ll get some towels and be right back,” she said to Lucas.

  Lucas nodded, still holding the wet dog, the moisture now seeping into his clothes. Thank goodness the house was warm.

  The dog struggled a moment, and Lucas knelt down to control her. Despite her starved condition it was hard to hold her back, but as quickly as she struggled her fight disappeared.

  “The poor thing,” the woman said, coming around the kitchen counter. She knelt down as well, but Lucas could see she was eyeing him up as much as the dog. “So, I’m guessing you’re Lucas?” she asked, reaching out to touch the dog.

  “Yeah.”

  “Glenda was talking about you. I’m Louise. Summer asked me to watch Glenda while she went to town.”

  “For her doctor’s appointment?” Lucas asked. “Is everything okay with her?”

  “It’s just a regular checkup.”

  “Well, she seemed in pain just now.” Lucas tried not to sound as uneasy as he felt.

  “She’s been complaining about Braxton Hicks. It’s normal. I’m sure her doctor would let her know if there was anything wrong.”

  Lucas nodded, aware that he was showing too much concern over someone who he wasn’t involved with.

  Then Summer was back with a bunch of towels that she laid out on the counter.

  “Can you bring her over here,” she said.

  “She’s pretty dirty,” Lucas said, hesitating even as he stood.

  “We can clean her up later. Just lay her down here.”

  Lucas did exactly as she said, surprised at the brisk tone in her voice. She was going into nurse mode.

  “Be careful, girl,” Louise said as Lucas held the dog’s head in case she made a lunge for Summer.

  “You’ll be good to me, won’t you?” Summer crooned to the dog as she ran her hands over the dog’s head. The dog gave Summer’s hand a feeble lick, which made her smile.

  And that genuine smile dove past the boundaries Lucas had been trying to erect against her.

  He took a breath, looking away, focusing on the poor dog who now lay with her head on the towels, looking up at him, her brown eyes sorrowful as if she carried the burdens of the world.

  Summer carefully worked her way down the dog’s body, checking each leg individually, palpitating its abdomen, checking its hips and back legs.

  All the time she worked, the dog lay perfectly still, but her eyes were fixed on Lucas as if asking him what was happening.

  “There’s nothing broken, and there doesn’t seem to be any internal injuries. She has a small cut but it’s not drastic. I’m thinking some bruising judging from how she winced when I moved her leg,” Summer said finally. She turned to Louise. “Did you want to look her over?”

  Louise, who had been holding back, lifted her hands, shaking her head. “Sorry. Not much of an animal person.”

  “But how could you resist those chocolate-brown eyes,” Summer murmured as she stroked the dog’s wet and matted fur on her head. “I bet you’re a pretty thing under all that dirt,” she said, fingering the wet fur away from her eyes.

  Lucas heard the softness in her voice, remembering how she would talk to the horses whenever they went riding. How she would stroke them. He used to tease her about being careful not to use up all her affection on the animals.

  Then she would turn and hug him, telling him she had lots of love to spare.

  The memory jolted him, and he gave his head a shake to dislodge it.

  “She’ll need to be cleaned up,” he said, thankful nothing was wrong with the dog. “Then we need to figure out what to do with her. Find out who she belongs to.” He turned to Louise. “Would you know someone who can tell us about lost dogs?”

  “You could try to put it up on the Rockyview Facebook buy-and-sell group. I could ask around.”

  “I hate to think this, but her not having a collar or tags makes me wonder if someone just dropped her off,” Summer said.

  A surge of sudden anger ignited a burn under Lucas’s breastbone. Summer was probably right. The fact that the dog was so skinny showed that she hadn’t been taken care of or she’d been wandering a long time.

  “Who would do something like that?” he ground out, touching the dog again, stroking her head.

  “Lots of callous people in the world,” Summer said. “People who don’t care what their actions mean for others.” Her voice held a surprising edge of fury, and when he glanced over at her she was looking past the dog. Where was her mind going?

  Then another thought attacked him. Did she think he was one of those people? When she had pleaded with him to quit the army, she had accused him of being selfish and not thinking of her or their future at all.

  He tried to catch her attention, but then Louise broke in.

  “And right now Glenda is calling,” she said. “And I need to get home to my littles.”

  Summer seemed to snap to the present, the hard line of her mouth fading away. “Of course. Sorry, Louise. Anything I need to know?”

  “Pretty uneventful, though Glenda wasn’t impressed that I didn’t know how to make her coffee like you did.”

  “Coffee is coffee,” Summer said with a short laugh.

  “Apparently not, according to Glenda.” Louise pushed herself away from the counter she’d been leaning against. “Anyhow, good luck with…everything,” she said, a wave of her hand seeming to take the dog in as well as Lucas.

  “I better see to Glenda,” Summer said as Louise closed the door behind her with a purposeful click.

  Leaving Lucas alone with a dog he wasn’t sure what to do about.

  “Well, let’s start with cleaning you up.” He stroked her head then lifted her up, dirty towels and all.

  She didn’t even struggle as he carried her back outside and into the granny suite. And when he ran the bathtub and put her in the water, all she did was release a short whine and attempt to stand.

  In five minutes he couldn’t even see the bottom of the bathtub, the water was so murky and dirty. So he emptied it and ran more water. And as he washed her, the dog’s true colors came through. She definitely was Aussie. Her brown, white, and black markings were distinctive and, he had to admit, striking. She had a white nose and white around her eyes with a patch of brown above each. The rest of her face was black with edgings of brown around her cheeks. Her ruff and forelegs were white. The rest of her was black with brown patches on her back legs and tail.

  But her fur was scruffy and dull, and she was hungry.

  “Now that you’re all cleaned up, I should get you something to eat,” Lucas said as he toweled her off.

  He tossed all the towels into the now-drained bathtub. He’d deal with them later.

  “So, what do I have that would appeal to you,” he said to the dog.

  But there was no food in the refrigerator. He hadn’t bought groceries in town, because he’d assumed he would be staying at the Hidden Creek Inn.

  With its no-pets-allowed policy?

  Lucas sighed as he looked at the dog lying on the floor, her head on her paws, looking at him with what, he thought, was a beseeching expression.

  “I’ll take care of you until I find your owners,” he told her, crouching down to stroke her now clean and dry head. “But first I need to go next door
and get something for you to eat. And this was not how I imagined the rest of my day or week going.”

  Every day with Summer so close.

  The thought of that made him unsettled and distressed. Her very presence eroded the peaceful haven he had imagined this place to be.

  Stifling a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet, and the dog immediately struggled to stand.

  “Just stay, missy,” he said, realizing that he should give the dog a name. Well, Missy was probably as good as any.

  To his surprise, she dropped with a sigh, resting her head on her crossed paws. She had been trained, he thought.

  He stifled another sigh and left the suite, hoping she was too weak to tear anything apart while he was gone.

  He rapped on the door of the house, shaking his head at the irony, but as long as Summer and his grandmother were staying there he had to respect that.

  Summer opened the door, a polite smile on her face which morphed into an uneasy look as soon as she saw it was him. He wished it didn’t bother him so much. In what felt like another life her face would have blossomed into a smile, she would have thrown herself at him, laughing.

  But life and events had dashed any feelings they might have shared.

  He was moving on, and she was carrying another man’s child.

  “Sorry to bug you, but I want to feed the dog, and I have nothing to give her. Would you have any milk and bread?” he asked, forcing himself to sound as inscrutable as she looked.

  “Of course. Sure.” She walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and pulled out a milk carton, took some bread out of another cupboard, and handed both to him.

  “Thanks. I have no groceries in the house and didn’t pick up any in town. I hadn’t figured on staying at the suite.” The words seemed to fall out of his mouth. Something about her reserved expression combined with the memories he couldn’t stifle made him more loquacious than he liked.

  “What do you mean, you hadn’t figured on staying? Where else would you stay?”

  She looked puzzled, and he wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

  “I just thought it would be easier for both of us if I stayed in town. You seem uncomfortable around me.”

  “I’m sorry about that. I wouldn’t have taken this job with your grandmother if I’d known you’d be back this soon, you need to know that.”

  Was that an apology, or a confession? It bothered him that she needed to explain at all even as another small part of him was relieved that she hadn’t done this on purpose.

  “That’s okay, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I came back earlier than expected.”

  “So will you be staying in town?”

  Did she sound hopeful?

  “Not as long as I have this dog, unfortunately.” He took the milk from her. “Which brings me to my next request. I should try to find the owners. Do you have any way of accessing that page Louise was talking about? I don’t have a laptop anymore and I hate checking stuff on my phone.”

  She nodded. “I have my laptop, and I can find the Facebook page. Can you take a picture of her?”

  “Sure. But first I’ll give her this milk and bread.”

  He knew he should leave. Get out of here, but he felt as if the two of them were in some kind of limbo they each needed to move out of. They would be bumping up against each other, and he wanted the awkwardness out of the way.

  If that was possible.

  He was about to ask her how she was doing when their eyes met, hers holding a sudden yearning that made his breath catch in his throat. She looked vulnerable and scared.

  “What happened, Summer?” The question burst out of him, curiosity mingled with true concern and blended with the pain he struggled with after she broke up with him.

  Her expression shifted to one of fright and horror, and he regretted asking.

  Then Glenda called for Summer, she looked away, and the moment passed.

  But as he left with the container of milk and the bread, the look on her face stayed with him.

  * * *

  Breathe. Breathe.

  Summer turned away when the door of the house closed with a decisive click, frustrated at how easily the tears threatened. Hormones, she told herself as she tugged a tissue out of the box on top of the refrigerator. She wiped her eyes, took a drink of water, then answered Glenda’s summons.

  “Was that Lucas who was just here?” she demanded, pushing herself up in the bed.

  “Yes.”

  “What did he want?”

  “Some milk and bread. For the stray dog I told you about.”

  “I see.” Glenda folded her arms over her chest. “I’m thinking I’d like to sit at the table for dinner tonight.”

  “Great idea. You need to sit more.”

  “And I’d like to have Lucas join us.”

  Summer stared at Glenda, her mind whirling as she tried to find a reasonable way to say that was not happening.

  “I know you have enough food. You always make far more than I can eat.”

  “I know—”

  “Please indulge me,” Glenda said, her voice uncharacteristically pleading. “I haven’t seen the boy in ages and I need…I want to see him. I know he doesn’t want to be here but I need…” Her voice faltered again, and for a moment she seemed to sink into herself. But then the old Glenda came back, and she straightened, lifted her chin, and gave a resolute nod. “I think he should come and have dinner with us from time to time, as long as he’s here.”

  Summer wanted to protest, but the steely determination on Glenda’s face told her it would be a waste of breath.

  Besides, Glenda was her employer, and if she wanted to entertain her grandson for dinner, who was Summer to complain? Just the hired help.

  “I’ll ask him if he wants to come. He might say no,” Summer warned.

  “He might, but I’m hoping you can convince him.”

  If Glenda had even the tiniest inkling of her and Lucas’s past, she would realize Summer was exactly the wrong person to ask him.

  “Why don’t you go talk to him now,” Glenda said. “Before you start supper and before he makes other plans.”

  “I doubt he’ll be doing that. He’s got the dog to take care of.”

  “Does he have that dog in the suite?” Glenda frowned her disapproval. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Once again Summer had to fight down a flicker of amused frustration with Glenda. “Maybe not, but it is his place,” she reminded her.

  “Of course. Yes. I forgot.”

  “And, if you want me to invite him over and make dinner for him, then I’d like you to do something in return.” Summer saw a chance to do some leveraging herself.

  Glenda narrowed her eyes, suspicion tightening her face. “What is that?” she snapped.

  “I want you to walk more. You’re getting more mobile, and I think we should capitalize on that.”

  Glenda pursed her lips as if considering.

  “I’m only supposed to work for you for two more weeks,” Summer pressed. “You need to comply with the physiotherapist’s recommendations or all the work we’ve done will be wasted. And I know how much you hate waste.”

  Something she had learned the first few days she was working for Glenda when she tried to throw out some stale bread. Glenda convinced her to make bread pudding out of it.

  “I suppose,” Glenda admitted, her tone reluctant.

  “I insist,” Summer parried, giving her a level look. “And considering I’m the one who has to walk over to Lucas’s place and ask him, and considering I’m the one making dinner, I suspect I have some pull.”

  To her relief Glenda gave a curt nod. “Don’t know why you’re in such a rush to get me mobile. The sooner I am, the sooner you’re out of a job.”

  And thank you very much, you no-nonsense woman, for your succinct appraisal of my life.

  “I’m a professional, and I want to do well by you.”

  “Happy to hear that. Now go a
nd ask Lucas to come for dinner, and I'll do some more exercises. Later.” Glenda picked up her book and slipped on her reading glasses, and that was the end of the conversation.

  Summer left the room fighting down dread mingled with an unwelcome sense of restrained anticipation. When Lucas had asked her how she was feeling and she heard the muted concern in his voice, it created a twist of attraction.

  Once he knew everything about her. When they were dating, they spent hours talking. Or rather, she spent hours talking. He was a good listener, and she had to be careful not to dominate the conversation.

  But he still told her much about his life with his parents, then with the Tye family.

  They had been so close. Once.

  Glenda might sit there issuing her commands for him to come to dinner, but she knew there was a strong possibility Lucas would say no.

  A few moments later she was knocking on the door, wrapping her sweater around herself against the chill of the air. It was getting colder, winter was coming.

  Lucas opened the door, the surprise on his face a fleeting emotion, which quickly disappeared.

  “I’m coming right to the point,” Summer said. “Glenda wants you to come for dinner.”

  Lucas frowned, as if trying to absorb this.

  “I know you guys aren’t real close—”

  “That’s the understatement of the year,” Lucas said, a faintly bitter timbre to his voice.

  Then Summer heard a whine, and she looked past Lucas to see the dog standing behind him. “Oh my goodness, she looks so much better now that she’s clean. How’s she doing?”

  Lucas looked behind and smiled. “Not too bad. Thanks again for the milk and bread. She ate most of it.”

  “That’s good to hear. I sure wonder how she got here.” Summer shivered again as a gust of wind swirled around the house.

  “I’m sorry, where are my manners? Come in,” Lucas said, holding the door farther open.

  Summer hesitated, but she wanted to see the dog. So she stepped inside, and Lucas closed the door behind her.

  “How are you doing, girl?” Summer kept her voice soft as she crouched down to get closer. She looked back at Lucas. “Did you give her a name?”

  “I was going to call her Missy, but then decided on Misty.”