Old Dog New Tricks

by Roxanne St Claire

  Her heart shifted around, realizing that he might think that, but it was something Nico had said…and she and Nico had one mind and, on the best nights, one body. And one…puzzle.

  “I mean there’s someone for everyone,” she insisted, unable to hide her passion. “A really, really perfect for you someone who makes you feel whole and complete and excited to wake up every day.” With each word, her chest tightened a little as the truth and importance of what she was saying hit her.

  “You’re right,” Daniel said slowly, considering her words. “Hopelessly romantic, but right.”

  “And I think…” She took a slow, shuddering breath. “That Nico Santorini is my someone.” Her voice cracked on the confession.

  “Aw, Katie.” He instantly reached to pull her closer in a comforting hug, letting her press her face into his jacket and wish it was Nico. After a moment, he drew back to look at her. “You should be with him.”

  “I know. It’s all I want in the whole world. But my mother told me I shouldn’t, and I always listen to her, but…”

  “It’s your life. It’s your future. If he’s the one you want, if he’s your…your puzzle piece, then go for it.”

  She tightened her hug with a grateful squeeze. “You’re right. You’re so right.” What was she doing trying to please her mother? It was Nico she wanted. It was Nico’s dream of their future that felt utterly right to her. “You’re amazing, Daniel.”

  He started to shake his head, but she wouldn’t let him deny it.

  “You’re a great guy. Your heart is as good as anything or anyone I’ve ever known. You’re cute and you’re funny and you’re kind. And you have so much love to give, but I…I…” She closed her eyes. “I’m in love with someone else. And if I sleep with you again, it’ll be wrong. I don’t want to be with anyone but Nico for the rest of my life. I’m sorry.”

  He added some pressure on her shoulders with his big, secure hands. “I’m not going to let you off the hook that easily, Katie Rogers. You can’t break up with me without letting me take some blame. Ever since we left the bar—even before that—I’ve felt I had to tell you that…” He hesitated as if the disclosure would hurt, but being Daniel, he’d do the right thing. “There’s something about that girl. I don’t know what it is, but I felt something I never felt before. I can’t stop wondering if she felt it, too.”

  “Why don’t I give you her number so you can find out?”

  His smile was slow and so, so sincere. “Would you?”

  She nodded. “And if you’d be kind enough to walk me to the bus station, I can get the 1505 to Chestnut Creek and be with Nico in about three hours.”

  “You’re going there? Now? Are you coming back?”

  “I don’t know. But I need to snap my puzzle into place tonight.”

  “I have a better idea.” He tightened his arm around her shoulders, leading her forward. “Why don’t you get some stuff from your dorm room and call Nico to tell him you’re on the way? My car’s parked in the vet school lot, and I can have you in Chestnut Creek in under an hour and a half. No stops, no bus fare, no problem.”

  “Oh, Daniel.” She threw her arms around him again. “Thank you. And you know what?” She leaned back to make a point she fervently believed. “Something tells me you found your puzzle piece tonight.”

  “Something tells me you’re right.”

  Chapter Two

  Present Day

  “It’s the croissants, Annie girl, I swear.” Daniel whispered the words into the chilly January air as he climbed out of his SUV and gave Rusty the nod that he could get out, too.

  The old setter didn’t leap to freedom as he usually would, but instead shot a look at Daniel that said he far preferred the open air of the Waterford Jeep to this Chevy Tahoe.

  Daniel gave his shiny red head a rub of affection. “We’ll get to the hardware store eventually,” he said. “But I need a croissant. And you need one of Linda May’s famous canine cookies.”

  He barked, which was the only response Daniel was getting that morning. The voice in Daniel’s head, the sweet sound of his late wife, Annie, was uncomfortably silent. Usually when he talked to her—which was multiple times a day—he could hear her response as clearly as if it came from her own mouth and not his imagination.

  He could hear that delicious laugh that started in her chest and made her shoulders shake with mirth. He could imagine her mesmerizing eyes that were a perfect balance of green and brown, widening with surprise at something he’d said. He could feel the silky touch of her fingertips on his arm as she added a witty comeback. All the things he loved for thirty-six years of the happiest marriage, until everything ended in a cold, antiseptic-smelling hospital room a little over four years ago. The day the heart that belonged only to him stopped beating.

  But the voice in his head had been weirdly silent. And not just this morning, he mused as he and Rusty walked down Ambrose Avenue, taking in the wintry window displays in the brick storefronts that wrapped around Bushrod Square.

  Fact was, Annie had been “quiet” after he’d talked with Cilla Forsythe for a solid hour after the Bitter Bark Beautification meeting. And again, when Shane brought the dog-show lady, Una, to the house for dinner, and she and Daniel had had such a spirited debate over a glass of Jameson’s about what makes a dog a “champion.” Annie had had nothing to say about the smile Daniel wore when he gave their guest a friendly hug good night that evening.

  Then silence again today, on his run to pick up wood stain in a vain attempt to fix the worn spots on the living room floor that so sorely needed to be refinished.

  But he needed his daily croissant first.

  Or did he just need a pleasant conversation with the woman who baked the pastries? Truth was, he looked forward to Linda May’s kind smile as eagerly as the first taste of her world-class raspberry croissants.

  Guilt tapped its way up his chest and settled right next to denial, then leaned over to greet some lingering grief, and they all stared down a vow he’d made that he would never, ever break.

  “Oh, who am I kidding?” he muttered to Rusty. Guilt, denial, grief, and four-year-old promises made during the worst moments of his life? Sure, maybe all that resided in him.

  But so did a few hormones that were still mighty active despite the calendar reading sixty-one years of age. Not to mention a bone-deep need for the kind of emotional connection he’d enjoyed with a woman for his whole adult life. And, of course, there was something every one of his six kids and their significant others could see as plain as the silver hair on his head: loneliness.

  Quenching his thirst for companionship didn’t break any promises, did it?

  Rusty slowed outside the bakery, looking up as if to tell his master, You’re walking right by the place. Daniel stopped and let out a derisive snort. Way too much introspection for one morning. He had more important things on his mind than this kind of navel-gazing, damn it.

  He was running the largest canine training and rescue facility in the state and still had a huge—if fully grown and partnered-up—family to think about. Those nephews and niece of his weren’t making any progress toward the altar, so he’d have to work a little of his matchmaking magic that had been so successful over the last two years with his own kids.

  And if anything would get Annie talking to him again, it was the subject of romance for their family. She’d led him straight to the right partner for every one of his kids.

  Come on, Annie girl. Let’s get to work on those Mahoney kids. Should we start with Declan, since he’s the oldest? Or Braden, since he’s had bad luck in love? How about Connor? Finding a woman to make that tail chaser settle down won’t be easy. And who on earth could settle wild and wonderful Ella?

  Once again, Annie didn’t answer in his head.

  Still, the idea of concentrating on a new match put a smile on his face as he pulled open the frosted glass door of Bitter Bark Bakery and braced for the sweet, buttery atmosphere that comforted him. Rusty le
d the way, of course, as dogs were as welcome in here as almost every other business in Bitter Bark.

  He set his gaze on the short line at the counter and found himself looking for Linda May, but before he saw her, Rusty gave a quick bark and strolled over to a small table where two women were sipping coffee and sharing pastries.

  “Rusty,” he said, automatically reaching for the dog who normally never left his side.

  He barked again, sidling up to one of the women who seemed to be inviting him over with a flick of her fingers.

  “Sorry,” Daniel said, snagging Rusty’s collar and taking in the young woman’s face, struck by something vaguely familiar. She wasn’t a local, but hadn’t he seen her recently? Hadn’t he passed her on the street yesterday and nodded? And before that? Hadn’t she been in the hardware store when he bought the wrong color of floor stain the other day? She wasn’t someone you’d forget, but a remarkably beautiful, almost exotic-looking woman who might only be thirty. Rusty certainly remembered her.

  Could this be the one for Braden? He had a weakness for brunettes, based on his last relationship, though he seemed a bit scarred by it. Maybe Connor. He had a weakness for women, but usually did the scarring.

  “He only goes to people he knows and likes,” Daniel said, easing Rusty back.

  “Then he must like me.” She reached out to pet the dog, but beamed up at Daniel. “Irish setter?”

  He nodded, then glanced at the other woman at the table, who looked up and studied him with a strange mix of anticipation and uncertainty in her eyes.

  Afraid of dogs, he decided instantly, getting a good hold of Rusty’s collar. “Really, I’m sorry. He generally knows his boundaries.”

  A shaky smile lifted the corner of the second woman’s lips, and another sense of familiarity seized him. She had to be the younger woman’s mother, since the resemblance was apparent enough. Like her daughter, she had brown eyes, only they were softer, not as intensely dark. Her hair was deep brown, but not black, and cut short in a way that the ends brushed a delicate chin. But he’d seen her before, too. Not recently, but…he knew her.

  Didn’t he? She looked younger than he was, but definitely a contemporary, likely in her fifties, although there wasn’t a thread of silver in her hair and only slight crinkles at her eyes. Maybe because she wasn’t smiling, but searching his face as though she sensed that same familiarity.

  A Waterford client? Someone he’d met at one of the zillion town committees he was on? Someone from his mother’s church choir who’d come to the house? How did he…

  “Daniel?”

  It was her voice. Distinct, a little throaty, and utterly memorable. A chilly January night. A long ride in the dark. A lot of talk about…puzzle pieces.

  “Katie? Katie Rogers?” His jaw fell as recognition hit him. “I don’t believe it.”

  She sucked in a little breath and let it out as a soft “Oh!”

  Instantly, she rose, and they hugged each other, their heads going the same way so they bumped, eliciting awkward laughs.

  Katie Rogers. The girl who introduced him to Annie. “Wow,” he muttered, closing his eyes, and in that split second, he could swear he heard his dearly departed wife’s knowing chuckle.

  Had Annie…

  “I wondered if I’d see you around Bitter Bark,” Katie said, giving him another light embrace, but leaning back to look at him the same way he was looking at her.

  “Of course, I live here. I can’t believe it’s you.”

  “Old friend?” the other woman asked.

  “Very old,” Katie said, then instantly held up her hand in apology. “Not that you look old, Daniel. You look fantastic.”

  “So do you.” That was an understatement. The compliment must have tumbled out with great enthusiasm, since it earned a little snort of laughter from the younger woman.

  “Oh, Daniel, this is my daughter, Cassie.”

  She stood and shook his hand as Katie introduced them.

  “Honey, this is a…friend from that brief half semester I spent in college, Daniel Kilcannon.”

  He turned to her daughter, but it wasn’t easy to take his gaze from Katie. She really looked amazing. Older, yes, but somehow the same. That pretty girl had bloomed into a beautiful woman.

  “Hi, Cassie. So great to meet you.” And then he was back to her mother. “I can’t believe it, Katie. It’s been what? Forty years? More, I guess.”

  She placed a pink-tipped finger to her lips. “Shhh. We don’t admit to those numbers.”

  “You don’t have to,” he said. “You look…holy cow. You haven’t changed at all.”

  She angled her head. “Then your eyesight has gone, but thank you.”

  “I told you, Mom. Nothing to worry about.”

  Katie was worried about her looks? Impossible. He turned to Cassie. “And I can see plenty of that same young woman in you.”

  “Really? ’Cause everyone says I’m a Santorini through and through.” She gestured to the table. “Would you and your sweet dog like to join us?”

  He glanced at Katie to make sure she was comfortable with that, and sure enough, there was an uneasy look on her face. Maybe she didn’t want her daughter to know they’d dated? But he was dying to talk to her and catch up. Didn’t she feel the same?

  “I don’t want to intrude,” he said, even though he really, really did.

  “I insist.” Cassie whipped out an empty chair from the next table. “I love to meet Mom’s old friends. Do you want coffee? Of course you do. And have you tried the raspberry croissants? They rock the foundation of the world.”

  He had to laugh. She was such a force.

  “Cassie,” Katie said softly. “He might not want to stay.”

  Daniel turned to her, drinking in the face of a woman he’d once cared for very much. Time really had been kind to her, with the years leaving nothing but a softness to her dewy skin and an elegance in the way she held her slender frame. She was maybe a year younger than he was and looked as if life had been very, very good to her. And that made him happy.

  “I’d love to stay,” he said honestly. “It’s been so long.”

  Her expression relaxed a little, the sweetness he remembered about her visible in every fine feature. “It has been, Daniel.”

  Cassie put a hand on his shoulder and nudged him into the chair. “Sit. Talk. I’ll be back with some refreshments. My treat.” She took off toward the counter, leaving Daniel and Katie to ease back into their seats.

  “She’s beautiful, Katie,” he said, the compliment bringing out a smile.

  “She’s, uh, not shy. Or subtle, I’m afraid.”

  Suddenly, he realized why her daughter might have been so encouraging for him to stay, and it felt extremely familiar. “I have a few like that myself.”

  She inched forward, took a breath, and said, “I’m sorry about Anne.”

  The words nearly knocked him back. “You know?”

  She nodded, and her narrow throat moved with an awkward swallow. “It was in the Chestnut Creek paper because the same company owns the Bitter Bark Banner, and they run a lot of the same obits.”

  The explanation came quickly, almost as if she expected to be asked how she knew.

  “Oh, I see. Well, thank you. We had a very happy thirty-six-year marriage.” Except that he wanted thirty-six more.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t contact you,” she added.

  He gave his head a shake, surprised she’d think he’d expect that. They’d never seen each other again, not once, after the night he drove her to Chestnut Creek. He’d heard from a friend of a friend that she’d dropped out of Vestal Valley, and they’d lost touch.

  “It happened while I was in the throes of Nico’s cancer, and I had my hands full,” she said.

  Nico Santorini, the boy he’d taken her to see that night. “Cancer? Is he…”

  She closed her eyes. “He passed two years ago.”

  “Oh man. Sorry.” He put his hand on hers, surprised at how famili
ar it felt, despite the decades that separated them. “There’s nothing worse.”

  “Nothing.” She sighed and searched his face again. “But we have our families.”

  “Oh yeah.” He felt his smile return. “I have six kids,” he said. “Grown and either married or about to be. Three grandkids, too. How about you?”

  “I have five,” she told him, with a clear note of pride. “Not one close to married. Four boys, and Cassie’s the baby.”

  “I have four boys, too,” he said, grinning at the unexpected connection. “They all live here in Bitter Bark and work with me, along with my two daughters. And you? Still in Chestnut Creek?” he guessed, since she’d mentioned the local paper.

  “Yes, I’m still there. In a townhouse now.”

  Once again, she looked intently at him, as if sizing him up. Maybe wondering how he’d changed. Maybe wondering what might have been if they hadn’t gone on that double date on January 17, 1976, which became one of the many anniversaries he and Annie liked to celebrate every year.

  Meeting Day, Annie liked to call it, and they always went to Bushrod’s and sat in the same booth and relived the electricity that had zapped them both that night. This year, he and Rusty took a long walk and had a good pity party.

  “I hope I didn’t miss anything important.” Cassie returned and set a cup of coffee and a raspberry croissant in front of him. “Black with one sugar. The lady behind the counter says you’re a regular.”

  “I am, and thank you, Cassie. Your mom tells me you’re the youngest of five.”

  “Youngest, loudest, prettiest, and most opinionated.” She lifted her coffee cup in a toast. “Just ask my big brothers.”

  “So like my family,” he told them with a laugh, thinking of his youngest, Darcy, and all her spunk and confidence. “Are all of your sons in Chestnut Creek, Katie?”

  “Two of them,” she answered. “John and Alex, they’re my twins, live there and work in the family business. Theo’s in the military, stationed in San Diego now. And the oldest, Nick, is…” She lifted a shoulder and added a shaky smile. “Somewhere…”