by Nan Dixon
“Where did you come from?” Bess scratched at his head.
The puppy licked her hand with what could only be called a sigh.
Pain lanced through his chest. He missed their family dog, old Mike. “He needs to be checked out.”
“Do you know a vet?” she asked.
“We used to take Mike to Dr. Amundsen.”
“I could help,” Bess said.
“I’d appreciate it.” He moved to the truck. “There’s a sweatshirt in the backseat.”
Bess pulled out his old Georgia Tech sweatshirt and made a nest. He set the puppy in the center.
“He’s trembling.” Bess cuddled the poor thing closer. “I can count his ribs.”
He held the passenger door and helped pull Bess’s seat belt on. “Set?”
“Let’s go.” Her head bent over the shaking dog. Weird—he couldn’t tell where her hair ended and the puppy’s fur began.
Daniel drove carefully through the streets.
“I liked it when your dad brought Mike to Fitzgerald House. He was such a sweet dog.” Bess tucked the puppy under her chin. “How long ago did Mike die?”
“Let’s see...” He pretended he didn’t know. “Nine, ten years ago, I guess.”
Didn’t she remember? It had been their disastrous weekend. The first time he’d slept with Bess.
He’d come home Friday afternoon from Georgia Tech. His mother had been crying over Mike. The dog hadn’t eaten for days. Daniel helped load the old Labrador into the car. While he’d driven to the same veterinary office, Mom had sat with Mike’s head in her lap.
Old age and pain had gotten the better of Mike. Dr. Amundsen had suggested it was more humane to put him to sleep.
It had been hard to watch his childhood pet slip away. Daniel swallowed. He’d wanted to sob like his mother but couldn’t.
Bess had run into him at Dora’s and invited him to the party. He’d gotten stinking drunk. And slept with Bess. Sexy seventeen-year-old Bess. He’d been twenty. She’d been too young for him. A shiver raced up his spine even though the truck sweltered.
Why had they slept together—again? And they were now helping a dog together. His breath sounded harsh in his ears. His world was out of balance. Whenever he spent time with Bess, his life spun out of control.
“I think he fell asleep,” she whispered.
He parked in the clinic’s parking lot. Hurrying around the truck, he opened the door and supported Bess’s elbow as she slid to the ground.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.
He explained.
“We’ll check out the little guy.” The receptionist rubbed the puppy’s nose with her finger. “Follow me.”
“They’ll help you,” Bess promised the puppy, setting the sweatshirt nest on the exam room’s Formica counter.
He and Bess stood on opposite sides of the exam table. He scratched the dog’s chin while she kept a hand on the dog’s back.
“I can’t think of any neighbors who have dogs like this,” Bess said.
“Maybe he was dumped.” He rubbed the puppy’s muzzle. “Back when we were clearing foreclosures, I hated finding abandoned pets.”
The door squeaked, but it wasn’t old doc Amundsen. A pretty blonde in a white coat came in. “Hi, I’m Dr. Peg Amundsen.”
He shook her hand. “Daniel Forester.”
Bess introduced herself.
“Good to meet you.” The doctor touched the bundle on the table. “And who do we have here?”
“Don’t know,” Daniel said. “Just met him—I think.”
Dr. Peg sent him a wink. “You think you just met him?”
“No.” He waved a hand, his face heating up. “I think he’s a he.”
The doctor’s laugh came easily. Her bright blue eyes stared into his. She moved to the opposite side of the table, edging Bess into the corner.
If he and the doc had been in a bar, he’d suspect she was flirting with him. But he didn’t have any tingles.
Bess crossed her arms, frowning.
A volcano of unwanted tingles erupted anytime he looked at her.
“I’ll check.” Dr. Amundsen scratched behind the puppy’s ear. “Let’s see if there’s anything wrong with you.”
The doc listened to the puppy’s heart and breathing before examining the gash. “You got into something you shouldn’t.”
“We found him at a construction site. He was in a pile of wood with lots of rusty nails.”
“Oh, dear. That’s not a good place for a puppy,” Peg said. “I didn’t find an identity chip, either.”
Daniel asked, “How is he?”
“Malnourished.” She rubbed the puppy’s head. “And she’s a girl. Six to eight weeks. There’s also another scrape that looks new.”
“Does she need a tetanus shot?” he asked.
“Yes.” She picked up the puppy and tucked her under her chin. “Are you keeping her?”
“I can’t.” Bess looked at him through her fringe of eyelashes. “My landlord won’t let me.”
“You could leave her at the B and B,” he suggested.
“The cat would have her for a snack.” Bess bit her lip and his memory shot back to when he’d done the same thing to her plump pink mouth. “It has to be you.”
Both women looked at him.
The doctor touched his arm. “She needs someone.”
Bess stared at the doctor’s hand, her eyebrows raised.
“I don’t know,” Daniel said.
“You have plenty of room,” Bess said.
“I’m never home.” He was light-headed, as though there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room for three humans and one puppy. “I couldn’t leave her alone.”
Bess grabbed his arm, tugging him away from the doctor. “Your dad brought Mike to work sites.”
“But...” There were reasons a single man who worked long hours didn’t have a dog.
Bess asked the doctor, “If we don’t take her, what happens?”
“The Humane Society might.”
“There’s no guarantee she’d be adopted.” Bess’s fingers dug into his forearm. “You don’t want her stuck in those cages.”
His chest tightened. He’d been to the animal shelter before. “Bess...”
She caught both his hands and squeezed. “Try it for one night.”
His ears buzzed. He’d heard the shelters couldn’t keep all the dogs they had. What would happen if she wasn’t adopted? “Um, yeah. I guess.”
The doc laughed. “You don’t sound sure.”
Bess’s grin brightened the semidark exam room. “You won’t regret this.”
He already did.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a dog.” He reached over and rubbed the puppy’s head. She mewed, almost like a cat. “What kind do you think she is?”
“Yours.” The doc handed him the dog. “And a mix of retriever and possibly elkhound.”
“Going to get big?” What had Bess talked him into?
The doctor smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see. Let me work up a treatment plan.”
The door swung closed behind the doctor.
“I can’t believe this.” He shook his head.
“What? That the doctor would flirt with you right in front of me?” Bess stomped to the other side of the exam table.
“No. That you talked me into keeping her.” He pushed his hair off his forehead. “And the doctor wasn’t flirting, she just smiled—a lot.”
“Right.” She put her hand on his arm and batted her eyes. “She needs someone.”
“Jealous?” he teased.
“Hardly.” Her throat worked up and down as she swallowed.
There was a knock
and a tech came in. “I’ll take care of her injuries.” The woman gently cleaned up the cuts. “What’s her name?”
“Name?” He hadn’t adjusted to the idea of having a dog yet. “Don’t have one.”
“Red?” Bess suggested.
Daniel cringed. “Sounds like a boy.”
“Carly, for Carleton House.” Bess grinned.
“Maybe.”
When the doctor walked back in, they were kicking around names. “I’d call her Lucky.” She handed Daniel the list of shots and treatments. “I’d recommend we implant a chip, too.”
He checked the list. “Let’s get the shots done and wait on the implant.” He’d post flyers around the property.
The tech gave the poor dog a series of shots. The puppy barely winced. As they headed out the door, the staff loaded him up with dog food and a three-ring binder.
“I can help you run to the pet store,” Bess volunteered.
His plan to work tonight was out the window. “You got me into this. Absolutely.”
CHAPTER NINE
A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in—what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.
Victor Hugo
“SO THERE’S BIG bad Daniel holding this quivering puppy.” Bess took a sip of her wine. “You would have thought he was holding Grandmamma’s Waterford vase.”
“He’s keeping the dog?” Abby asked.
“I hope so.” Bess pulled at a thread on her shorts. “I can’t. My housing situation is—fluid right now.”
Abby pointed her finger across the courtyard from the Fitzgerald House kitchen. “Once the carriage house is done, you can live in my old apartment.”
“Perfect idea,” Dolley said.
“I guess.” Bess rolled her shoulders. “I still want to buy my apartment. The mortgage lender’s agreed to relook at my income.” She pouted. “I want to live with my orchids.”
“We know.” Dolley pulled the wine bottle off the kitchen’s sitting area coffee table and topped off everyone’s glasses. “Did Daniel pick a name for his dog?”
“I suggested Carly—you know, a play on Carleton House,” Bess said. “Guess I’ll find out tomorrow.”
“I’m glad Daniel took the puppy.” Dolley ran a chip through the guacamole. “He’s a good guy.”
Was he? Daniel was great at his job and would do anything for his parents, but the way he and his brother treated each other was...wrong. Daniel insisted she stay out of their business. Could she interfere and deal with his anger if it helped the two brothers resolve their differences?
Maybe her sisters knew why the Forester twins didn’t get along. Any insight might aid in her plan to help the brothers. Daniel and Nathan needed to let go of their past and support each other. Life would be so much easier if they could get along like she and her sisters did. “Do either of you know why Nathan and Daniel always fight?”
Abby shook her head.
Dolley grabbed a chip and stared at it while she dredged it through the dip. “I don’t, but something has to change.”
Bess leaned forward. “Why do you say that?”
Dolley tapped her chin. “It isn’t good to get that drunk. Thank goodness I was there to take him home.”
Bess’s back straightened. “When did you and Daniel get drunk together?”
“Daniel?” Dolley shook her head. “Nathan. A couple of nights ago at Sadie’s. I gave him a ride home because he wasn’t fit to drive.”
Okay. Her sister hadn’t been with Daniel. She shouldn’t have been relieved, but she was. “Was this Tuesday?”
Dolley frowned. “Yeah.”
“That was the night I held my disastrous intervention with Daniel and Nathan.”
“The night you met them in the second-floor parlor.” Abby pointed. “I thought you were talking about Carleton House.”
“I’ve interrupted a couple of arguments. Last Tuesday, they looked like they might take swings at each other.” Bess rubbed her forehead. “I wanted to help them work out their problems.”
“How did that go?” Abby asked.
“Daniel stomped off,” Bess admitted.
Dolley grimaced. “Nathan got plowed.”
“Did he say something?” Bess asked.
“He was ranting about how he’d changed. And how Daniel wouldn’t give him any credit for growing up.” Dolley paced to the door and back. “I caught them fighting once.”
Abby’s strawberry blond eyebrows snapped together. “When?”
“Not lately.” Dolley plopped sideways in the chair, her legs hanging over the arm. “Back when I was little.”
Abby shrugged. “Maybe all they need to do is forgive and forget.”
Bess shook her head. “I wanted them to talk through their problems. That’s when Daniel stomped away. I know everyone doesn’t have the closeness we have—” Bess waved, encompassing her sisters “—but they can’t even be polite to each other.”
Abby touched her arm. “You hate it when people are upset.”
Bess sighed. “Daniel said I was interfering, but he and Nathan should rely on each other like we do.”
“I understand why you tried to help. You don’t like people being unhappy.” Abby squeezed her shoulder. “You nurture plants and people.”
Bess looked between Abby and Dolley. “I do?”
They nodded.
Bess wanted peace between the brothers. “Someone needs to knock their heads together.” Was she brave enough to take on the mission and endure Daniel’s wrath?
Yes.
* * *
A WHINE ECHOED from his bedroom corner. Daniel sighed and checked the clock. Midnight. “Go to sleep.”
Carly whimpered.
“You have a great bed.” Bess had found it at the pet store.
A puppy, for God’s sake. This was Bess’s fault. One more crazy thing he’d done because of her.
The dog had started in the laundry room. When Daniel left the kitchen, she’d whined. Now the bed filled the corner of his bedroom. He’d added an old blanket, but Carly’s whimpering hadn’t stopped.
“All right.” He tossed off the sheet and moved to the puppy. “Just for tonight. This will not become a habit.”
He picked up the dog bed and set it and Carly on his. The puppy eyed him. No way would he sleep naked with a dog in his bed. He pulled on a clean pair of boxers. “Sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. What would he do with a puppy? He couldn’t leave her alone for hours. “Can you behave?”
Carly’s pink tongue licked the side of his hand. She belly crawled closer. He cuddled her against his chest and she let out a contented sigh.
“You’re the first female in this bed since...” He couldn’t remember. Not a good sign. With a puppy and major projects to monitor, the likelihood of finding anyone new had dropped to nil. What would he do, get a puppy sitter? “You’re cramping my style.”
He could ask out Dr. Peg. He let the idea roll around, but no jolt of attraction swept through him. The only jolts he’d gotten lately were from Bess. He’d also gotten soaked shoes and a puppy.
Carly nudged her head under his chin.
He pulled up the sheet. “This is just for tonight.”
He hoped.
Carly licked his cheek.
Bess had gotten him into this. She was going to have to help him out. “Looks like Carleton House has a new mascot.”
* * *
BESS NOTED THE final angle and shut off the theodolite. “Got it,” she yelled to Jimmy.
Jimmy stowed their equipment. “What do you think?”
She pointed at the high-water mark. “The swimming pool placement won’t work.”
He p
ushed back his hat. “I wondered about that.”
She walked up the hill and he followed. “I suggest a narrow pool here—infinity would be nice. Maybe a bridge and canal around the front of the house.”
They moved through the property and the owner’s requests.
“I’ll help draw this up and work on the development and installation, but I want ten thousand dollars for consulting,” she said.
Jimmy’s eyes blinked wide open. “Ten thousand?”
Cade and his son would be getting the installation fees and markup on all the plants and water features. She would not work for an hourly wage on a three-hundred-thousand-dollar project. She planned to receive a portion of the profit.
“Ten thousand,” she reiterated. If Cade agreed to her terms, it would be a nice bump to her bank account. “Have your dad let me know if he wants my help.”
On her way back to town, she left the windows down. On her right, container traffic headed to port. On her left, pleasure boats zipped through the intercostal waterways. The brackish scent of the water filled her car.
Pulling into the B and B’s parking lot, she spotted Daniel’s truck parked next to Carleton House. “I wonder how the puppy did last night?”
Instead of rushing over to the work site, she stopped at Fitzgerald House. The kitchen smelled of brandy, butter and sugar.
“How was it?” Abby cut bars on the counter.
“The project will be incredible, but I told Jimmy I needed ten thousand dollars.”
Abby’s knife clattered on the counter. “You asked for what?”
“It will bill out at over three hundred thousand dollars.” Bess shrugged. “I want my skills acknowledged.”
“If you can make that kind of money, you should go out on your own.”
“Thought about it. But I’d have to buy a bunch of equipment. The theodolite I used today cost three grand.” Bess grabbed a warm, gooey brandy-pecan bar. “Guess I should head over to Carleton House.”
“Need coffee?”
“Got any iced?”
Abby pointed at the fridge. “I’m bringing over sandwiches, too.”
“You’re the best.” Bess filled her thermal cup and headed across the courtyard, ducking under the orange tape. She entered Carleton House through the kitchen.
