Hello Love

by McQuestion, Karen

  “You didn’t go to work today?”

  “No, I took the day off.”

  Coincidentally, so had he. The previous night’s events had emotionally sucked him dry; he knew he wouldn’t be able to bear a normal workday with Anni on his mind. When the alarm went off, he rolled over to turn it off, and then picked up the phone to leave a voice mail for his boss saying he’d had a family emergency the night before and needed the day to take care of some details. Now he was glad he had the day free. “Okay,” he said to Andrea. “I’ll be there at one.”

  He tried to time it so that he’d arrive right at one, but once again he’d miscalculated and arrived twenty minutes early, making him look overeager. He was, in fact, overeager, but he hadn’t wanted to let it show. Sitting in the truck outside her front door, he didn’t pick up the phone to call her or get out to knock on the door, just waited for one o’clock to come. But at five minutes to the hour, Andrea came out and knocked on his window. He lowered it to hear what she had to say.

  She held up her car keys and said, “I’m going to be driving. You’re welcome to ride along with me if you’d like.”

  He left his truck at the condo and became her passenger, watching her profile as she drove. Unlike most people, she didn’t feel the need to fill the space with empty chatter, but she did say a few things, all of them heartfelt and sincere. “You know,” she said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, which is why I look so horrendous.” (He actually thought she looked really pretty.) “You should know that I debated going to get Anni from the clinic, putting her in the car, and relocating to Canada, but you seem like a really good guy, and I just couldn’t do it.” She glanced over and he could see now that her eyes did look tired, but, in all fairness, the rest of her looked great.

  “I’ve heard that Canada won’t enforce dog extradition, so that would have been a good choice,” he said.

  She laughed, a throaty, startled laugh. “That was really funny, but can you give me some credit here for doing the right thing? I’m telling you that I’m not going to cause a fuss about giving Anni back. I realize that you’re her legal owner.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  They were at a stoplight now and she gave him her full attention. “But I want you to know that this is breaking my heart. I haven’t even had her that long and I feel like she’s part of me.” She blinked away what might have been the start of tears. “That’s why I’m giving her back. If I feel this way after this short a time, I can only imagine how you feel. And I don’t want to be the cause of someone else’s misery.”

  He was touched by her kindheartedness. The rest of the ride was quiet, somber even.

  They arrived at the clinic, and when the lady tech brought Anni out to the waiting area, Andrea burst into tears, so happy and relieved to see the little dog. Almost reflexively, she threw her arms around Dan, and he found her joy contagious. Emotions flooded through him, like she had awakened something inside him he hadn’t even noticed was missing.

  Both of them knelt down next to Anni, who raced back and forth between them, as overjoyed as a child who thought she’d never see her parents again. She jumped on them and licked their faces, her tail thumping wildly. “Now that’s one happy dog,” the vet tech said, handing the leash over to Andrea.

  Dan let Andrea act as the dog owner, only stepping forward to offer to pay, but she brushed him aside and got out a credit card. “It’s my fault she was injured. I should pay,” she said. Dan let it go, thinking they’d work it out later.

  In the car, Anni settled on Dan’s lap as Andrea drove. He stroked her head and noticed Andrea had become very quiet. “My daughter, Lindsay, is going to be overjoyed when she sees Anni,” he said. “She never gave up hope.”

  “Did you tell her about the accident?” Andrea asked, looking stricken.

  “No.” He shook his head. “She’s had her heart broken too many times. I didn’t want her to know anything until it was definite.”

  “Well, it’s definite now,” Andrea said sadly.

  Dan felt her pain and said, “Would you like to go with me when Lindsay sees Anni for the first time?” He made the offer, not thinking she’d go for it, but to his surprise she nodded and said, “I’d like that very much.”

  He called ahead to the high school to get Lindsay excused early, and was told they’d have his daughter wait in the office, that he could just come in to sign her out. Andrea followed his directions to the school and he again admired her profile, the lift of her chin as she checked for cross traffic before pulling out into intersections, the way her hair fell over her shoulders, framing her face. She was exceptionally pretty. He could have looked at her all day.

  When they arrived half an hour later, he directed her to pull up to the curb in front of the entrance, while he went to get his daughter. Opening the glass door, he glanced back to see Anni’s face at the car window, watching with rapt attention. Behind her, Andrea gave him a small wave, urging him to keep going. It occurred to him that Andrea could just drive off, taking Anni with her. She could cut off all contact after that, forcing him to take legal action to get his dog back. Andrea wouldn’t do that, though. He was certain.

  In the office, Lindsay stood there with her coat on, her backpack resting at her feet. When she caught sight of her father, her face crumpled in relief. “What’s wrong?” she said, and he realized she’d expected the worst: a death in the family, a house fire, a cancer diagnosis. Something so horrible that he would inexplicably pull her out of school without warning.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he said, going over to the counter to take a clipboard from the outstretched hands of the school secretary. “I just needed you to leave early today.”

  Lindsay put her hand on her hip. “Dad, you pulled me out of a test. I’m going to have to make it up now.” Her attitude had switched from worried to annoyed in the time it took him to sign his name.

  “This is important,” he said, beckoning for her to follow him. “You’ll be glad.” They left the office with him in the lead and Lindsay grumbling that this better be important. When he reached the door, he saw Andrea leaning against the side of her car with Anni at her feet. Lindsay, behind him, still clueless, kept asking what was going on. He opened the door for her and she walked through. At the same time, Anni caught sight of Lindsay and let out an excited bark, and Andrea let go of the leash.

  The moment Lindsay recognized what was happening, she dropped to her knees with arms outstretched, and cried, “Anni, oh Anni,” over and over again in between ragged sobs. Joyfully the dog bounded into her arms, barking and letting Lindsay bury her face in her fur.

  Dan met Andrea’s eyes and saw the sacrifice on her end. He mouthed the words, thank you, and she nodded. It was everything, but not enough.

  FORTY-ONE

  “Anni, Andrea, and Dan,” Joan said, delivering their lemonade and sandwiches. “My favorite trio. The ones to beat.” On the floor next to Andrea’s chair, Anni’s tail thumped happily as if she understood every word. Joan flipped her a dog treat, and with ladylike precision Anni snapped it between her jaws. “Enjoy your lunch, you two.”

  “We always do, thanks, Joan,” Dan said, flashing a grin. He and Andrea had started thinking of the Café Mocha as their lunch place around the same time as they started thinking of Anni as belonging to both of them. In the last year, Anni had spent most workdays with Andrea at the office, and between the two of them, and Cliff and Doreen, they drove her back and forth. Anni adjusted fairly readily; it was Lindsay who’d had the meltdown. “Exactly why are we sharing our dog with this person?” she’d asked, hands on hips when she heard the plan.

  Dan had explained that it was payback for Andrea saving Anni, and that Andrea loved Anni as much as they did, something Lindsay found hard to believe. He added, “And you know, Lindsay, when I work late and you’re busy, Anni is sometimes here all by herself for eight or ten hours. It
’s better for her to be with Andrea than stuck inside our house.” He’d also made it sound like it would only be for a few weeks. A transition period, he’d called it.

  After that, Lindsay had begrudgingly accepted it, calling Andrea the doggy day-care lady. Not really a compliment, but their paths didn’t cross much, so it wasn’t really a problem. Yet.

  Dan had several good reasons for sharing his dog, but the real reason was something he couldn’t quite put into words. He admired the way Andrea set aside her own desires to return Anni to her rightful owners. He saw the pain in her eyes when Anni leaped into Lindsay’s arms, but there was happiness too. Happiness for them. It was clear she was a woman of great empathy.

  That was when he suggested what they’d come to call “the arrangement.” The dating had started as an offshoot of driving Anni back and forth. First it was lunch at the Café Mocha, and then it was the occasional dinner when Lindsay was working or out with friends. And then one day, she mentioned a movie she wanted to see and it turned out he wanted to see it too. It only made sense to go together. Finally, one day something funny happened at work and he thought, wait until I tell Andrea about this, and it occurred to him that they had somehow gotten into the habit of calling each other every single day. Still, it wasn’t until Lindsay asked, “So are you dating this Andrea person?” that he realized what had happened.

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” he answered. Lindsay didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t jumping for joy. “Is that okay with you?”

  “I guess it’s fine,” she said, exhaling dramatically, “as long as you don’t, like, marry her or anything.”

  “Actually, I am planning on asking her to marry me. Not now, but sometime in the future.” Until that moment, he hadn’t planned anything of the sort, but now he knew it had been in the back of his mind for some time. Hearing Lindsay voice an objection had brought it to the forefront. “I don’t know if she’ll say yes, but I hope she does. And I know it will be a difficult adjustment for you, but I hope you’ll be okay with it.”

  “I don’t know about this,” Lindsay had said, her mouth downturned.

  “I know,” he said. “Change is hard, and we’ve both been through a lot, losing your mom and then with Anni getting stolen. If Andrea and I do get married, she won’t replace your mom. One person can never replace another. But I think if you give her a chance, you’ll really like her. And I think I deserve some happiness too. I’m only forty. I could live a few more decades.” Almost the exact words Doreen had said to him. It had taken this long for the truth of it to sink in.

  That had been months ago and he hadn’t brought it up again, but Lindsay did, periodically saying things like, “If you and Andrea get married, I hope she won’t want to change all the furniture,” and “You guys wouldn’t have another kid, would you? I mean, you’re kind of old to have a baby, right?”

  “We’re going to have triplets,” he had said. “And you’ll be babysitting them every Saturday night.”

  “Ha-ha,” she’d answered. At least he got her to smile.

  Dan had worried that Marco would crop up again, but Andrea had filed for a temporary restraining order for harassment and, between that and the police questioning him, he’d backed off completely. A few months later, Doreen heard that Desiree now sported a very large diamond ring; she and Marco were engaged. When Dan relayed the news, Andrea said, “Now he’s her problem.”

  Andrea visited her grandmother every week and always took Anni, who’d become a celebrity at the nursing home. Dan often joined them and they made a point to stop in and see Nadine as well. He wasn’t sure if Nadine really appreciated it. In fact, she’d once snapped, “Why are people always bothering me?” but the sight of Anni softened her and they’d even managed to get her to smile, which was no small thing. Dan thought of it as a good deed done in Christine’s memory. Gram was another matter. She was always happy to see them, and usually knew Andrea, but never quite got the knack of who Dan could be. Still, her face lit up at the sight of the dog and she loved petting Anni. Their visits made a difference.

  As the months went by, Andrea spent more time at Dan’s house. He cooked meals for her and she helped him plant tomatoes and green beans in his garden. They took Anni for long walks in the fields around his house, and once, when Anni raced off after a squirrel and they were momentarily alone, he impulsively pulled Andrea into an embrace and found himself saying, “I love you.”

  “I was starting to think I’d never hear you say that,” she said, which was odd because he felt like this was sudden. Like he’d rushed things. She smiled. “I love you too, Dan.”

  That fall, Andrea had come over to help pack Lindsay up for the dorms and the two of them seemed friendly-ish, which might be as good as it was going to get. By the time he’d decided the timing was right to propose, his daughter had accepted the idea. She was at college and immersed in her new life there. One weekend when Lindsay was home, he took her along to the jewelers to help pick out the ring. He’d narrowed it down to two different styles, and let her choose between them. “If she says no, can I have it?” she asked, an evil glint in her eye.

  “Not a chance,” he answered.

  Dan wasn’t a romantic guy by nature, but he wanted to do this right. He’d thought of a dozen different scenarios for a proposal, but only came up with one that was a good fit for the two of them. The Café Mocha, the place where they officially met, seemed apropos, and Anni needed to play a part as well. When they were done eating, he casually said, “Did you notice Anni’s new ID tag?”

  “New ID tag?” Andrea said, puzzled. She reached down to Anni’s collar and found the heart-shaped tag. “When did you put this on?”

  “When you left to go to the bathroom,” he said, trying to hold back his grin. “Read it.”

  She squinted and read, “Anni. If found please return to Andrea Keller . . .” She looked up, confused. “My name and your address?”

  He got out of the chair and down on one knee, pulling the box out of his pocket. He flipped open the lid to show her the ring. “Andrea Keller, will you marry me?” He took it all in at once, the way her hand flew up to her mouth, Anni jumping on him, licking his cheek, and the hush that fell over the surrounding tables. He silently prayed he wasn’t making a fool of himself. Everything hinged on her answer.

  “Yes, I will,” she said, tears spilling from her eyes. She leaned down and put a hand on either side of his face and planted a kiss on his lips. A smattering of applause came from around the coffee shop, accompanied by the sound of someone whooping in the background.

  “I promise I’ll make you very happy,” he said.

  She whispered into his ear, “You already have.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My gratitude to those who helped get Hello Love out into the world is endless.

  Terry Goodman, Jessica Poore, and the rest of the team at Amazon are simply the best of the best. Terry, thanks for listening and for making me laugh. Jessica, you’re a valuable ally. I hope I stay on your good side.

  Many thanks to Kay Bratt, Kate Danley, Kay Ehlers, Khris Erickson, Geri Erickson, “Eagle Eye” Alice L. Kent, Rachel Leamond, and Michelle San Juan, all of whom took the time to offer advice and suggestions.

  To Michelle and Ivan San Juan, who would never leave their precious Anni tied up to a signpost outside of a business, thank you for lending me her name and likeness. I’m sorry the fictional Anni had to endure such trials.

  Kay Bratt, Chapter Forty is dedicated to you. You know why.

  My family—Greg, Charlie, Maria, and Jack McQuestion—are my reasons for living and writing, and I love them all.

  Last, and most importantly, I thank the readers who enable me to write novels for a living. You matter more than I can say.

  If you have enjoyed this book, and it’s not too much trouble, a short review posted on Amazon or Goodreads would be very much appreciated. And
if you’d like notification of my upcoming book releases, visit www.karenmcquestion.com and sign up for my newsletter.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Karen McQuestion has written books for kids, teens, and adults, and is published in print, e-book, and audio through Amazon Publishing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Brilliance Audio. Many of her titles have spent time on the top 100 Kindle list. Her publishing story has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, and the national NPR show, The Story with Dick Gordon. She has also appeared on ABC’s World News Now and America This Morning. She lives with her husband and kids in Hartland, Wisconsin.