For Love of a Dog

by Janice Carter

“We do,” she said, managing a smile. “Why is that?”

  “I’m not sure. But I hope we can figure out why eventually.” His eyes fixed on hers until he broke the spell, switching off the engine. “I guess I should let Amigo have a run.”

  “Would you like a cold drink?”

  “Uh...sure.”

  His hesitation didn’t deter her. Kai figured it was time to do some fence-mending.

  As she was pouring glasses of iced tea, she remembered to let Bryant Lewis know they were finished with the seed drill. She set the glasses on the table with the leftover cookies from the day before and called the Lewis farm, relieved to get his voice mail. Kai knew her feelings about their neighbor were tainted by what had happened to David. As she had so often reminded her mother over the past year, it was a tragic accident. Yet she, too, found herself on edge whenever she saw Bryant or Kenny.

  Glancing out the window, Kai saw Amigo racing laps around the garage while Luca stood, hands on hips, watching him with a bemused smile. When he noticed Kai, he waved and headed for the kitchen door while Amigo trotted happily toward the barn.

  “Shall we take this out to the chairs under the maple tree?” she asked when he walked in.

  “Great. Shame not to take advantage of such a beautiful day. Amigo is snuffling around the barn.”

  Kai handed him his glass, and taking the rest, led the way to the tree on the lawn at the front of the house. She sank into the wooden Adirondack chair made by her father years ago, leaned back and closed her eyes, reveling in the sense that all was well with the world—at least for the moment. It was a feeling she hadn’t had for a while, and the fact that it had hit her shortly after the spat at the flag monument surprised her. She didn’t like argument or tension and hadn’t experienced much of either since leaving home for college years ago. Job stress was different. It energized her. But dealing with family issues left her drained and craving even the hectic parts of life in New York.

  “Thanks for this,” Luca said, sipping his iced tea. “It’s good to just sit and enjoy.”

  There was a wistful note in his voice that persuaded Kai to say, “I was thinking over what you said in the car, about this series of...how did you phrase it—petty misunderstandings? I don’t know why we seem to be getting into that—we hardly know each other. We’ve been working closely together, and that’s been fine. But for some reason, these differences in point of view keep popping up.”

  Luca nodded thoughtfully, chewing a cookie. “Maybe it’s all just part of the process of getting to know each other.”

  “Perhaps, though soon we’ll both be going our separate ways.” She wasn’t sure why, but stating the obvious was somehow disturbing. She realized the last several days working the fields with Luca had been a highlight of her stay on the farm, not a chore.

  He didn’t speak for a while. “True,” he said eventually, staring at some distant object visible only to himself.

  “Well, Thomas is really going to miss you and Amigo, that’s for sure.” She cringed at that remark. “You’ve been an incredible help with him—to both of us.”

  “I had time on my hands.” He stared down at those hands, which gripped his iced tea. “I like Thomas. I can relate to him in some way. I was bullied at school, too, until I learned to fight back. That got me into some trouble, unfortunately. I’m just now appreciating how often my parents received phone calls to come get me. How many boarding schools and summer camps I went through.” He shook his head. “Why does it take us so long to see these things?”

  Kai waited, sensing he had more to say, watching him wrestle with the memories.

  “My father died of a heart attack shortly after my last re-up. I was so far away I couldn’t get to his funeral. That was hard on my mother.” He toyed with his empty glass before adding, “I still have a lot of guilt about that.”

  Kai waited a moment. “For a long time this past year, I’ve felt the same. My absences have always been a sore point with my folks, especially my mother.”

  “I told you I went to a therapist after I came home from Afghanistan. He urged me to talk about what had happened. My feelings,” he snorted. “To be honest, I wasn’t an ideal candidate. I just sat there, nursing my anger and frustration.” He set his glass on the arm of the chair, avoiding her gaze.

  “Thomas goes to a therapist.”

  That got his attention. “Yeah?”

  “When my parents realized he wasn’t going to talk at all—maybe forever—after David died, it scared them. He sees a child psychologist in Lima. Dr. Sorensen. Ironically, he was a classmate of David’s.”

  “How often does he go?”

  “Not as often as he was in the beginning. His next visit is coming up in early June. My parents will likely be back by then.” She paused. “I imagine he’ll see a difference in Thomas, thanks to your influence.”

  “I doubt I’m much of an influence. Amigo has probably made the biggest difference.” He fell silent and then added, “I’m wondering how Thomas’s progress will be affected if I take Amigo with me.”

  If?

  “My parents...” She paused, searching for the best way to voice her hope that he would leave Amigo without seeming pushy. “Perhaps they could be convinced that it would be best for Thomas if Amigo stayed here, on the farm. But how would you feel, leaving Amigo?”

  He didn’t hesitate and she liked him even more for that. “I’d miss him, of course. But I can see how happy he is here. I don’t know how well he’d adjust to city life. It’s just an idea right now. A lot depends on your parents.”

  Kai didn’t need Luca to tell her that. But if Amigo were still here when they returned, they might come to accept him.

  “I hope Amigo can stay, Luca, but maybe we should take a wait-and-see approach. With my parents, I mean.”

  He nodded and finished his drink.

  Kai reached for her iced tea. Except for the incident at the flag monument, the day had been a revelation in many ways. Luca’s patient and thoughtful manner with Thomas’s classmates as they’d peppered him with questions during recess and Thomas’s obvious pride at the attention had moved her to tears.

  And just moments ago, when he’d told her about his father and given some insight into his childhood... No man had ever been so vulnerable or open with her. The way he drew parallels between himself and Thomas revealed a compassion and empathy that Kai realized at once she’d been wanting to find in a man her whole adult life.

  A shrill volley of barking broke into her thoughts. Amigo was pacing frantically at the kitchen porch, his barks rising to a howl Kai had never heard before.

  Luca got to him first, trying to grab hold of his collar to calm him. “What’s up, fella? Something spooked you?”

  “Do you think Bryant Lewis was shooting at him again?”

  Luca looked up at her from his squat in front of the dog. His face darkened. “I dearly hope not.”

  When he let go of the collar, Amigo continued to circle them, barking and whining.

  “He doesn’t seem afraid,” Kai said. “More like he’s trying to tell us something.”

  “Yeah.” Luca stood. “And I hope it’s more than a groundhog.”

  “We could follow him and see what’s riled him like that.”

  “Sure.” He sounded doubtful, looking down at his chinos and leather shoes.

  “I’ll go. You change and come after us. I’ll take my cell phone and text you if it’s a false alarm. A groundhog or whatever.”

  “Good idea.” He grinned. “Sorry to be such a sissy. I think my mother just appeared on the scene.”

  She laughed. “I have those moments, too. I’m sure all this drama is nothing, but I’ve never seen him this worked up.”

  Luca’s smile disappeared. “I have. The day he saved my life.”

  Tha
t made her pause. “Let’s hope for a groundhog. Okay, Amigo, show me what you’ve found.”

  He galloped ahead, tongue flopping out between his bared teeth, leading her past the garage, the chicken coop and the shed toward the barn. Maybe some poor creature after all. But he bypassed the barn and raced into the fields. Kai felt her adrenaline spike. Running over the plowed furrows was going to be a challenge, and she was tempted to call him back, but he was already yards ahead. Her heart sank when she realized he was heading for the distant fence bordering the Lewis property.

  She picked up speed, and by the time she got to the fence, Amigo had crawled beneath it and was sprinting in the direction of the farmhouse. Grateful that Bryant had never topped the old split rail fence with barbed wire, Kai clambered over, landing awkwardly, her ankle turning on a clod of dirt. She gingerly put her foot right, applying enough pressure to tell her the ankle was good. She slowed her pace, squinting against the bright sun to determine if Amigo was still running. The volume of barking seemed to have increased, making her think he was closing in on whatever had aroused his panic.

  Cresting a slight rise in the field, Kai stopped to catch her breath, her mouth so dry she couldn’t call Amigo to come back. Not that he would even hear her. He was standing over an object on the ground, and Kai’s heart began to thump. She raised her hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the glaring light.

  Someone was lying in the soybeans.

  Someone completely unaware of Amigo’s howls.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LUCA GOT THE text on his way out of the bungalow. He frowned as he read it.

  Call ambulance to Lewis farm. Come quickly in your car.

  Something far more serious than a groundhog. He dialed Lima’s emergency services, giving Bryant’s name and the address, then dashed for his SUV. Minutes later he was chewing up the gravel on the Lewis driveway.

  The house and yards looked normal. Quiet. He slammed on the brakes and got out, wondering whether to start with the house or one of the outbuildings. Barking from the fields sent him back to the car, and he navigated around the outbuildings, trying to get as close as possible to where Amigo and Kai must be.

  The SUV roared up to the fence separating the fields from the yard, and Luca blew out a breath of relief at finding two gates wide open. He hit the accelerator.

  The SUV rolled and heaved over several rows of soybeans before Luca braked again to listen. Silence. Frustrated, he beeped the horn and waited. There. Off to his left. Someone shouting followed by another round of barks. He cranked the steering wheel and lurched forward as quickly as the thick mounds of beans permitted, hoping he was heading in the right direction.

  At first, all he could make out was a silhouette of windmilling arms, but they morphed into Kai as the car rumbled closer. Amigo was hovering over something large on the ground. Not a groundhog, he thought grimly, bringing the SUV to a stop and clambering over the rows of soybeans toward them.

  “It’s Bryant,” Kai gasped. “I can’t tell what’s wrong with him, but I think he’s unconscious. He has a pulse. Did you call the ambulance?”

  Amigo started whining as Luca took in the scene, noting Bryant Lewis first and then Kai’s trembling. “Kai,” he said, grasping her arms with both hands, his voice low, his eyes fixed on her pale face. “Take Amigo back to the farm and go out to the front of Bryant’s house to direct the ambulance here.”

  She nodded, glancing down at Bryant again before grabbing Amigo by the collar and steering him toward the distant house. Luca was on his knees, gently rolling Bryant onto his back before she was out of sight. He found a weak pulse. No obvious sign of external injury. Something had brought him down, but what? The medics would have to figure that out, he decided, and shifted Bryant slightly, off the ridge of beans and into the hollow between the rows. He noticed a metallic bracelet on his right wrist. Lifting Bryant’s hand for a better look, Luca saw that it was a medical ID tag for diabetes. Maybe not the heart then, but just as serious.

  He knew from his army first aid training that if Bryant was in insulin shock—and his unconsciousness suggested that—there was little he could do for him. He checked the man’s airway and arranged him in the recovery position until the emergency team could administer the required dose of glucose Bryant would need. Luca breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the ambulance rolling toward him.

  Much later, once the ambulance had sped toward Lima and Luca had retrieved the shotgun he’d found in a clump of soybeans and taken it back to the Westfield farm with Kai, he sat in the kitchen, nursing the shot of whiskey Kai had poured him, and pondered the significance of that gun.

  “I’m hoping he was going hunting,” Kai said, breaking the silence.

  “Hunting? In a soybean field?” he scoffed.

  “Rabbits?”

  He snorted and took another sip of whiskey.

  “I think Amigo came upon him after he lost consciousness. The paramedic said it was definitely insulin shock. He also pointed out that if we hadn’t found Bryant and called for help right away, he might have died.”

  “He might be dead anyway. I thought someone was going to call us.”

  “Hospital emergency workers are busy. Give them a chance.”

  She was right of course. His tetchiness was simply the byproduct of all that adrenaline. He wondered if his own face was as drawn and tired as hers. The fifteen minutes after the arrival of the ambulance had been a maelstrom. Instructions snapped out while hands and fingers loosened clothing, checked for pulse again before hoisting Bryant onto a stretcher.

  “Did you know Bryant was diabetic?” he asked.

  “No, but I haven’t had much to do with the Lewis family since I left for college.”

  “Is there a Mrs. Lewis? No one seemed to be around when I drove up to the house.”

  Kai shook her head. “She passed away a few years ago. There’s just Bryant and Kenny.”

  “Right. Kenny.” He rubbed his hand across his face and yawned.

  “Tired?”

  “It’s the crash after an adrenaline spike. Haven’t felt it for a while. Not since Afghanistan.”

  “You must have experienced it a lot there.”

  “All the time. Most people’s levels of—how can I put it—expectation of disaster...are here,” he said, holding his hand midway up his chest. “When you’re in combat, your level is constantly here.” He raised his hand to his nose. “The adrenaline is ready and waiting for the signal to...discharge.” He grimaced. “Sorry for all that bad military-speak.”

  “What was it like there? In Afghanistan? I have a mental picture of a lot of desert.”

  “Many parts are desert, but there are mountains, too. Some snowcapped. Beautiful, lush valleys. It’s a country of contrasts in every way—geographically and culturally. Most of the people I met were very friendly and welcoming, even to the foreigners who sometimes brought more trouble than they needed.”

  “Corporal McDougall said you were building roads.”

  “Roads, bridges. Some tunnels through mountains. We weren’t physically building them. The Afghans did that. We did the surveys, drew up plans and so on. A lot of our work was convincing the local leaders that what we wanted to build would be helpful to them. That sound infrastructure would be a good thing, not a negative.”

  “Were you successful?”

  “The whole process took time. Any change in leadership of a clan or village could set us back months. It was often frustrating.”

  “But you liked it enough to go back for a second—what did you call it?”

  “Tour. Yup. I liked the work. I discovered a love of building things as a teen at a particularly excellent summer camp.” He flashed a grin. “When I was a college freshman, I knew there was no way I wanted to go for the business degree my parents were pushing. I did some resea
rch and opted for civil engineering instead.”

  “Yet you decided not to go back. After...you know...”

  Luca downed the last of his whiskey and said, “My heart wasn’t in it anymore. And I saw the toll on my mother when my father died and even more, once I was injured. Her constant fear that she’d lose me, too. I guess I never actually told you my story, did I? I told Thomas, but assumed you already knew all of it.”

  “You told Thomas?”

  “The day I moved into the bungalow. But don’t worry, I didn’t go into much more detail than I did this morning at school.”

  “Corporal McDougall said there was a fatality.”

  He hadn’t expected the talk to go this way, but Luca knew in his gut that he wanted to tell her. “How much did McDougall tell you?”

  “Basically that you and your squad were in an ambush, and Amigo’s sudden presence saved your life.”

  “I guess that’s the short story. Let me tell you the longer one.” He downed the remaining drops of his whiskey and began. The pictures came back then, but they were the ones in his imagination, haunting him ever since he’d found out what had happened much later.

  “It was a booby trap as we’d suspected,” he said, wrapping it up. “An IED planted a few yards away from the donkey. Lopez got the brunt of it. Shrapnel and other debris took out the other two men, though thankfully they survived. Because I was farthest away, I got blown to the ground. Shattered my left knee and took some shrapnel in my back.” He took a deep breath, willing the images to disappear.

  “Looking back, I realize now how lucky we were. Stopping to check out the scene meant most of my men were okay. Some got knocked down from the blast, some got gravel and shrapnel cuts, but they managed to make it back to base on their own without incident.” He stopped, his mind on the day that changed his life.

  “I suppose I haven’t quite shaken my guilt over Lopez,” Luca said after a long silence. “What happened to him.”

  “But he disobeyed your order. What happened was tragic and horrible but not your fault.”