by Lacey Baker
Lorrayna shook her head. “How’s he going to ever take his child anywhere on a bike? It’s so childish, Drew. He probably thinks it makes him hot stuff. You know, I heard he used to think he owned this town, or at least all the women in it.”
The last remarks her mother had whispered, even though there was no use. Drew had heard the same thing, to some extent. Whenever Parker’s name was mentioned, the citizens of Sweetland didn’t hesitate to give the same warning speech to Drew they did to every other available female. It was as if they had a presealed warning label ready to administer at a moment’s notice. Originally, when the warnings had come from women like Louisa and Marabelle and Mrs. DelVechio at the library, Drew had taken them with a grain of salt. But that was before she’d actually seen Parker. After their first meeting, it had been Diana McCann who had given Drew the next warning.
“He’s an ass. A selfish, womanizing ass who doesn’t give a crap about anyone but himself. He even left his poor grandmother here to take care of the B and B all by herself,” Diana had reported.
To date, there’d been no one to counter those opinions of him. Of course, Drew hadn’t asked anyone for fear they’d immediately think she had an interest in Parker. She hadn’t wanted to be the subject of a town’s ridicule, not again. Yet now here she was, pregnant with the child of a selfish, womanizing ass who rode a bike that surely meant he was the spawn of the devil.
She put her elbows on the table and sighed, listening to her mother go on for another fifteen minutes before their most painful brunch yet was finally declared over.
Then she drove back to her apartment and changed into shorts and a T-shirt. Heading out the back once more, Drew set out to spend some quality time in her garden. That never failed to relax her. Something about the manual labor tended to take her mind off her issues. It had been that way since after the incident in Stratford. She supposed it was the one positive thing to come out of that horrific time in her life. The mere memory as she stepped outside had her immediately dropping to her knees, pulling at weeds with a vengeance, thinking in her mind that they were someone else from some other time who had caused her more pain that any human should be allowed to endure.
* * *
“Rufus would not run away,” Parker declared about ten minutes after a frantic Raine bounded into the living room, where he’d been checking his emails on his laptop.
“Then explain where he is, Parker,” Raine demanded. She folded her arms across her chest and impatiently tapped a foot on the Aubusson carpet.
Mary Janet Cantrell had a flare for antiques and kept the lower level of the B&B decorated in its signature Victorian glamour. The parlor, living room, and foyer each boasted room-sized rugs with colors that coordinated with the furniture. The living room had a cranberry-and-beige theme that Parker found oddly relaxing. In the weeks that he’d been here, he’d taken to sitting in one of the elegant armchairs near the front window. From there he could look out onto the front porch and just about down the length of Sycamore Lane. Normally, it was a very relaxing act, but he’d just come across an email whose sender had sparked an air of alarm in him. Then in came Raine and now Parker was closing his laptop, standing in front of his sister.
“Rufus loves to play, Raine. I’m sure he’s just hiding in a bush somewhere. I’ll go out and look for him.”
Raine didn’t seem convinced, but she fell into step behind Parker as they headed through the parlor toward the kitchen. The puppies, Loki, Lily, and Micah, along with their mother, Ms. Cleo, spent the bulk of their day playing in the yard at The Silver Spoon. In the evenings, Michelle and Raine kept their dogs at their house; Parker and Savannah were the only two siblings living at the B&B, so Rufus and Loki stayed with them. At one point, when the siblings had first come back to Sweetland and had been just getting used to the idea of being owners of an inn and baby Labradors, all the puppies had been housed in kennels in the basement. Parker, however, had immediately taken to Rufus and usually kept the dog with him. In fact, Rufus had been running around near the deck earlier this afternoon while Parker had been unloading supplies. When he’d come in for the family meeting, he’d taken Rufus around and put him inside the pen that kept all the dogs from running down to the water for an impromptu swim in the backyard. And he was certain he’d locked the pen when he’d left.
But as he stepped out into the backyard, he could clearly see the gate to the pen was wide open. Ms. Cleo was leashed to the edge of the restaurant’s deck.
“Where’s Micah, Lily, and Loki?” Parker looked over his shoulder to ask Raine.
“Savannah took them inside so none of them would get the same idea and wander off,” she told him.
“Rufus wouldn’t wander off,” he said, continuing to look around the yard. When he didn’t see him, Parker called the dog’s name once, twice, three times, but there was no response.
Labs loved the water and Rufus swam especially well, so that’s where Parker headed next. The edge of the Cantrell property was marked by a small slope covered in rocks that led down to a thin patch of sand and the bank of the Miles River. They all took the puppies down there to swim almost daily; maybe Rufus had wanted to take a second dip today. Moving over the rocks gingerly, he looked in both directions. But the water was calm.
“Do you see him?” Preston asked from the top of the slope.
Parker shook his head and started back up. “He wouldn’t wander off,” he repeated.
“He could have,” Preston said. “They’re getting bigger, more active, if that’s possible. Coco will run all the way to the end of our block before realizing I’m still stepping out onto the porch. He’s probably somewhere on Sycamore.”
Parker wasn’t so certain. “I was sitting at the window. I would have seen him.”
“You’ve got other things on your mind besides your dog,” Preston added.
Parker shot him a look. “I told you that was between Drew and me. It’s not open for discussion at the moment.”
Preston lifted his hands in a surrender position. “Calm down, I’m not trying to pry. You’re an adult, you’ll handle this situation the best way you see fit.”
He said that, but Parker was almost positive his brother didn’t actually believe it. None of his siblings believed he’d do the right thing by Drew. And actually, Parker had been thinking of what exactly the right thing was. But that wasn’t his biggest concern right now. Finding Rufus was.
Chapter 7
Drew sat back on her heels, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. It was late afternoon, probably close to six o’clock, but the sun was still beaming as if it were noon. The part of her garden that bordered the wall of her house received the most shade. The farther she moved down toward the end of her yard, the more sun she was exposed to.
Maybe she should have worn a hat, she thought as the section of her skin she’d just wiped felt as if it was pricking with sweat once again. Looking down, she thought she’d done a pretty good job. The red valerian she’d planted down this end was still in full bloom, even though the vibrant color would last only another week or so. Still, it was one of the easiest perennials to maintain. Beside it, the moonbeams would flourish until first frost.
Drew looked down, loving the play of colors in her garden. The intense purple that gave way to a lighter shade of lavender, firelike yellows and reds, soft, calming blues. All of which she’d planted herself, tended to as if they were extensions of her life. She was good at tending flowers, selecting them, arranging them. It was a far cry from the associate of arts degree she’d received in business and her certification in medical coding. Just as sitting here in the backyard of the quaint little house and flower shop she owned in this small Eastern Shore town was a far cry from the apartment in the city she’d dreamed of having. Her life had certainly taken a dramatic turn, one that for a short time she hadn’t thought she’d recover from. But now, she thought with another sigh, now, she was content. And she was pregnant, a fact that made her smile.
Then there was a noise and Drew looked around. The first thing she saw was dirt flying into the air in a wicked arch that had her heart stopping. The dirt was coming from the top of her yard, the spot she’d started tending when she’d come out and had just added fresh soil to. With a muted curse, Drew got to her feet and headed for the front of the yard. Dirt splattered her legs as she bent forward, pushing her hands into the shrubs she had planted there so she could see what was going on. Her first thought was a rabbit or a squirrel, but there was too much dirt and they didn’t normally kick it up into the air this way. She thought she saw something black before more dirt pelted her, this time in the face.
“Dangit!” she yelled. “Come out of there, you little troublemaker!”
What she received in return was a yelp or a tiny bark, and for a moment she startled. Then she pushed back a huge elephant ear hosta leaf and frowned as chocolate-brown eyes stared back at her—eyes that were on a broad head with ears flopping at the side.
“And just what do you think you’re doing in there?” she asked what she now recognized was one of the Cantrell Labradors.
Everyone in town knew that Mary Janet Cantrell owned a beautiful chocolate Lab named Ms. Cleo. Earlier this year, Ms. Cleo had birthed a litter of puppies, two of them black and the remaining four chocolate brown like their mother. The black ones were named Loki and Rufus. Drew couldn’t tell which one this was, but he was staring back at her with what looked just like an innocent smile. She didn’t smile back.
“You know you’re trespassing, right?”
The reply to that was a lift of his head and movement of his nose as he sniffed.
“Don’t sniff at me, you’re the one playing in the dirt,” she scolded. “Come on out of there,” she continued, taking hold of his collar and pulling gently until the dog agreed to walk toward her.
“I just worked on this area and here you come making a mess. Do your owners know where you are?” she asked, wondering how the dog had gotten all the way down here. Even though they were growing every day and no longer looked like puppies, they weren’t yet mature Labs, so Drew knew the Cantrells had been keeping a close eye on all of them. Well, all of them except this one.
“You certainly don’t belong all the way over here by yourself,” she continued, thinking she could simply climb into her car and take the dog back to The Silver Spoon. But then she might see Parker again. With a sigh, Drew decided she’d rather not have another confrontation with him so soon.
“Since you’ve created more work for me, I’m going to tie you up over here while I call someone to come and get you.”
She frowned slightly as she realized she was conversing with a dog. A dog that looked as if he might actually be laughing at her and his antics. There was some rope over near her shed and she used it to latch on to the collar and tie the dog to her side gate.
“Now you stay put until someone comes to claim you.”
She moved to her back steps, where she’d put a bottle of water and her cell phone. Holding the phone, Drew punched a stored number key and waited for an answer.
“Hi, Michelle?” she spoke into the phone, watching the puppy dance around in a circle, effectively tangling the rope as he did. “This is Drew. I think I have something that belongs to you,” she said, then laughed because in all his turning and rope winding, the dog had lost his balance on his long, gangly legs and fell back on his butt. He looked confused and even had the forethought to shake his head for clarity.
About twenty minutes later, Drew was sitting on her back steps; she had re-soiled the section of the garden that the dog destroyed, patting it down softly after applying a trickle of water to help the soil settle. She’d continued to talk to the dog, who wanted to get loose and had now resorted to giving her the saddest puppy-dog stare she’d ever seen to make that happen. She wouldn’t untie him, though, because she didn’t want him to run away or to get into her garden again.
“Rufus!” she heard a male voice yell, and hurried to stand.
Drew was brushing down her clothes, frowning at the mess the dirt and sweat had made of her shirt and shorts. With a slight curse, she realized she was brushing over her clothes while still wearing her dirty gloves, which was only making matters worse. She pulled them off, tossing them behind her on the steps. It had never occurred to her that Parker would be the one to come and claim the dog. This had been precisely the scenario she’d hoped to avoid. Since she’d spoken to Michelle, she’d actually expected to see her pull up in the silver minivan she drove. Instead, the very handsome and very clean Parker stepped into her yard, heading straight for the dog, who was now leaping up and down, tongue wagging, ears flapping in excitement to see him.
“What are you doing here, boy? You scared me half to death,” Parker said, immediately going to his knees, his hands gripping the dog’s broad head as he ruffled his ears. “You’re not supposed to leave the yard,” he continued, lowering his face until it was close enough to the dog’s that Drew thought they might actually kiss.
But while Parker’s voice sounded relieved, it was still scolding, and she sensed the dog—Rufus—knew that, too. His tail still wagged, but for the most part he had stopped moving, looking at Parker with those same sad eyes he had been giving her.
“Maybe you should get him a GPS,” Drew suggested to lighten the mood.
Even though she’d probably been talking to the dog in the same tone when she’d found him in her garden, she almost felt bad for the poor thing being scolded by Parker, too.
Her comment caught his attention and Parker immediately turned his head in her direction.
“He’s never run away before,” he said, his gaze locking with hers.
Drew swallowed. Just one look from him and she felt weak at the knees, her overactive imagination remembering bits and pieces of their night together even though it was months ago. The bits and pieces that consisted of his hands on her body, his tongue on her skin, his length filling her so completely. Hell, she swallowed again and used the back of her hand to wipe along her forehead because it was suddenly ten times hotter than it had been before.
“Maybe he just wanted a different scenery,” she replied when the silence between them had gone on too long.
Parker stood then, shrugging his broad shoulders. “Maybe. You look like you’ve been working hard out here. Maybe you should try for some different scenery as well. Like inside out of this heat with your feet up.”
For a minute, Drew had thought he was trying to tell her she looked too bad to be standing out here talking to him. Then she realized he was being considerate—of her pregnancy.
“I was just finishing up when Rufus there showed up and created more work for me.”
Parker looked at Rufus, then back to her. “Really? You should have called me sooner. I would have fixed whatever he messed up.”
She waved a hand. “It wasn’t that much,” she lied. It had been more work than she’d wanted to repeat, but she wasn’t about to tell Parker that. He was already thinking she needed to be carted off to bed, and not in the way she’d been thinking. “So I thought they were kenneled in the yard or the basement. How did he get out?” she asked.
“I have no idea, but I’m going to keep a closer eye on him now that I know he likes to travel.”
They shared a chuckle over that, and for a second Drew felt perfectly comfortable standing there with him. The scene almost seemed right for late on a Sunday afternoon, with her finishing her work in her garden and Parker just back from walking the dog. They almost seemed like a real couple, or a real family.
“I should also keep a closer eye on you to make sure you don’t overwork yourself out in this heat,” he was saying when Drew finally snapped out of her daydream.
“What?”
“I said I should probably come around more often to make sure you’re not working too hard out here. Do you always do all your own gardening as well as working in the shop throughout the week?”
“Ah, yes. I do. I
’m the owner of Blossoms and this is my house, my garden. Who else would do the work?”
“Staff, maybe?”
Drew shook her head. “I don’t have any staff. Whenever I have a big job, my mother comes over to help. Lately, Heaven’s been stopping by after reading at the library. If it gets crowded while she’s here, she’ll help with packaging. Otherwise, I’m a one-woman show.”
He frowned and Drew wondered what she should say to that. Nobody had ever been concerned about how much work she was doing. Her mother was too busy complaining when she was here to notice, and really, she did most of her business during the summer months when tourism was high in Sweetland. The rest of the year she did the occasional anniversary or birthday bouquets. Just recently, she’d begun providing centerpieces for The Silver Spoon and as a result had also contracted with the mayor to provide seasonal bouquets and floral decorations for the many town events. As she ticked off all those things in her mind, she realized an assistant might not be a bad idea, especially in her present condition. But she wasn’t about to mention all that to Parker.
“Anyway, I should probably go in now. I still have to come up with ideas for next week’s centerpieces at The Silver Spoon.”
“And you have to shower and eat dinner and relax before work tomorrow,” he added.
By this time, Rufus had walked around Parker’s legs so many times, begging for forgiveness, that both of them were tangled in the rope. Parker cursed and tried to unwind himself.
Drew went to them and untied Rufus, letting the end of the rope loose while she helped Parker get his feet free. Rufus jumped up on Drew’s legs, and she went down on her knees to ruffle his ears. “You be sure to call before you stop in for a visit next time,” she told him with a laugh.
