by Cee Bowerman
That’s what I needed to do. Let her in.
“Oh, brother dear. I’m about to sweep your lady away.” Angus called from the living room. I heard Chess in there also and smiled when he and Angus started arguing about who would win if Angus and I had a ‘fight to the death match’ over Lena.
“How about if the two of you start fighting, I get to punch you both in the throat until I feel like you’ve learned your lesson, then I run off with Valerian from my favorite Linda Lael Miller book series? Hmmm?” Lena had the men grumbling, and I made a mental note to figure out which books she was talking about, read them, and figure out what it was about this book character that made him her favorite.
I stood up and slipped on my favorite pair of boots and then walked into the kitchen as I was pulling on my shirt.
“How about I kick both your asses, then sweep my girl off her feet with promises of foot rubs and building her a library that only she has the key to?”
“Oh, sweetheart. I love the way your mind thinks.” Lena was sitting in a kitchen chair, braiding her hair while looking at her reflection in the glass front of the stove. “That’s it. I’m sticking with Finn. He had me at library.”
“Chess, are you coming with us?” I asked my youngest brother.
“Yep. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for a while. I’ve been to the shelter twice and just haven’t found the one that fits me. Maybe I’ll find him today.”
“That’s what I’m going for.” Lena agreed with him. “I’ll hold out for Mr. Right. Well, the canine Mr. Right. I think I already got the human one.”
✽✽✽
“Finn! Look at the little one. How cute!” Lena was standing in front of a big pen that held an exceptionally large black and brown dog and a tiny black and white dog. She squatted down and put her hand against the fence. “Oh, poor baby. Come here.”
I read the paper that was attached to the fence on the pen that Lena was in front of. It said that both dogs were just shy of two years old, both had been fixed, were current on their shots, and came from a home together, so must be kept together in adoption. The attendant was walking past us as I asked her about the dogs, and her face looked so sad as she told me their story.
“Their family was on the road, moving from Arizona to Texas. There was an accident, and the man and woman were both killed. The dogs survived with minimal injuries and we were going to shelter them until they were picked up by a family member. None of the family wants to come all this way to get them, and they finally admitted they didn’t want them anyway. We really want to adopt them out together, but they’re such an odd pair that no one seems to want them.”
“I want them.” I told her, without even thinking. “I’ll take them both home with me.”
“Really?” Lena and the attendant asked in unison.
“Yes. An accident changed their lives. They’re scared and confused; they don’t understand how to live in this world without their family. Yeah. What do I need to do to take them?”
“Let me get their paperwork, and their things.” The employee smiled brightly up at me. “This is so sweet of you.”
Lena grabbed my hand. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s a big thing, and you hadn’t even been planning to get a dog of your own.”
“I should be asking you if it’s okay. As far as I’m concerned these will be our dogs, but I didn’t really give you any chance to agree or disagree.” I squatted down in front of the pen and stuck my fingers through to try and get the dogs to come closer to me. “I just felt like they were the ones.”
“We’re already getting dogs together?” Lena whispered.
“Well, we work together, we’re sleeping together, we love each other and now we’re getting pets together. I think you might be stuck with me for a while, sweetheart.”
✽✽✽
“Oh, baby, it’s okay.” Lena was strapped into her seatbelt, with the large dog sitting in the floor between her feet and the small dog in her lap. She had the little dog tucked up under her chin with one hand, and her other hand rubbing the big dog’s head softly. “We’ll take care of you.”
“What are you going to name them, Finn?” Angus asked from the back seat. He had looked around and had his heart broken looking at all the dogs. He swore that none of them called his name, but I would bet money he would be back within the week to pick one of them up for himself.
Chess had found one, a puppy, and he was sitting in the backseat with the dog laying back in his arms like an infant as he rubbed his belly.
“I think Lena should name them since I was the one that picked them out.”
“Really?” Lena looked at me with a bright smile. “I know just what to name them. Wyatt and Josephine.”
“Wyatt and Josephine? Really?” Angus asked her. “That so boring.”
“No, it’s not. They loved each other so much they couldn’t be apart. And then, they had room service!” Lena giggled. “It’s from my favorite movie.”
Everyone was quiet for a minute, trying to figure out what movie she was talking about, and then Chess crowed, “Tombstone! That’s your favorite movie? Jesus, why did Finn meet you first?”
“I like it. Wyatt and Josie.”
Lena nodded and then leaned closer to the big dog at her feet. He had stopped shivering and seemed to be relaxing. When Lena got closer to him, he started to sniff around her ear and neck. She made a kissing noise with her mouth, and he licked her, just barely.
“Such good manners, Wyatt. Such a good boy!” I happened to be looking at the dog when Lena praised him, and I was fairly sure I witnessed the change in him as he fell head over heels in love with his new Mama. “And my Josie girl. Such a sweet baby.”
“Let’s run by the pet store and grab what they’ll need, then we can swing by your place. You can pack another bag and just stay with me tonight and help me get the dogs settled if you don’t mind.”
“No, that sounds good.” Lena answered as she nuzzled the tiny dog in her arms. “I’ll need to get this one to the groomers in the next few days too.”
“I’ll call my pal Nichole, she’s a veterinarian. I’ll get them all three an appointment to get checked out. She has a groomer on staff. I’ll see if she can fit all three of them in for a bath.” Chess called out from the backseat. “Maybe they can get them in tomorrow.”
“Your pretty free in the morning. Can you and Lily take them in, but stay with them? I don’t want them to think we’re abandoning them after only one day.” Lena looked back over at Chess and smiled as she watched him rub his dog’s fat belly.
Once we arrived at the pet store, Lena, Chess, and I ran in for supplies, and Angus stayed in the car with the dogs. It was a quick trip, and Lena was able to find the accessories she wanted for the dogs in just a few minutes. I picked out four large dog beds, one for the living room, another for the bedroom, one for the office and one for the garage for them to sleep in while we were gone. We went a little crazy in the toy section, but so did Chess.
Once we had the new crate Chess had picked out, along with the dog beds and supplies in the back of the truck, we headed over to Lena’s apartment. She ran upstairs while I sat in the truck with my brothers. She opened the front door, walked into the apartment, and then turned right around and walked back out, a shocked look on her face. Angus, Chess, and I were all out of the truck in an instant and headed up the stairs to Lena.
“Someone broke in there. Oh, my God.” Lena looked like she was about to be sick, and I stopped to help her sit down on the step before she fell. “There’s blood everywhere.”
Angus and Chase went and peered into the apartment, both shaking with outrage as Chess dialed the police. Once I was sure that Lena was safe, I walked over and looked through the door of her apartment.
Someone had broken in and trashed the place. The cushions of her couch lay in tatters, big gashes had been cut into her recliner. I could see into her bedroom from the front door, and her mattress was laying on the floor
and it looked like it was covered in blood. When I turned around, Angus was sitting next to Lena on the steps, and he had his phone in his hand.
We waited on the police, Chess going back to sit with the dogs in the truck, Angus and Lena sitting on the steps and me pacing in front of her door. Lena had directed Angus to call her friend and landlord, Ralph, and he was on his way over.
Once the police arrived, they walked through the house, cataloging the destruction, and taking pictures of everything. I found out quickly that it was red paint, not blood that was strewn all over the apartment, although that didn’t really make much difference since everything in there had been destroyed.
I couldn’t get in and see, but I hoped that her mementos of her Mom and Dad were okay. I went over to ask her where they were in the apartment since the police said that everything in the closets was fine. I walked up in time to hear Lena telling Angus that she was glad she had rented the storage unit just down the street for most of her things, her parent’s ashes and all of the photo albums and keepsakes were there now, locked in an air-tight room.
Angus saw me standing behind them and took his arm from around her shoulders and stood up so I could take my place by her side. I sat down in the spot he vacated and put my arms around her and pulled her into my chest.
“I’m glad your mementos are okay, honey. All the other stuff can be replaced, right?”
“Yeah.” Lena said quietly. “I think it was Nellie.”
“I was thinking that same thing, babe, and we’ll tell the police when they ask us for information. What did your friends say?”
“They are out of town on a fishing trip and won’t be back until some time tomorrow evening. Shirley said leave everything as is, when I signed the lease, I also signed up for renter’s insurance for this sort of thing and she will need to get the adjuster out here. She told me to take whatever clothes I need and leave everything else the way it is.”
“You’ve got clothes at my house. You want to just wash them and leave everything else here for now?”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Lena sighed. “It’s not like there was anything valuable in there, but it was mine. It was all I had.”
“Well, you can stay with me, baby. I think that would be a good idea for a while anyway until we figure out who did this.”
“Okay.” Lena whispered. She sounded so defeated. I hugged her tightly to me and we waited for another few minutes until the detective was ready to talk to us.
Thirty minutes later we were on our way back to my house, the mood in the truck much more subdued than earlier. I was pleased to see Lena’s face start to relax as she petted the dogs and I hoped that I would be able to help her once we got home and situated.
Once we pulled up in front of my house, Angus and Chess helped me get everything inside, and then Angus helped Chess haul his stuff across the grass to his house. Before they left, both of my brothers gave Lena a tight hug, murmuring their support in her ear before they let her go.
We let the dogs sniff around the house while we situated their dog beds and took the tags off their new toys. I was pleased to see that Wyatt didn’t jump up onto the furniture, even when Josie did. I had to pull my camera out and snap a picture when I saw Wyatt sitting on his ass in front of the couch, touching his nose to Josie’s as she stood on the couch cushion in front of him.
I walked back into the bedroom to show Lena the picture but put the phone down when I realized she was sitting on the edge of the bed with tears streaming down her face.
“Oh, honey. It’s going to be okay.” I sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms. “Please don’t cry.”
“I know it had to be Nellie. It’s all my fault for pushing her like I did. I don’t need that house; all I’m going to do is sell it. Maybe I should just fucking give it to her.” Lena sniffed and then her spine straightened just a fraction. “No. Fuck that. Even if I was going to change my mind before, I’m damn sure not now. I’ll burn that bitch down before I give it to her.”
“Ah, there you go. That’s my girl. Take no shit, baby.”
“Fuck her.”
I smiled down into Lena’s face as I swooped in for a kiss. “I think the dogs are settled. I snapped a picture we can put on the mantle next to Nellie getting face planted by the cop.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed Lena the picture I had taken. The dogs must have heard her laughing and came in to inspect the bedroom. Wyatt walked around and sniffed for a minute or two and then went and flopped down in his big fluffy bed. I imagined that the two dogs were exhausted after the fear of staying in the shelter and the shock of losing their family. It would take a few days for them to adjust, and I was kind of excited to take Wyatt along with me during the day while I worked.
“I was just thinking, during the day I can take Wyatt with me and Josie can stay in the office with you. What do you think?”
“Sounds good to me. She’s too little to go to the job sites, she might get stepped on.”
“Come on, woman. Let’s cook some dinner and then I’ll rub your shoulders.”
“Will you rub some other spots on me too?”
“Of course. I’m really looking forward to that.”
8.
“The crying ends now.”
Finn to his brothers
LENA
“Conner Brothers Construction.” I said into the receiver for what felt like the fiftieth time today. I looked up to see Lily walking past my office back to the front and I waved her in when she glanced at me.
“Yes, sir. I’ll have an extra set of blueprints over to you in the next hour or so. I’ll have one of our office employees run them by and deliver them to you personally.”
I listened as the man expressed his thanks and then said goodbye before I hung up the phone.
“Can you take my truck and run these prints to the Vander job site? On your way back, I need you to run by the supply house and pick up the order I put in this morning. There should be a box of hard hats, three boxes of gloves and two packages of safety glasses.”
Lily nodded.
“Would you mind stopping at the vet’s office and picking up Wyatt and Josie? Just bring them back here and I’ll take them over to Finn’s house when we shut down for the night.”
Lily tilted her head and smiled, waiting for the request she knew would come next.
“Of course, I’ll probably need a tea.” Lily rolled her eyes as she stood up.
Lily was a pleasure to work with, and I was happy that I was able to give her this job so she could continue going to school while she worked.
As Lily left the office, I let my mind drift. I had spoken to Shirley this morning about my apartment. She had contractors scheduled for new paint in the next few days, and then installers coming in to lay new carpet after that. The insurance had really come through for both of us, giving Shirley enough money to make the necessary repairs to my apartment with a little bit left over for her and Ralph to put in savings for emergencies. My renter’s insurance had given me a nice check that would go a long way in helping me buy new furniture before I moved back into my house.
Although, to be honest, I didn’t want to move back to my apartment. It had been five days since we got the puppies and then found my apartment trashed. Since then, I had been staying with Finn while I dealt with insurance agents and the police. There were still no good leads on who had done this to my apartment. Our first suspect, Nellie, had an airtight alibi for the entire weekend. She had been in Dallas visiting her sister since the Thursday before.
I had wracked my brain and couldn’t think of who else would target my apartment and write ‘MINE’ on the walls. Nellie thought that I had taken everything from her, everything that she considered hers. That’s why I still believed she was involved in this somehow. She had to be.
But I didn’t want to move back, because I loved staying with Finn. We had found a good rhythm this week, barely seeing each other throughout the workday and spending o
ur evenings together at his house. Yesterday, he had been quiet when he got home, and I felt like there was something he wanted to say to me but just couldn’t figure out how. I tried to get him to talk, but he was tight-lipped, changing the subject to ask me if I was okay, making sure I wasn’t worried about what happened with my apartment.
I made a vow to talk to him tonight and get him to come clean. My biggest worry was that he didn’t want me at his house and just didn’t know how to tell me. Our relationship had moved quickly, but I knew that I loved him with all my heart, and he told me more than once every day that he felt the same.
Still, I felt that he was holding something back from me, and I was worried.
Just then my phone beeped, and I picked it up to see a text from Finn.
‘Headed back to the office. Meeting went well. See you in a few.’
I liked that he sent me messages throughout the day. Every time my phone made a sound, I picked it up with a smile, knowing it was him.
The phone on my desk rang again, and I answered it with a smile on my face.
“May I speak to Finn Conner, please?”
“He’s not available right now, but I’ll take a message for you.”
“This is Nurse Adams from RUH. It’s an emergency and I need to speak to him or one of his brothers immediately.”
“All of the Conners are out in the field right now.” I looked up at the clock. “But I just got a message that Finn should be back in the office soon. Is there anything I can do to help, or a number I can give them to call?”
“Honey. She’s gone into labor, and the doctor is on his way to scrub in to start the surgery. We can’t wait too long, so you need to find them now.”
“Okay,” I said, shocked. “I’ll find them. I’ll get them there as soon as I can.”
The nurse hung up and I snatched my cell phone up off the desk and looked up to see a smiling Finn walking through the front door. Royal and Tavin were close behind him, and all three of the men were laughing together.
