Puppy Love and Mistletoe

by Merrillee Whren

  “Good idea.” Amelia grabbed her laptop from the coffee table. “Let’s get that photo on my computer, and we’ll make flyers.”

  “Have you fed him? Does he ever bark?” Jenna asked as Amelia worked on the flyer.

  “He hasn’t barked once.” Grimacing, Amelia looked up from her computer. “And I haven’t fed him. I don’t have a ready supply of dog food. He doesn’t seem hungry.”

  “He looks well fed. Most dogs eat once in the morning and once at night.”

  “Do I need to get food for him?” Amelia didn’t relish going out in the cold to get dog food.

  “If you don’t feed him tonight, you’ll definitely need to feed him in the morning.”

  Amelia let out another long sigh. “Then I might as well buy food tonight. First, I’ll finish the flyers, then get the food.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Entertain the dog.”

  Jenna laughed. “He seems perfectly content just lying there.”

  “What am I going to do with him when I go to bed?”

  “He could sleep with you.”

  Amelia gave her friend a horrified expression. “That won’t happen, for sure.”

  “I knew that would get a rise out of you.” Jenna laughed again.

  Amelia frowned. “Seriously. What do I do with him while I’m sleeping?”

  “Just close your door and let him be.”

  “But what if he scratches at the door?”

  “Then leave it open.”

  Amelia waved a hand at Jenna. “You are absolutely no help. Why don’t you take the dog home with you?”

  “You know I would, but Derek would be sneezing and wheezing before the dog was there five minutes.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know why I said that. I know you had to part with your pets when you and Derek got married.”

  “That was tough, but I love my hubby too much to make him suffer.” Smiling, Jenna came over and put an arm around Amelia’s shoulders. “It’ll all work out. You’ll find the owner, and the dog will be on his way home.”

  “I can only hope.” Amelia saved the flyer file and clicked the print icon.

  The printer, sitting on the small desk in the corner of the living room, sprang to life. Amelia walked over and retrieved the flyers as the printer spit them out one by one. She held one up for Jenna to see. “Good enough?”

  Jenna gave Amelia a thumbs-up sign. “Perfect. I’ll take a few and put them out on my way home.”

  “And I’ll put some out while I go to the market to get dog food.”

  “Leave one at the market.” Jenna grabbed her coat and put it on. “Would you like to go now? I can give you a ride to the market.”

  “Thanks, but walking there will give me more opportunity to put up flyers.”

  “Sure. Let me know how you make out.” Jenna gave Amelia a laser look. “And when you get this dog problem taken care of, you need to work on getting a date for the Christmas dance at the rec center.”

  “I don’t need a date. I’ll be too busy making sure everything is running smoothly.”

  Jenna shook her head as she narrowed her gaze. “If you don’t find one, I’ll find one for you.”

  “Don’t you dare.” Amelia walked with Jenna to the front door.

  Jenna laughed. “No promises.”

  After Jenna left, Amelia turned to the dog, which remained curled up next to the couch. She couldn’t get over how quiet he was—a sharp contrast to her feelings. But Jenna’s appearance had brought a little calm and sanity to the situation. Amelia was more confident about taking care of her unexpected guest. “All right, Blackie, please behave yourself while I get you some food.”

  As Amelia donned her coat, the dog tilted his head as he watched her. Obviously, his name wasn’t Blackie. She hoped she would learn his name and find his owner. Even though she wasn’t a dog lover, the thought of taking the cute pup to the pound didn’t make her happy. She grabbed the flyers before heading out the door. “These better work.”

  Chapter Two

  With the last of the boxes finally unpacked, Scott glanced at the clock. Lily would be home from school in a few minutes. Jet hadn’t returned. Scott held out little hope for a positive outcome. How was he going to comfort his charge? She had almost been in tears this morning when he’d driven her to school.

  Had something terrible happened to her pet?

  Scott stood at the kitchen window and watched for Lily. She was walking home with the little neighbor girl and her mother. He liked that he and Lily had already made acquaintances in their new town. He thought about how this place already felt like home, when Lily burst through the back door.

  Without stopping to remove her boots, she shoved a paper into his hand. “Daddy, look at this.”

  Scott uncrumpled the paper and stared at it. Jet. This had to be Jet. Scott broke into a grin as he looked down at Lily. “Looks like someone found him. Where did you get this?”

  “I saw it on a pole.”

  Raising his eyebrows, Scott gazed at Lily. “You need to take off your boots.”

  While Lily scrambled to remove them, she looked up at him with great expectation. “We have to email them right away and let them know he’s our dog.”

  “Yes, we do.” Scott headed for the basement, where he had set up his office.

  Lily hovered over his shoulder as he smoothed the flyer out on the desk, then typed the email address and his message. After he hit Send, he turned to Lily. “Now we have to wait for a response.”

  “Won’t they answer right away?” Lily stared at the monitor.

  “I have no idea. We’ll have to see.” Scott got up. “What would you like for dinner?”

  “Mac and cheese.”

  Scott tried not to frown. “The stuff out of the box?”

  “Yeah.” Lily’s face brightened. “That’s the good stuff.”

  Why did kids like mac and cheese out of a box? Scott headed to the stairs. “Are you coming?”

  Lily shook her head. “I’m staying here to wait for an answer to our email.”

  Scott paused at the foot of the stairs. “Do you have homework?”

  “Not on the weekend. You know that, Daddy.”

  “I forgot.” The move had made all his days run together. “Don’t mess with my computer. If you see a message, come get me.”

  “Okay.” Lily scooted the chair closer to the desk and leaned her chin on her hands as she stared at the monitor.

  Chuckling to himself, Scott climbed the stairs. Life was never boring with Lily around. Things were relatively easy with her now, if he didn’t count losing a dog. What would happen when she was a teenager? The thought scared him. He shouldn’t borrow trouble from the future. He should just take care of today. But whenever he thought of the years ahead, he thought of how much better off she would be if she had two parents—a father and a mother.

  Scott didn’t see that happening. He was too flawed to have a lasting relationship with a woman. His time as a soldier had taken its toll. Besides, he’d found the women he’d dated recently weren’t interested in a ready-made family. He and Lily came as a package. She depended on him, and he didn’t want to let her down.

  While he puttered in the kitchen, he wondered how soon they would hear back from the person who had put out the flyers. He was almost as eager as Lily to see that crazy pup again. He grabbed the box of mac and cheese from the cupboard and put it on the counter, then filled a pot with water. As he put it on the stove, footsteps sounded on the basement stairs.

  Breathless, Lily bounded into the kitchen. “Come quick. They answered.”

  “Let’s be calm.” After turning off the burner on the stove, Scott followed Lily as she raced back down the stairs.

  “See. Right there.” Lily pointed to the computer screen.

  Scott sat in the chair in front of the monitor and clicked on the email with the subject line dog. The email opened. He read it
aloud. “Thank you for contacting me about the missing dog. Please give me one unique identifier so I can be sure this is your dog.”

  Lily scrunched up her nose. “What does that mean?”

  Scott sighed. “It means this person wants to be sure they aren’t giving the dog to the wrong people.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?”

  Yeah, good if this black dog had a unique identifier. He couldn’t think of one. Black was black. “Is there anything unusual about Jet?”

  “He likes to run away.”

  Scott resisted the urge to frown at Lily. “Besides that.”

  “He has a little white speck on one of his back paws.”

  “That should help.” Scott typed a reply to the anonymous dog finder. When he finished, he turned to Lily. “Now we wait again to see what they say.”

  “I hope it doesn’t take long.” Lily pressed her lips together. “I miss Jet.”

  “He’ll be back home soon.”

  Within minutes, the email alert dinged. He read the message and frowned. “This person wants us to get Jet now.”

  Lily clapped her hands. “Let’s go.”

  “What about your dinner?”

  “I’d rather get Jet than eat.”

  “Okay, if that’s what you want,” Scott said, the hollow spot in his stomach reminding him that he’d had very little for lunch. “Get your coat and Jet’s leash and collar.”

  “Where are we going?” Lily zipped her coat.

  “The person wants to meet us outside the pizza place on Main Street.”

  “Should we order a pizza?”

  Scott gave Lily an indulgent smile. “I suppose, since I won’t get the mac and cheese cooked now.”

  “Yippee!” Lily jumped up and down.

  Scott shook his head as he ushered Lily out the door and contemplated their upcoming meeting. He didn’t know whether they were meeting a man or a woman, but he suspected they would find Jet with a woman. Could he blame her for being cautious and not wanting to invite unknown strangers to her home?

  ****

  The little canine tugged at the leash as Amelia walked down the street toward the pizza place located a couple of blocks from her apartment. The brightly lit corner was the perfect place to meet his owner. Even though her breath formed tiny clouds in the cold air, the weather was better than yesterday, when she had encountered this peaceful pup. He almost made her forget dangerous dogs, but she couldn’t bury her fear completely. It wrapped around her mind like the collar around the dog’s neck.

  As Amelia drew closer, a man and a small child came into view. The man who’d signed his email with the name Scott Graham said he’d be wearing a dark-blue stocking cap. He didn’t say anything about having a child with him. The male standing under the streetlight had on a navy-blue stocking cap.

  Before she reached the corner, the child let go of the man’s hand and raced toward Amelia. “Jet, Jet, come here.”

  The dog nearly wrenched the leash from Amelia’s hand. As the gap between them grew smaller, Amelia saw that the child was a little girl with long dark braids flying behind her as they hung below her hat. The dog barked and pulled harder.

  With one hand holding a bag of dog food, Amelia lost the leash she held in the other hand. Her heart raced as the dog bounded toward the little girl, who knelt down, her arms extended. Amelia stomach did a somersault as the canine lavished kisses on the child’s face, rather than bites, as her arms wrapped around him.

  Amelia closed her eyes against the fear that gripped her every time she encountered a charging, barking dog. Taking a deep breath, she finally opened her eyes and came face to face with one of the most handsome men she had ever met. His blue eyes studied her as his gaze narrowed.

  “Are you okay?” The man’s deep voice held a note of concern.

  Amelia managed a little smile. “Yeah, I can see this is your dog.”

  The man smiled in return. “Thanks for taking care of Jet. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

  Amelia wanted to reply, but her thoughts were stuck in neutral, her mind a blank. Her stomach took another nosedive, and it had nothing to do with a dog and everything to do with the man standing in front of her. Finally she managed to swallow the lump in her throat. “You’re welcome. It was no trouble.”

  “That was an understatement. I’m sure he was plenty of trouble.” The man pointed to the bag of food she still held in her hand. “You had to buy food, a leash, and a collar. Let me know how much you spent, and I’ll reimburse you.”

  “No need.” Amelia held out the bag to him. “They didn’t cost that much.”

  As he took the bag, their fingers brushed. Although they both were wearing gloves, his touch made her insides whirl like the breeze fluttering the banner above the restaurant door. The contact didn’t appear to affect him. His demeanor remained unchanged.

  Amelia glanced toward the little girl, who was hugging the pup as he wagged his tail and wriggled his body in a dozen directions at once. The joy on the child’s face made everything Amelia had done worthwhile. The little girl jumped up and led the dog toward Amelia. She mustered a composure she didn’t feel as the dog sat at her feet, his tail still wagging. She had spent a whole night and most of a day with the child’s fluffy sidekick, so why had the old fear returned?

  “Hi, my name’s Lily. What’s yours?”

  The girl’s happy face made Amelia smile. “Amelia. It’s nice to meet you, Lily.”

  “This is my dad. He’s not married, and he’s glad to meet you, too.” The child pulled on the man’s arm.

  The man looked down at his daughter, then grimaced as he met Amelia’s gaze. “Hi, Amelia. I’m Scott, and you’ve just met my personal matchmaker.”

  Amelia wondered whether she should smile at his comment. “Scott Graham. That’s what your email said.”

  “So it did.” Those blue eyes stared at her. “You have a last name you’d like to share?”

  “Dunford.”

  “Nice to meet you, Amelia Dunford. Thanks again for taking care of Jet. We were about to pick up a pizza to take home. Would you like to join us? That’s the least I can do. Buy you dinner. Unless, of course, you have a family waiting for you at home.”

  Amelia wasn’t sure what to make of the invitation. Was it safe to go to a stranger’s house? How dangerous could it be when he had a little girl with him? For the first time, Amelia really looked at the man and child as they stood next to each other.

  What was their story? The child had dark-brown eyes and hair nearly the same color as the dog’s fur—jet black—and her skin was a creamy brown. The man had eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea, and the hair visible at the edge of his stocking cap was light brown. They didn’t look related in any sense.

  As Amelia hesitated, Lily grabbed her hand. “Please say yes that you’ll come over and share our pizza. It’s pepperoni.”

  An understanding smile escaped as Amelia looked down at the little girl. “Pepperoni. That’s hard to resist.”

  “Yay!” Lily clapped her gloved hands together.

  Taking in the child’s happiness, Amelia hoped she was making the right decision. “Thanks for the invitation.”

  “Our pizza’s ready for pickup. If you’ll wait here with Jet, I’ll get it, and we’ll be on our way.” Scott motioned toward the restaurant.

  Amelia hesitated. Did she want to be left alone with this dog again? Trying to hold a smile in place, she glanced from the dog to the man. “Sure.”

  “Come on, Lily. Let’s get that pizza.”

  Lily scrunched up her nose. “Can’t I stay here with Jet?”

  Yes, please let her stay. Amelia sent up a silent prayer.

  Amelia sensed Scott’s hesitation. Was he afraid to let his child stay alone with her? After all, she was a stranger, even though she had returned his dog. He trusted her with his dog but not his little girl.

  He nodded. “Okay, but come stand by the
door.”

  So I can keep an eye on you. The words were unspoken, but Amelia read them in his eyes. Glad he had allowed Lily to stay, Amelia watched him hurry inside. She glanced at Lily, who was holding tight to the dog’s leash.

  Lily smiled up at Amelia. “Thanks for finding my dog. I was really worried about him.”

  Amelia wasn’t going to say she was glad to do it. That would be a lie. “It’s always good to help people find their pets.”

  Moments later, Scott returned carrying a large pizza box. “Let’s hurry so this doesn’t get cold.”

  Lily giggled and skipped ahead with Jet leading the way. Amelia fell into step with Scott, not sure what to say to this stranger. They walked in silence for half a block. He didn’t seem to mind the lack of conversation. Would they sit in silence while they ate their pizza? She already regretted this venture.

  “Do you live near here?” Scott’s question nearly made Amelia jump.

  “Not too far.” She didn’t want to give him too much information.

  “We live right down this street in the middle of the block.” He glanced her way. “So I guess Jet didn’t wander too far. We just moved here, so I was afraid he was trying to find his way back to the city and our former residence.”

  “I’ve heard of pets doing that.”

  Before Scott replied, Lily took off running and stopped when she reached a row house with the front light illuminating the stoop. She turned and waved. “Hurry, Daddy.”

  Scott looked Amelia’s way with a lopsided grin. “Care to race?”

  The question caught Amelia off guard. Her short legs would never match his long strides, but why not? Without giving him an answer, she dashed down the street. As they reached the three steps leading to the front door, Jet strained at his leash and barked. Amelia jumped back, her heart racing.

  “Jet, sit.” Scott’s voice held authority, and the dog immediately went to his haunches. “Good boy.”

  “Daddy, Jet always listens to you.”

  “Most of the time.” Scott juggled the box as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket.

  “Guess that’s what I get for jumping the gun on the race. Jet was scolding me.” Amelia tried to smile and hoped no one guessed how the dog’s barking frightened her. “Would you like me to hold the box?”