Her phone pinged with a text. Hopefully, it wasn’t her sister with a blind date suggestion.
Nope. It was Matt.
Sparkle slipped out the front door and that moped spooked her and she took off. Ellie’s frantic. We’re searching on Holly Road. Help?
Oh God.
On my way, she texted back.
Oh no. Holly Road was busy with cars. Please let them find her, she thought, rushing out the door.
* * *
“Where could she be?” Ellie asked Matt, tears streaming down her face.
“We’ll find her,” he assured his niece, praying that would be true. “Let’s keep looking. Remember to use a gentle voice if you see her and hold out the cheese stick. Sparkle loves those.”
They walked down the sidewalk, looking under cars. No sign of the little dog.
A girl around Ellie’s age stood on her lawn holding a Hula-Hoop around her waist. As Matt got closer, he realized it was the sulky one from Ellie’s class. Luckily, Ellie hadn’t been upset at Matt for what had happened. Instead, she’d given him an earful about how Danica was always mean to her and that the principal had given Danica a detention for “not being kind, and starting a problem,” whereas Ellie didn’t get in trouble at all.
Ellie ran up to the girl. “Danica? Did you see a brown-and-white puppy run past your house?”
The girl barely looked at Ellie. “Yup, I did.”
“Did she go that way?” Ellie asked, pointing ahead toward the intersection. It had a four-way stop sign and not a light, thank God, but it was a busy junction.
Danica nodded. “Yup. Straight into traffic and kept going. Guess your only friend is gone, Ellie,” the girl said, giving the Hula-Hoop a spin. It landed on the grass, and she frowned and picked it up, giving it another spin. “Maybe she got hit by a car.” She spun the Hula-Hoop again, this time working it around her narrow hips. “Too bad, so sad.”
Jesus. Matt’s sister often mentioned the mean-girl drama among girls of Ellie’s age, and he would have sworn eight was way too young for that crud. But he’d seen it firsthand at Ellie’s school, and here it was again, right in front of him.
“Danica Haverman!” A woman came around the side of the house with a gardening tool in her hand. “I heard what you said. That was very unkind.”
“Her own dog doesn’t like her!” Danica said, looking like she was about to cry.
Suddenly Matt realized what was going on here. The girl was very, very jealous that Ellie had a dog.
“I’d rather have no friends at all than be the meanest girl in school!” Ellie screamed.
The girl froze, and then winced and burst into tears.
“We have to go find Sparkle,” Matt said to Danica’s mother. “I hope they can work this out.”
The woman sighed. “Me too. You go inside and straight to your room, young lady,” she added to her daughter.
Matt took Ellie’s hand, and they went running down the sidewalk in the direction Sparkle had gone. They looked under every car, asked everyone they saw if he or she had seen a little brown-and-white dog. No one had.
All of a sudden, he saw Claire’s car coming down Holly Road. He waved, and she parked on the street and got out. “I have mozzarella string cheese,” she said, handing one each to Matt and Ellie.
“We have them too,” he said, holding up the five he’d stuffed in the pocket of his leather jacket.
“What if we can’t find her?” Ellie asked, her tone frantic.
“Honey,” Claire said. “Sparkle has a collar with her name and your telephone number on it. Plus, she’s microchipped, which means if she’s turned into a shelter, they can use a scanner to read the chip and find out who she belongs to.”
Matt just hoped that if they didn’t find her, someone had picked her up. If that little dog got hit by a car... He was supposed to be watching Ellie for his sister, supervising her with Sparkle. This was on him.
Great job, Fielding, he thought as he got down on his hands and knees to look under a low-slung car. “Sparkle? You hiding behind those wheels?”
There was no sign of her.
“We’ll find her. Or someone will,” Claire said.
Matt squeezed her hand, and the moment their skin made contact, he realized how much he’d missed touching her. Missed her. “Thanks for coming to help.”
“Hey! Are you guys looking for a missing dog?” a woman called out from across the intersection.
“Yes!” Matt shouted, and they all went running to the stop sign.
“There’s a brown-and-white puppy trembling behind the wheel of this truck.”
Oh thank God, Matt thought.
“Sparkle! She’s alive!” Ellie exclaimed.
“Let’s let Uncle Matt go get her,” Claire told Ellie. “She’s very used to him, and I think she’ll respond best to him in this scary situation she’s gotten herself into.”
Ellie bit her lip. “Okay. I know you can do it, Uncle Matt.”
He put his hand on Ellie’s shoulder. He was not returning without that dog safe and sound in his arms. He hadn’t ever been able to find the skinny gray dog they’d seen a couple of times, but he was saving Sparkle. Hell yeah, he was.
He waited for a bunch of cars to pass, then ran across the road. He got down again, wincing at the jab in his leg. There was Sparkle, on the inside of the wheel on the far side of the car. Shaking.
“Hey, girl,” he said. “Silly of you to run out the door when all the good stuff is inside the house. But I do have your favorite treat. Mozzarella string cheese stick.” He ripped off a chunk and held it out toward her. He wished he could grab her, but his arms would have to be ten feet long. And he wouldn’t be able to reach her from the other side. Plus, he’d no doubt get hit by a car himself.
Sparkle looked at him and tilted her head, then looked at the cheese in his hand. A big SUV went by, causing her to tremble again and flatten herself against the wheel.
“Yum,” he said, taking a bite for himself.
Sparkle slowly moved toward his hand, and when she went for the cheese, he put one arm around her midsection. “Good Sparkle.” The dog relaxed a bit, and he gave her another bite of cheese, then he scooped her up. He braced himself against the car to stand back up. “Got her!” he called to Claire and Ellie.
His niece broke into a grin. And seeing Claire smile almost made him drop to his knees.
He attached Sparkle’s leash and walked the dog over to Ellie, who smothered her in kisses.
“All’s well that ends well,” Claire said.
“I blew it,” Matt whispered. “We got lucky, but I almost lost that dog on my watch.”
“Dogs slip out, Matt. It happens.”
“It shouldn’t.” Just another example that he didn’t belong in this world of kids and dogs and people depending on him. He had no experience as Uncle Matt. He’d been winging it, and he’d had no right when a little girl’s heart was at stake.
And a woman’s. Stick to your plan, Fielding, he told himself. You’ll help out with the adoption events, then you’re gone Sunday night. Someplace where you’ll feel...comfortable, in the right skin. He just had no idea where that was.
She shook her head and turned to Ellie. “I’m meeting a couple girlfriends for an early dinner, but I sure am glad I got to see you and Sparkle reunited. That’s all that matters. That you’re back together.”
“I’m so happy. Thank you, Uncle Matt!” Ellie said, flinging herself into his arms while holding tightly on the leash.
Man, it was going to be hard to say goodbye to this sweet little girl. And as he watched Claire hug Ellie and then dash off toward her car, he knew he was going to break his own heart again by saying goodbye to her.
As he and Ellie headed back toward his sister’s house, Sparkle scampering on her leash just ahead of them, Ellie stopped and sa
id, “Uh-oh.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Danica Haverman’s back in her yard with her dumb Hula-Hoop.”
Matt glanced over. She sure was. “Well, let’s see what happens.”
Ellie shrugged and they resumed walking.
Just as they neared Danica’s yard, the girl dropped her Hula-Hoop and stared at them. She just stood there, not saying anything. Finally, she slowly came over to the end of her yard. “You found Sparkle.”
Ellie tilted her head. “My uncle did. She was hiding under a car.”
Danica bit her lip, looking at Ellie one second and the ground, the next. “Can I pet her?” she asked, looking sheepish. “You’ll probably say no.”
“I’m surprised you even want to,” Ellie said, giving Sparkle a protective pat on the side.
Danica’s eyes glistened with tears. “I wish I could get a dog.”
Ah, Matt thought. He might not understand eight-year-old girls so well, but if he knew his niece, her next move would be kindness.
“Dogs are definitely awesome,” Ellie said. “You can pet her. She’s really soft.”
Danica almost gasped. She bit her lip again and then both girls dropped to their knees, Danica petting Sparkle and Ellie staring at the girl in wonder.
Tears misted in Danica’s eyes. “I’m sorry I said your dog didn’t like you. Anyone can see she does.”
“Well, I’m sorry I said you were the meanest girl in school. You’re not. Because mean people don’t say sorry and they don’t pet puppies.”
Danica beamed.
“Wanna come over later and play with her? I taught her how to fetch my socks.”
Danica laughed. “Sure, I’ll ask my mom.”
And just like that, Ellie had a friend.
If only he and Claire could patch things up between them as easily.
* * *
Claire pulled open the door to the Main Street Grille, grateful for a little girl time. She, Amanda and fellow Furever Paws volunteer Mollie McFadden often got together for lunch or coffee after adoption events, but she was glad they’d set something up for today, just a regular ole day. Too bad her heart felt like it weighed thirty pounds.
She spotted the two young women sitting by the window. Amanda walked dogs on her day off from running the Grille, and Mollie was a dog trainer who assessed the shelter’s newcomers when she had free time. Furever Paws hadn’t just brought furbabies into her life, but friends, as well.
“I hear you have a new foster!” Amanda said. “How are things going?”
Claire smiled just thinking of sweet Blaze. “So far, so good. He’s on the timid side, but is slowly coming out of his shell.”
“Guess who I saw in the park yesterday!” Mollie said. “Dempsey! She was with her new owner, fetching ball after ball. Oh, Claire, she looked really happy. And I heard her new owner say to her, ‘you’re the best dog ever, Dempsey.’”
Claire laughed, her heavy heart lightening a bit. “Good. I couldn’t be happier about that match.”
“I wish I could have a dog,” Amanda said. “But I live here. One of these days...”
“Well, I know how much Birdie and Bunny appreciate that you come in to walk the dogs,” Claire said.
Mollie leaned forward. “Speaking of shelter volunteers, my...friend Zeke is good friends with Matt. He mentioned that Matt now lives in a carriage house nearby. I thought he was living over your garage.”
A waitress served the food just then, and Claire’s hearty appetite for her turkey club waned. She still popped a fry into her mouth.
“Just didn’t work out between us,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich to avoid having to elaborate. She couldn’t talk about Matt or think about him without wanting to cry these days.
She knew he’d added the Sparkle-going-missing episode to the list of reasons why he wasn’t meant to be a family man...when to her, how he’d handled it proved that he was.
“Sounds like you put ‘friend’ in air quotes, Mollie,” Amanda said, adding a dollop of ketchup to her veggie burger.
They both knew that Zeke was Mollie’s late brother’s best friend. Zeke treated Mollie like a little sister, while she clearly had feelings for him. But she was gun-shy to act on them for fear of messing up the friendship.
Why was romance so complicated?
The door jangled and in walked Ryan Carter, the new owner and editor of the small local newspaper, the Spring Forest Chronicle. He headed straight to the counter, looking around for a waitress.
“Hey, Ryan,” Amanda said with a warm smile and a wave. Claire knew that Amanda had developed a little crush on the newcomer. “The counter waitress is just picking up an order in the kitchen. She’ll be right out.”
He barely acknowledged that she’d spoken.
“Chatty, isn’t he?” Mollie whispered with a devilish grin. “Gotta love the brooding types.”
“What’s his story?” Claire asked. “Single? Divorced?”
“No one knows,” Amanda said. “He’s a man of mystery, apparently.”
But Claire noticed how Amanda’s gaze lingered on the very attractive newsman. Yup, romance was complicated.
“Speaking of stories, what the heck is this about the crazy thunderstorm forecasted for Monday night?” Mollie asked, taking a sip of her iced tea.
Claire had just heard about the storm this morning. People were already hitting the supermarkets to stock up on water and flashlights since losing power was a strong possibility.
Dempsey never minded bad weather. But Blaze was a scaredy-dog, and she had a feeling she’d be under the covers with him during the storm.
She picked up her sandwich to take a bite when she glanced out the window and saw Matt across the street, headed into a shop, Hank’s leash around the pole out front. Her heart leaped at the sight of both of them, man and dog. She missed them so much.
What she wouldn’t give to be under the covers with Blaze and Matt when the storm struck.
Chapter Thirteen
By late Monday afternoon, all anyone could talk about was how the thunderstorm forecasted for that evening had turned into a tornado watch. If there was a tornado, it was supposed to miss Spring Forest by a good margin, but you couldn’t be too careful. Matt’s sister’s family had left for a planned vacation to his brother-in-law’s parents’ place, so they and Sparkle were far from harm. He was grateful he wouldn’t have to worry about them. But all his plans to leave Spring Forest last night had gone out the window. No way could he leave knowing the town—and the Furever Paws shelter—could be hit hard by the storm. He’d rather stay put for a day or two and just make sure the people and animals he cared about were safe. Then he’d go.
Matt had done some online research on tornado preparation, and apparently taping windows or even cracking windows to equalize pressure was no longer considered useful. Taking down mirrors from the walls and moving other glass items under chairs, creating a safe space in the basement—preferably with no windows—and having food and water for at least seventy-two hours were all listed as steps to take.
At five o’clock he headed over to the shelter to help batten down the hatches, but when he’d arrived, Birdie and Bunny had assured him their handyman and his assistant had it covered and had handled all the storm preparation for years.
Birdie seemed to be trying her best to be strong for Bunny, even chatting about their nephew Grant, who would be visiting soon. Matt had tried “shooting the breeze” about how he remembered Grant and his sisters coming to visit and staying every summer, and how they’d all—him included—go swimming in the creek behind the sisters’ farmhouse. Bunny’s face had lit up with the reminiscing, and Birdie had mouthed a thank-you to him for getting her sister’s mind off the impending storm, even for fifteen minutes.
His research into helping dogs through particularl
y severe weather had had him up all night, and this morning he’d bought a few things from the big pet emporium two towns over, including something for Blaze, which he was planning on dropping off at Claire’s. He wasn’t so sure she would be happy to see him, but he also wanted to make sure she had everything she needed for the storm.
He rang the bell and was greeted by a short bark.
Claire opened the door, surprise lighting her pretty face. “Hey.”
“I have something for Blaze.” He pulled a package from the bag. “It’s a thunder shirt. It’s supposed to be comforting to a dog who’s afraid of thunder.”
Her face softened and she knelt down in front of Blaze. “See that?” she said to the dog. “Matt got you a present to help you through tonight. That sure was kind of him.” She stood up, taking the package. “Thank you.”
“You probably already have one, but I just wanted to make sure.”
She laughed. “I actually have three, in all sizes.”
He smiled. “Well, you can never have too many thunder shirts.”
“I just spoke to Bunny. They’re all set over there. She and Birdie and the staff moved all the dogs and cats to the basement, and two volunteers will stay with them overnight.”
“I was just over there. They said they have everything covered. But what about the barn animals?” he asked, thinking of the sweet pair of llamas that Hank liked to visit whenever they went to the shelter together. “The pigs, goats, and geese?”
“The sisters will bring the geese with them into the basement of the farmhouse for the night. They say the rest of the animals will be safe in the barn.”
He sure as hell hoped so.
A crack of thunder boomed in the gray sky, and they both looked up. Blaze ran back inside under a chair in the living room.
“I might need all four thunder shirts for him,” she said. “Thanks again, Matt.”
“By the way, I put up a bunch of signs in town about the gray dog we saw—I described him best I could and asked folks to call me or Furever Paws if he’s spotted or found, but I haven’t had any responses. If only we’d gotten a photo, that would have helped.”
A New Leash On Love (Furever Yours Book 1) Page 15
