by Mara Wells
“Sarge is a foster. He needs a little more recovery time is all.” Danielle felt her face heat at the words, figuring teasing was inevitable.
“Weren’t the other two as well?” Eliza asked, a twinkle in her eye. Danielle wished people didn’t take such delight in pointing out how bad she was at personally fostering dogs. She found lots of dogs homes. Lots of them. Besides, the goal of fostering was to find the dogs loving homes, and no one could love Luna and Flurry more than she did.
“Too true. You got me there.” Danielle watched Sarge stride toward her, his leg cast awkward but no longer slowing him down. “But I won’t have a choice with this one. Flurry’s pregnant. Once she has the puppies, it’s going to be chaos at my place. I’m hoping to place Sarge soon, before he and I get too much more attached.”
Her words were slightly negated by Sarge plunking his head in her lap and looking up at her with those big, adoring eyes of his. She knew it was all about the treats in her pocket, but she liked to pretend he was grateful to her for the medical care and steady meals. He rolled his head to the side, watching Eliza, and she obliged him by petting under his long jaw. He let out a contended sigh that made Eliza chuckle.
“Might be a little late for not getting attached.” Eliza stood and stretched her back. “We’re going to head on out.”
“So soon?” Danielle loved her dogs, but human company was nice sometimes, too.
“Big day today. Signing papers on my house.”
“You’re not moving, are you? You’ve been in that house, well, all my life at least.”
Eliza pulled a napkin out of her bra strap and dabbed at her hairline. “I’m moving into the Dorothy, and I couldn’t be more pleased. That house is too big for me. Plus all the projects it’s going to need—a new roof in the next year or so, at the very least. A freshly renovated condo sounds absolutely lovely these days. Headache free.”
“Of course.” Danielle stood to give Eliza a hug, wondering if her dad felt the same way about his home. No, if her dad wanted to downsize, he would’ve told her. Wouldn’t he?
Eliza returned her hug with a squeeze. “My buyer’s an early riser, so we’re meeting soon to sign the paperwork. I’m lucky to have found someone so quickly, plus he didn’t blink at the asking price. Paying all cash, too.”
“Good for you, nabbing a big spender. I hope it all goes smoothly.”
“Why wouldn’t it? I reckon the Donovans know a thing or two about real estate.”
“Caleb’s buying it?”
“No, Knox. You two had a chance to catch up yet?” Eliza gave her a knowing look. She had a long memory, and Knox and Danielle had not been discreet about where they made out when they were teens.
“Not really.” Danielle sank back down onto the bench. “Can’t believe he’s buying a house here. Your house.” Did that mean Knox was staying in Miami Beach for good? The day suddenly felt a lot brighter, the humid air lighter. Not for herself, oh no. She was thinking of Sarge. She vowed to up her adopt-Sarge campaign. That was a happily-ever-after she could root for.
Eliza called Lady to her and hooked up her leash. “Feel free to stop by for coffee when you’re done here. I can never drink a whole pot by myself.”
Danielle folded her hands in her lap. “Thanks. I might take you up on that.” For Sarge’s sake, of course.
“I hope you do.”
* * *
Knox signed the papers in the folder Eliza’d given him with a flourish. He was a homeowner now. Or at least he would be as soon as escrow closed. That cement block of pressure in his chest was not a heart attack at agreeing to spend more money at once than he’d ever spent. The pressure increased, and he resisted the urge to clutch at his chest. Maybe he was wrong. Could be a heart attack after all.
The smile stretching his lips, though, made him wonder if it was true that real estate ran in the Donovan veins. He felt a rightness that he hadn’t felt since, well, ever. He gazed around the dining room with new eyes, owner’s eyes. And immediately noticed the burned-out bulb in the overhead light fixture would need changing before its buddy also went out and left them sitting in darkness. He was sure many more such delights awaited him, and he couldn’t wait.
Eliza sipped a cup of coffee, a small smile playing at her lips. “I hope you’re as happy here as I was.”
Knox froze for a second. Happy. He hadn’t really thought of that emotion in a long time. He was content enough, he supposed, when he felt useful. But he wasn’t really the happy type. Could it be happiness and not a heart attack after all? He hoped so.
“How long until I can move in, do you think?” he asked instead of responding to the whole happiness thing. It would take some getting used to, the idea of being happy with his life.
“With a cash deal, could close within the month. You could host a big Easter banquet here.”
He shook his head. “Riley and Grams handle all the holiday stuff, thank God.”
“Best not to count on it, though. Closings are slippery things and hard to predict.” The doorbell interrupted Eliza’s lengthy explanation of all the things that could happen to delay an escrow. Lady barked and ran to the front.
“Maybe that’s Danielle.” Eliza shuffled toward the door. “I asked her to stop by. She’s such a nice girl, isn’t she?”
“Uh, yeah.” Knox rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the prickle of heat that raised the tiny follicles at his hairline. “We went to high school together.”
“I remember. You two were quite the couple.” Eliza looked at him like he’d disappointed her somehow, which she shouldn’t be able to do. He barely knew her. But she did know Danielle, and that made him wonder what Eliza knew that he didn’t.
Knox shook off the paranoid thought. “It was a long time ago.”
“Live long enough and the years get shorter.” Eliza stared pointedly at him.
“Yes, ma’am.” Knox nodded solemnly, and that seemed to appease her.
Eliza opened the door with a hard yank. “Why, hello! Bring those three mammoths right in, Danielle.”
Danielle entered on a wave of apologies and excuses. She was short, the dogs were tall, and the leashes were tangled around her wrist and with each other. She spun around, untangling herself with a laugh, her short hair whipping in an arc around her head. “These dogs! Sometimes I think they mean to kill me.” She unclipped Luna and Flurry, who dropped to their bellies when she gave them the down signal. Then, she set their leashes on a side table near the front door, looking so adorably flushed and rumpled that Knox resisted the urge to launch over the table just to be near her. She nudged Sarge’s side with her knee. “Hey, look who’s here.”
Sarge pricked up his ears and made a beeline straight for Knox. He hit the end of his leash, turning his head to look accusingly at Danielle. She took a few hesitant steps forward, just enough space that Sarge could get his nose in Knox’s crotch.
“Oh, sorry about that.” Danielle pulled at the lead, but Sarge kept straining forward anyway.
“Don’t worry about it.” Knox dropped onto his good knee and roughed up Sarge’s coat, petting the hair along his spine in the opposite direction. Sarge sighed and rolled onto his back, lolling his head to the side to watch Knox with adoration shining in his eyes. Knox didn’t hate that look. Didn’t hate it at all.
“Why don’t we let the dogs out back, and we can all have a nice cup of coffee? Or tea? I have a kettle around somewhere.” Eliza slid open the back door.
“Coffee sounds perfect.” Danielle let Sarge off the leash, and Knox echoed her desire for coffee.
Lady led the way out onto the grass, Luna and Flurry right behind her. Sarge didn’t budge.
“I think we have a love match.” Eliza chuckled, pulling two mugs out of an overhead cabinet.
“Someone’s in love, that’s for sure.” Danielle turned a shade of red Knox hadn’t seen sin
ce the time they’d fallen asleep on the beach and she had woken up lobster-colored. She’d been so sunburned, she couldn’t bend her elbows for almost two days. Funny, he’d forgotten that weekend. He’d been mad at himself for letting her get burned, but he hadn’t minded at all spreading aloe vera gel all over her skin. No, that had been a real thrill for his eighteen-year-old libido. She’d had such soft skin. He found himself wondering if she was still as soft, as delicate, as she’d been back then. The flame on her cheeks let him know she was just as sensitive. Would she still suck in her breath in that way he’d loved if he nibbled on her earlobe?
Knox shut down that line of thought as quickly as it popped up and poured his concentration into a thorough rubdown of the dog in front of him.
“A dog knows.” Eliza nodded, agreeing with herself, and bustled around in the kitchen until a fresh pot had brewed. She set the coffee mugs on the table.
“The dog made up his mind at first sight.” Danielle sat and grabbed a red mug with a Lab head outline, cupping her hands around it. “It’s the human who hasn’t come around yet.”
Knox covered Sarge’s ears with his palms. “I told you that I can’t have a dog right now.”
Eliza cleared her throat and looked pointedly at the stack of papers on her counter.
Knox rocked back on his heels. She was right. Signing the papers meant things weren’t theoretical any more. He could adopt a dog, a big one even. This dog. Not right now, but soon. He looked down at the greyhound at his feet, stretched out so that his bad leg with the cast stuck out at the same angle Knox was currently holding his own leg. A dog knows. And sometimes a man does, too.
Chapter 7
Danielle didn’t understand the look that passed between Eliza and Knox, but when Sarge’s tail began to beat against the floor, she knew she wasn’t imagining the changed energy in the room. Sarge pushed himself to his feet, a process of keeping weight off the leg in the cast that he’d pretty much mastered but that Eliza’s Mexican tile floors challenged. His nails scrabbled for a moment before he was on all fours, head plopped in Knox’s lap.
Knox rubbed the spot between Sarge’s eyes, and Danielle could swear she saw the dog’s eyes roll back in his head.
“How does one go about adopting one of these guys?” Knox played it cool, all his attention on the dog, but Danielle saw the tenseness in the way he held his shoulders, the clench of his jaw.
“One of these guys or this guy?” Danielle didn’t mean to tease, but it was so obvious that Sarge and Gunnery Sergeant Knox Donovan were meant to be.
Knox grunted in response. Eliza slid a hand over her lips to cover a smile.
Danielle gamely soldiered on. “There’s an online application to fill out. I check your references and do a home visit. From there, we decide what’s best for the dog.” It was clear by Sarge’s adoring eyes that he’d already decided what was best for him, and Danielle did feel a little guilty about putting Knox through the adoption paces. A system was a system, though, and she couldn’t cut corners, not even for her high-school sweetheart.
“A home visit?” Knox looked around him. “You’re in it.”
“That’s right. You’re Eliza’s big spender.”
Eliza’s hand dropped to her side, and she laughed out loud. Even Lady seemed smug, watching them through the glass sliding door.
“Forget coffee. I’m breaking out the champagne. Mimosas to celebrate! Danielle, we signed papers today, and I am officially moving into the Dorothy as soon as we can close escrow.” Eliza made good on her promise, opening the refrigerator to reveal a door filled with champagne bottles instead of the usual assortment of condiments most people kept in refrigerator doors.
“That’s wonderful!” Now Danielle looked around, too, wondering how the place would be different once Knox moved in. She couldn’t imagine him with that rocking chair that looked as old as Eliza or hanging on to the various protest signs stacked in the living room. The Future Is Female, Fight for Equality, My Arms Are Tired From Holding This Sign Since the 1960s, and Danielle’s favorite, There’s No Excuse for Animal Abuse. She remembered standing next to Eliza at the animal rights march last year with her own sign, Kindness Over Killing, held high. A sudden sadness enveloped Danielle. She’d known Eliza all her life, had attended her first protest at her side as an idealistic thirteen-year-old. Now, Eliza was moving out of the home that Danielle associated with her—the best place to trick-or-treat, the most amazing light display at Christmas, the fake snowman she left in her front yard until March even though Miami Beach never got snow.
“Where will you put your giant Christmas tree?” Danielle looked to the spot where Eliza erected her work of art every holiday season. One year, it’d been so tall that the star scraped the ceiling. Danielle could still see the mark it left.
Eliza rubbed her thumbs against the ceramic mug in her hand. “Truth is, I’ll be glad to scale back on all that. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in some holiday décor, young man?”
“Couldn’t hurt to take a look.” Knox clearly didn’t know what he was getting himself into, but the alarm on his face when Eliza grabbed his elbow and said, “No time like the present!” and dragged him toward the garage indicated he was about to.
Danielle opened the sliding back door so the dogs could come and go as they pleased, then trailed Eliza and Knox into Eliza’s immaculately kept garage. It was like something out of an organization magazine, with matching shelves and cabinets for storage.
“I didn’t even know this was here,” Knox marveled from the doorway of the one-car garage.
“You bought a house without checking it out first?” Danielle shook her head, sure now that the purchase was a whim. Maybe he and his brothers were flipping properties these days. Danielle’s gynecologist always had HGTV on in the waiting room, so Danielle had seen her fair share of shows about the process over the years and could imagine how the whole thing would go. Knox would live here while they worked on it, then resell it quickly for a huge profit. They’d knock out a wall or two, bring Carrie in to stage the whole thing, and voilà! Money in the bank. At least Eliza was happy with the deal.
Knox lifted one shoulder. “I just knew. Besides, I saw the inside. The yard. Figured a garage was just a garage.”
A breathless laugh escaped Danielle. “Eliza’s garage is magical. Wait ’til you see what she’s got.”
“Let me move the Jag.” Eliza walked up to her dark-green convertible, the click-click of the locks greeting her. She climbed in, hit the garage door opener, and backed out in slow motion.
“I’m really hoping that car comes with the place.” Knox watched the car with the kind of appreciation Luna showed in looking at barbecue.
“Yeah, right.” Danielle snorted. “Eliza loves that car. She buys the new model every year, though, so maybe you can talk her out of this one when next year’s model comes out.”
“Every year?” Knox whistled. “She’s loaded or what?”
“Or what.” Danielle pushed back the blockade that was Knox’s body and entered the empty garage. “She was a big deal in Miami real estate for a long time, and she’s a smart cookie with her money.”
“And here I thought I was being so nice, paying an old woman full asking price for her house so she’d have a little nest egg to help her get by.”
Danielle laughed. “I’m glad you did, though. Eliza’s good people.”
Knox took the one large step down into the garage, letting his eyes trail over every nook and cranny. “This will make an excellent workshop.”
“For what?” Danielle couldn’t remember Knox being very handy. Handsy, yes, but he wasn’t the kind of guy who grew up fixing cars with his dad or fiddling with old radios.
Knox did his one-shoulder shrug again. “I’ve been enjoying helping out Lance with the renovations across the street. Planning to try my hand at fixing this place up myself.”
Knox scratched the back of his head. “I suppose.”
Not exactly the answer of a home-flipping TV host, but maybe he simply didn’t have it all planned out yet. How would Sarge feel if he and Knox were constantly on the move? Back in high school, when Knox talked about wanting to go places like Paris or Tokyo, she’d always imagined herself with him. But he hadn’t wanted to take her along—him running off at the first chance proved that. Would he want to take Sarge? Her sudden trepidation about placing Sarge with Knox made her glad for the adoption process. He wouldn’t get a dog without being fully vetted, and by then, she’d have figured out his motives for wanting Sarge. And if they weren’t pure? No dog for Knox.
Eliza joined him in the center of her garage, beaming with pride. “I do love this garage.” She spun to the west wall. “Now over here is where I keep my holiday decorations.”
The entire wall was floor-to-ceiling boxes in colors that matched the holiday. A full third of them were green and red for Christmas, and another third were orange and black for Halloween.
“Pink and purple?” Knox asked like he couldn’t figure out a holiday to match.
“Valentine’s Day, of course. And the yellow ones are for Easter.” The wrinkles in Eliza’s forehead deepened. “Are you Christian? I should’ve asked that first. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of Jewish or Muslim decorations. Or whatever you may be. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to assume.”
“I’m not particularly anything.” Knox crossed his muscled arms over his muscled chest, and Danielle couldn’t look away from all the muscly muscles and the ways in which they flexed as he moved. “Never been one to celebrate much anyway.”
