She handed back his phone after placing a brief call to herself, so they would each have the other’s number. “The vet clinic on Tudor, right?”
“Yeah, go down this road,” he said pointing. “Hang a left on Northern Lights, right on Arctic and then it’s a straight shot to Tudor. Technically on Sesame, but—”
“I’ll plug it into my GPS. Go, go!” She pushed him playfully, and they both stopped to look at each other. It seemed he wanted to say more, but time was against them.
Oscar saluted, then headed off in a fast jog that bordered on a run. “Thank you!” he called back over his shoulder as he jogged out of sight.
She watched him go, admiring his grace and sleek runner’s build as the distance between them grew. She’d never much been into jock-type guys, preferring a stimulating conversation to a stimulating something else any day of the week. Most of the men she dated had been artists of some kind. Whether painters, writers, directors, or musicians like her, they all shared that creative spark and the terrible mood swings that tended to come with it.
Meanwhile, Oscar Rockwell seemed to be everything but her usual kind of guy. He was strong, fit, and surely had to be smart, seeing as he was a doctor—and kind for being a doctor for animals.
Oh, she liked him.
Probably a bit too much for having only met him a couple brief times. If she let him, he’d be a distraction from what she’d come to do here in Anchorage. Already she was at a disadvantage. She didn’t know this place, and the agent who was supposed to pave the way to her brilliant success had completely flaked on her. Every single one of Lolly’s follow-up calls had gone straight to voicemail, and her emails had remained unanswered.
If Lolly was going to make it, she’d need to do so on her own. She had just under a year to make her dream a reality. Every second had to count.
Timber whined, picking up one paw and then the other as he sat at Lolly’s side on the paved parking lot.
“Sorry, boy. Let me just figure out where we’re going and then, I’ll get you there. I promise.” She plugged the address into her Maps app and saw a couple miles lay between them and Oscar’s clinic. Lolly was a lot of things, but in excellent shape wasn’t one of them.
“Hang tight,” she told the dog, dropping the flyers back in the car and grabbing her purse from the floor. “Okay, let’s go.”
Anchorage wasn’t a very big city, but it sure seemed friendly. People smiled at her and Timber as they passed on the streets. In fact, they hadn’t even made it a block when a pair of teenaged girls ran up to lavish Timber with pets and kisses.
“He’s so cute!” they squealed. “What’s his name? How long have you had him? Does he know any tricks?”
The questions just kept coming. At first Lolly explained that Timber wasn’t hers and she didn’t know the answers, but by the time the third person stopped them, she found it was easier to make up the answers.
“How long have you had him?” they asked.
“About a year.”
“Does he know any tricks?”
“Timber, sit!” she instructed, pleased when the old dog did as told.
“Where’d you get him?”
“From the Rockwell Animal Clinic, actually.” She may as well plug Oscar’s business while she was inventing her stories.
“Oh, do you work there?” one particularly smitten middle-aged man asked, shifting his attention briefly from the dog and over to her.
“No, I’m a singer,” she said proudly, realizing it was the first time she’d ever given that answer without hesitation.
“A singer?” His eyes widened, and he straightened into a full standing position before offering Lolly his hand. “I’m Gary Stevens. Pleased to meetcha. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in a gig, would you? Tomorrow night’s act bailed on me, and I’m desperate to fill it.”
A gig? A real gig? And she’d found it all on her own without the stupid flake of an agent? Oh, this was too perfect.
“Yes, I’d love to,” she answered, hoping he hadn’t changed her mind in the three seconds it had taken her to compute her answer.
“Oh, great!” Gary let out a slow, deep breath, then cocked his head at her. “You promise you’re good, right? Actually, it doesn’t matter. I just need a body up there.”
As warm and fuzzy as this didn’t make Lolly feel, she needed this opportunity and badly. “I’ll give it my best shot. Here’s my card. You can check out my website before tomorrow if you want. Otherwise, I’ll be there. Umm, where will I be performing? Do you have a card for me?”
He reached into his wallet and handed her a card that declared him General Manager of Chilkoot Charlie’s. “Think you can be there round about seven to get set up? We draw a decent crowd on Friday nights. With the last-minute changeup, I can’t really offer you pay, but if the audience likes you, I can invite you back another time and pay you then. Deal?”
“Deal!” Lolly shook Gary’s hand again, still hardly believing her dumb luck.
“Did you hear that, Timber?” she asked, stooping down to hug the dog and give him extra pets. “I think you just got me my first Anchorage gig.”
She could’ve sworn the husky smiled.
Chapter 4
Oscar arrived at his parents’ house about twenty minutes later and found his mother sitting on the dining room floor as the cat Sadie delivered her kittens on the rug under the table.
“Finally! I thought you’d never make it!” She shot up to hug him before quickly sinking back to the floor.
“How many are there?” he asked, trying to count the dark, wriggling blobs as they squirmed at their mother’s chest.
“Six so far. I think she might be done.”
“And you managed to survive it,” he said with a smile.
“Oh, I definitely freaked out, but then… I don’t know. It was just so beautiful. I’m honestly a little mad at the cat. She had a way easier time than I did with you and your brothers.” The whole time his mother spoke, she kept her eyes glued on the new life before them. “If you’re okay, then why didn’t you call me?”
“I was kind of…” Uh-oh, big mistake. The last thing he needed to do was tell his mother about his new crush. She’d make way too big a deal of it. “Busy at work,” he finished.
She eyed him suspiciously but didn’t press the issue further. “I named the first one Cyndi,” she said, watching the cat and kittens again. “Then Pat, Joan, Sting, Billy, and Boy George.”
Leave it to his mom to name an entire litter after her favorite 80’s pop icons. “What? No Madonna?” he teased.
“Well, it would be weird to name a baby something that means mother, so I decided to make it Sadie’s middle name,” she said this one-hundred percent seriously. How quickly she had transformed into a cat person!
“Sadie Madonna… Rockwell?” he guessed with a small chuckle.
“Well, of course. They’re all Rockwells now.”
Yup, a full-fledged cat person in less than a week. His dad would not be pleased with this turn of events. “Mom, you can’t possibly keep all these kittens,” he said. “You do realize they’ll become grown cats, right?”
“Oscar,” she warned, “you know I’m not stupid. Where do you think you got your big doctor brains from, huh?”
“Yes, Mom. We all know about your Ph.D. in modern American history.” He rolled his eyes as he ribbed her. Yes, she was the one who had instilled in him a love of learning, but his work ethic had come from his dad.
She sighed and leaned back against the wall, staring unfocused into the distance as she spoke. “I know I can’t keep them forever, but it’s nice to pretend. All my babies are grown up. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it until sitting here with Sadie as she became a mom for the first time.”
“Actually, I’m not sure this is Sadie’s first time, but it will be her last. You can keep her, Mom, but I have to spay her. No more kittens.”
She nodded. “I know. Six kids all at once, the woman is a saint.�
��
“Well, then you named—or at least, middle-named—her right,” he quipped. It felt nice to spend time with his mom and talk about something other than dating. What a pleasant change.
He stayed watching the kittens a few minutes more, then helped his mom set up a nesting box for the new feline family. Before he knew it, nearly an hour had passed since he’d raced away from Lolly in the parking lot.
“I gotta go!” he said suddenly, giving his mom a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Busy at work? Sure,” she said with a knowing look.
But Oscar didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting back to Lolly—and then getting her to agree to that dinner he’d offered.
Lolly’s phone sounded from somewhere deep within her bag. “Oh, hang on!” she told Timber, coming to an abrupt stop as she dug around for her cell.
When she found it, she pressed the answer button before she’d even fully lifted the phone to her face. “Hello?” she said at the same time as her caller.
A warm laugh greeted her, and she instantly felt at ease. “It’s Oscar. You know, the handsome stranger who stranded you downtown with his dog.”
“Hi, Oscar,” she answered shyly, deciding not to flirt back—especially not over the phone. She’d never been good at that anyway.
“Kittens have been born and I’m heading back into town. Did you manage to get Timber back to the clinic?”
“No, actually. I’m outside of, umm…” She craned her neck to see the shop sign above her. Once she’d realized that the dog was a great icebreaker, she’d just gravitated toward where the people were, handing out her business cards as she went. Too bad she’d left the more detailed flyers back in the car. “I’m outside the Peanut Farm.”
Oscar laughed. “You’re at the Peanut Farm? You must’ve walked Timber right past the clinic. Let me call my vet tech and see how things are going back there. Maybe we can grab a late lunch since you’re there already? See you soon. Bye!”
He hung up before she had the chance to argue. Oh, what could one lunch hurt?
Less than ten minutes later, she and Oscar were seated outside with Timber resting under the shade of the small café table.
“Did you get lost on your way to the clinic?” he asked, concern evident in his clear green eyes.
“Lost?” She looked down at the old husky who looked back up at her with an excited thump of his tail. “Oh, no. Timber and I just took some time to walk around and enjoy each other’s company. He even got me a gig.”
Oscar reached down to pet the dog. “You did, did you? Good boy, Timber. And you got me a lunch date, too, which is even better. Good, good boy.”
Timber whimpered in excitement and licked Oscar’s hand.
“Not a date,” Lolly clarified. “Just two friends grabbing a bite.”
“Friends, huh? I guess it’s better than strangers. So, tell me, what brings you to Anchorage?” He stopped patting the dog and returned his full attention to her.
Lolly explained about her post-college gap year, her aunt, and the disappearing agent. As she spoke, he nodded in all the right places, making her feel truly heard.
“And what about you?” she asked, tired of speaking only of herself.
“Me? Oh, I was born and raised here.” He shrugged. “I guess I’m too much of a homebody to ever have thought of living anywhere else.”
“And you own the vet clinic?”
A huge smile lit up his face. Here was a man who loved what he did, just like Lolly hoped to love where life took her. “Sure do. About two years now.”
“And Timber is your dog?” She liked the dog almost as much as the man, she realized. Maybe someday soon she’d adopt one of her own.
Oscar frowned as if she’d brought up a sensitive subject. “Actually, no. I rescued him from a high kill shelter and am giving him a place to stay until he finds his forever home. I usually have a handful of cats and dogs boarding with me. So long as I have the space, they have a place to call home. I’m hoping to expand someday soon so I can take on more rescues and strays.” He laughed and reached down to pet the old husky again. “You wouldn’t happen to be in the market for a canine companion, would you?”
Lolly knew she was being rash, but she also knew that Timber had managed to find her a gig within minutes. She liked the old dog, and he seemed to like her, too. Maybe they could both help each other out here. Maybe it wasn’t too crazy, after all.
“Actually…”
Chapter 5
There was one thing Oscar knew for sure: you could tell a lot about a person by the way animals reacted to them. People could be swayed by fast words and fancy gestures, but animals always saw straight into a person’s heart.
So, was he surprised that Timber had taken to Lolly so readily? No, of course not. Like the dog, he, too, wanted to hang his tongue out from his mouth and stare at her with excited and unabashed admiration. He, too, liked Lolly from the very first moment he saw her.
But Timber had a tortured past, which meant the poor dog didn’t much care for anyone. It had taken Oscar a few weeks to get the old sled dog to warm to him, but not Lolly. Did this woman realize how amazing that was? How amazing she was?
Probably not, he decided. She was far too humble to suggest she understood her worth, and that was another thing he liked about her—that he could build her up, the same way she made him want to better himself just so he could maybe one day be worthy of her.
And now she was going to adopt a dog that had been passed over so many times, Oscar had been certain Timber would live his last few years in the clinic before finally dying a lonely death. If Oscar could’ve adopted the husky himself he would have, but he worked long hours and the old dog needed to be let out too frequently to stay alone the whole day.
Now, though, this aspiring country singer had swooped into both their lives and given them just the thing they each needed: love, hope, something to look forward to. He hated that his mother had been right about him needing to find a nice girl to settle down with, but he also didn’t care all that much if admitting it meant he could have Lolly in his life forever.
Lolly finished filling out the online adoption form and handed Oscar’s phone back to him. “Does this mean he’s really mine now? Do I owe you anything?”
“Nope. We’ve never charged adoption fees for our senior dogs. It’s hard enough to find someone with the heart to choose these old guys over the puppies. Actually, I owe you. I’ll grab his papers and health records and bring them to your gig tomorrow. That is, if I’m invited.”
“Yeah, of course. It’s at Chilkoot Charlie’s at seven. Umm, what do I do before then? I’ve actually never had a dog before.”
Oscar found that hard to believe, seeing as how natural Lolly and Timber were with each other, but still, he was happy to fill her in on all the finer details of dog ownership. “He eats Science Diet. The senior kind. Daily walks will help keep him in shape, especially since he’s a working dog. And, uh, put down a tarp or something before you take him in the car. He gets really, really sick. If you live close enough, you’ll probably want to walk it.”
She looked out at the street and watched as a few stray cars weaved through the city. “No, I’m at least ten miles out,” she said with a dreamy look.
“I can give you a tarp from the office, if you don’t mind stopping back with me after lunch. May as well give you his papers and other things then, too.” How he wished he didn’t have to get back to work. He’d have gladly walked the ten miles and then some to help her out.
When the check came, Oscar rushed to offer the waiter his card.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Lolly said with a frown.
“Yes, but now that I have…” he answered with a smile so big he hoped it would cancel out her frown. “I guess that makes it a date.”
“You and your dates.” She laughed and sat back in her chair. “Weren’t you supposed to be on a date the night we met?”
“Yes, but that was a b
lind date, and only to make my mom happy. I want to date you all on my own.” He signed the check, then slipped his card back into his wallet.
“Like a big boy?” She laughed.
He waggled his eyebrows, and she laughed even harder.
“Okay, fine. It’s a date.”
And a darn good one at that, he mentally added.
“And tomorrow night’s a date, too?” he asked aloud, just to be sure she understood his intentions.
“Tomorrow night’s a gig,” she clarified. “But maybe we can go on another date after.”
“I hope that maybe means yes, because I’ll be counting on it.”
She moved her hand toward his as if maybe she wanted to grab it and hold on tight, but instead she reached down to untie Timber’s leash from the table.
“Walk with me back to the clinic?” he said as they both stood to go. “We’ll get you that tarp and those papers.”
Lolly nodded and fell into pace beside Oscar, her new dog walking calmly next to them. He could really get used to this.
Maybe a part of him already had.
Lolly couldn’t stop smiling. Even though she’d had to clean up lots and lots of dog sick, and despite the fact that her aunt wasn’t one-hundred-percent thrilled with their furry new roommate, she felt happy—like maybe everything was coming together at last.
She had a gig, a real gig, and she’d had a date, too. As much as she hated to admit it, she liked Oscar. She liked him too much to keep saying no. Besides, he had brought her Timber who had brought her the gig, so in a way it seemed they were meant to be—if not for life than maybe just for the time she was here in Anchorage? Whatever the case, she would stop putting him off. Let this whole dating thing happen, so long as it didn’t happen at the expense of her music.
The Alaska Sunrise Romances: A 9-Book Sweet Romance Collection Page 3
