“Well, I'll clean
up and meet you downstairs, she
said, breaking the silence.
He stepped back as if jolted from a
trance. “Sure. I'll
just go order the pizza. What do you
like on yours?
“Mushrooms and
black olives?
“You got it. He
stopped at the door. “When you're
finished, there's something I'd like
to show you.
And he left her then to wonder what
it was.
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29
e stood waiting for her at the foot
of the stairs when
Hshe finished showering and
changing. His hair
was wet, and a few drops of water
stil clung to his neck
after his own shower. He'd found a
fresh shirt and a pair
of faded jeans somewhere, not a spot
of tomato juice in
sight.
He waved her toward the back door
off the kitchen.
“The pizza's on
its way.
More than a little curious, she fol
owed him outside to
the barn. He opened the large, faded
red door and
motioned her toward a stall a few
yards away.
Standing before her was a
black-and-white calf, which
she immediately recognized as one of
the twins she'd
delivered at Harry Pasley's. She
opened the stall and went
in, dropping down on her knees to
rub the calf's forehead.
“Hey, little
girl. How'd you get here?
She heard Ian move in behind her and
looked up to
find him with one shoulder against
the doorframe. “You said
she wouldn't be of much use to
Harry. I kept thinking
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
about how she almost hadn't made it
and what you said
that night after the lecture about
how easy it is to ignore
things that make our lives more
complicated. I've been
pretty good at that. I couldn't
stand the thought of her
being sent to the stockyard. Harry
brought her over in his
truck for me.
Colby stood perfectly stil , so
touched by what he'd
done that words eluded her. Finally
finding her voice, she
said, “Well, you
surprised the devil out of Harry.
“Luckily, he
hadn't let her go yet, and when I told him
I'd like to have her, he seemed
pretty pleased. He's keeping
the other little guy. He said the
father was one of his good
bulls.
“So what did you
name her?
“Mabel thought
Matilda suited her. What do you
think?
“I think. .
.Matilda is a lovely name, she said,
swal owing the lump in her throat
and stroking the calf 's
soft fur.
“I'm feeding her
by bottle three times a day. Harry
showed me how to mix up the formula.
She seems to like
it.
The calf let out a bleat and butted
its nose against
Ian's leg.
“She likes you,
too, Colby said.
Looking a little embarrassed, he
said, “She's just
hoping I'll give her an extra
bottle. Actually, she's won us
all over. Mabel's down here every
hour or so checking on
her. Luke didn't say much about her
at first, but I've noticed
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that he heads straight for the barn
every day when he gets
home from school.
“What will you do
with her when you and Luke move
back to the city?
He didn't say anything for a moment,
as if he hadn't
yet considered the question. “I
guess I haven't gotten that
far yet. But I ful y intend for her
to get old and fat.
A horn sounded from outside.
“That'll be the
pizza. Ian hitched a thumb back
toward the house and stepped out of
the stal .
“I'll be right
up. Once he'd left the barn, Colby turned
and stroked Matilda's soft forehead
with the backs of her
fingers, thinking about what he had
done. She felt strange,
as if the room had tilted, and she
didn't quite have the
balance to stand.
Matilda looked up at her with
enormous round eyes,
swiping her hand with her rough,
pink tongue. Colby
rubbed a thumb across the calf's
moist nose and said, “If
we're not careful, Miss Matilda, you
and I are both going
to be in a heap of trouble.
A few minutes later, Colby sat on
the couch with her
pizza-fil ed plate. She'd felt
decidedly awkward after
returning to the house. She sensed
that he did as wel . They
said very little while he gathered
their plates and silverware
and carried it all to the living
room. She watched him when
she was sure he wasn't looking.
Saving Matilda from the
stockyard wasn't the kind of thing
she would have
expected from a man whom she initial
y likened to Doug.
More and more, she realized just how
wrong she had been.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
Not sure what to make of that, she
said, “So tel me about
your work in New York. I know it had
to be more exciting
than painting houses. Not that you
aren't good with trim.
“Thanks. He
smiled, wiping the corner of his mouth
with a napkin. “I'm
keeping my finger in the pie from
here.
“Do you like what
you do?
He considered the question for a
moment. “It's pretty
consuming work. Or rather, I let it
be. I think the answer
to your question is yes. When this
whole thing with Luke
happened, I'd just brought in the
biggest client ever for the
firm. It was a moment I'd spent a
lot of years working pretty
hard for. But somehow it wasn't
everything I thought it
would be.
“What do you
mean?
“I don't know
exactly. It just felt like something was
missing. That was the night I found
out about Luke being in
trouble. That was when I realized
what a lousy father I'd
been, that I hadn't real y been
there for him any more than
mine had been there for me.
“I can't imagine
that being true.
Ian stayed quiet for a few moments.
“I grew up pretty
poor, he said at last. “Really
poor, in fact. My father left
my mother when I was six. She spent
most of her adult life
trying to make ends meet. For as
long as I can remember, I
wanted to make something of myself,
to make her proud of
me. She encouraged me even though I
think it was hard for
her to believe I could really do it.
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Astonished that his childhood had
been nothing like
his life now, Colby realized she'd
once again jumped to
conclusions where he was concerned.
“Is she still alive?
He shook his head. “I
had just found out about my
scholarship to Columbia when she
died.
“She must have
been very proud of you, she said,
saddened that his mother hadn't been
able to see what he'd
done with his life.
“I think she was.
That's always given me comfort, even
if it is selfish comfort.
“It's not selfish
at all, she said softly. “We all want our
parents to be proud of us. Colby put
her plate on the
table and sat back on the couch.
“Did you get married in
college?
Ian shook his head. “I
met Sherry, Luke's mother, my
freshman year. We got married right
after graduation. We
had Luke a little over a year later.
She died a few days after
he was born.
Colby didn't know what to say.
“I'm sorry. I shouldn't
have asked. I just assumed you were
divorced or—
“It's al right.
Really.
“Those were some
pretty tough blows to be dealt at
such a young age.
“Yeah. Life has a
big fist sometimes.
She had to agree with that. “You
were a single parent
from the beginning, too, then.
He nodded. “And I
was so determined to be different
from my own father, to give Luke the
things mine had
never given me, that I messed up my
priorities.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
“You're being
hard on yourself.
“I don't think
so. One thing I've realized since being
here is that CCI hasn't fal en to
pieces without me. I could
have spent more time with Luke.
“Don't do that,
she said. “Those ‘maybe' games
can
get you into trouble. Believe me, I
know.
“So, why aren't
you married? I know it can't be for lack
of offers.
“I guess I just
never found the right man. Once the
toads started outranking the princes
ten to one, I decided it
wasn't worth the trouble of looking.
Ian laughed. “That
bad, huh?
“That bad.
“What about
Lena's father?
Colby sobered. “That
didn't work out.
“I'm sorry.
“Most men with a
baby would have remarried, she
said, turning the conversation back
to him.
“I never wanted
to make that kind of commitment to
anyone again. The thought was too
painful.
He had obviously loved his wife very
much. She heard
it in his voice. And she respected
him for that. “Rachel must
be a very special woman.
He hesitated. “It's
not the same kind of marriage. But
our lives complement each other's.
“I see, she said,
not sure she really did. Didn't he love
Rachel? Would their marriage be
based on compatibility
rather than passion?
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He watched her, not saying anything.
Colby again felt
somehow off balance, unsure of her
footing. How long they
sat there, she didn't know. But she
did know that it was
getting more and more difficult to
pretend indifference to
this man. The more time she spent
with him, the more
dimensional he became, the more she
identified with him.
“I should go, she
said, breaking the silence. “I can help
clean up before I leave.
“I can handle
throwing away a pizza box and sticking a
couple of plates in the dishwasher.
She smiled. “Okay,
then. Thanks for the dinner.
“Thanks for the
help.
“Let's just hope
it worked.
He walked her outside. The moon hung
high in the
sky, throwing shadowed light across
their faces. They
stopped at the door to her truck and
then stood there,
uneasy with each other. Colby felt
the electricity between
them. She might not have been the
most active member of
the Keeling Creek dating circuit,
but she could tell when a
man was thinking about kissing her.
Unless she was way
off, Ian wanted to kiss her.
The scary part? She wanted him to.
Unwise and highly
unadvisable, though it might be. She
opened the door and
got inside. The sooner she left the
better. “Good night, Ian.
Thanks again.
“Good night,
Colby.
She drove away then, her only
consolation the note of
regret in his voice.
184
30
hroughout the week, Lena hadn't been
able to
T muster much enthusiasm for the
campout on
Friday night. All of her friends
were going. But the
problem was, every one of them would
be hooking up with
a guy once they got there. Every one
except her. She was
beginning to think something was
wrong with her.
They'd just finished setting up the
tents when Tim
Anderson's Wagoneer rol ed to a stop
above the pond
where they were camping.
Millie tapped Lena on the shoulder.
“Looks like it
might be your lucky night.
Lena's gaze fol owed her friend's to
the Wagoneer at the
top of the hil . Luke McKinley had
just gotten out of the
passenger side and made his way
around to the back of the
vehicle. He and Tim pul ed out a
couple of duffel bags and
headed toward the campsite.
Jefferson County High had its share
of good-looking
guys. Footbal players with big
muscles and broad shoulders.
But Luke McKinley was tal and lean
and different from any
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boy she'd ever known. His walk was
loose limbed and
hinted at attitude. She couldn't
find her voice. When she
did, it came out much higher than
normal. “I don't know
what you're talking about.
“Oh, right, Lena.
I've seen the way you look at him in
the halls. You're crazy about him.
“I don't even
know him, she said with what she
hoped sounded like indifference.
“So? I didn't say
you knew him. I said you were crazy
about him.
Lena ignored Millie's baiting and
went over to the
campfire to help gril the burgers.
What if she thought he
was cute? That didn't mean she
wanted to make a fool of
herself.
For the next two hours, she did an
admirable job of not
looking at him. It had to be her
overactive imagination that
she felt his gaze on her, though.
That or wishful thinking.
The Fel owship of Christian Athletes
was one of the
school's most popular organizations.
Jim Bevson, the
economics teacher who headed the
group was largely
responsible for that. Regarded as
the coolest teacher at