Good Guys Love Dogs(10)

 

Ian spent his first few days in Keeling Creek thinking he’d do everything on his own. He and Luke could manage. But when the laundry started to pile up and the dirty dishes multiplied exponentially, he’d given up and gone in search of a housekeeper.

 

They’d been in town less than a week when he’d asked Maude Cutter at Cutter’s Grocery if she knew of anyone who would be interested in the job. She’d said Mabel was just the woman he was looking for. And she’d been right. Mabel fit in as if she’d always been here. She’d taken a firm hand with Luke, too, informing him of kitchen rules on her first day in the house. Luke needed that kind of structure, something Ian hadn’t been around enough to give him.

 

Smidge managed an exaggerated limp over to her bowl where Mabel had a dish full of leftover chicken waiting for her. No dog was a bigger ham when a little sympathy could be conjured up.

 

“Now if she’ll just stay out of the blackberry bushes,” Ian said.

 

“She’s lived in the city all her life,” Mabel replied in the dog’s defense. “Been running around like a wild thing set free since you got here. She’ll learn soon enough.”

 

“Let’s hope so,” Ian said doubtfully. Only a few days before, they’d found her in the creek behind the house, hip deep in mud and howling.

 

“Did you get to meet Colby?” Mabel asked.

 

“Dr. Williams?”

 

“Funny as that sounds to me, yes.” The older woman chuckled, stirring the contents of the pot simmering on top of the stove. “Known her since she stood knee-high to a grasshopper. Still can’t believe she’s old enough to be called doctor.”

 

“She seemed very good.” Ian opened the refrigerator and took out the pitcher of lemonade Mabel just made that morning.

 

Colby Williams didn’t fit his stereotype of a small-town veterinarian. She was attractive. Very attractive, if different from the women he knew in New York. Her style said casual, a blue cotton shirt tucked into slim-fitting Levi’s, her straight blond hair in a ponytail, emphasizing a face with nice cheekbones and expressive green eyes.

 

“Even as a little girl, she wanted to be the first female vet in town,” Mabel said. “And she was. We’re lucky to have her.”

 

Intrigued, Ian said, “She mentioned having a daughter. How old is she?”

 

Mabel ladled out a bowl of soup from the pot on the stove and set it in front of him. “A little younger than Luke, I believe. Colby raised her by herself. Nice kid, so she must have done a good job.”

 

“She’s not married?” The question popped out before he even realized he wanted to ask it.

 

Mabel turned to look at him, both eyebrows disappearing beneath gray bangs. “As a matter of fact, she’s not.”

 

Ian swallowed a spoonful of soup and burned his mouth in the process.

 

“Careful there.” Mabel eyed him with a thoughtful look on her face. “It’s hot.”

 

“You’re right, it is.” He washed away the sting with the lemonade and wondered at the glint in his housekeeper’s eye. “Good, though.”

 

“Glad you like it. After my Thomas was gone, there was just me, and food doesn’t taste nearly as good if you’re not cooking it with someone other than yourself in mind. It’s a real pleasure to have you and Luke to cook for.”

 

“Thomas was a lucky man. You’ll spoil us if we’re not careful,” Ian said with a smile. He knew what she meant about eating alone. When Sherry had died, he thought he, too, would die of loneliness. Knowing that the small, helpless infant who was his son needed him had been the one thing that kept him going. Despite what Luke thought, Ian didn’t know what he would have done without him.

 

Mabel dropped the soup ladle into the sink and turned to give him an assessing look. “That’s all right by me. I know you said you and Luke would only be here until he finished high school, but if you and Colby happened to hit it off, you might not want to return to the big city.”

 

He nearly choked on his soup. Mabel scurried across the kitchen floor, whacking him on the back. “You okay, Mr. McKinley?”

 

Once he’d gotten his coughing under control, he nodded and wiped his eyes with his napkin. Not wanting her to get any ideas, he said, “If you remember, Mabel, I mentioned that I recently got engaged.”

 

“Oh, yes, you did, didn’t you?” the older woman said with a deadpan expression.

 

“She’s coming down this weekend. On Saturday.”