“Wow, this looks amazing. Thank you for all of this. But, Jared, this steak is as big as my head.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll eat whatever you don’t finish,” he said with a wink before they began to eat. “I love steak. I was on a pretty strict diet when I was in training, but now that I’m retired it’s a pleasure to eat what I like.”
She had noticed during their time together that he ate a massive amount, but he had to with all the workouts he did. “You still stay in very good shape.”
“Part of that is habit I guess, but I own a gym, so what else am I going to do? I do love working out, but I like doing it at my own pace and not having to worry about what condition I’m in or if I’m at peak fighting form.”
“Do you miss it?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He took a sip of his wine as he thought about it. “Maybe at first right after I had the surgery, but after a while I realized that fighting was just a part of my life, and now that it’s over I can focus on other things.”
“I like that you’re helping other people with your rehabilitation center.”
“I do, too. We are still setting up some programs, but we should be getting more people in soon. Evie has been great setting up places for the guys to stay when they come in town, and I reached out to some of my contacts in the Army to tell them what I’m doing here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t start sending people my way after they are finished at the military rehab centers. After you recover from an injury sometimes it’s easier to take those final steps back to normal life somewhere else.”
“There are enough former military men and women in Breakers that they can still feel comfortable, I guess,” she added.
He grinned. “Yeah, we’re all over the place here. Hey, you can’t be finished already.”
“Jared, you fed me half a cow. I can’t eat anymore!” With a laugh, she pushed her plate toward him, and he took the half of her steak she had left since he had already finished his own. She watched in awe as he began wolfing down the remaining food with ease.
“Tell me, what kind of rules are there to owning a pit bull?”
She leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “They aren’t rules exactly, but Evie said that they make sure to check if the dog gets along with any other pets in the house, and they also like to make sure there is a fenced in backyard where the dog can run and play and can’t escape from.”
“That doesn’t seem like a problem. You don’t have any other pets.”
“No, I don’t, but there isn’t exactly a lot of space for me to build a fenced in yard behind the bakery. I have the patio area…but I use that for customers when the weather is nice. Keeping him in the apartment would be okay when he’s a puppy, but when he gets bigger he’ll need someplace where he can run and play. It wouldn’t be fair to keep him locked up all the time.”
Hammer took his time thinking as he chewed his last bite. His house was large, and even though the back yard opened to the bluff, he could easily install a fenced in yard on the right side near the garage. They could make it large enough to have a little wading pool and maybe some equipment similar to what he had seen at the rescue center. It would be perfect for a dog. There was a side door through the mud room he never used that lead outside that they could even put a doggie door in for easy access. Considering it, he didn’t want to say anything…yet. He didn’t want to scare her. There would be time to convince her to move in with him later.
Instead, he focused on what he could do for her right now.
“I have that huge field we replanted when we tore up the old parking lot next to the gym. We could enclose part of it and use it for the dog while we’re at work.”
She froze with her wine glass halfway to her lips, then set it down as she stared at him in disbelief. “You…we…what?”
He shrugged, going for nonchalance. “Some of the guys have dogs. Actually, it would be nice if we could have the dogs play together while the owners are working out inside. Besides, it’s close enough that you could check on him whenever you want and I could help watch him during the day.”
“You’d really do that?”
“Sure, why not?”
Kalista blinked rapidly to keep her tears at bay. Why was he always surprising her with his kindness? She bit her lip with an effort not to blurt out how much she loved him in that moment. It never occurred to her that he would want to help her or would do something as extreme as building her a fenced in area for her to be able to adopt a puppy. Letting her emotions guide her, she got up from her seat and walked around the table. He pushed back his chair, turning towards her with a questioning glance that changed to surprise when she sat down and curled herself on his lap, putting her arms around his neck.