Sit...Stay...Beg(11)
“He scared me a little,” she admitted.
“Mr. Tall, Dark, and Menacing scares everyone. He was a military dog handler, and now he has put together one of the top K-9 training programs in the country. Police and sheriff departments from all over the country bring dogs and trainers to Waterford.”
“And you run the rescue operation?”
“More or less,” he said, slipping his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “I back up Shane on all the civilian training stuff, manage the staff. His group does private training, therapy and service dog training, and special projects. But my heart is with the rescue aspect.”
“And you said Aidan is in the military, right?” A question any old friend would ask about her friend’s pesky little brother who was always pranking them.#p#分页标题#e#
Garrett gave a slow smile at the mention of his younger brother. “Dude’s a beast. Literally, a Night Stalker.”
Her eyes widened. “What’s that?”
“He’s a special ops helicopter pilot, currently stationed somewhere he can’t tell us. He can fly anything, though, and when this tour is over and he can get out, I’m trying to get him home to fly rescue dogs to new owners around the country. I think we can have one of the most sophisticated rescue-placement operations in the country.”
More emotional gold falling from his lips.
She let her gaze scan the breathtaking scenery, the journalist in her already thinking of ways to describe the stunning setting for a remarkable business…so different from the high-tech world where Garrett used to work.
It all begged so many questions in her curious head, the story threads were already starting to pull her in different directions. She had to tell him.
“Garrett, uh, you know I mentioned I’m a writer.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry. I’m blabbering on about Waterford. What do you write? Novels?” He lifted his brows. “’Cause that would be a cool job.”
“No, maybe someday, but now I’m working as a journalist. I write articles.”
“A journalist.” That easygoing drawl suddenly developed a slight edge. “What kind of articles?”
In-depth profiles of people like you. But with that admission, this conversation would likely end. She just knew it. The only thing written in the last three years about Garrett Kilcannon were the words declined to comment.
As much as she wanted to tell him the whole truth, and she would, she would have to, she wasn’t ready to leave the sunshine and glory of Waterford Farm quite yet. A wave of déjà vu nearly knocked her over, as she remembered the last night she’d slept here and how she’d clung to Molly when her mother and sister waited in the car to take her to the airport so she could fly to Minnesota…alone.
“I write for an online magazine,” she finally answered.
He searched her face for a few seconds, a whole lot of indecipherable emotions flashing in his blue eyes. Suddenly, his gaze flicked away, toward the dog they’d brought out here. With each passing second, Lola managed to scoot her long body an inch closer to Jessie’s boot.
Exactly the opposite of Garrett, who seemed to be drawing backward, inward, and away.
“I better get this dog back in to see if we can feed her,” he said quickly. “If you want to say hi to Molly, she’s in town this morning. She had a surgery to do in her practice there, but she’ll be back. You can hang out and…have fun. I guess I’ll see you around, Jessie.”
In other words, good riddance. Her heart dropped at the sudden change from interest to ice. “Yeah, okay.”
“Come on, Lola.”
The dog had gotten her whole body onto Jessie’s boots and curled around to effectively hold her in place. “Lola doesn’t want me to leave,” she said on a laugh that she hoped covered the hurt in her voice.
“Lola.” He crouched down to slide his fingers under her collar, but then pulled them out, slowly standing again. “She’s been so unhappy, I hate to make her move.”
“I could just stand here for a while,” she joked.
He laughed. “Sorry, but I don’t think—”
“Who do we have here?”
Jessie turned at the booming voice and felt her whole face brighten at the sight of Dr. Kilcannon, the Dogfather, the best father, coming out from the house toward them.#p#分页标题#e#
“Oh, hello!” she called. As soon as she took a step, Lola jumped and slinked away, wary again.
Garrett snagged her collar. “I’m going to take her in. Go say hi to my dad. I’m sure he’ll remember you.”