Before the woman answered, Lola got to her feet and moved to the front of the kennel, as interested in the new arrival as he was.
“I don’t know yet.” Her voice was soft enough that he wanted to get closer so he didn’t miss a word.
“Are you here for training?”
Lola barked once—the first time in many days—then got a little closer to sniff the woman.
Could she be Lola’s owner? “Is she yours?” He stood so he could see her without the blinding sunshine making a halo around her.
“Oh, no. I’m here for…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at him.
“A rescue?” he said hopefully.#p#分页标题#e#
She searched his face, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
He studied her right back. She had the reddish-gold hair of a Vizsla or setter, shiny and straight and cut right at her chin so it grazed the sides of a delicate jaw. Big green eyes reminded him of North Carolina grass after a heavy summer shower, but they were flecked with curiosity and humor and…something vaguely familiar.
More than vaguely. Definitely familiar.
“Are you delivering a dog?” he suggested, still trying to figure out why a perfect stranger would be wandering the kennels. Except, was she a stranger? She might qualify as perfect, but he could have sworn he knew this woman.
And by the way Lola looked at her, she might have had the same feeling. Not full-on recognition, but more trust and response than he’d seen from that dog before.
“Garrett, you don’t remember me.”
Unbelievable, but true. “I don’t,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries. It’s been seventeen years, and the last time you saw me, we were in a different kennel.” She pointed over her shoulder. “An older one, much smaller. Over there.”
He searched her face and scoured his memory as he did the math. Seventeen years ago, he’d been eighteen. “Did you rescue one of our foster dogs?”
She smiled and angled her head. “If anyone was a foster around here, it was me.”
He felt his jaw loosen as recognition hit. Molly’s friend. The cute one he’d kissed once. “Jessie? Jessie Curtis?” The name popped into his head.
Laughing, she nodded and opened her arms. “The very same.”
“Holy…wow.” He stepped forward to give her a quick hug. And steal another one for the pure pleasure of how warm and soft she felt. “You’ve grown up.”
A laugh bubbled up as she inched back, but still kept her hands lightly on his arms. “I could say the same.”
“But you look…” Amazing. “Really grown up.”
She finally let go and crossed her arms as if protecting herself or fighting the urge to hug again. She tilted her head, making her hair swing and graze her shoulder. “You saying I look old, Garrett?”
“Not at all. Older and…” Gorgeous. “But I see it now. Little Jessie Curtis who came to play with Molly.”
That made her laugh, and he remembered the giggle of a freckled kid who was glued to Molly…until she transformed into a very pretty teenager. She was a fixture at the Kilcannon dinner table when he was in high school. A little girl who suddenly became not so little the summer before he went to college.
“I had no idea you were coming to visit. Why didn’t Molly tell us?”
“Molly doesn’t know,” she said. “No one does. I decided to come back to Bitter Bark to see the town where I grew up and couldn’t resist a visit to Waterford Farm.” She gestured around. “Which has changed quite a bit.”
“We’re the largest dog training and rescue facility in the state now,” he said. “My family’s built…whoa.”
He lost his train of thought as Lola, forgotten with the new arrival, stepped even closer and nuzzled her snout against Jessie’s boot.
“Hello there.” Jessie instantly bent over to pet the dog.
“That’s amazing,” he said, automatically reaching to Lola’s collar since Jessie was a stranger, and Lola, while docile, still hadn’t been trained by him. “Lola’s suffering from a pretty bad case of the doggie blues.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Do doggies get the blues?” Jessie rubbed her hand along Lola’s fluffy tan and white head while Garrett watched Lola’s tail ticktock with the closest thing to joy he could remember with this dog. He hadn’t seen that tail swish once, in fact.
“They do, after being moved or losing someone they love. She was a stray, so we don’t know a thing about her. Except that she sure likes you. She won’t go to anyone.”