Bauer nodded. “But we also caught somebody, so it may not be as upsetting as we’re thinking.”

  “Maybe,” she murmured. “At the same time we still have a lot of unfinished business here, and we’re not out of the woods yet. I mean, I just don’t see our intruder being the shooter from the other night.”

  “No, I don’t either. We still have to get to the bottom of this, but at least now maybe we’ll have a lead.”

  She handed him a cup of coffee. “Until then, as far as I’m concerned, this War Dog stays with me, and hopefully the police will have a little more to go on.”

  “Even if they don’t, it will still give Badger and me a whole lot more to go on.”

  She smiled at that. “I do appreciate that you guys care enough to stick with this.”

  “We’re not done yet. As you mentioned, still an awful lot here is unresolved, and I’m not terribly happy with that.” He could see the relief on her face, and he nodded. “I did see the gunman out in the woods, and I’m pretty-darn sure it wasn’t our intruder either. His movements were totally different than this guy’s. And this guy seemed to be much more happy-go-lucky, from the way he was talking as he looked for the dog.”

  “I was thinking that too,” she said. “When he was inside the house, I mean. And I don’t know how he got in the house because all the doors were locked.” She looked over at him, her eyebrows raised.

  He held up a hand. “I know. Exactly. Plus I locked that door myself. I could see that the lock had been open, and there wasn’t any damage.”

  “Do you think this guy picked the lock?”

  Bauer frowned at that. “I can’t be sure that he didn’t because I don’t know what his history is. But there is definitely something off about this whole deal.”

  “Off is right,” she declared, with a sigh. “Oh, crap, our visitor told me that he’d checked the clinic. Do you think there is damage?”

  “I didn’t see any last night. I think what happened is that, while I was checking out the clinic, he was done there and was heading up here. Nothing was broken there this time. I’ll be happier when we figure out who he is.”

  “God, what a nightmare. What do we do now?”

  “We’ll keep up our guard and keep going as we have been. I’ll be at the vet clinic all day today, and I’ll probably take Toby out several times, as I check out the perimeter of the clinic, just to make sure that we’re not heading into more trouble.”

  She looked down at the War Dog. “That brings me back to the same question as before. Do you think my staff is in danger?”

  “I hope not,” he said, “but I can’t be sure. And now that the cops have somebody in custody, I’m pretty sure the police will consider this issue mostly dealt with.”

  She winced at that. “That was my take too,” she admitted. “Yet I’m pretty sure, if I had argued with them over closing this case, it wouldn’t get me anywhere.”

  Bauer smiled. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to figure out what’s going on here on our own.”

  She nodded. “I know, but it just feels … wrong.”

  “Got it,” he agreed cheerfully, as he walked over and refilled his cup of coffee. “I’m glad you got up first. This coffee is great, by the way.”

  She snorted at that. “It’s hard to mess up coffee.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ve seen it done many times.”

  She chuckled. “You’re just trying to make me feel better. Or change the subject.”

  He grinned. “Is it working?”

  “Maybe. Maybe it is.” At that, she smiled at him. “We need some breakfast, and then I’ve got to get down to the office.”

  He nodded. “Of course you do.” When she gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. “I knew you would be going, so that’s not a surprise.”

  “I can’t not go really, as today is a surgery day. So I’ll be very busy. The last thing I need is any interruptions or a gunman around the place,” she noted, with a sigh. “I really don’t want the cops either, for that matter.”

  “They could very well come back today,” he warned.

  “I know. At least the broken window gives me an excuse of what to tell people.”

  “Good point,” he said calmly, as he looked at her. “Are you eating breakfast?”

  “I am.” She pointed at a bowl of muesli that she was pulling together.

  He looked at it, horrified. “Do you mind if I cook something a little more substantial?”

  She waved at the kitchen. “Go for it. If you can find it, you’re welcome to it.”

  “Thank you for the hospitality.”

  She snorted. “Thank you for the guardianship or whatever you want to call it,” she added, with another wave of her hand.

  “No problem. Besides, we’re going on a date one day. Remember?”

  “I wondered if you were still thinking along those lines.” She gave him a sideways look that he had no trouble interpreting.

  “Any reason why I wouldn’t be?”

  “No. I don’t know. I don’t really understand men to be honest.”

  He laughed at that. “We’re even. I don’t really understand women either.”

  “Yeah, you do,” she argued, with a smile. “I think you have that dialed in more than you’re letting on.”

  “Hell no,” he declared a little forcefully. “I just know that I like you.”

  She snorted. “Is this where I’m supposed to say, I like you too?”

  His grin flashed at her. “Maybe, I mean, only if you really mean it.”

  “Humph. I’ll have to give it some thought. Anyway, let’s just keep moving forward and keep our eyes focused on this guy today.” She smiled, her hand reaching down to Toby, who stood next to her, his tail once again wagging. “I’ll start with checking his wounds and changing the bandage when I get to the clinic.” She frowned, looking at it now. “It’s bled a bit overnight.”

  Still smiling from their thinly veiled flirting, Bauer said, “Of course it’s been bleeding. He’s not supposed to be moving around, is he?”

  “It would be better if we’d kept him crated, so he would rest more, but I know he hates it. I’m trying to keep him alive, and the thought of him being cornered in a crate, with somebody trying to shoot him, makes me sick. I just can’t do it,” she explained. “And believe me. I already feel guilty enough.”

  “You don’t need to feel guilty at all,” he reiterated. “You’re doing what you can, and honestly, given the circumstances, that’s a lot. Actually last night, when all that was happening, I was really glad Toby wasn’t crated, so he could protect you, if it came down to it.”

  “I thought that too. God, what a mess. Toby should be safe at work during the day though, right?” She looked over at Bauer, and he realized just how insecure she was feeling about it all.

  “Yes, and I’ll be there all day today,” he stated. “And, since you’ll be in surgery, I’ll take care of Toby, so you don’t have to worry about him.”

  “I get that’s supposed to make me feel better, but I would feel far better if you had something to say about the gunman not being there to make trouble today.”

  “I don’t know that to be true, and I won’t lie to you.”

  She winced. “Right. Of course you won’t. But can I say that I wouldn’t mind if you did, just to give me the tiniest bit of reassurance?”

  “Sorry, but, in a case like this, I think we’re all better off if we stay alert.”

  And, with that, she sat back down and finished eating her breakfast.

  Checking out the fridge, he pulled out bacon and eggs and started cooking.

  A few minutes later she murmured, “I’m amazed at how comfortable you are in the kitchen.”

  “Lots of years of living alone,” he replied.

  “I get that, but I’m in the same boat and not nearly as fast or as proficient as you are.”

  “I didn’t spend so many years going to school and then building a business either,” he added, with a smirk. “You know we can’t do it all, so, when we focus on one thing, we give up a little bit of something else in order to make it happen.”

  “I don’t even want to think about having given up anything, but you’re right. I gave up a lot really. I haven’t regretted it, but that choice certainly has impacted other things in my life.”

  “Like relationships?” he asked.

  “Sure, relationships are part of it, no doubt.”

  He poured himself a third cup of coffee, when he sat down with his breakfast. “Thank you for not getting up and taking off to work.”

  “I figured you wouldn’t let me walk there alone with Toby. Plus you went to all that trouble with your breakfast.”

  He laughed. “That was very considerate, thank you. That’s a good sign.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t mean we should be dating.”

  He looked at her over his cup of coffee. “Nervous much?”

  She shrugged.

  “It comes down to trust, you know?” he stated.

  “Yeah, and I haven’t been very good at that. Not since …” Then she let her voice trail off.

  “Me too,” he agreed. “I figured that maybe we could take that journey together.”

  “What makes you think I’m interested?” His gaze twinkled, as he watched the color move up her cheeks. “Fine, forget it. I just—”

  “I know. And I would never want you to feel pressured, but I don’t think either one of us is doing all that great on our own.”

  She stared at him in shock. “What do you mean? I’m doing just fine.”

  He nodded. “At least as far as your professional life goes, sure. Me too. But honestly do you want to be alone for the rest of your life?”

  After a few moments of silently staring at him, she admitted, “No. … I just hadn’t really expected to be heading down this pathway right now.”

  “I don’t think it ever comes to us when we’re ready. I’m just asking you to be open enough to see if something’s here that we both want.” He could see that she wanted to say something more, but eventually she just closed her mouth. Somehow he felt like it was a missed opportunity. “The one thing you can always do, no matter how this goes, is talk to me.”

  She nodded slowly. “Maybe at the end of the day, I’ll feel a little bit more like I can talk to you. At the moment I just feel mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted, and I don’t really trust myself.”

  “I get that,” he said, with a wry smile. “We’re both a little overwhelmed at the moment.”

  “I can’t envision you ever overwhelmed. You appear to have picked up and handled all this with a serious assurance that I can only admire.”

  He chuckled. “Experience does count sometimes.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded, “and maybe that’s where the nerves are from—on the whole dating thing.”

  He studied her, remaining silent, letting her share.

  “Outside of the one partner, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with all this emotional stuff,” she shared. “I used to always just hide away, rather than deal with it. I figured that that was the reason he chose someone else.”

  “And do you really think it was, or do you think it was more about your work?”

  “I don’t know.” She frowned. “He knew I was a workaholic. I guess I expected him to understand. But I guess he thought that, when we got married, I would ease back and would spend a lot more time with him. In the end, he felt the need to sabotage our relationship by sleeping with my best friend and getting caught, just before the wedding. I should have seen that coming and maybe done something different.”

  “What? So somehow you think you’re solely responsible?”

  She slowly lowered her coffee cup, then looked at him. “What if I am? I could totally mess it up again.”

  He shook his head. “Hey, remember that part about no pressure? Let’s just have dinner.”

  “Technically we’ve already had a steak dinner,” she noted, pointing around her kitchen.

  He grinned. “And we both survived. Imagine that.” She flushed. “I’m not mocking you,” he added. “I just think it’s important, if this is something you want to check out a little further, that we invest the time and energy to see if anything is there between us.”

  “Yet, as you mentioned”—her tone wry—“obviously something is between us already. The question is whether or not we’re both open to making some kind of commitment.”

  “I am,” he stated.

  She sighed and shook her head. “Are you sure you want to do this right now?”

  He nodded. “You know, if Badger had told me that this was waiting for me on this assignment, I would have run in the opposite direction. I might have even said something along those lines to him,” Bauer admitted. “I get that we don’t have anything waiting for us right now,” he admitted, with a smile, “because, in your mind, we still aren’t there.”

  She nodded. “And it doesn’t feel that we’re getting anywhere. And that’s because we’re so focused on Toby here, and all that’s going on around us, which is good. That’s where our focus needs to be. At least for now.”

  “I don’t disagree with that at all,” Bauer added, “but also other things are going on between us—for me anyway, maybe not for you. There can be a risk and potentially a hard pill to swallow, but I really want to check this out. But if you don’t, … and again, no pressure, if you don’t, and if you know that, then maybe it would be best if you just said so now,” he suggested, staring at her over his coffee cup.

  “Would you believe me?” she asked, with a wry look.

  He laughed out loud. “As it turns out, I’m very good at reading body language, so the answer to that question would be no,” he declared. “In that case, I would have to take no to really mean that you’re just not ready to handle a relationship.”

  “And yet?” She stared at him. “You’re right. We’re both hiding. So, what in the hell made you decide to come out of hiding at this particular time?” she asked, with a good note of humor in her voice.

  “Because it’s making me deal with things I wasn’t really thinking I could deal with. And again we don’t really get a choice sometimes,” he noted, his own smile bright. “I guess that it’s seeing you here, with Toby, seeing a woman, someone I respect and really want to spend more time with.” he explained. “I really didn’t expect something like this to just happen out of the blue, but here it is. So I’m stepping out of my bubble to see if it’s something of interest for you as well.”

  “Which, as you already know, it is.” But she gave him a good frown, as if upset that he had pushed the issue.

  He just frowned right back. She burst out laughing, and he nodded. “See? We understand each other quite well.”

  “Maybe, but opening those floodgates …”

  “But how much of the time are those floodgates only closed because it’s a habit? Because it’s comfortable? Because it’s something we allowed at the time? Because it was too painful to deal with whatever shit we were going through? But we just continue to keep that door closed, don’t we?”

  “Some people go out and jump right back on the horse,” she admitted, “but apparently we didn’t.”

  “No, we didn’t, and I think that’s because, when we care, we care deeply, and, when we got hurt, we got hurt deeply.”

  She slowly nodded. “I can’t argue that because it’s true, and it definitely wouldn’t have been easy getting back on the horse in the way people normally do. So, I just buried myself in work instead. And apparently you did too.”

  He smiled. “More or less, then my accident happened not all that long afterward, and that set me back quite a bit more.”

  “I don’t have that as an excuse,” she noted, staring at him. “I just basically decided that I wouldn’t even bother anymore.”

  “Because it was easier. It’s easier to just ignore it all, but it doesn’t necessarily help us down the road. If that single life isn’t what we want for ourselves down the road, then we must take a chance.”

  “I wonder if it’s that easy,” she murmured, staring at him.

  “Why don’t we take that step and find out?”

  She laughed. “Pretty sure I already said yes.”

  “Pretty sure I’m still looking for a little more enthusiasm.” But the look that he caught was the one that made the most sense. She was so confident, so secure in so many areas of her world and in her life and so ready to jump up for the animals, but, when it came to relationships, she’d fallen hard and had taken the hurt deep. That he could understand. “Mags, I promise that hurting you is not on the books.”

  “But if I do decide that I like you,” she began, flashing a wicked grin his way, “and it doesn’t work out, I’ll still get hurt, even if you don’t mean to.”

  “Are you going to hide for your whole life because of that?”

  “It’s been working so far,” she declared, as she got up. Then she walked over and washed her coffee cup and put it on the side of the counter. She looked back at him, and he could see the guardedness still in her gaze. “But you’re right. Definitely something is between us. So I’m willing to give it a chance and see where it goes.”

  “And can you withhold judgment if it doesn’t go perfectly?” he asked her.

  She stared at him, as she considered his question. “I guess that’s kind of the next thing, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “I don’t really want to be judged against whatever milestone this other guy left you with.”

  She frowned at that thought. “I hadn’t considered that,” she noted, going silent for a bit. Then with a nod, she added, “You’re right. That’s not fair for either of us. I don’t want to be judged based on the woman you had in your life either.”

  “Good,” he said, with a bright smile. “In that case, we’ll both start fresh and do our best to keep it that way, right?”

  “Sure,” she quipped, with an eyeroll. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “You know what? I have an idea that, for the two of us, it could be really easy.” Heading to the sink, he washed his plate, then added, “Come on. Let’s get back to work.”